by Spencer Woodman, The Intercept

During much of her three years awaiting trial in New York’s Rikers Island jail, Candie Hailey was locked in a solitary confinement cell ventilated by a mold-covered air duct. The purpose of the vent was, of course, to pump fresh air into her 6-by-10-foot concrete room, but the mold infestation instead added to an array of hazards and discomforts that made her life unbearable at Rikers, where she made multiple attempts at suicide. “There was big, dark, gray, blackish mildew around the air vent and that’s where the air was coming from,” Hailey told me. “It’s what I was inhaling – it smelled like death.”

Hailey, who says she developed persisting asthma as a result of mold exposure, described overall conditions at Rikers that were so punishing not even the guards – who spent only a fraction of their time in the building – could withstand them. Hailey says that one officer implored her to complain to authorities about the conditions, as the employee feared she would be punished for doing so herself.

“‘Please call 311 or somebody,’” Hailey recalled a guard telling her. “That’s how bad it was.”

Hailey’s and her guards’ experiences are not ...

Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the largest for-profit prison firm in the United States, and the subject of a recent scathing Mother Jones undercover investigative report that detailed numerous deficiencies at a Louisiana prison operated by the company, effectively found itself “pink-slipped” by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). The DOJ announced in August 2016 that it plans to eliminate its use of privately-operated facilities to house federal prisoners, which sparked a sharp decline in CCA’s stock price. [See: PLN, Sept. 2016, p.28; Aug. 2016, p.54].

That was a serious setback for a company that has bragged about its profitability for decades and touted its ability to “save money” by operating detention facilities for less than what the government spends. Following the DOJ’s decision to phase out private prisons, the resulting 40% drop in CCA’s market value put it into full survival mode.

One of CCA’s first remedial moves, announced on October 29, 2016, was to change its name to “CoreCivic.” However, no matter what it’s called, the company’s business model remains the same – to make money by not spending enough to provide safe, secure facilities and adequate medical care for prisoners.

Marketers call this “rebranding” but it ...

Another victory in the fight against debtors’ prisons was achieved with the grant of an injunction by a Tennessee federal district court. The preliminary injunction, issued in a class-action lawsuit in December 2015, prohibits a private probation company from jailing probationers because they are unable to pay fees related to their supervision.

The suit “addresses one aspect of the growing privatization of the criminal justice system,” the court wrote. Rutherford County contracted with Pathways Community Corrections, previously known as Providence Community Corrections (PCC), which operates in 45 states, to provide misdemeanor probation services.

The payment of “all required supervision fees, court fines, and court costs” is a rule of probation, and a probationer who is unable to make payments is technically in violation of his or her supervision conditions. Other conditions, such as community service work, drug tests and various offense-related classes, may also be required and incur fees.

PCC charged probationers $45 a month for simply being on probation plus $20 for each drug test, which could be administered at a PCC employee’s whim. It also charged set-up fees, community service fees and even a “picture fee.” Those required to participate in trash removal as community service work had ...

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a grant of summary judgment to Southern Health Partners, Inc. (SHP) in a civil rights action alleging the company failed to train and supervise its nurses at Kentucky’s Hopkins County Detention Center (HCDC), which violated a deceased prisoner’s constitutional right to adequate medical care.

The lawsuit involved the death of Tyler Butler, 25, just three days after he was booked into HCDC on April 8, 2010 pursuant to a court order. A deputy did not want to admit him due to his sickly appearance and reported MRSA infection. SHP nurse Candace Moss, who was scheduled to change shifts in 30 minutes, was asked to make a decision on booking Butler.

Moss was shown various infections on Butler’s body, legs and groin areas. She instructed deputies to admit him, and had him placed on 72-hour detoxification for drug use and medical watch for the staph infection. Other than having his blood pressure checked three times and receiving five pills unrelated to his MRSA infection, Butler received no medical care before he was found unresponsive in his cell on April 11, 2010. An autopsy concluded his death was caused by sudden cardiac arrhythmia due to ...

The Ohio Court of Appeals has affirmed the dismissal of a prisoner’s habeas corpus petition seeking immediate release from a private prison.

Ohio state prisoner Maurice Freeman was confined at the Lake Erie Correctional Institution, a private prison owned and operated by Corrections Corporation of America. [See: PLN, Nov. 2014, p.44].

Freeman filed a habeas corpus petition in state court, alleging that his confinement at Lake Erie was illegal because he was being held by a private company rather than the State of Ohio. He argued that he was expressly ordered to serve a prison term at a state institution, and therefore sought immediate release from the CCA-run Lake Erie facility.

The trial court dismissed Freeman’s habeas petition, finding that he failed to allege sufficient facts to support a claim that he was entitled to immediate release.

The Ohio Court of Appeals affirmed. “As a general proposition, a writ of habeas corpus can be issued only when the petitioner has demonstrated that he is entitled to be released immediately,” the Court observed. “Unless a prisoner can prove that he has completed his maximum sentence, his entitlement to immediate release can only be established by showing that the sentencing court ...

A series of hunger strikes over the past two years by detainees at federal immigration detention facilities from Washington state to Pennsylvania have called for an end to the incarceration and deportation of undocumented immigrants, and exposed abuses and deficiencies in privately-operated, for-profit detention centers.

“The fortifications, the walls that attempted to contain our participation have cracked and with ever growing unity we will finish knocking them down,” said a group of detainees at the GEO Group-run Northwest Detention Center (NWDC) in Tacoma, Washington, in a written statement announcing the end of a 56-day protest in May 2014.

The hunger strikes, which at one time included around 1,200 immigrant detainees nationwide, began on March 7, 2014, two weeks after protesters outside NWDC blocked deportation buses and vans from entering or exiting the facility. Ten days later, after hearing that prisoners at NWDC were refusing to eat or perform work, detainees at the Joe Corley Detention Center (JCDC) in Conroe, Texas – also run by the GEO Group – joined the hunger strike.

Former detainees reportedly rallied outside the facilities to demonstrate their support of the hunger strikers, according to CBS. “A hunger strike is the only tool they feel like ...

In September 2015, a Mississippi federal district court certified as a class-action a lawsuit challenging the treatment and conditions afforded mentally ill prisoners at the East Mississippi Correctional Facility (EMCF). The court further held that the plaintiffs’ mental health experts could testify as to the methodologies used to formulate their opinions.

The seven claims raised in the civil rights action seek to “eliminate the substantial risks of serious harm” that result from alleged inadequate medical and mental health care, unsanitary environmental conditions, use of excessive force by EMCF staff and use of solitary confinement. [See: PLN, Jan. 2014, p.24]. The facility is operated by private prison firm Management & Training Corp.; it was previously operated by GEO Group before the company discontinued its contracts in Mississippi in 2012. [See: PLN, Nov. 2013, p.30].

The defendants moved under Daubert v. Merrill Dow Pharms., 509 U.S. 579 (1993) to exclude the expert reports and testimony of the plaintiffs’ medical and mental health experts, Dr. Terry A. Kupers, Dr. Marc Stern, Dr. Bart Abplanalp and Nurse Practitioner Madeline LaMarre. Under Daubert, an expert’s opinion must be assessed to determine “whether the reasoning or methodology underlying the testimony is scientifically valid.” ...

Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) successfully moved in federal court to dismiss a suit brought by the survivors of a guard who was killed by prisoners during a riot in 2012.

On May 20, 2012, prisoners rioted at the Adams County Corrections Center (ACCC) in Mississippi. According to court records, prisoners at ACCC were treated inhumanely and were deprived of basic needs. This created a "dangerous atmosphere" at the short-handed private prison, according to the lawsuit filed by the family of Catlin Carithers, the guard who was killed during the riot.

Carithers was apparently on a "hit list" of guards to be harmed during the riot. Two days before the riot, an informant warned prison staff that Carithers was on the "hit list," according to the complaint.

But on the day of the riot, Carithers was not at work. He was called in to work by a security officer who knew Carithers was on the "hit list," according to the lawsuit.

Shortly after he arrived at work on May 20, 2012, Carithers was killed in the riot.

His survivors sued CCA, claiming CCA was liable for Carithers' death by creating the dangerous environment at ACCC, not hiring enough staff, mistreating ...

A Tennessee federal court dismissed deliberate indifference claims against a jail doctor for a prisoner's seizure death, absent allegations of his personal involvement or awareness. The court refused to dismiss claims brought against the private medical care company or the nurses who were present.

Sevier County, Tennessee, contracted with First Med, Inc., a private health care company, to provide jail medical care. Jail physician, Dr. Robert M. Maughon, MD, is the sole owner of First Med Inc. Jail Nurse Supervisor Tammy Finchum and Nurse Jessie Timbrook are First Med employees who work at the jail.

On February 20, 2011, Billy Duane Foster began serving a sentence in the Sevier County Jail. At about 7:22 a.m., on February 27, 2011, Foster suffered a seizure. Soon thereafter, Nurse Timbrook witnessed him having another seizure. At 8:12 a.m., Foster was moving with a staggering gait and was oriented only as to place. He was apparently not treated and there is a dispute as to whether Timbrook even took his vitals.

Timbrook was called again at 4:00 p.m., when Foster had another seizure. She was present when he suffered another seizure at 4:36 p.m.

At that time, Timbrook finally concluded that Foster needed to ...

The San Luis Regional Detention and Support Center opened with a capacity of 548 beds in 2007. Initially, it housed male and female immigration detainees. In 2009, Emerald Correctional Management took over operation of the center, located in San Luis, Arizona. Emerald initiated a 368-bed expansion of the center which was completed in November 2011 and resulted in a total capacity of 916 beds. But the Yuma region never needed that many immigration detainee beds and the facility is now only about half full and losing money.

"Prosecutions (in Yuma) have never supported large scale numbers," said Fidencio Rivera, Chief Deputy Marshall for the District of Arizona. "Emerald has come in and expanded hoping they could" increase their revenue by attracting additional prisoners. They had a "build it and they will come" philosophy "and [the prisoners] didn't materialize. It didn't work out for them. So now they are in a position where they are trying to stay above water--trying to make money. We are in tune and we are doing the best we can."

What does Rivera mean by being "in tune" with Emerald? In the past, it meant busing prisoners from other facilities to San Luis just to keep ...