The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed a district court's dismissal of a prisoner's lawsuit alleging discrimination based on his sexual orientation.

Ricky Davis, a gay, insulin-dependent diabetic Michigan state prisoner, was screened, medically cleared and hired by an off-site public-works program.

He was the only openly gay participant in the program, and contended that work crew supervisors treated him differently than other prisoners due to his sexual orientation. Guards "did not want to strip search him because he was a homosexual and ... they would make 'under the breath' remarks when selected to do so." The guards also ridiculed, belittled and "ma[d]e a spectacle" of him.

Other insulin-dependent diabetics participated in the public-works program, and supervisors were given honey packets to remedy problems related to low blood sugar.

When Davis complained of low blood sugar on December 2, 2009, a guard refused to directly hand him a honey packet due to "animus toward or discomfort with him as an openly gay man." The guard instead had another prisoner give Davis the packet.

Davis was fine after consuming the honey, but supervisors ordered him to see a nurse. His blood sugar levels were normal and the nurse determined "that ...

After the state of New Hampshire hired a consulting group last year to help evaluate bid proposals for the "construction, operation and potential privatization" of the state's entire prison system, it was determined that all of the bids "had deficiencies from an operational standpoint," according to a report issued by New Hampshire's Department of Corrections (DOC) and Department of Administrative Services (DAS). The report further found that the proposals were "non-compliant with meeting the Department of Corrections' legal obligations."

By April 2012, New Hampshire officials had received bids from four companies to build and/or operate a facility to house male prisoners and a "hybrid" prison that would hold both male and female offenders. The bidders included Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), GEO Group, Management & Training Corp. (MTC) and the relatively unknown NH Hunt Justice Group LLC – a partnership between LaSalle Corrections, Hunt Companies and several other firms.

To evaluate the detailed and voluminous bid proposals, state officials organized three evaluation teams made up of staff from the DOC and DAS. Additionally, in July 2012 the state paid $171,000 to hire an "independent consultant" – MGT of America, Inc. – to assist with the review by evaluating the "operational ...

In a lawsuit filed in state court on May 1, 2013, Prison Legal News, represented by the Texas Civil Rights Project (TCRP), alleges that Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) is concealing information about CCA-run correctional facilities by failing to respond to a public records request.

To obtain information about CCA's operations in Texas, PLN submitted a records request to the company on March 1, 2013 pursuant to the state's Public Information Act, requesting a number of documents related to CCA's contracts with state and local Texas government agencies, injunctions issued against CCA in Texas, and settlements and verdicts in legal actions involving CCA in Texas. The company did not respond to the records request.

"Privately operated prisons and jails are notorious for their abhorrent conditions," PLN stated in its complaint. "Although they perform a government function, they are driven by a profit model that cuts costs for the benefit of shareholders and to the detriment of basic services, security, and oversight. Prison Legal News seeks to enforce its rights under the Public Information Act to investigate details about these facilities in Texas."

The lawsuit filing was tied to CCA's lack of transparency with respect to the Dawson State Jail, where ...

When a Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) facility warden failed to establish a discriminatory practice, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the summary judgment dismissing the Title VII claims.

After being promoted to warden at a new CCA facility: Red Rock Correctional Center in Eloy, Arizona in 1999, Jose F. Luna had the responsibilities of hiring/training employees; establishing security and operational procedures; and setting up medical, food, commissary, and laundry service and delivery. In addition, he was responsible for maintaining the facility’s contract with Alaska and Hawaii, which supplied the prisoners.

In spite of being burdened with having to open the facility ahead of schedule, inadequate security staff and medical personnel, no weapons for guards, water and sewage problems, CCA's performance evaluation showed Luna went from "exceeding requirement" to "meeting requirements." Not only did a Hawaiian customer representative file a formal complaint for inadequate staffing and security issues, but he threatened to sue CCA if the conditions at Red Rock did not improve. Three months later, the Hawaiian rep filed a second complaint on issues stemming from staff shortage.

Alaska's representative expressed displeasure over the contract performance and Red Rock and sent a "contract monitor" for observation on a ...

ON April 11, 2013, the Idaho Department of Correction (IDOC) announced that Corrections Corporation of America, the nation’s largest for-profit prison firm, had acknowledged that employees at the CCA-operated Idaho Correctional Center (ICC) falsified staffing records from at least May through November 2012. As a result, the state paid the company for almost 4,800 staffing hours for vacant positions during that time period.

According to a review of ICC shift logs obtained by the Associated Press, some CCA employees were falsely listed as having worked 24, 36 and even 48 continuous hours.

In January 2013, attorneys for prisoners housed at the ICC filed an amended complaint in federal court that alleged CCA officials had falsified staffing records to conceal chronic understaffing. The prisoners claimed that fewer employees were on duty at the time of prisoner-on-prisoner assaults than the number reflected on shift logs. The lawsuit also contends that CCA staff collaborated with ICC gang members in order to maintain control at the facility. See: Castillon v. CCA, U.S.D.C. (D. Idaho), Case No. 1:12-cv-00559-EJL.

“[E]mployees were being placed on the shift schedule who were not present within the building or who were actually working in other areas and in some cases ...

One of the big efforts by the 2013 Utah legislature was authorizing the Prison Relocation and Development Authority to start taking proposals to relocate the Utah State Prison in Draper and unlock the prime real estate underneath it for commercial development. While estimates put the long-term benefit in the billions, the upfront bill for taxpayers could be as high as $600 million. That’s a cost lawmakers say could be made up in savings with a modern prison, or possibly by diverting sales tax from the construction back into the project instead of city and county coffers.

But what if the state didn’t have to pay anything for the massive relocation project? According to documents City Weekly obtained through a government records request, one company has offered to pick up the entire bill for the state.

Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), a company that touts itself as the nation’s largest and most experienced private prison operator, gave a letter to the Utah Prison Relocation and Development Authority (PRADA) on November 6, 2012, offering to finance the entire relocation and construction project in exchange for running the prison and being paid for the beds filled daily by prisoners in the system.

The ...

Previously, PLN reported that both Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and GEO Group, the nation’s two largest private prison companies, were converting their corporate structure into real estate investment trusts (REITs), primarily to benefit from the tax advantages that REITs provide. [See: PLN, Jan. 2013, p.42].

Among other requirements, a REIT must distribute 90% of its taxable income to shareholders; consequently, the company pays no federal tax on its income and the tax burden is shifted to shareholders. CCA indicated that its initial REIT distribution would be made in stock (up to 80%) and cash (up to 20%).

PLN managing editor Alex Friedmann, who also serves as president of the Private Corrections Institute (PCI), a non-profit organization that opposes prison privatization, filed a shareholder resolution with CCA to require the company’s Board of Directors to issue a report to shareholders addressing the following specific points relative to the company’s REIT conversion:

1. Any known disadvantages to stockholders, and/or advantages to the company, should the company elect to make required REIT distributions primarily in the form of stock rather than cash;

2. The extent to which the Board has taken into account the company’s prior conversion to a REIT in 1999 ...

In 2011, the State of Illinois signed a 10-year, $1.36 billion contract with Wexford Health Sources, a for-profit company, to provide medical services to Illinois prisoners. Since the contract went into effect there have been numerous complaints concerning the level of medical care that prisoners are receiving – or rather not receiving. In fact, more than 170 federal lawsuits have been filed against Wexford by Illinois prisoners since the company’s contract was announced in September 2011.

The relationship between the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) and Wexford has been in the spotlight before. Six years ago, former IDOC director Donald Snyder pleaded guilty to accepting $50,000 in bribes from lobbyists, including a lobbyist for Wexford. He was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison; Wexford was not implicated in the bribery scandal. [See: PLN, March 2009, p.50; Dec. 2007, p.40].

Last year the John Howard Association, a prison watchdog group, released a report which found that Wexford had never been audited prior to the $1.36 billion contract award, and that no one is currently reviewing the quality of care the company provides to Illinois prisoners.

The report recommended a number of remedial actions, including increasing external oversight of prison healthcare ...

The nation's economy remains fragile, U.S. troops continue to fight a losing war in Afghanistan, North Korea has recently threatened a nuclear attack, and in March 2013 Congress and President Obama failed to reach a compromise to prevent the “sequester,” which mandates deep spending cuts on the federal level. Yet issues related to immigration – including immigration reform – still manage to dominate national headlines.

The results of the last presidential election, in which over 70% of Hispanics cast their ballots for Obama, have led many panic-stricken Republican politicians to seek ways to avoid electoral irrelevancy at the hands of an increasing number of Hispanic voters.
Consequently, immigration reform is getting serious play in Washington at a time when federal spending on immigration enforcement and border security – estimated at almost $18 billion in fiscal year 2012 according to a recent report by the Migration Policy Institute – totals more than the budgets of all other federal law enforcement agencies combined, including the FBI, DEA and ATF.

Lawmakers Examine Immigration Reform

On January 28, 2013, the so-called “Gang of Eight,” comprised of eight U.S. Senators – four from each party – released a Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR) proposal. Among other ...

The En Banc Missouri Supreme Court held that a private jail must pay $14,056.25 in sales tax and $5,459.79 in use tax, plus interest, on its purchase of prisoner meals, clothing, soap, shampoo, medical supplies and other consumables between 2000 and 2005.

ICC Management Inc. is a private for-profit corporation operating a private jail near Holden, Missouri. It contracts with several Missouri municipalities and counties to house prisoners.

Pursuant to contracts with those government entities, ICC was paid a per-prisoner fee ranging between $32.50 and $50 for ICC to provide prisoners "with consumable items including three meals per day, clothing, soap, shampoo and medical supplies."

Governmental entities are exempt from paying sales tax, so ICC does not, and cannot, charge contracting agencies a sales tax on the consumables it provides prisoners. However, it does factor the cost of those items into the fee it charges the entities, "and, therefore, 'resells' those consumables to the municipalities." As a result, ICC claims that it is entitled to claim a resale exemption from sales and use tax on its consumable purchases.

Based upon this position, ICC did not pay sales or use taxes on consumables it purchased from in-state vendors between January 2000 ...