CCA is the manager of the Deer Park private women's prison in Victoria and
has just been awarded the contract to build and run WA's first private
prison, with the help of the WA Democrats.
Wackenhut is the largest public or private incarcerator in Australia, with
private prisons, prison health, all of the countries migrant detention
centres, prison escorts, police cells and currently pursuing private
juvenile detention in Victoria.
CCA
Published Thursday, August 12, 1999 CCAStatewire
WISCONSIN INMATES SUE PRIVATE PRISON
MADISON Wis. (AP) -- Some Wisconsin inmates incarcerated in Tennessee
have filed a federal lawsuit against the company that operates the private
prison where they are being held.
At least 45 prisoners allege they have been victims of torture and civil
rights violations. The lawsuits filed in Milwaukee and Nashville Tenn.
claim the inmates were repeatedly beaten choked sprayed with pepper spray
and shocked with electrical devices following an assault on a guard Aug. 5
1998.
Representatives for the prisons operator Corrections Corporation of America
did not immediately return telephone messages left today.
An attorney for 14 plaintiffs Robin Shellow compared the allegations to the
violent acts of Serbian soldiers committed against Croatians and human
rights violations in China and Chile.
These are the same kinds of things that America has made very very serious
human rights complaints about China Shellow said. I dont know why we hold
countries and regimes responsible for the torture of its citizens sanction
them and cut off trade but yet CCA gets away with it time and time again.
Wisconsin Corrections Secretary Jon Litscher said under the CCA contract
Wisconsin could not be held liable if the inmates were successful with
their lawsuit.
Litscher has visited the Whiteville prison as well as the CCA facility in
Sayre Okla. where Wisconsin also houses inmates and said he was satisfied
with both operations.
Copyright 1999 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not
be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Copyright 1999. All
rights reserved.
ABQjournal: Corrections Plan Targets Violence in State Prison Thursday,
August 12, 1999
CORRECTIONS PLAN TARGETS VIOLENCE IN STATE PRISONS
Albuquerque Journal
By Loie FecteauJournal Capitol Bureau
Corrections Secretary Rob Perry on Wednesday outlined his plan to fix
problems related to violence at private prisons in New Mexico.
Perry urged legislators to give his agency time to iron out problems at the
state's two newest private prisons.
"We're on a critical path for 24 months," Perry said at a news conference
in Albuquerque. "The jury's out. We have to give this some time with
objective information before we know if this is a good system for the state
of New Mexico."
Perry's comments came a day before he is to face an interim legislative
committee looking into problems at private prisons in New Mexico.
The interim Courts, Corrections and Criminal Justice Committee plans to
hold a two-day meeting beginning today in Hobbs, where Florida-based
Wackenhut Corrections Corp. owns and operates a 1,200-bed private prison.
Wackenhut has a $25 million annual contract to house 1,500 state inmates at
its prisons in Hobbs and Santa Rosa.
The Hobbs prison, which opened in May 1998, has come under fire from
legislators and others after three inmate stabbing deaths and an April
disturbance involving about 170 inmates. At least six nonfatal stabbings
also have happened at the prison. In two other cases, prison guards used
excessive force, the incidents were covered up and officers were fired or
disciplined.
"Things happen in state prisons. Things happen in private prisons," Perry
said Wednesday. "The Wright brothers didn't fly the first time they got in
a plane, and to this day planes crash, and we continue to use them.
"Bad things are going to happen in prisons."
Perry's plan includes requiring Wackenhut to use a more consistent
management system at Hobbs. The 1,200-bed prison has been divided into four
300-bed sections, which will be overseen by the same prison officers and
assistant warden. Staff had been rotated around the entire prison. Daily
cell searches for weapons also will be conducted.
Perry said the state was reviewing its inmate classification system to make
sure it is "putting the right inmates in the right institution."
Perry acknowledged that some inmates, whom he described as "gang heavies,"
had been sent to Hobbs inappropriately. "We've already pulled some inmates
out," Perry said.
Perry said he plans to issue an annual report on private prisons in New
Mexico that will look at programs for inmates, security and staff, among
other things.
The Corrections Department also is working with James Aiken, a consultant
paid by the Department of Justice's National Institute of Corrections.
Aiken said he was conducting a study of operations at Hobbs. His report is
to be completed in September.
"I've been asked to come in and give an external point of view," Aiken
said. "I've been given a free rein to look at anything."
--
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