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You heard the one about the prison break in Arizona, with a dangerous Bonnie and Clyde for our time still on the run? Three men got out with help from one of their girlfriends in Kingman. The private prison they broke free of was never designed to hold such serious offenders, and it didn't hold them long enough.
Last year, the Arizona legislature tried to privatize the entire prison system, which would be a great boon to private prison companies like Corrections Corporation of America. A business like that needs prisoners, of course, to make money. Then Arizona legislature delivered SB 1070, the anti-immigration bill that stands to increase the number of illegal immigrants who are arrested and put behind bars.
Now an investigation by KPHO-TV finds that Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer's deputy chief of staff was a lobbyist for Corrections Corporation of America, and his wife still is. Another Brewer adviser runs a firm that represents the prison company. And Gov. Brewer didn't answer KPHO's questions about the connections or why she hadn't revealed them.
Morgan Loew, the KPHO reporter who broke the story, tells us it's a simple equation:
"When someone's picked up on the side of the road or for a crime, they're taken to the jail. At that point, their immigration status is determined. If they're an illegal immigrant, they're reported to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Then they're taken to one of these private prisons, Corrections Corporation of America.
"So, you'd have to do the math. But if you increased the number of people who are picked up, illegal immigrants, increase the number that are sent over to ICE, you're likely going to increase the number that companies like Corrections Corporation of America are going to be housing."
(H/T Blog for Arizona, who told us about the story this week at a watch party in Tucson.)
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I'm an Independent voter,.... really, I pride myself on consideration of issues, candidates, and then,.... I vote. This CCA situation reeks of possible corruption, at best. C'mon Republicans,..... the week started off with Karl Rove (perjury indicted) sitting in for talk show shock jock, Rush Limbaugh (illegal drug use & racist) discussing the possible Presidential candidacy of Newt Gingrich (disgraced and ousted Congressman). Where is the once admired AZ Senator McCain's outrage? After naming the absolutely unprepared Sarah Palin as his VP running mate (who would have been "inj charge" of the USA's nuclear arsenal) is he now again politically hamstrung on thisCCA corruption with another electrion pending?
I am not the sort of person who immediately thinks "CONSPIRACY!!!" whenever the opposition does something heinous...like pass SB1070...but the revelations on last night's show were so unbelievably shocking that I might just rethink rationality. Where, indeed, IS Senator McCain's outrage? Or Senator Kyl's? Wouldn't it be neat to see Governor Brewer taken down for fraud and corruption the way Governor Blagoyevich was?
What I want to know is why isn't A.B.C., N.B.C., C.B.S. and C.N.N. talk about the corruption in the G.O.P. in Arizona . This is, if not bordering on (my favorite charge) high crimes. It's there. No one is suppose to be making business deals like this while holding a public office. I thought the whole purpose of signing over properties and businesses so there would be no appearance of corruption. Network news does fully cover anything most these politician do that is shady, why? And why is a man that is accused of destroying evidence allowed to chair a board responsible investigating corruption? A lot of questions, no answers.
Get your fan out Carolinalady. You've got a lot of "slappin' upside the head to do!" LOL.
This from the Phoenix New Times:
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2010-07-29/news/governor-jan-brewer-s-cca-ties-burn-like-neon-and-news-for-liberals-j-t-ready-s-still-a-neo-nazi/
An old game that was played here in the south after the Civil War. Freed African Americans became newly enslaved on the for profit plantation penitentiaries. The majority of the prisoners were African American in contrast to majority white populations, and many received long sentences for very minor offenses. It was shown that to make them profitable, extreme brutality was common. Today, I am not surprised, immigrants are the new target for these profit machines. Yes, slave labor is back, and SB 1070, even more suspect.
John McCain?? he's just showing his colors now.. imagine he would have been elected.. he's such an obvious seat Wh0re, would do anything to get reelected. I'm not saying in the past he might not had been for immigration reform, but at the first whiff of trouble he jumped ship like rats do with sinking boats.. please... republicand should at least make an effort and bring some people of ... any kind of value. Instead we're showered with the likes of Sarah Palin, John McCain, Linsday Graham (which i had started to respect, but he followed McCain's example)... so sad. I have to say that i admire more people that would fight to accomplish something that is utterly unpopular just because they know in the long run it will be good for the country and by doing that they mine their own politican future.. Maybe if more would do that then we'd lose the "fears" the ignorants are trying to impose on us.
John McCain is always "for" something, until the political wind tells him he must be "against" it.
Remember how he called himself a maverick during his presidential campaign, and wore that on his sleeve like a badge of honor? Running for reelection in Arizona he says he never was a maverick.
in re: CCA prisons.. BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID!!!.. Worked for one year, as a nurse, in a CCA operated medium and minimun security prison in Kentucky. Scariest damn place I ever worked. The inmates were fine.. the STAFF was scary. The ONLY thing required to work as a so called "corrections officer" is a high school diploma, the ability to pass a drug test, and a pulse... no kidding. Training was a ridiculous joke, absolutely NO, NONE..NADA..ZIP..physical fitness requirements. No defensive training, no weapons training.. Gun 'training' was taking a few shots with a pistol and not managing to shot yourself in the foot. They didn't carry any defensive weapons, like pepper spray, or even handcuffs. Had crappy 10 year old walkie talkies that wouldn't work between the control room and anywhere else in the medical building. During my tenure, an "officer" fell asleep in the control room.. not in the middle of the night.. In the freakin' daytime!! Nothing happened to him, BTW..They didn't hire the brightest and the best.. they hired whoever applied, and hoped for the best... Like I said.. Arizona..BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID!!!
I agree with you as a fromer Probation officer-you cannot scrimp on training and safety in prison. I'm glad you made it out alive and well.
If we are to take just one major lesson from this whole situation, it would be that the private sector does a worse job than the government once again. The repubs want to privatize social security, despite the fact that the cost to administer social security now is far less than if it was run by brokerages on Wall Street. Just look at your 401k or other investments, and see what the load is that you are paying. Or take a look at medicare and medicaid, both of which also have far lower overhead costs than any insurance company you will come across. Just the $100 million that one of the execs recently got for compensation last year would fund well over 1,000 medicaid or medicare employees. And this problem with private prisons should be shocking, but it isn't, because they have had problems before, not just at that prison, but nationwide. Wasn't it just last year that a judge in PA was arrested for taking bribes from a private prison to sentence young offenders to private prisons run by that company, often for crimes that usually didn't demand prison time?
When will people learn that corporations could care less whether they do a good job or not? So many industries have been consolidated to such a point that they have very little competition, and if they have lobbyists that used to work in government and know the "right" people, they can be assured of getting lucrative contracts regardless of whether they know how to do the job or not.
Gov. Brewer and her staff need to be investigated for this, but even if she and her cronies were tossed out of office, (and maybe into a private prison), you can bet that the person who replaces her, no matter what party, will end up the same way. It's inevitable, with corporations controlling the government with their money.
it's a strange feeling to be shocked and not really shocked at the same time.
After last nights show I felt like I had an epiphany (with Rachel's help). As a former probation officer in NYS and the step-parent of an inmate currently incarcerated in Arizona's DOC I already had some problems with the for-profit prison idea. My stepson was moved to Kingman in April and (this was not revealed last night but should have been) was involved in a riot at Kingman in June. After reading several accounts of what happened (by CO's and inmates) much of the blame lies on ETC (of course they will not claim any responsibility in the situtation), the CO's are poorly trained and of course "cutting corners" allows one to make a larger profit at the expense of inmate and staff safety. You cannot compromise safety in a prison!!! Now they have moved my stepson to a maximum security prison with lifers after raising his risk score from a 2 (almost minimum) to a 4 (almost maximum) all based on his unwilling "participation" in this riot. I had never connected the idea of making money from having a huge influx of "clients" via the SB 1070 bill. But it all makes sense to me now. Meanwhile my stepson and many others will take the blame for a situation that was set-up by a money-hunger company. Privitization is not the answer to all the world's woes.
That is an awful story, I'm very sorry to read about it.
What could be even worse to learn, though... I'll bet they get paid more for housing higher risk scores. So, that riot could pay off handsomely if they raise a lot of scores.
BTW, riots are basically the other big thing (beyond escapes) that competent prisons try to avoid. The fact that it occurred is evidence that compentence is not present.
Thank you so much for doing this segment, it was perfect! There needs to be far more coverage of this issue. There are just too many questions that go unanswered.
How long til they start privatizing POLICE FORCES? What do you call private armed enforcement? Mercenaries! Black Water/Xe and its clones enforcing laws here on American soil? After how well they did in Iraq and Afgahnistan? Yeah. Brilliant. It'll problably be Arizona first. Just watch.
It wouldn't surprise me to know that some corporations already have such things. There is nothing in the law to prevent a company from hiring Blackwater/Xe for security. As we well know, corporations can get away with a lot in this country, and mercenaries have been literally getting away with murder ever since they began taking over so much of the dutie of the military in Iraq and Afghanistan.
I was amazed anyone would ever have gone that route when I read about it in Machiavelli way back in college. Then my paranoia went into overdrive when I first started hearing about Blackwater.
The whole concept of having private, independent armed forces operating on the profit motive is nucking futs, in my opinion.
I recall something about the mercenaries turning against their former employers and causing no end of trouble in ancient Rome. Not to mention the fact that the mercenary Pretorian Guard who were the body guards of Caesar...they had in at least in one instance chose who Caesar would be (Claudius after the assassination of Caligula) after threatening to rape and pillage if deprived of an employer. Mercenaries employed inside American borders, NOT a good idea.
I am pretty sure that some gated communities already employ what is, essentially, their own private police forces.
When mercs are used by local gov't instead of police, we will have taken our first steps down the road to Hell.
This country has drunk the kool aid of laissez faire capitalism for too long, believing in the infallibility of the market. We have seen that corporations are ruled by just one thing: greed. Greed overrides even common sense, as we saw in the subprime mortgage debacle. Brokerages created arcane derivatives that were almost impossible for even other people on Wall Street to understand, including the CEOs of the brokerages where they were created. As a result, those companies made risky bets, often without knowing it, and when they finally realized, too late, that the bets were positively going to fail, they tried to deceive other dupes into taking them off their hands, and even duped rating agencies like S&P to rate them as top quality, lowest risk bonds.
For-profit private prisons are no different than relying on mercenaries like Blackwater, or companies like Halliburton and KBR, to do work that used to be done by government. Contrary to the idea foisted on us by conservatives that these companies would do a better job at a lower cost, we have instead seen that they are constantly cutting corners, yet costing far more than if they had been done by government. Many of the mercenaries working in Iraq and Afghanistan make twice as much as your standard soldier, and in the case of Afghanistan, they outnumber our troops by a wide margin. In other words, they are more costly than if the military was doing the work.
We have to end this expensive, failed experiment in privatizing government functions. I am confident that if we reverted back to using government workers instead of contractors, we'd find that we save money and get better results.
It may seem off topic but its not. When I lost my job a couple of years ago, I was on COBRA til that ran out. Not wanting to be without insurance, we got the most inexpensive we could find. I suffer from sleep apnea. At night I have to wear a plastic face mask connected to an air pump so I don't suffocate in my sleep. Over time, the mask breaks down. When we got it replaced on the new insurance, we were given a discount so we could pay out of pocket for it for over $600. Even with the insurance we were still paying outrageous sums for medication, so we dropped the coverage. Then a piece of my face mask broke. We went to the supplier that we had gotten it from, explained our situation to her. Fortunately she had a replacement piece for what had broken. But the most shocking thing is that what our insurance discount allowed us to buy at over 600 dollars, would could by from the supplier for $135.
That's the wonder and splendor of the free market. Moral B: Always check with suppliers first before going through insurance companies for medical equipment. I'd like to see if that would be possible for medications.
Sheriff Arpaio was on Anderson Cooper last night saying that they need to "lock 'em up". He reinforced that point several times. Wonder why he was so insistent on increases in incarceration? Hmmmmmm...
Schwarzenegger wanted to privatize the prison system out here in California too.
I am a liberal Democrat, but to be fair, it was Janet Napolitano who signed the contract with the prison from where the convicts escaped. Ms. Napolitano did nothing but give us rhetoric about illegal immigration and the problems we encounter in our daily Arizona lives-- the number one state for identity theft, car theft, kidnapping-- not to mention just having to deal with violence, graffiti on walls and even our precious saguaro cacti. At that time, she blamed the Feds for it all. Now she is a Fed and we now we are getting Federal rhetoric for her and no action. It is very easy for people not living in a border State to critcize us for our attitude about "anchor babies" and illegal immigration-- and I guess I would do that too if I lived in D.C. or Connecticut.
Could you please post a source for that information on Napolitano? I do know that private prisons have been in Arizona since 1993, and neither Brewer nor Napolitano was governor then.
Napolitano did attempt to get legislation passed in 2008 requiring private prisons to be more accountable. That bill died after only one hearing, and if it had passed, it's very possible the latest escape would not have happened.
SB1142 would have required private prisons to:
* Comply with state capacity and construction standards.
* Immediately notify the Arizona Dept. of Corrections about any major incidents at any prison, and allow state officials to investigate. Prisons who did not comply with this law could face stiff penalties.
* Not be allowed to house inmates classified as maximum security, were convicted of a sexual offense, or any offense that would be a Class 1 or 2 felony in the state or Arizona (e.g. murder), have a history of escape, rioting, or are infected with HIV, hepatitis, or tuberculosis.
* Not be allowed to release another state's inmates in Arizona.
* Have to provide the Arizona Dept. of Corrections with profiles and other information on each and every prisoner that private prisons incarcerate.
And no one thinks CCA has a strangle-hold on the Arizona legislature?
http://realcostofprisons.org/blog/archives/2008/03/az_napolitanos.html
I live in Connecticut and undocumented immigrants is an issue here too. But that does not mean it is a reason for a draconian "show me your papers" law that will adversely affect the rights of both citizens and legal immigrants that just happen to look like undocumented immigrants.
As for the whole "anchor baby" thing? Even the pilgrims had "anchor babies" and, quite frankly, I believe that the term will end up in the history dust bin, when people look back at this particular issue and judge it, along with such infamous terms as "tar babies", "tater tots" and other racial slurs popular among the bigots of their (dis)respective times. I also believe that history will judge laws like SB 1070 as an attempt to install a policy of the crime of apartheid by some seriously radical crazies in the USA.
Please get an account on youtube, if you truly want more viewers. You can do what Ellen and Bill Maher do, give small taster-clips with links in the "pants" to this site.
Who say America doesn't need Illegals Immigrants?
They are part of this business we need them. Somebody have to take the blame
That's OK they don't count ( no vote, no Rights, and no welfare ). I was one of them
Rachel, your whole show last night was stellar. I think it was your best show yet. Great reporting! Keep up bringing facts to the table! It's what we need in this country.
Hey Rachel and Staff,
When you follow up on this report, you should reference this as another set of proofs that for profit prisons are a very bad thing. Not all things in this country should be for profit: i.e. prisons, health care, and banks. Anyway, here's a link. I saw a story on tv about it one day.
http://www.truth-out.org/021909J
I want to express my gratitude to RACHEL MADDOW and her entire team, for showing the courage and the real truth that what is behind of the controversial Arizona law. I hope other people ( Republican Party) will have the courage and to speak up if they want my vote. Shame on you Mr MacCain, you were a great soldier. Please try to learn something from your beautiful daughter, I really admire her courage for speaking up not worrying to loose any future election.
The GOPartiers certainly know plenty about fomenting anger in white people. The so-called anchor babies do nothing to anchor any illegal alien in the US. If the parents are arrested and deported, why would they ever want to leave their beloved children behind? Would any of us deliberately do this? Of course not! It only makes sense in some rare cases when an older teen-young adult wants to stay here and is going to college.
The Catholic church and its anti-birthcontrol stance got its hooks into the indigenous populations of this region. If anyone needs to be blamed, let's blame the Catholic church. But then, I always like to blame religious institutions.
Come to think of it, Mexicans were here before any of those racist teabaggers' ancestors arrived. These indigenous Indians precluded even the first Spanish colonists. This argument is going to be yet another nail in the GOP coffin.
Rachel, great show as per usual.
I expected to find this story as breaking news all over the web but I have not seen one word!!! I am stunned that this story of corruption is not being covered.
I often questioned the motivation of SB1070. After seeing Rachel's coverage my question has been answered. Their interest is not about illegal immigration, it is about money. Think about it, presently the prison is receiving 11 million a month from ICE and they have a 5% vacancy. More incarcerations means more $$$. And what about sheriff Joe? We need to expose this and the Justice Department needs to get involved.
Rachel, great job and keep up the great work.
These private for-profit prisons don't just make money from the state paying them to incarcerate people.
I'm surprised that the "work" and "jobs training" programs at these for profit prisons hasn't been raised yet. These programs generate additional money for the prison corporation by providing very low wage (a few dollars a day per prisoner) labor for businesses that contract with them. Inmates are a forced labor pool doing work below minimum wage. Jobs that would otherwise be done by law-abiding citizens who would have to be paid at least minimum wage.
Not to get too conspiracy minded, but when I looked at the Corrections Corporation of America web site, under their "Keeping The Faith" section were listed a number of very powerful conservative Christian organizations including Rick Warren's Purpose-Driven Ministry and Trinity Broadcasting Network. Needless to say, the faith-based programs listed by CCA are exclusively Christian and evangelical with the exception of Habitat for Humanity.
What are the additional links between these faith-based groups, the for-profit prison system, corporate contractors with these prisons, and public officials in Arizona and other states? I suspect there is a story there.
If ever there were a law put in to place that would be guaranteed, just by virtue vice of its profitability, to be abused up and down the legal system... This would seem to be it. Especially when you consider how little regard many of the law's supporters already show towards all of SB-1070's intended victims.
http://discuss.epluribusmedia.net/content/arizona-apartheid-success
http://discuss.epluribusmedia.net/content/arizonas-sb-1070-another-case-follow-money
Census, Redistricting, Immigration and Voter Suppression
Think about the coming redistricting as a result of the recent Census.
Imagine that many states that will gain a lot more Congressional weight through the Census results inevitable redistricting suddenly decided to chase a particular growing population from their state with certain targeted policies in order to achieve the goal of keeping these newly minted Congressional heavy weights in the hands of a political party that would otherwise be losing grip in the future.
And just imagine if they were already doing it to a large degree and with great success.
I guess you do not have to imagine it all, eh?
http://discuss.epluribusmedia.net/content/census-redistricting-immigration-and-voter-suppression
CTMan, don't forget that prisoners are included in the count for local population, which qualifies communities for federal funding, services and most importantly, Congressional seats. So importing dark-skinned people to Arizona prisons disproportionately increases the influence of the unincarcerated lighter hued citizens where the prisons are located.
The prison industrial complex is no joke. With the right "tough on crime" policies, it becomes a huge growth industry that devours American citizens, starting with the black and the brown. Police state. Think about it.
IamSmartypants: I had been thinking about the fact that prisoners are counted in the census (I wrote a bit on it and later tossed a comment into the post about the fact that privatizing prisons is a great way to push gerrymandering - http://discuss.epluribusmedia.net/content/thats-gerrymandering ) and was going to rework those thoughts into a post to reflect that fact. I am glad you are paying attention, as well. And that is the beauty of the blogosphere... So many people paying attention to the littyle things everywhere that very little gets missed these days.
Don Quixokie: Just look to the kids that were incarcerated in PA for BS reasons... Privatized child prisons paying off the judges to fill their prisons with kids that needed help, NOT prison time.
Kid Pro Quo: PA Juvenile "Justice" System Upended
http://discuss.epluribusmedia.net/content/kid-pro-quo-pa-juvenile-justice-system-upended
I'm curious then, just how far-reaching and concerted the idea of immigration linked with for-profit detention facilities.
Isn't Mr McCotter from Utah? The very next state to announce immigration reform modeled after AZ?
Utah? Idaho? Nebraska? Montana? Really, they have such an immigration problem? Or is Arizona just a vanguard for a new method of fleecing the federal coffers? How many of these other states are looking to privatize or gain financially like Arizona from an increase in federally detained illegal immigrants?
As a ex offender i can say that california prisons has privatized 85% of its services so the need to have many heads that flow thru the prison system is very important I do not plan to contribute any more I have not been to jail in 16yrs and i have a bomb job with the federal gov....