The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

Louise Grant, a spokeswoman for the company, said it does not comment on pending litigation.

The company has a contract with the state Management Services Department. Spokeswoman Linda McDonald said the department's inspector general is investigating the death but it also cannot comment on a pending case.

Department of Corrections spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said her agency has a limited role but added: "Allegations of wrongdoing are investigated and if substantiated, the department works to make certain those responsible are held accountable."

Inmates, including others who contracted MRSA - methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus - went without water in restrooms and bathing facilities possibly up to a week at a time, Frank said in the letters.

"Investigation has shown the inmates were compelled to defecate in plastic bags in lieu of using toilets and the bags were collected in barrels kept in each of the prison dormitories," Frank wrote.

Nobles, 51, of Wewahitchka, was 60 days short of completing a drug possession sentence of just over a year when she died, Frank said.

University of South Florida pathogenic microbiologist Lindsey Shaw, who has studied MRSA for the past 10 years, said Wednesday that there's little risk of contracting the ailment from being deprived of toilet use but going without washing or bathing is a possible factor.

"Bathing, yes. Bathing's a big deal," Shaw said. "Poor hygiene is a big problem."

The best way to prevent MRSA is frequent hand washing, he said.

MRSA often occurs in cramped quarters such as prisons, said Dr. Arjun Srinivasan, a medical epidemiologist with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Florida law requires people who have claims against the state to notify the appropriate agency within three years after the cause of the claim. The claim must be denied before they can sue.

Private Prisons Update
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
http://www.wprbnews.com/2008/08/private-prisons-update.html

Earlier, I posted the story of Emma Jean Nobles and Staphanie Rhaney, inmates who died during a stay at a Florida facility run by Tennessee-based private prison behemoth Corrections Corporation of America.

Now, the Associated Press has picked up an additional angle on the story dealing with water, or the lack of water, at the same facility:

"Water was turned off for days at a time at the prison for women in nearby Gretna, apparently as a cost-cutting measure, the attorney, Patrick R. Frank, said in an interview Wednesday."

The entire story can be found here and is well worth a read. It also notes that the Nobles case discussed in the article posted today has been dismissed by the presiding judge and is now on appeal.

Also, I can now confirm that the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA), the same agency that produced damning reports on Florida private prisons during the 1990s, is currently working on what should be a blockbuster report that will address CCA's conduct in the state.

If you'd like a primer on the private prison industry, be sure to give this 1998 article by Eric Schlosser in the Atlantic Monthly a read. Schlosser, a former Princetonian himself, is an excellent journalist and writer and, ten years on, this article seems incredibly prescient.

We'll continue to follow this and other related stories here at WPRB, so stay tuned.