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April 11, 2009
NV: CCA Proposal for Building 6,000 cages
Board of Prison Commissioners hearing April 14th: Question of for-profit prison plans to build 6,000 beds in Nevada
4-10-09
*I'm with the non-profit Private Corrections Institute and have been a researcher in the field of for-profit prisons for a dozen years. I've read scores of reports, most of the books on the subject and over 10,000 newspaper stories about them. I have obtained thousands of pages of documents under the Freedom of Information Act and through Open Records Act requests in at least ten states and dozens of municipalities. I've testified before numerous state legislative committees and municipalities around the country.
The Corrections Corporation of America has gotten approval for the building of a 1,500-bed prison in Pahrump, in Nye County, from the Office of the Federal Detention Trustee. They have proposed building another 1,500 beds there, plus 3,000 more beds in Storey County, east of Sparks, south of Highway 80 in the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Park.
The corporation has claimed that it wants to hold only federal prisoners, that they will be short-term detainees, that those prisoners will be entirely from within the state of Nevada.
There is no reason to believe that those claims are true. The population of federal prisoners from Nevada is likely less than half the capacity of the proposed Pahrump prison. They have a contract for providing 750 beds only and have made it clear in other venues that it cannot remain in operation without filling their prisons to over 90% capacity. If they don't hold federal prisoners, there will be no requirement to pay prevailing wages, another promise they've made to Nye County. The state of Nevada could conceivably find itself hosting these prisons with no oversight at all.
Citizens in Pahrump were assured that the prison would have federal oversight, but it won't if it doesn't hold them, of course. CCA has simultaneously been marketing itself to take in thousands of California prisoners in various venues. They are holding perhaps a thousand in Eloy, Arizona at their Las Palmas prison. Reports that I'm receiving is that Las Palmas is out of control, with daily fights and green, low-paid staff overwhelmed with the staggering task of controlling this many imported gang bangers.
In a hearing addressing a possible repeal of the long standing Kansas ban on for-profit prisons, the state Secretary of Corrections nailed the problem. He said that he feared if these spec prison builders came back into Kansas "they would begin directing state correctional policy." That is exactly right. The Oklahoma Director was at that meeting. His state has been burdened with riot and escape-plagued prisons for over 15 years. Asked if he could venture in retrospect, whether he would have allowed them in to begin with, his answer was an unequivocal "No!"
CCA has made a mess of contracts with the state of Nevada in the past. Rooftop riots, sexual abuse of female prisoners and the dumping of contracts are but the tip of the iceberg.
The state of Nebraska crafted legislation that restricted the operation of any for-profit operator that proposed to site there. It was very common sense and reflected concerns for the safety of the people of that state. Because of the careful delineation of the conditions under which such a prison could be constructed and operated, no company has ever ventured there. They are simply unwilling to comply with the oversight and regulation legislators required.
Let me suggest that the state of Nevada needs to similarly protect itself before CCA begins construction in two months. I would hope that these issues can be addressed at the Board of Commissioners hearing on April 14th.
Frank Smith
www.privateci.org
Posted by lois at April 11, 2009 11:34 PM