The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

Several prisoners developed skin conditions after the incident and were denied treatment, the lawsuit charges.

The director of corporate relations for the GEO Group, which manages the prison, declined to comment on the lawsuit, writing in an e-mail: ”As a matter of policy, our company does not comment on litigation related matters.”

“New Mexico has one of the largest percentage of inmates housed in privately-run prison facilities in the country,” Bryan J. Davis, a cooperating attorney for the ACLU of New Mexico, said in a press release.

“These prisons go up, the employees don’t receive adequate training, and the inmates suffer the consequences. It’s irresponsible on the part of the private prison companies and the state that contracts with them.”

The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages against the GEO Group and several employees.
http://newmexicoindependent.com/29767/nm-aclu-sues-private-prison-for-cruel-and-unusual-punishment

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Operator of private NM prison sued by 7 inmates

By DEBORAH BAKER – 6-17-09

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union is suing the operator of New Mexico's newest private prison on behalf of seven inmates who claim they were taunted by guards and videotaped while locked for hours in a shower room.

The lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court in Albuquerque named The GEO Group Inc. and wardens and other employees of the Northeast New Mexico Detention Facility in Clayton.

The medium-security men's prison in far northeastern New Mexico opened last summer to house state inmates.

The lawsuit, filed by the ACLU of New Mexico, alleges the inmates' constitutional rights were violated in a Dec. 10, 2008, incident.

Warden Timothy Hatch declined to discuss the matter, referring inquiries to a GEO spokesman, Pablo Paez, at the company's Boca Raton, Fla., headquarters.

"As a matter of policy, our company does not comment on litigation related matters," Paez said in an e-mail.

According to the lawsuit, the seven inmates were locked in a cold shower room with little or no clothing for five hours, then coerced into crawling out through a small, dirty hole in the shower wall after guards said they couldn't find the key.

The inmates were in the shower room when a disturbance in a neighboring pod prompted a lockdown, and Hatch ordered the seven locked in the shower room, according to the complaint.

It said two of the men were naked, while the others wore boxer shorts or had small towels.

A female guard filmed the men with a video recorder and "giggled and danced" while doing so, the lawsuit alleges. Other guards passed by and laughed at them, the lawsuit claims.

Tear gas from the neighboring pod, where the disturbance occurred, wafted into the shower room and bothered an inmate who had breathing problems, but he was denied access to his inhaler, according to the lawsuit, which seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

The plaintiffs allege they were kept in the shower without additional clothing or access to a bathroom for three hours after the incident in the neighboring pod had been resolved, and then told they would have to crawl through the hole to get out.

Bryan J. Davis, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs, said in a statement that employees of private prisons aren't adequately trained, and "the inmates suffer the consequences."

"It's irresponsible on the part of the private prison companies and the state that contracts with them," he said.

According to the New Mexico Department of Corrections, 46 percent of state inmates are housed in privately operated facilities with which the state contracts. The GEO Group has the bulk of those inmates, with prisons in Clayton, Hobbs and Santa Rosa.

The Clayton prison has 577 inmates, said department spokeswoman Tia Bland.

"The Corrections Department is aware of what happened during this incident. We believe the validity of this lawsuit is questionable," Bland said.

She also said the corrections officers at Clayton had received the same training as correctional officers who work at state-operated prisons.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5joGv_Qjs5_Qs-_txnTAEXZsg0cNgD98SN8I83