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Galraedia

(5,025 posts)
Sat May 5, 2012, 09:44 PM May 2012

AZ review shows private prisons cost more. So legislature ends the study.

If you're a state hellbent on turning corrections over to the for-profit prison industry, what do you do when an annual survey shows that private jails are often more expensive than the old fashioned public variety? Especially if, by law, the state may contract for private prisons only if they prove to be less expensive? Simple, just eliminate that pesky study.

Buried in the $8.6 billion budget proposal passed at the state Capitol this week is a plan to "eliminate the requirement for a quality and cost review of private prison contracts." It means there would no longer be an annual review of how private prisons operate. CBS5.com


The corrections industry in Arizona is enjoying a good ride. They've been held harmless in the last two state budgets, while education, healthcare, and every other public service has been cut off at the knees. Along with its budget, the corrections cartel's political power has increased. Tucson Citizen's Cell-Out AZ has lotsa dirt, like raiding mortgage settlement funds for prisons. The industry's biggest legislative win, of course, was SB 1070, which the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) helped craft and pass, alongside ALEC. It's not like the incarceration industry has a financial interest or anything, since SB 1070, if implemented as written, would provide them a heckuva lot more customers.

One might ask why the legislature ended an annual review of private prisons, less than two years after three inmates escaped from the Kingman facility run by Management & Training Corporation (MTC). A nationwide manhunt ended in their capture, but not before the men, two of whom were convicted killers, hijacked an Oklahoma couple's car and trailer in New Mexico, shot them at a rest stop and burned their bodies in the trailer. Immediately after this tragedy, there were loud calls to clean up the crappy security at Kingman -- and all prisons statewide. This Arizona Republic story, titled "Arizona Prison Oversight Lacking for Private Facilities," was typical:

Read more: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/05/04/1088662/-AZ-review-shows-private-prisons-cost-more-So-legislature-ends-the-study-
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AZ review shows private prisons cost more. So legislature ends the study. (Original Post) Galraedia May 2012 OP
I hate private prisons. ZombieHorde May 2012 #1
The CCA and Governor jan brewer have close ties thelordofhell May 2012 #2
Dog forbid they dispel their own myth that private industry always does it better and cheaper Major Nikon May 2012 #3
Right conclusion, wrong facts Baukunin May 2012 #4

ZombieHorde

(29,047 posts)
1. I hate private prisons.
Sat May 5, 2012, 10:24 PM
May 2012

If this post doesn't get many responses, it is probably because this has already been discussed here on DU.

Don't get me wrong, I am very happy you posted it again, I'm just letting you know.

Baukunin

(3 posts)
4. Right conclusion, wrong facts
Sun May 6, 2012, 11:30 AM
May 2012

Save for a few brave ink stained wretches, most notably Bob Ortega of the Arizona Republic, this escape story has been almost universally mangled by the media, which never seemed able to correct its glaring errors.

The three escapees separated immediately outside the fence, when one hijacked the getaway vehicle, leaving his fellow escapees and their accomplice stranded in the desert.

He was captured in a shootout in Rifle, Colorado the next day. He is now doing 60 years at Colorado taxpayers' expense, with Arizona off the hook for his keep.

The Oklahoma couple who were murdered were the second pair to be kidnapped, robbed and hijacked within five days by the remaining trio. They were not shot "at a rest stop," as would become obvious by even the most superficial reading of the actual coverage.

The "nationwide search" was mangled as well. The inept (Mis)management and Training Corporation took hours to discover the escape, hours more to report it to outside law enforcement and corrections officials. One after another opportunity to capture them was botched, though one killer virtually turned himself in in Wyoming ten days after he'd fled the prison. The last two fell victim to their own carelessness and were captured unawares and without incident in an Arizona campground.

The bought-off Arizona legislature is always willing to accommodate. Rod Gould, the state senator who represents Kingman and Golden Valley, where the escape actually occurred, killed an effort at providing more competent oversight last year. He's running for Congress now and is certainly trolling for campaign contributions.

The Department of Corrections, similarly is trying to pad industry profits and is currently considering giving a contract for 1,000 more unneeded beds to MTC or one of its equally incompetent but well connected competitors.

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