June 22, 2012 by Anonymous
Bob, currently our Senior Organizer, brings with him more than a decade of work around the issues of prison and immigrant detention privatization. He has worked in leadership positions with Grassroots Leadership for almost ten years, managing some of our most successful program. Please direct all Grassroots Leadership communication to him at blibal@grassrootsleadership.org.
[node:read-more:link]June 20, 2012 by Bob Libal
The reports detail a stunningly flawed half-way house system with little-to-no security, prisoners subject to sexual assaults, theft, and murder, and more than 5,000 prisoners who simply walked away from the facility.
[node:read-more:link]June 18, 2012 by Anonymous
"It makes no sense to expel talented young persons who are, for all intents and purposes, Americans." And with that message, President Barack Obama announced a policy that gives legal status to nearly a million young immigrants who meet the DREAM Act requirements, and, for the moment, stops their deportation and grants work authorization.
[node:read-more:link]June 18, 2012 by Anonymous
The first 20 people who make a donation of $10 or more will receive this bumper sticker. [node:read-more:link]
May 9, 2012 by Bob Libal
This week, we return to familiar territory - Arizona. Earlier this week, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed a "compromise" budget agreement. Included in that budget were 500 maximum security state-run prison beds and 1,000 private prison beds. In fact, Arizona doesn't need more prison beds due to the state's declining prison population.
If this situation makes you think Arizona is going insane, you're not alone. See what Arizona House Minority Leader Chad Campbell said of the new provision after the jump.
[node:read-more:link]April 25, 2012 by Bob Libal
Today's Humpday Hall of Shame inductee is former Democratic Arizona Senator Dennis DeConcini. DeConcini, who served in the Senate from 1977 until 1995, sits on the board of Corrections Corporation of America (CCA).
DeConcini's membership on the CCA board makes him complicit in the anti-immigrant actions of CCA. See what the Fuerza Coalition has to say after the jump.
[node:read-more:link]April 11, 2012 by Bob Libal
For today's Humpday Hall of Shame, we go back to New Hampshire to look at who is being paid to push private prisons in the "Live Free or Die State." They include the current mayor of Concord and several well-connected lobbyists.
According the New Hampshire Business Review, the current Request for Proposals to privatize the state's entire prison system would reach historic proportions:
"Will New Hampshire become the first state in the nation to hand over its entire prison population to a corporation based out of state? And is it in the middle of doing so right now? The New Hampshire Department of Corrections has put out a request for proposal that would essentially hand over the keys to a future penitentiary to an outside contractor for 20 years. Though the RFP still has to clear several hurdles, four companies have responded with plans to build, and probably run, a new prison for all of New Hampshire's male (and perhaps female) inmates." ("Proposal under review would put all New Hampshire prisoners in private, for-profit facilities -- the first state to do so," April 6) [node:read-more:link]
April 4, 2012 by Anonymous
This is the second in a two-part piece on the history of the State of Idaho’s contracting with private prison corporations.
Last week we reported that Idaho, despite a long run of horror stories and lawsuits involving private prison corporations, continues to contract with private prison companies like Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). CCA operates the Idaho Correctional Center, a facility with the reputation so violent that it has earned the nickname “Gladiator School” from people incarcerated there.
This week, we will explore a possible explanation for Idaho's continued contracts with private prison corporations in Idaho - campaign contributions to influential politicians in the state. According to data from InfluenceExplorer.com, Corrections Corporation of America has donated more than $119,000 in campaign contributions to Idaho politicians since 2002. GEO Group donated another $14,400 in just two election cycles - 2006 and 2008. See who has profitted the most from this lobbying money after the jump. [node:read-more:link]
March 29, 2012 by Anonymous
Grassroots Leadership applauds the passage of Illinois SB 1064, which would prohibit the state from contracting “…with a private contractor or private vendor for the provision of services relating to the operation of a correctional or detention facility." The bill passed in 34-17 vote, and now goes to the Illinois House.
In 1990, the State of Illinois banned most privately run detention centers and prisons through its Moratorium Act, which passed with bipartisan support. The law has kept private prison giants like Corrections Corporation of America and the GEO Group out of the Land of Lincoln ever since.
[node:read-more:link]March 28, 2012 by Bob Libal
This is the first in a two-part piece on the history of the State of Idaho's contracting with private prison corporations.
Idaho, despite a long run of horror stories and lawsuits involving private prison corporations, continues to contract with private prison companies like Corrections Corporation of America. Here's the latest story:
"Guards at a private prison instigated - and watched - a gang fight that left him brutally beaten and unconscious, says a man who claims that Corrections Corporation of America guards "foster" brutality between inmates, and conceal injuries in the prison's "in-house" medical center. Jacob Clevenger sued Corrections Corporation of America, CCA Western Properties, and Philip Valdez, warden of the CCA's Idaho Correctional Center, in Federal Court." ("Brutality alleged at private prison," Courthouse News, March 26)
As we reported in November, Clevenger's accusations are not the first at the Idaho Correctional Center. In fact, the facility has a reputation as being one of the most violent correctional facilities in the nation, earning its nickname “The Gladiator School” from people incarcerated there.
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