Help Wanted: Undercover Hero*
Trumpian economic policies has re-invigorated a number of profit-driven, but morally corrupted and civically ignorant industries. The most vile is the private prison industry which is a growing cog in the machinery of Trumpist fascism. I don’t know if the CoreCivic facility in Crowley County, Colorado is or will be housing detained ICE arrestees, but I do know they are hiring correctional officers. That is good news if you live in this area, need a job, and cannot find a different one or are not qualified for another. But, notwithstanding what your local or state political representative says, not all jobs are good jobs from a societal progress perspective. It is civically unethical to profit from the misery of others, especially if the owners motive is profit contextualized in economic “growth”, for the thing about corporate profits is: X is not enough. As a prospective employee looking for work, sometimes, one needs to just say no to what is being offered in your area and find another way to pay the rent or mortgage. This is often an impossible task, but need not be in Colorado at this time, which has one of the strongest state economies in the nation formerly known as the United States.
In the realm of criminal justice, the goal of a civically-minded society, whether federal, state, or local should be to REDUCE the need for correctional facilities, private or public, not to find justification to expand them, whether they be for immigration detention, non-violent drug offenses, or the inability to make bail or pay a debt. That was the mission of the Obama Administration. It is not that of the current person holding the same office who has reversed some important recent progress in the judicial system.
CoreCivic is an ironically named company. Here is a section from its Wiki page:
“As of 2016, the company is the second largest private corrections company in the United States.[3] CoreCivic manages more than 65 state and federal correctional and detention facilities with a capacity of more than 90,000 beds in 19 states and the District of Columbia.[4] The company’s revenue in 2012 exceeded $1.7 billion.[5] By 2015, its contracts with federal correctional and detention authorities generated up to 51% of its revenues. It operated 22 federal facilities with the capacity for 25,851 prisoners.[6] By 2016, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) along with GEO Group were running “more than 170 prisons and detention centres”. CCA’s revenues in 2015 were $1.79bn.[7]
CCA has been the subject of much controversy over the years, mostly related to apparent attempts to save money, such as hiring inadequate staff, extensive lobbying, and lack of proper cooperation with legal entities to avoid repercussions.[8] CCA rebranded as CoreCivic amid the ongoing scrutiny of the private prison industry.[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CoreCivic
This re-branding strategy of changing the name of a corporation is a common tactic when illegal, unethical, and immoral practices have been exposed. When CoreCivic was still known as Corrections Corporation of America, Shane Bauer went undercover as a correctional officer in 2015 and reported about some of the abuses he saw in, “My Four Months as a Private Prison Guard” (in Louisiana).
Another industry under privatization pressure is the war industry. Ollie North-on-steroids, Erik Prince, is an example of a corporate leader whose corporation changed its name TWICE since their illegal activities (2007) during the Iraq War were exposed, from Blackwater to Xe Services to Academi (His sister is Education Secretary and privatization queen Betsy DeVos). Recently, Prince offered to privatize some current Defense Department responsibilities in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Allegedly, he had already been profiting off of the Libyan conflict in early 2017. His handiwork can also be seen all over the Middle East conflagration under the employ of Saudi Arabia, to name one.
This country’s slide toward unaccountable privatization in education, war, and corrections has been a gradual one and much of it started during the Reagan Administration. With respect to corrections, the below-cited paragraphs explain the birth of CCA, now CoreCivic, and the beginning of privatization in that industry in modern America in 1983:
“According to a 2013 CCA video,[12] Hutto and Beasley were the chief founders. Hutto had years of experience in corrections and was president-elect of the American Correctional Association. The two men met with representatives of the Federal Bureau of Prisons and Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS, now ICE), which operated under U.S. Department of Justice from 1933 to 2003, to discuss a potential joint venture for a facility to detain illegal aliens in Texas.[12]
CCA was awarded a contract in late 1983 by the U.S. Department of Justice for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (formerly Immigration and Naturalization Service).[13] This was the “first contract ever to design, build, finance and operate a secure correctional facility.” This is considered to have marked the beginning of the private prison industry.[14] CCA had to have the facilities ready by early January 1984, ninety days from the signing of the contract. Hutto and Beasley flew to Houston and after several days, negotiated a deal with the owner of Olympic Motel — a “pair of nondescript two-story buildings” on “I-45 North between Tidwell and Parker”[14] — to hire their family and friends to staff the re-purposed motel for four months as a detention facility. On Super Bowl Sunday at the end of January, Hutto personally processed the first 87 undocumented aliens at this facility, and CCA received its first payment.[12]……The company opened its first facility, the Houston Processing Center, in 1984. The Houston Detention Center was built to house individuals awaiting a decision on immigration cases or repatriation.[5]” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CoreCivic
Concomitant with the GOP’s push for privatization is the equally destructive push for deregulation of everything. Notwithstanding the GOP’s Ayn Rand approach of “every person for themselves”, one of the purposes of government is to protect its citizens from that which they cannot do themselves. Under-regulation restricts that ability and puts innocent people at risk for the benefit of a heartless corporation that may be located elsewhere. Certainly its investors are and likely the profits and their benefits, as well.
So, I caution the young men and women of the Pueblo and Crowley County areas, don’t sell your soul and your mental health for the crumbs being offered by this oppressive regime of “profits-at-all-costs”. The Colorado state government has been keeping an eye on the private prison industry and found the Crowley County facility deficient in 2005 and as recently as as 2017, another private prison company, GEO Group Inc failed to protect one of its inmates in a Colorado Springs facility.
I applaud the workers of this region’s coal industry and their willingness to undergo retraining in another industry, likely the renewable wind and solar industry and I encourage those and others seeking employment at this time to find an alternative to that being offered by the prison-industrial complex. If you are not qualified for the renewable energy or computer coding sectors, try the trucking industry. It is understaffed, pays better, and you can see great scenery. Or, if you must choose a correctional career and you are ready for an adventure, apply to CoreCivic, accept their job offer, and work under-cover for the benefit of those inmates that are entitled to humane treatment. If you see abuse, report it, confidentially, and hold corporate America and their money hungry investors accountable. Not only will you be a hero to democracy, fair treatment, and the rule of law, you will feel personally gratified, maybe.
Other Comments:
While the private prison population will likely increase, taxpayers can expect little in terms of accountability in return for footing the bill for government contracts with private prison companies. Even though for-profit prisons are fulfilling a government role by housing federal prisoners, the industry remains shrouded in secrecy and shielded from meaningful public oversight.
By asserting their status as private entities, private prison companies exempt themselves from the public’s chief tool for transparency and accountability, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), making it harder to assess whether private prisons are comparable to their federally-run counterparts.
In August 2016, the U.S. Department of Justice found that a sample group of 14 private “contract” prisons incurred more safety and security incidents per capita than comparable federal prisons, including higher rates of assaults both by inmates on other inmates and by inmates on staff.
The department’s included 14 private prisons across the country that held between 1,000 and 3,400 inmates, none of which were in Colorado.
Cheyenne Mountain Re-Entry Center is a private prison at 2925 E. Las Vegas St. It is contracted through the state corrections department. The facility focuses on preparing inmates for reintegration with society. It is the only private, for-profit correctional facility in El Paso County.
The juvenile detention center in Colorado Springs — Spring Creek Youth Services Center — and the juvenile prison and treatment center — Zebulon Pike Youth Services Center — are state-owned and operated under the Division of Youth Services.
Representatives from the Cheyenne Mountain Re-Entry Center and its owner, Geo Group Inc., declined to comment.
http://gazette.com/inmate-beaten-to-death-at-private-colorado-springs-prison/article/1616123
