We must end the for profit jail industrial complex just like the war complex, health care, pharmaceutical, bank, oil, auto they are all to strong and exert too much pressure to control us. We have more people, by far, in jail than any other country. The reason behind this fact is pure greed. Judges have been charged with accepting bribes in the millions to ensure enough people go to jail with longer sentences. They want to keep every cell full it is the way the make money. Just like the people that profit from war they strive to keep us in war at all times this is the way they make money.

These jail are not the hotels you have been led to believe. Some lock down prisoners 23 hours a day. It is not a good thing to have your freedom taken away. This punishment .should be reserved for crimes against other humans. Yet our for profit jail system has more locked up than any other country. Many for victemless non-violent crimes, kinda like our war machine invading a country for no legitimate reason.

Matt, Thank you for writing on this serious issue in Arizona and creating public awareness. The legislators need to accept the responsibility for the laws they created that have created the chaos, overcrowding and inhumane conditions of confinement in our jails, prisons and detention centers. Washing their hands of their responsibility in all this is unacceptable and cowardly. Follow the money.... says it all.

Well said Camille, and thanks to Matt on an excellent article.

I think the judges, prosecutors, & others - that are involved in sending people to prison - should be required to go and see (first-hand) the conditions of the prisons where they're sending people.

Sort of like the old "Scared Straight" documentary, that sent kids/teens to see the conditions in prisons as a deterent.

But instead of sending kids, this would involve the persons who are going to have a hand in sending people to those prisons. MAYBE, just maybe it would make people think twice before

And there should be some sort of effort to make these "random visits" (to the extent possible), to avoid the potential problems like those in the recent "Hiding ‘Problem Prisoners’ to Pass Inspection" article.

*oops, the spell checker went wonky on me for some reason, and the page decided to post my comment before it was done*

The 4th paragraph should read: "before sending people to jail and/or prisons - without knowing EXACTLY what they're really doing to these people." 

I say set the captive free and monitor them on probation! about five years each, that's a college education....but hey I'm with stupid by force and delay...lol

To understand the Arizona criminal justice system, which is broken and a failed system people need to get informed.  Start by reading books that explain what people face when they move to Arizona. Attracted by the "new" construction, architecture, beautiful geography, job opportunities, and what appears to be thinking ahead. The sad truth is people have been deceived by the tourist bureau, Chamber of Commerce, real estate and national builder brochures -- it is a back-water state that takes people back to the 50's and Jim Crow era.  Unless the people of Arizona wake up, they are doomed to continue on the path that the elected officials created for their own personal agendas, investments and pensions.  Meanwhile innocent people are seeing their lifetime earnings destroyed, their lives destroyed, their children's lives destroyed and the society's future.  It is a decaying state unless some strong leadership steps forward for change.  So far the state lacks strong leadership except for bigotry, intolerance and hatred.

After speaking to one of my legislators last night, I realized he thinks he is holding integrity. The prejudice against these people is growing so strong that he actually told me that I was getting manipulated by the prisoners because I was a nice person.

No Senator Geddes, I am an activist that knows abuse when I see it on a vulnerable population.

Business of Detention -- as  the "Prison State" continue to grow, while education and tourism decline, who would want to vacation in a prison state with harsh mandatory minimum sentencing?  Incarceration and Prison Privatization is s transfer from manufacturing to incarceration. Where human beings become a "commodity" known as "head-counts", "bed counts" to fill prison beds.  How sick and depraved is this?

http://www.businessofdetention.com/

detention, enforcement, policy »Second immigration official leaves new federal office[ 24 Oct 2009 | No Comment |

The Center for Investigative Reporting report that:A second high-ranking official in a two-month-old federal office that oversees immigration detention policy and planning has left the government, sources say.Cree Zischke, tasked with addressing detainee health care issues for Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Office of Detention Policy and Planning, departed just weeks after her boss, Dr. Dora Schriro,(former Director of Arizona Department of Corrections) left ICE in late September to become commissioner of New York City’s jails.“I am no longer with the ICE Office of Detention Planning and Policy (sic),” she wrote in an out-of-office auto-reply received on …

ICE Promises Detention Reforms, CCA Announces New Detention Center[ 7 Oct 2009 | One Comment | ]

On the same day that Corrections Corporation of America opened a new 500-bed immigrant detention center in Georgia, Homeland Security officials released a highly anticipated review of detention centers. Accompanied by recommendations and next steps, the review promises better federal oversight and health care in the largely outsourced network of prisons and jails that house a daily average of 32,000 people with pending immigration and refugee status requests.“The government has recognized that it has a massive system with serious problems, and has identified steps to ameliorate the situation,” …

Camille Tilley

NCCJR  National Coalition of Criminal Justice Reform

Arizona culture of abuse of power....

http://www.kpho.com/news/21470567/detail.html

Where prisons profit the most is not from the inmates but from the families of the inmates. If the inmate receive money from family they have to pay for all their necessities, shampoo, soap etc. The prisoner has to go 60 days without money or necessities to be considered indigent and to get these items for free. For each infraction the prisoner is fined, from the funds the family sends; they make a killing off the canteen and the phones again these are things the families pay for. If Arizona goes forward with this plan, I would suggest organizing a strike by the family members and then we'll see how much profit the shareholders get.

If they want to cut costs, perhaps they should stop putting people in prison for non-violent "crimes" and provide treatment programs for people using dangerous drugs instead of catering to prison guard unions and the "lock em' up" mentality.

this is a very scary thought to have privately owned and run prisons. they will just bribe the judges to send more people to prison therefore no one will get a real or fair trial. bad idea for america, bad idea for arizona.

Abolish Private "for profit" Prisons A “SINGLE VOICE PROJECT” is the official name of the petition sponsored by: The National Public Service Council To Abolish Private Prisons (NPSCTAPP)
THIS PETITION SEEKS TO ABOLISH ALL PRIVATE PRISONS IN THE UNITED STATES, (or any place subject to its jurisdiction) The National Public Service Council To Abolish Private Prisons (NPSCTAPP) is a grass roots organization driven by a single objective. We want the United States government to reclaim sole authority for state and federal prisons on US soil. We want the United States Congress to immediately rescind all state and federal contracts that permit private prisons “for profit” to exist in the United States, or any place subject to its jurisdiction. We understand that the problems that currently plague our government, its criminal justice system and in particular, the state & federal bureau of prisons (and most correctional and rehabilitation facilities) are massive. However, it is our solemn belief that the solutions for prison reform will remain unattainable and virtually impossible as long as private prisons for profit are permitted to operate in America. Prior to the past month, and the fiasco of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG, Lehman Brothers, and now the “Big Three” American Automobile manufacturers, the NPSCTAPP has always felt compelled to highlight the “moral Bottom line” when it comes to corrections and privatization. Although, we remain confounded by the reality that our government has allowed our justice system to be operated by private interests. The NPSCTAPP philosophy has always been “justice” should not be for sale at any price. It is our belief that the inherent and most fundamental responsibility of the criminal justice system should not be shirked, or “jobbed-out.”
This is not the same as privatizing the post office or some trash pick up service in the community. There has to be a loss of meaning and purpose when an inmate looks at a guard’s uniform and instead of seeing an emblem that reads State Department of Corrections or Federal Bureau of Prisons, he sees one that says: “Atlas Prison Corporation.” Let’s assume that the real danger of privatization is not some innate inhumanity on the part of its practitioners but rather the added financial incentives that reward inhumanity. The same logic that motivates companies to operate prisons more efficiently also encourages them to cut corners at the expense of workers, prisoners and the public. Every penny they do not spend on food, medical care or training for guards is a dime they can pocket. What happens when the pennies pocketed are not enough for the shareholders? Who will bailout the private prison industry when they hold the government and the American people hostage with the threat of financial failure…“bankruptcy?” What was unimaginable a month ago merits serious consideration today. State and Federal prison programs originate from government design, and therefore, need to be maintained by the government. It’s time to restore the principles and the vacated promise of our judicial system. John F. Kennedy said, “The time to repair the roof is while the sun is shinning”. Well the sun may not be shinning but, it’s not a bad time to begin repair on a dangerous roof that is certain to fall…. because, “Incarcerating people for profit is, in a word WRONG” There is an urgent need for the good people of this country to emerge from the shadows of cynicism, indifference, apathy and those other dark places that we migrate to when we are overwhelmed by frustration and the loss of hope.
It is our hope that you will support the NPSCTAPP with a show of solidarity by signing our petition. We intend to assemble a collection of one million signatures, which will subsequently be attached to a proposition for consideration. This proposition will be presented to both, the Speaker Of The House Of Representatives (Nancy Pelosi) and the United States Congress. Please Help Us. We Need Your Support. Help Us Spread The Word About This Monumental And Courageous Challenge To Create Positive Change. Place The Link To The Petition On Your Website! Pass It On! The SINGLE VOICE PETITION and the effort to abolish private “for profit” prisons is the sole intent of NPSCTAPP. Our project does not contain any additional agendas. We have no solutions or suggestions regarding prison reform. However, we are unyielding in our belief that the answers to the many problems which currently plague this nation’s criminal justice system and its penal system in particular, cannot and will not be found within or assisted by the private “for profit” prison business. The private “for profit” prison business has a stranglehold on our criminal justice system. Its vice-like grip continues to choke the possibility of justice, fairness, and responsibility from both state and federal systems. These new slave plantations are not the answer! For more information please visit: http://www.npsctapp.blogsppot.com or email: williamthomas@exconciliation.com To sign the petition please visit: http://www.petitiononline.com/gufree2/petition.html
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! William Thomas National Community Outreach Facilitator The National Public Service Council To Abolish Private Prisons P.O. Box 156423 San Francisco, California 94115 reply

http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=22009

A true story of corruption, politics and for-profit private prisons

This must read book into prison privatization is the firsthand account of the uncovering of corruption leading to the largest civil penalty at that time by the Florida Commission on, the discrediting of the academic “guru” and Wall Street darling of prison privatization, the resignation of the executive director of the state agency that oversees the private prisons, and the authors thrust into the position as a leader in the fight against the private prison industry.

Ken Kopczynski describes in detail, backed up with copious documentation, how he unraveled the financial dealings of Dr. Charles Thomas and his relationship with the private prison industry. Follow Kopczynski as he pieces clues together exposing how the private prison industry came into being and how they used Thomas and C. Mark Hodges, Executive Director of the Florida Correctional Privatization Commission, to promote the industry.

"If this book were only about individuals whose greed led them to run

afoul of ethics rules and who were hoisted on their own petard, it would

be interesting but not nearly as important as it is. What makes this

cautionary tale that deserves to be better known is the way Kopczynski

reveals patterns in the way that for-profit prison vendors do business." 

Correctional Law Reporter, April/May 200

http://allthemoneyouneed.com/2009/05/prison-profiteers-who-makes-money-from-mass-incarceration/

Prison Profiteers Who Makes Money from Mass Incarceration

Prison Profiteers Who Makes Money from Mass Incarceration 

The astonishing range of industries, corporations, and individuals

profiting from the imprisonment of over 2.3 million Americans.

“Positive: With the baby boomlet demographics, we foresee increasing demand for juvenile [incarceration] services. Negative:…it is often difficult to maintain the occupancy rates required for profitability.”—from a report produced for the private prison industry by investment analysts First Analysis Securities CorporationLocking up 2.3 million people isn’t cheap. Each year federal, state, and local governments spend over $185 billion annually in tax dollars to ensure that one out of every 137 Americans is imprisoned. Prison Profiteers looks at the private prison companies, investment banks, churches, guard unions, medical corporations, and other industries and individuals that benefit from this country’s experiment with mass imprisonment. It lets us follow the money from public to private hands and exposes how monies formerly designated for the public good are diverted to prisons and their maintenance. Find out where your tax dollars are going as you help to bankroll the biggest prison machine the world has ever seen.Contributors include: Judy Greene on private prison giants Geo (formerly Wackenhut) and CCA; Anne-Marie Cusac on who sells electronic weapons to prison guards; David Lapido on how private corporations profit from prison labor; Wil S. Hylton on the largest prison health care provider; Ian Urbina on how prison labor supports the military; Kirsten Levingston on the privatization of public defense; Jennifer Gonnerman on the costs to neighborhoods from which prisoners are removed; Kevin Pranis on the banks and brokerage houses that finance prison building; and Silja Talvi on the American Correctional Association as a tax-funded lobbyist for professional prison bureaucracies.