What we have attempted to do here is provide information that may be of value to corrections workers here and in other states facing similar circumstances. We also provide the following as a wake up call to U.S. citizens that when governments, national, state, or local start talking about secrecy pertaining to governing then we truly are on the precipice. Obviously this post can in no way be all inclusive. But it does contain info that can lead you to ammunition!
Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey (USA, Ret.), Director, ONDCP, stated, when he addressed the Opening Plenary Session, National Conference on Drug Abuse Prevention Research, National Institute on Drug Abuse, September 19, 1996, Washington, DC, stating:
Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey (USA, Ret.), Director, ONDCP, stated, when he addressed the Opening Plenary Session, National Conference on Drug Abuse Prevention Research, National Institute on Drug Abuse, September 19, 1996, Washington, DC, stating:
# "We must have law enforcement authorities address the issue because if we do not, prevention, education, and treatment messages will not work very well. But having said that, I also believe that we have created an AMERICAN GULAG.
GULAG: The Gulag is recognized as a major instrument of political repression in the Soviet Union.
Washington, DC - 02/28/2008 - For the first time in history more than one in every 100 adults in America are in jail or prison—a fact that significantly impacts state budgets without delivering a clear return on public safety. According to a new report released today by the Pew Center on the States’ Public Safety Performance Project
Florida has a long history of less than transparent politics, despite it's"Government in the Sunshine law". Most recently we are seeing in the headlines the words secret and secrecy at it relates to proposed legislation regarding the privatization of Florida prisons. If one is to read the legislation and extrapolate as to how this can affect "all" government, then one may find a need to hop on a horse and ride from town to town hollering, "the British are coming." For this proposed legislation and governmental machinations surrounding it violates the spirit of all that the "United States of America" has been founded on.
1. The terms "secrecy in government" and "government in the sunshine" ARE NOT interchangeable. You can not have both. From a National Defense perspective we can see the need for a certain amount of secrecy. However that is aimed at defeating the enemy, not the will, or the "rights" of United States Citizens. Secrecy in Government is not used by a government ruled by a free people. Government in Secrecy more often than not, rules people.
2. Of concern for many citizens across the country is ill-advised legislation that is not thought through for blow back or unintended consequences. In a time of extreme financial distress it incumbent upon all of us to examine carefully certain proposals and differentiate between that which is effective and that, that is snake oil. This legislation my friends is Snake Oil. If anything our review illustrates that it is the politico's who would seek such legislation to solve a problem are, in fact, the cause of the problem. It is that the politico's are the "snake oil salesmen/women."
3. Corrections is a "soft target". Nobody wants to be seen as soft on crime. However the arguments supporting rehabilitations have been proven. Unfortunately where it has not worked it has, more often than not, been the fault of bureaucrats micro-managing to appease a broad political spectrum whose goals are not rehabilitation but votes. Because it is about corrections many Americans will pay little attention to this situation. After all, it's just prisoners. They get what they deserve. Unfortunately without vigilance we will see how we all will be getting it.
Following is Tampa Online's article about the "alleged" secret legislation. We will attempt to demonstrate general dangers as it relates to "how government operates" we will then demonstrate that the goal of the legislation i.e., privatization of prisons is more problem than solution.
From Tampa Online: Florida Senate bill would allow privatization to be secret (Emphasis ours):Washington, DC - 02/28/2008 - For the first time in history more than one in every 100 adults in America are in jail or prison—a fact that significantly impacts state budgets without delivering a clear return on public safety. According to a new report released today by the Pew Center on the States’ Public Safety Performance Project
Florida has a long history of less than transparent politics, despite it's"Government in the Sunshine law". Most recently we are seeing in the headlines the words secret and secrecy at it relates to proposed legislation regarding the privatization of Florida prisons. If one is to read the legislation and extrapolate as to how this can affect "all" government, then one may find a need to hop on a horse and ride from town to town hollering, "the British are coming." For this proposed legislation and governmental machinations surrounding it violates the spirit of all that the "United States of America" has been founded on.
1. The terms "secrecy in government" and "government in the sunshine" ARE NOT interchangeable. You can not have both. From a National Defense perspective we can see the need for a certain amount of secrecy. However that is aimed at defeating the enemy, not the will, or the "rights" of United States Citizens. Secrecy in Government is not used by a government ruled by a free people. Government in Secrecy more often than not, rules people.
2. Of concern for many citizens across the country is ill-advised legislation that is not thought through for blow back or unintended consequences. In a time of extreme financial distress it incumbent upon all of us to examine carefully certain proposals and differentiate between that which is effective and that, that is snake oil. This legislation my friends is Snake Oil. If anything our review illustrates that it is the politico's who would seek such legislation to solve a problem are, in fact, the cause of the problem. It is that the politico's are the "snake oil salesmen/women."
3. Corrections is a "soft target". Nobody wants to be seen as soft on crime. However the arguments supporting rehabilitations have been proven. Unfortunately where it has not worked it has, more often than not, been the fault of bureaucrats micro-managing to appease a broad political spectrum whose goals are not rehabilitation but votes. Because it is about corrections many Americans will pay little attention to this situation. After all, it's just prisoners. They get what they deserve. Unfortunately without vigilance we will see how we all will be getting it.
Following is Tampa Online's article about the "alleged" secret legislation. We will attempt to demonstrate general dangers as it relates to "how government operates" we will then demonstrate that the goal of the legislation i.e., privatization of prisons is more problem than solution.
A Senate committee, bucking a decades-long trend of open government in Florida, formally introduced two bills today aimed at allowing the secret privatization of prisons. But the measures also would make secret the outsourcing of other state agency functions, which has raised concerns from open government advocates.
The Senate rules committee introduced the first bill (PCB 7170), which essentially means that an agency would not have to report its privatization of a program or service until after the contract is signed.
Our Note: Unfortunately all to often Agency heads and Committee chairs are political appointess. Unfortunately the appointments are most often made on the basis of party loyalty and not the individuals knowledge of subjects they are tasked to supervise. Thus the need for public scrutiny of government intentions. After all we must always be cognizant of the doctrine that Governments of Free Nations serve the people.
The term "until after the contract is signed is analogous to "closing the barn door after the horse is out." What we, as the citizens who are the "real government," must be asking ourselves is, "WHY" do they wish to do this? They say it is to save money. They are wrong and they are the problem!
Committee chair John Thrasher, a St. Augustine Republican, told a standing-room-only audience that the introduction of the bill and that of its companion (PCB 7172) means both will be assigned to other committees for “substantive consideration.” A staff analysis says the first bill “makes clear that the Legislature may direct privatization of agency function itself, without any agency request.”
The bills' opponents, which include the First Amendment Foundation, have said the bills would keep the public in the dark about the costs of outsourcing any government service, not just prisons.
Supporters, including committee vice-chair JD Alexander, counter that the measures ultimately require any privatization deal to first offer a substantial savings to the state.
Our Note: We would hope that this is the case in all government dealings. However, that can not be the only questions asked. Governments are not Private Corporations. The Government mandate is to serve the people of the state. Serving the people, such as during natural disasters, comes before cost. The mandate of Private Corporations is to profit for the shareholders. Determining costs, savings, and return on the state/taxpayer dollar involves critical thinking and not political emotion. We must look to the future for blowback and unintended results. This same approach should be taken when evaluating certain laws passed as the result of knee jerk reactions and political expediency that does not factor in cost beyond office terms.
Thrasher said the bills were meant to address a South Florida prison-privatization plan stymied by a Tallahassee judge. Privatizing those prisons could save taxpayers up to $40 million a year, Alexander said.
Our Note: We take issue with Mr. Thrasher and Alexander assessment of savings. Simply put they are wrong and we will prove that further into this post.
The state tried to privatize about 30 state prison facilities and was sued by the Police Benevolent Association, the union that formerly represented corrections officers.
Circuit Judge Jackie Fulford later ruled that the state's plan is unconstitutional because it was passed as part of the annual budget and not as a separate law. Attorney General Pam Bondi is appealing Fulford's decision.
But when asked, the Lake Wales Republican said he couldn't explain the bills' secrecy provisions. “I didn't draft the bill,” Alexander said. “I haven't looked at all the language.”
OUR NOTE: This should set off a very loud warning bell in the minds of us all. Floridians and U.S. citizens alike. How how often have we heard the same excuses at national level. Multi-paged legislations passes containing legislation few can understand or not even related to the original legislation. Thrown in as a compromise or a blackmail, if you want "this" you will pass "This". For it or against it, has not Obama care created an uproar across the nation.
Mr. Thrasher was elected by citizens who pay him to do a job. One of his jobs is to read legislation that may impact his electorate/employers prior to forming opinion and/or voting on legislation. Unfortunately Mr. Thrasher is not alone. We have to many legislators that are negligent. To many that could be charged with dereliction of duty. To many that, if they performed in that manner, while employed by a for profit corporation would be fired.
Brian Pitts, a lobbyist for a group called Justice-2-Jesus, told the committee both bills undermine “the transparency, accountability and due diligence of this body and citizens of this state.”
Two Democrats on the panel — Gwen Margolis of Miami and Chris Smith of Fort Lauderdale — also voiced their opposition.
“The language is pretty broad, sir,” Margolis told Thrasher. “It's very disturbing.”
Most people who spoke on the bills, however, focused on the impact that privatization has on state-employed corrections officers and other prison workers.
They're also smarting from last week's announcement that the state plans to close seven state prisons and four work camps, all of which employ nearly 1,300 people, because of a decreasing prison population.
“I'm here first of all as a wife and a mother,” said Reshae Cherry, a corrections officer at Charlotte Correctional Institution in Punta Gorda.
She's looking forward to the birth of her second daughter, but still spends nights worrying whether privatization will cost her a job.
“My situation is not unique,” she told the committee. “There are countless families who depend on the Department of Corrections … I want to keep food on my table and I want to continue to serve the department because I am proud of what I do.”
The bills, now referred to as SB 2036 and SB 2038, haven't yet been assigned to their next committee.
When reading this and thinking of "secret governments" we can think of several passages in the U.S. Constitution and the Declarations of Independence that are violated. We can assure you this was not the vision of our nations forefathers. However we will make that argument in another post as the premise leading to the controversy re: privatization of prisons is dangerously and most terribly FLAWED!
A major mistake corrections workers can make in arguing against these bills is to use the argument, "you can not do this because it is my job!" Jobs, corporate or government, come and go as needed. Communities that rely on any one industry, are themselves badly governed. Communities all over the country are being decimated as industries modernize, rely more on technology, move or become outdated.
The arguments that corrections officers need to be making should revolve around the following:
1. Florida's Corrections systems is the victim of constant political territorial mismanagement and redundancies.
1. Florida's Corrections systems is the victim of constant political territorial mismanagement and redundancies.
2. The Florida Corrections systems, were it to apply more than lip service to rehabilitation programs can reduce recidivism thus providing the sate with a huge return on the taxpayer dollar.
3. Privatization of prisons has, historically, been a disaster.
A glaring example of the state mismanagement resulting in the current controversy revolves around this document from 2009, from the Florida Department of Prisons itself: Recidivism Reduction Strategic Plan Fiscal Year 2009-2014 Authored by Assistant Secretary of re-entry Franchetta Barber and Secretary Walter McNeil.
We refer to this document because it is most illustrious of ways the "state" could save money on Corrections with out privatization. If the state can not sufficiently monitor what it's own employee's are doing is not likely to be able to monitor what it's contractors are doing (more on that further into post). Re-entry is just another of numerous permutations of names and programs the Department of Corrections undergoes every time there is a new administration. Often times the old is just reworded to look new, or to meet the new administrations political bias. This results in data corruption, which of course results in policy being formulated on the basis of corrupted data.
What we must understand is that many documents released under a Director or a Secretary's name are written by people who have a limited knowledge base of the subject they are addressing. Their goal is not to preserve or implement what works. Their goal, since they serve at the leisure of whatever Governor may be in office, is to protect their jobs, territory and power which results in gamesmanship, deterioration of morale and decreased work output (we will address how this also occurs in the privatization area). Often times the Appointee who has little knowledge of the subject has an underling write the report and the Appointee puts their name on it as Author. Thats the privilege of politics. It is also how important information gets perverted and lost in translation. By granting Department Head positions as a rewards for political support, the state creates it's own headaches.
In the Orlando Sentinel we find the quote by Budget Chairman J.D. Alexander,
As recently as 2010, state economists were predicting Florida's prison population would reach more than 115,000 in the future.. Instead, it is now expected to dip below 99,000 in 2013.
We also find a like statement in the 2009 publication linked above:
Florida is expected to reach a peak of nearly 125,000 inmates by 2013.
The data received by the state via the 2009 report was wrong. Which means that any state expenditures made by the state as a result of the report were also wrong. But even more glaringly is that the report states it receives it's information from The Florida of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability, a research unit under the oversight of the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee. This can now be construed to mean that the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee was not doing it's Job!
This writer has personally observed as the joint legislative auditing committee neglected it's mandate by accepting an audit employed by a not for profit corporation. Despite the fact that numerous examples of waste were available, the "committee" choose to go with the word of the "Fox in the Henhouse." This should not be surprising. The Joint Legislative Auditing committee is a committee of politicians that have their own pet projects and must work with other legislators who have their pet projects.
This writer has personally observed as the joint legislative auditing committee neglected it's mandate by accepting an audit employed by a not for profit corporation. Despite the fact that numerous examples of waste were available, the "committee" choose to go with the word of the "Fox in the Henhouse." This should not be surprising. The Joint Legislative Auditing committee is a committee of politicians that have their own pet projects and must work with other legislators who have their pet projects.
If you are beginning to get a bit confused here, we can emphasize. We hope what you are beginning to see an extremely complex interaction of committees, programs, policies and bureaucracies dominated by bureaucrats making fiscal decisions based whichever way the political wind is blowing on any particular day. The one consistency that we can identify is that more often than not they are wrong.
One might even arrive at the conclusion that it may be more efficacious to "Privatize" the legislature. Just turn it over to a corporation. But then we may want to look at how private corporations function in the corrections setting.
Let us take a moment to look at two scenarios using California and New York as examples:
California Identifies failure:
“As a result of this review, the Office of the Inspector General found a multitude of reasons to explain the failure of the programs, nearly all of which begin and end with poor management by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the Office of Substance Abuse Programs. One central finding is that even though the contracts betweenthe state and the in-prison providers require contractors to use the “therapeutic community” substance abuse treatment model, the Office of Substance Abuse Programs not only fails to hold providers accountable for fulfilling that requirement, but also fails to create the conditions that would allow the therapeutic community model to operate. As a result, many of the providers fall far short of delivering therapeutic community programs.University of California, Los Angeles researchers concluded after one study, in fact, that the in-prison programs reflect a therapeutic community “in name only.”www.oig.ca.gov/reports/pdf/SubstanceAbusePrograms.pdf
New York Identifies success:
Yet New York State, once having one of the largest prison populations in the country, by adopting a more emphatic approach to substance abuse programming now finds itself faced with the problem of which prisons it may have to CLOSE!
With a declining state prison population resulting in part from a sustained, overall drop in crime, New York plans to close the Pharsalia and Gabriels correctional camps, the medium security Hudson Correctional Facility and Camp McGregor, the minimum security camp at Mt. McGregor Correctional Facility, in January 2009.Besides the drop in crime, the population decline can be attributed to implementation of appropriate early release programs mandated by the Legislature for non-violent offenders, including Shock Incarceration, Work Release, Comprehensive Alcohol and Substance Abuse Treatment, Willard Drug Treatment programs, Merit Time, and Rockefeller Drug Law reform, which included Supplemental Merit Time. Combined, those legislative changes have resulted in the release of 87,528 inmates through 2007 on average 8.4 months earlier than had the laws remained unchanged.http://www.docs.state.ny.us/PressRel/prisonclosure.html
Which of course leads to a discussion of Corrections perspectives and a technical unbiased discussion of what works and what does not work with prison populations. However we must ask ourselves, considering the low wages,benefits and stressful working conditions (see this U.S. Department of Justice report) of state corrections officers, what makes anyone believe that a Private corporation can do it better?
Because the reality is, if this is true (From the Orlando Sentinel),
The state's prison population has dropped so much that the Department of Corrections recently announced it was closing seven prisons because it had 12,000 excess beds in the prison system.
despite the bureaucratic political incompetent environment we illustrated above, it would appear that the worker bee's in the Florida Corrections system are doing a damn good job!
THE EVIDENCE PRISON PRIVATIZATION DOES NOT WORK!
We must constantly remind ourselves that the business of prisons, aka prison industry, has a vested interest in keeping people in prison. Prisoners are their profit generators. Most especially when they cam contract out prison labor at slave wages to compete with legitimate jobseekers! See:
The Hidden History of ALEC and Prison Labor | The Nation
Article: Federal Prison Industries: Ending their mandatory source ...
Prison labor is considered Made In America - Democratic ...
Prison Labor: Workin' For The Man
For examples.
THE EVIDENCE PRISON PRIVATIZATION DOES NOT WORK!
We must constantly remind ourselves that the business of prisons, aka prison industry, has a vested interest in keeping people in prison. Prisoners are their profit generators. Most especially when they cam contract out prison labor at slave wages to compete with legitimate jobseekers! See:
The Hidden History of ALEC and Prison Labor | The Nation
Article: Federal Prison Industries: Ending their mandatory source ...
Prison labor is considered Made In America - Democratic ...
Prison Labor: Workin' For The Man
For examples.
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
Albert Einstein
To Put It Simply, why are we discussing implementing what we already know, does not work? Privatization of Corrections, though profitable for corporations and their shareholder, is a dismal failure! It is nothing more than a bandwagon full of cash for a politician to grandstand on. See any of the following:
From the Forward of US Department of Justice Office of Justice programs entitled, Emerging Issues on Privatized Prisons
The study resulted in some interesting conclusions. For example, it was
discovered that, rather than the projected 20-percent savings, the average
saving from privatization was only about 1 percent, and most of that was
achieved through lower labor costs. Nevertheless, there were indications
that the mere prospect of privatization had a positive effect on prison administration, making it more responsive to reform.
From, Prison Privatization and the Use of Incarceration
The promise of meaningful savings, however, is specious at best. Research to date has concluded that there is little evidence that privatization of prisons results in significant public savings. In a 1996 General Accounting Office (GAO) review of several comparative studies on private versus public prisons, researchers acknowledged, “because the studies reported little difference and/or mixed results in comparing private and public facilities, we could not conclude whether privatization saved money.”7 A study by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) released in 2001 had similar conclusions, stating that “rather than the projected 20-percent savings, the average saving from privatization was only 1 percent”8 and “the promises of 20-percent savings in operational costs have simply not materialized.”9 These modest savings, furthermore, “will not revolutionize modern correctional practices.”10
The promise of meaningful savings, however, is specious at best. Research to date has concluded that there is little evidence that privatization of prisons results in significant public savings. In a 1996 General Accounting Office (GAO) review of several comparative studies on private versus public prisons, researchers acknowledged, “because the studies reported little difference and/or mixed results in comparing private and public facilities, we could not conclude whether privatization saved money.”7 A study by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) released in 2001 had similar conclusions, stating that “rather than the projected 20-percent savings, the average saving from privatization was only 1 percent”8 and “the promises of 20-percent savings in operational costs have simply not materialized.”9 These modest savings, furthermore, “will not revolutionize modern correctional practices.”10
Assaults:♦George Washington University Professor James Austin found that assaults on staff are 49% higher and inmate on inmate assaults are 66% higher in private prisons vs. public prisons. (U.S. Department of Justice, BJA Monograph, “Emerging Issues on Privatized Prisons” NCJ181249, Feb. 2001) A comparison of serious incidents in public and private prisons in Oklahoma shows a far more shocking disparity. Oklahoma houses nearly 30% of their inmates in private prisons, one of the highest percentages in the nation. A review of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections data shows that there are 190 percent more serious incidents in private prisons in that state.” (“Will the Federal Government Rescue the Private Prison Industry?” Judy Greene, January 10, 2001.) In Tennessee the Fiscal Review Committee found that although private prisons did save the state money, (less than 1%), they had a much higher rate of assaults and five escapes during the analysis
period. (The Commercial Appeal, 12/10/99)
Cost Savings:
♦For years the industry touted the research of Dr. Charles Thomas as proof that private prisons save money. That was until it was revealed that much of Dr. Thomas’s research was funded by the industry itself. When it was disclosed that Thomas owned stock in some of the very companies he was researching, he was removed from his position at a prestigious Florida University and received the largest fine every levied against an individual by the Florida Ethics Commission.“…it maybe concluded that there are no data to support the contention that privately operated facilities offer cost savings over publicly managed facilities….it was discovered that, rather than the projected 20-percent cost savings,” touted by the industry itself, “…the average savings for privatization was only about 1%, and most of that was achieved through lower labor costs,” US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance: “Emerging Issues on Privatized Prisons,” James Austin, Ph.D., Gary Coventry, Ph.D., February 2001. In addition, studies by the Government Accounting Office, the Council of State Governments and The Abt report, commissioned by the US Attorney General’s Office, all point to very little or no cost savings.
The Failed Promise of Prison Privatization - Prison Legal News ...
Penny Wise, Pound Foolish:Prisons for Sale | Louisiana Progress
CONCLUSIONS:
Prison populations increase and decrease as dictated by economy, political ideologies and popular opinion. There may be times when a state does not have enough corrections officers and times when it has to many. Most of the corrections officers in the state of Florida are well trained and have invested in their occupations as the sate has invested in them. Great care must be taken to avoid creating the stigma that corrections occupations are dead in careers to be looked down upon. To insure the Florida taxpayer is safe and receiving optimum benefit for their taxpayer dollar we must accord them the same concern we would our police and fire departments. Do we want them privatized?
Corrections must adopt the argument that they are value added employees and focus on their successes. Most especially the successes of properly run rehabilitation programs. They must not be punished for success. But they also must not coverup for those who take advantage of their positions. By attrition the corrections department will lose employees.
The Body of Literature on subject demonstrates that privatization of prisons does not work!
In the space and time allotted we hope we have at least cast a light on an almost inconceivable web of corporate, private, political, and bureaucratic boondoggling that carries enough blame to go back through many administrations of both parties.
No Free Country is run by secret Governments!
The Body of Literature on subject demonstrates that privatization of prisons does not work!
In the space and time allotted we hope we have at least cast a light on an almost inconceivable web of corporate, private, political, and bureaucratic boondoggling that carries enough blame to go back through many administrations of both parties.
No Free Country is run by secret Governments!
Other prison industry posts:
AMERICA-Land of the Free???
Florida finally figures out how to increase prison population
Yo we told you about the prison industry.Add to Technorati Favorites
No comments:
Post a Comment