Exile to the Desert: 3 more years of CCA abuse.

Shame on the state of Hawaii for continuing this contract after all the abuses (including torture and the sexual assault of a prisoner by a guard) that have occurred in Saguaro Correctional Center in the prison town of Eloy under CCA's watch. The people of the Islands should oppose this vociferously...your prisoners are just in for more abuse at the hands of Arizonans - especially your Indigenous. In fact, following this news article is a link to a decent piece by a friend of mine, Frank Smith from Private Corrections Institute, who's an expert on the private prison industry. He did some extensive research into the experience of Native Americans in private prisons - it's worth reading.

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State Signs New Three-Year Arizona Prison Deal

Hawaii Reporter

June 23, 2011

BY JIM DOOLEY – The state has signed a new, three-year contract with Corrections Corporation of America to house up to 1,900 prison inmates at private prisons in Arizona.

The price carries a one per cent increase over the current contract with CCA, which expires at the end of the month. The Department of Public Safety will pay CCA $63.85 per inmate per day. The old rate was $63.22.

CCA is believed to have submitted the sole bid for the contract.

The new deal, which carries two possible one-year contract extensions, was signed as Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s administration is making plans to end the longstanding policy of imprisoning Hawaii inmates in out-of-state facilities.

Public Safety officials are drawing up a plan for the return of out-of-state prisoners, but its completion is sometime in the future and will depend on construction of new correctional facilities here and development of new community-based programs for men and women now locked behind bars.

The Hawaii State Auditor said in a report issued late last year the total cost of the private prison program more than tripled since 2001, from just under $20 million to more than $60 million.

The per-day charges under the new contract would total some $44.3 million, although there are millions the state must pay in associated costs which the contract with CCA doesn’t cover.

The actual number of Hawaii inmates now held at CCA’s Saguaro Correctional Facility in Eloy, Arizona is now believed to have dropped under 1,800 as the state has stepped up efforts to bring certain categories of prisoners home.

Some 60 Hawaii inmates are also being held at CCA’s Red Rock Correctional Facility, next door to the Saguaro complex.

--------------------------Native Americans in Private Prisons------------------

Native Americans in Private Prisons.

Arizona Prison Watch
Friday, December 3, 2010

The following is the intro to a piece written by my friend Frank Smith, an expert on private prisons with the Private Corrections Working Group (where I dig up all those rap sheets on prison profiteers). Here's the testimony he gave to the Commission on Safety and Abuse in America's Prisons several years back - which makes some good points still relevant to the violence and abuse of prisoners at CCA's Idaho Correctional Center, among other places.

Follow the link for the full text of the article, which I found posted to a great website on Lenape (Delaware Indian) culture and issues. The article was originally published as a chapter in the book "Capitalist Punishment: Prison Privatization and Human Rights" (Elizabeth Alexander, et al), a worthwhile text for any library on crime and punishment.

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Incarceration of Native Americans and Private Prisons
By Frank Smith

Introduction

There are currently slightly over two million inmates in local, state and federal jails and prisons. Of these, some 1.6 percent are Native Americans and Hawaiian Natives; in Federal institutions, Native Americans constitute 2 percent of the population, since the U.S. government is involved in criminal justice enforcement on reservations. Because approximately 6 percent of all U.S. inmates are held in private prisons, the total number of Native Americans in these for-profit prisons is comparatively rather small. For that reason, this article presents a picture of the conditions in which Native Americans are held given that limited experience.

Historical Perspective

In order to achieve an informed understanding of the current situation with regard to Native Americans in prison, it is necessary to place it within a larger historical and sociological context. While most residents of the US have the notion their country was founded on the principles of justice and freedom, closer examination reveals that perception is not accurate, particularly in the case of Native Americans.1

The more progressive of our founding fathers whom we remember so fondly as protectors of these ideals include Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson. Paine consistently referred to Indians as "savages", and used them as a negative comparative stereotype. Jefferson considered his contemporary Indians to be hindrances to colonial progress. The US only granted Natives citizenship in 1924, five years after women and 59 years after Black males were allowed to vote.

African Americans have undoubtedly been pervasively discriminated against in US history--their dehumanization was even embodied in the Constitution. Schoolchildren learn of the more egregious Supreme Court-approved violations of the rights of Blacks such as the Dred Scott decision or Plessy v. Feurgeson,2 and that the Civil War was fought in part over slavery.

They may have read the Emancipation Proclamation and even the Thirteenth to Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution. The sordid history in America of slave owning, in the north and south, of lynching, of Jim Crow, is discussed in most schools. The role of such historic figures as Frederick Douglas or Sojourner Truth is widely recognized. Martin Luther King Jr., is certainly better known than many mediocre presidents. Selma, Alabama, and Little Rock, Arkansas are familiar mileposts, as is Brown v. Board of Education. Students may even understand the meaning of racial profiling, of the immensedisparity between sentencing for crack cocaine, more prevalent in inner-city neighborhoods, and powdered cocaine, more favored by wealthier uburbanites.

They may possibly be aware that a Black adolescent has perhaps a 50 times greater chance of being placed in an adult penal institution than a white youth who has been charged with exactly the same crime,3 and that perhaps one of three young Black men has been subjected to some criminal sanction, such as probation, parole, jail or prison.

Yet how many Americans, young or old, fully understand that this same disenfranchisement; this same disproportionate treatment by the criminal justice system, has affected Native Americans since the Articles of Confederation were signed? How many realize that broken treaties have been the order of the day for over two hundred years? Do they know that the early settlement of this nation involved pushing indigenous peoples into ever smaller, less habitable reservations?

How many school children are taught the cruel facts behind the genocidal removal of the inhabitants of the post-Revolutionary Southeast? There is hardly a Native American tribe that does not have a history of broken treaties and persecution. What this long, troubled relationship between European Americans and Natives constitutes is deliberate disregard for and discrimination against Native culture. Theft of lands, exiles, dispossessions, and a prevailing condemnatory and paternalistic attitude provide the background for the problems of Native Americans in prisons, both public and private, today. It particularly pervades the conditions of confinement of Indians in private prisons...

(follow for the full text)

Hawai'ian prisoners may be doomed to more CCA abuses.

Here's my blog today from Hawai'i Prison Watch...

The article below is from the Honolulu Star Advertiser - they've been doing good follow-up to the on-going story on state prisoners, particularly those in Arizona.


Heads up, Hawai'i: Corrections Corporation of America still wants your prisoners here even though they just rape, beat, and otherwise abuse the ones they already have. Think again about whether or not you really want to commit your most vulnerable people (who are in with all the real thugs) to the care of a community such as Eloy. That whole community is feeding on the misfortune of your prisoners and their victims alike, and cares not one bit about your public safety.


The more endangered you are or think you are, in fact, the more prisoners they all get paid to warehouse. Eloy and CCA are are quite happy with your crime rate, I'm sure - try to kick it up a little, and they'll probably throw a party in appreciation. They don't care who you ship to them or why - just keep the warm bodies and dollar bills coming. The same people are trying to get the legislature to criminalize all of us, too.


Doesn't Hawai'i find that troubling? You are the hosts for parasitic entities who will cause you more trouble than an epidemic of bed bugs...speaking of, I hope you're testing your prisoners for Hep C, because we have an epidemic of that in our own prisons, and it's being neglected more so than most of the rest of the country. 25% of Arizona's prison population has tested positive for the virus, and they don't even test everyone about 30% of our prison deaths are due to the liver and kidney failure that results from chronic infection. HCV is far more destructive and malicious than most criminals - and goes home with almost all of them to spread insidiously through their own communities. I bet the people of Eloy don't even know what kind of risk their guards and community are at, too.


Don't think there isn't racism involved in your treatment here, by the way. It's tragic enough that Hawai'i incarcerates so many indigenous people - moving them off their homeland and away from their communities in the process - for the profit of the selfish, greedy white men who make their living off of people being victimized. It's even worse that you put them in the hands of Arizonans, of all people... this is, after all, the Deep South of the New Southwest: we collectively hate people of color unless they're doing our bidding, and we criminalize those who resist white supremacy here. The only reason we don't turn around and just lynch our prisoners to be done with them is because Joe Arpaio and Chuck Ryan are killing them off for us. I know this because I've heard from many of their family members. I don't want to start hearing from your devastated survivors, too.


It doesn't matter whose name the prisons are in, if you're going with for-profits: they're all evil. Here, though, Arizonans staff them, and our people are well-known for being unbelievably cruel to "outsiders." We even seem to be proud of it, looking at who we have in office here. Remember that, and if nothing else, at least find a way to get your people out of this god-forsaken state. Even if you bring CCA into your own backyard, at least you can keep an eye on them there, and have Hawai'ians be the ones to administer justice to Hawai'ians.


Let me know if there's anything I can do from this end to help.


Peggy Plews, Phoenix
Arizona Prison Watch

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Bids sought to house inmates

The state says it does not have the facilities to bring prisoners back to the islands

Honolulu Star Advertiser
By Rob Shikina

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Mar 11, 2011

State prison officials are seeking proposals to house about 1,800 prisoners outside Hawaii after the current prison contract ends in June, despite Gov. Neil Abercrombie's call to bring inmates back home as soon as possible.

"It is very clear at this time that we do not have all the facilities to bring the inmates back," said Martha Torney, deputy director of administration for the state Department of Public Safety. "As the state moves toward bringing the inmates back to the islands, that will determine what our needs are in the future."

The state already has returned some prisoners since Abercrombie said in December that he wants prisoners to stay in Hawaii.

During the quarterly rotation in January, the state brought back about 125 more prisoners than were sent to the mainland, Torney said.

The request for proposals, published March 1, designates a three-year contract, but the state can cancel the contract and remove prisoners at any time, Torney said. The submittal period ends March 31.

One company that plans on submitting an offer is Corrections Corp. of America -- the fifth-largest U.S. prison operator behind the federal government, California, Florida and Texas.

Hawaii has 1,699 prisoners at CCA's Saguaro Correctional Center and 58 inmates at CCA's Red Rock Correctional Center, both in Eloy, Ariz., Torney said.

Brad Regens, CCA's vice president of state partnership relations, said CCA is not lobbying to keep Hawaii's prisoners out of state.

Torney said the Public Safety Department is working on a two-pronged plan to return isle inmates and hopes to have the plan ready for the Legislature by year's end. She said it's too early to discuss any other time line.

The plan includes a re-entry project to get prisoners into the community and out of prison sooner, and a look at expanding the number of prison beds in Hawaii.

Sen. Will Espero, chairman of the Public Safety, Military and Intergovernmental Affairs Committee, said he would like to see Hawaii prisoners returned rather than paying a private company $60 million a year to house them. He and Rep. Henry Aquino, chairman of the Public Safety and Military Affairs Committee, said CCA officials expressed interest in running a private prison in Hawaii.

Hawaii's prisoners were sent out of state 16 years ago as a short-term solution to overcrowding and have been under CCA's care since 1998.

Espero said there are many possibilities for returning Hawaii's inmates, such as reopening Kulani Correctional Facility on the Big Island, building a new prison on Maui, introducing electronic monitoring and expanding furlough programs.

"If the governor is serious about this, within his four-year term he should easily be able to bring back 1,000 or 1,500," he said.

Eloy Council blesses CCA prison proposal.

Arizona State Capitol / Wes Bolin Memorial Plaza
February 15, 2011

Here's the local coverage of last week's Eloy City Council meeting - there really is such a thing as a free press in Arizona. The people of Eloy should be proud of that, despite the performance of their public officials. Kudos to Lindsey Gemme, editor of the Eloy Enterprise at Tri-Valley Central for giving the private prison issue the fair hearing this month that the Eloy City Council wouldn't. I had no expectation of such a comprehensive report on the meeting - I drove Frank to it; this is a good account of how it went down. The mayor, as noted, is on Corrections Corporation of America's payroll (is it any wonder?), and the rest of them showed more concern for roads and traffic lights than for the lawsuits and human rights claims filed against the CCA prisons in their town.

I was actually astonished that there was no council discussion of the abuse - no sign of disapproval, even. People have been brutalized and raped in the City of Eloy's care - Hawai'i is even talking about pulling their prisoners out. If CCA and Eloy can't be responsible for those already committed to their custody - at quite a cost to the public, in more ways than one - why should Arizona pay them to warehouse and dehumanize our people, too? What kind of critical public service is that really providing - torturing drunks, drug addicts and burglars already bound in chains? It not only diminishes our collective humanity, it puts us all at risk to let prisoners be abused in the end.

Gemme - you may or may not agree with my own editorial above, but I think identifying the allegations of CCA's prisoner abuse in the meeting took integrity and courage - I think most editors in a similar situation might have considered that ice to be too thin. Good luck with the fallout. There are a lot of Hawai'ian families who will be watching your back now, at least - they need news they can trust more than anyone these days. We'll be watching, too.

-------------------------------------

The private life of prisons

Researchers address Council on dangers, costs of private prisons

By LINDSEY GEMME
Editor - Eloy Enterprise Tri-Valley Central.com

Published: Thursday, February 24, 2011

What seemed to be a housekeeping issue before Council during its regular meeting last Monday, Feb. 14, opened up a can of worms when three agreements with Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) came on deck.

Mayor Byron Jackson abstained from the discussion and approval of the CCA items, as his being a contract employee for CCA for landscaping presented a conflict of interest. Vice-Mayor Frank Acuna oversaw the discussion in his place.

The first of the three items were merely to formalize in writing a verbal agreement with an existing contract between CCA and the Dept. of Public Safety in Hawaii. Though the city had been involved, it had never officially designated in writing or policy the lawful roles of each member in the agreement.

“It creates a separate agreement defining the city’s and CCA’s previous agreement to house the State of Hawaii and Dept. of Public Safety inmates in Eloy,” City Manager Ruth Osuna explained.

The second was a request of Council’s support in a proposal CCA was sending out for a contract with the Arizona Department of Corrections for 5,000 prison beds. Pending the results of that bid, CCA could be building a new facility to accommodate those state inmates, or expanding on an existing one. Eloy is one of several locations CCA would considering siting a new facility, if needed.

The proposal will be submitted today, Feb. 24. The 5,000 beds could be split up into several facilities, and it is uncertain exactly what CCA will opt to do.

“Both out of the respect for the RFP process and for competitive reasons, it’s too early in the process and it’s premature for CCA to discuss what that proposal would entail,” CCA Public Affairs Director Steve Owen later explained.

Before approval of the items last week, two members of the audience addressed Council during the Call to the Public about the agreements with the for-profit correctional company.

Local resident Frank Smith explained that he has been researching private prisons for 15 years. Besides helping to build criminal cases in the past, he’s also become quite knowledgeable about the drain private prisons put on a municipality. For example, he said, prisoners use 150 gallons of water a day, each. Multiply that times 5,000 prisoners, that’s 273 million gallons of water a year in Eloy.

“You’re talking about a tremendous amount of water,” Smith pointed out. “You’ve got problems with water in Arizona, you’ve got the Salt River Project. It’s a consideration you should investigate before you approve this agreement.”

CCA tends to depend on the towns where their prisons are located to supply infrastructure like sewer lines and paving, he went on to say. “Not always, but most of the time. There is a liability here, you can get into trouble.”

Another liability, he added, were escapes from these facilities, such as the one in Kingman last year. According to Smith, the state is being sued $40 million for the Kingman escape.

“An escape that was inevitable given the level of training and turnover of the guards that were there,” he said. “It took them hours to notify the Mojave County Sheriff. After three hours, they didn’t even know who was gone…and it took another hour and an half or so before the EDC was notified who they were.

“You’ve got serious problems here. I think the city should investigate its exposure to liability.”

He cited the pre-Christmas riot in December last year where seven inmates were sent to the hospital as another instance of liability for the city to consider. Especially, he said, in light of the lawsuit being waged against CCA by 18 Hawaiian prisoners who reported serious abuse at the hands of CCA staff at the Saguaro prison.

Costs are another thing he warned the city to be wary about. “You don’t see the numbers that CCA should be giving you. And you don’t get the jobs here. There’s a very high turnover.”

For example in Texas, he said, the state discovered that seven of their private prisons had 90 percent turnover a year. “That’s not correctional officers, you’re talking about fast food workers with badges. That’s tremendous turnover.”

Vice-Mayor Acuna had to cut Smith off at the three-minute mark, and Caroline Isaacs came to the podium. Isaacs is director of the American Friends Service Committee Office in Tucson, which is a national organization associated with the Quaker religion and concentrates its efforts on criminal justice reform. She has been working with AFSCO for 15 years.

She began by announcing to Council about the public hearing on for-profit incarceration that they helped host in Tuscon on Oct. 27, 2010, during which several area community leaders presented their exhaustive research on private prisons.

According to the AFSC’s Web site, many Tucson area government officials were in attendance at last October’s public hearing regarding prison privatization. Correctional representatives from the Arizona Dept. of Corrections, CCA, and the Management and Training Corporation, although invited, were not in attendance,.

Those in attendance were: Phil Lopez (Ariz. State Representative, District 27), Assistance Tucson City Manager Richard Miranda, Richard Elias (Pima County Supervisor, District 5), Steve Kozachik (Tucson City Council, Ward 6), Nancy Young-Wright (Ariz. State Representative, District 26), and former associate editor for the Tucson Citizen, Mark Kimble, moderated by Mari Herraras from Tucson Weekly.

Presenters were Stephen Nathan with the Prison Privatization report International, Susan Maurer with the New Jersey Dept. of Corrections, Victoria Lopez with ACLU Arizona, Joe Glen with the Juvenile Corrections Association, and Jim Sanders with the Real Estate Appraiser in Tucson.

Some of the findings revealed at the meeting were that overall, it costs more to utilize private prisons than state-run institutions, are understaffed and Isaacs gave several examples from over the last year illustrating the safety concerns there are for prisoners.

This past summer, a Hawaiian inmate at Saguaro was strangled by his cellmate while the prison was in lock down in June 2010. That same month, another inmate was stabbed to death at Saguaro by two other inmates who could face the death penalty, and an employee suffered a broken nose and cheekbones and eye socket damage during a 30-inmate brawl over an Xbox game in July.

That’s not to mention the recent lawsuit pending against CCA by 18 of its inmates in December for abuse that went unchecked by the state’s on-site contract monitor.

Isaacs also explained to Council the uncertainty of the prison company’s cost nunbers, according to an audit done by a Hawaiian company for Saguaro.

“CCA chooses to report artificial cost figures derived from a calculation based on a flawed methodology,” she read directly from the audit. “Without clarified guidance by policy makers, the department has no incentive to perform better, and will continue to evade accountability by providing unreliable and inaccurate reporting of operating costs…”

At the end of her three minutes, Isaacs left information for Council to review at their leisure.

Council then turned to the task at hand, which were the three agreements with CCA.

The third agreement was to formalize a verbal contract between the city and CCA about the company’s role in building certain infrastructure to service its three newest prisons.

Councilman Joel Belloc questioned whether the roads around the newest prison, LaPalma, were completed and who was responsible for the upkeep of those roads. CCA representative John Gluch was present, and told Council that the roads were complete and were now in the hands of the city.

“[This agreement] is just to put into writing the timing of the improvements,” Rick Miller said about the final agreement. “It is good to know that they’re going to be anticipating those costs, which, in time, will need to be paid. We’ll need traffic signals and that infrastructure will go in and they will be a participant in their share of that.”

All three agreements were unanimously approved.

“We certainly are very appreciative of the level of support that the city of Eloy has shown us and by extension, the broader Pinal County area, as well as the recognition they’ve given the services that we provide,” Owen later commented, “and the economic impact we have with our facilities. We look forward to our long term relationship withe community continuing.”

Rape is Rape: More CCA abuses at Saguaro.

According to Courthouse News this week, a suit was filed against the State of Hawaii and Corrections Corporation of America due to the October 2009 sexual assault of a prisoner who was coerced to perform oral sex on CCA Saguaro Correctional Center guard Richard Ketland. Apparently in Eloy, Arizona, the rape of a prisoner brings - at worst - a felony charge of "unlawful sexual contact," and can be settled as a lesser offense so as to only require probation.

The guy he assaulted was just in on a drug charge, by the way, for those of you to whom it matters.

The real "truth in sentencing" in America is that you may be raped, regardless of the severity of your own crime. As for Ketland - on July 14, 2010 he plead guilty to "attempted unlawful sexual conduct" (a class 6 felony), and sure didn't hit the news or go to prison.

I doubt he did a day in jail, either.

You wouldn't know this kind of thing happens here from the mainstream media in Arizona. Here's an interesting article in the region's Tri-Valley Central notifying the nearby Florence community of sex offenders who have been released there. That was posted the day after Ketland's victim filed suit. I don't find any mention of a CCA guard sexually assaulting a prisoner at all, though, after a number of different searches of the publication: nothing on Ketland even in the deeper archives.

I only got six hits on Google when I looked up the terms " 'richard ketland' cca prison arizona", too.

I assure the uninitiated out there: forcing someone to their knees and ejaculating in their mouth is a pretty heinous form of penetration. Most of us would call that rape. Prison guards in this state have the authority to use lethal force against prisoners to prevent them from harming anyone else or escaping - and no one believes a "criminal" over a "cop". The victim could have easily been crucified by Ketland and CCA if he even survived putting up a fight.

I'd hope that if the same thing happened to me in Pinal County, the good sheriff and prosecutor would call rape what it is and treat it accordingly - especially if my assailant wore a uniform and a badge, and carried the responsibility of the public's trust.

I guess I should commend the Pinal County prosecutor for calling it a crime at all. Still, I'm disappointed. Some of you should remember that in December 18 other prisoners from the Saguaro Correctional Center in Eloy filed suit over brutality by guards on a massive scale. I have yet to hear anything about criminal charges being filed for the assault, intimidation, threats to prisoners and families, etc. - crimes that were apparently perpetrated with the blessing of the CCA warden.


So, I again urge the public that cares - wherever you may be - to contact the Pinal County Sheriff, Paul Babeu, the Pinal County Attorney, James P. Walsh, and the Arizona media to shine a spotlight on this abuse and prosecute the criminals working for CCA at Eloy's Saguaro Correctional Center. All the contact info you need is here from December: "Prosecute CCA prisoner abuse." If you didn't speak up against violence and abuse then, please do so now.

For reference, here's the Private Corrections Working Group's rap sheet on CCA prisons across the country; they have four facilities in Eloy alone.

And here's the Hawaiian victim's actual legal claim...

Welcome to Eloy, AZ. Note their affection for Jesus.

He was a prisoner, too.

CCA, Eloy: Jesus was a Prisoner, too.

Driving home from visiting a state prisoner for Christmas today, I was struck by how many prisons and detention centers are in towns (and wasteland) right off of the I-10 between Phoenix and Tucson - most located in Pinal County. Eloy is one such town - "city", rather, as I discovered when I turned off of the highway at one of their exits.

Lo and behold, not only is Eloy teeming with prisons (4 of Correction Corporation of America's 6 institutions of incarceration are located there, including Red Rock and Saguaro Correctional Centers), but it is also apparently a City of God. Christ's Father, that is.

Look closely at their sign...

Now, I actually found hope in that sign, but there are a lot of ways that could be read. Eloy, like virtually all prison towns, feeds largely on the lives of people imprisoned there from other places - mostly poor neighborhoods of big cities like Phoenix. Just listen to how prisons are sold to hungry communities: while saving the state money they promise revenue to build local schools with, jobs to fuel the economy, and bodies to add to the census and political pocketbook - bodies of people who have been stripped not only of their freedom as punishment, but also of the one right that most distinguishes U.S. citizens from non-citizens: the right to vote.

How that perverse penalty for most felons, regardless of the severity of their crime, is not considered a violation of the 8th Amendment in light of Trop v. Dulles, I don't know. I have my own feelings about citizenship in this country, but that's another blog post for another time. The point is that in a case in which a soldier was stripped of citizenship, the Supreme court found that "the total destruction of the individual's status in organized society... is a form of punishment more primitive than torture, for it destroys for the individual the political existence that was centuries in the development. The punishment strips the citizen of his status in the national and international political community. His very existence is at the sufferance of the country in which he happens to find himself..."

It's worth looking at, this whole felon dis-enfranchisement thing. It's a holdover from the Reconstruction era when former slaves were criminalized just so they couldn't vote or live free. That was well over a century ago. What are we still doing it for? I think it's one big contributing element to guards dehumanizing prisoners such that they can perpetrate the most disturbing violence on them without much regard to consequences - the fact that we already collectively diminished their basic rights.

In any event, American prisoners are not only widely marketed, traded and sold as commodities because states pay to confine them, but - as an end run around the Emancipation Declaration - they are even constitutionally defined as slaves. Both their labor and their mere existence are exploited to generate income for "host" (actually, "parasitic") communities, private investors, corporate and municipal employers of prisoners, vendors of all sorts - from those supplying commissaries/canteens to those monopolizing lucrative contracts for collect calls home to impoverished families.

The most revered beneficiaries of the criminalization and incarceration of vast numbers of the poor are those whose livelihoods (and children's medical care) depend on "fighting crime," "insuring justice," and "promoting public safety". Let's not forget our beloved politicians, too. They rake in money, adoration, and power from that in all sorts of ways.

Add all those folks up and it's no surprise that our society - particularly this state - fails to invest in proven strategies for reducing crime and victimization in favor of disenfranchising and dis-empowering those people who might resist the machinery that so violently destroys their lives and communities in retaliation for their offenses against property and the state.

One such person engaged in resistance would have been Christ. He really was a freedom-fighter, actually. A lot of people conveniently forget this, but he was a prisoner, too. Remember that line about "whatsoever you do for the least of these, you do for me"? He was talking about prisoners, among others.

So, to say that "the world needs Jesus" could mean that the world needs more prisoners, or it could mean that the world needs more forgiveness and grace. It could mean we need more bodies to buy and sell - and more consumers and workers to exploit for profit - or it could mean we need to overturn the moneylenders' tables and loudly protest the torture of our prisoners at the hands of sadistic and vindictive guards.

I don't know what the City of Eloy means to say by promoting Christ in the world - they will have to show us that themselves. I know what Jesus said about poverty, exploitation, judging others harshly, and caring for our prisoners. It's all spelled out pretty clearly in the Gospels. If you read only one, choose Matthew. Hit the Sermon on the Mount and then Matthew 25:35-40 in particular. Then tell me if the world needs more prisoners, or more mercy. More punishment or more care...


We have been at war in Afghanistan for nine years now, and in Iraq for almost as long (or more than twice as long, if you count the casualties of the sanctions). That's longer than any declared war in our national history, and there's really no end in sight, despite what time-lines the President offers. We're still sending our youth off to kill or be killed in the name of liberty and justice for all around the world, while doing so little to defend those two values here at home.

I find that unacceptable.

My wish for the new year is that the spirit of the Christ whose life and teachings I myself have learned something from is recognized and honored in every prisoner we hold in our facilities of detention, correction, and punishment - particularly by those among us who identify as "Christian". They seem to hold most of the keys to those places, ironically.

If the City of Eloy is truly a City of God, as it would seem they purport to be - then the Pinal County Sheriff and prosecutor would go after the abusive guards at Saguaro as swiftly and surely as CCA will go after the prisoners who rioted at Red Rock this week. They would not fear the political reprisal of honest citizens for doing so. If anything they would be seen as heroic for aggressively championing the human rights of people literally in chains who are at the mercy of their tormentors.

Likewise, if Eloy is a City of God, then CCA wouldn't get away with defending the employee misconduct at their institutions that we've heard about this month from Hawaiian prisoners. They would be out in front of this lawsuit, disciplining and referring the guards in question - as well as the warden there - for criminal prosecution, which the local criminal justice system would jump on. Of course, last I saw CCA was defending the despicable videotaped brutality of their guards in Idaho, too, so I don't expect that much of them. But I expect more of a City of God.

The state feeds us fear to maintain power, but in truth most American prisoners haven't physically harmed anyone but themselves. Even many who are charged with "violent" crimes never struck a soul. Robbing a bank with nothing more than a squirt gun or a note, for example, is considered a "violent" crime. So is brandishing a box cutter at security guards chasing you down for shoplifting (that got one mentally ill kid I adore 5 years, including a year in Supermax).

Now, if those are violent crimes, what do we call repeatedly assaulting and threatening to rape, torture, and kill helpless people? Why is every City of God not up in arms? Which of our brothers are we forgiving for what, and whose cries are we drowning out with our choirs on Sundays? Shall we continue to extract an eye for a dollar or a tooth for every rebuke of the state, and pay a dollar of our own money to those who threaten to extinguish prisoners' lives?

That isn't even how it was supposed to work in the Old Testament, much less the one dominated by Jesus.

I've been born more than once, I am sure, but because of the way Christ's life and message and symbols have been abused, I don't call myself a "Christian" or abide by the mandates of any religion. I just try my best to live by the principles and values that ring true to me, most of which are common but not exclusive to the Christian faith. Self-professed Christians out there need to consider for themselves what his truth is and how to live it; I just wish that if they identify Jesus as their role model they would follow his guidance a little more closely. The world would be a bit better for it...and we wouldn't constantly be at war in his name, either.

Christ, I have no doubt, would deeply disapprove of our system of "justice" in America - particularly Arizona - and how we perpetrate violence on our prisoners. After all, he was criminalized for defying both capital and the state, and lived and died as a prisoner himself. As I read it, he went out that particular way for a reason, too.

Anyway, for the sake of the thousands of disenfranchised, incarcerated and otherwise detained souls whose misery they have profited from, I hope Eloy is a City of Jesus' version of God. How they and CCA deal with the perpetrators of abuse in their prisons will tell us much more than the signs they've placed at their gates do.

Roosevelt Community Church, Phoenix, AZ.

December 26, 2010.

(read CCA's rap sheet at the Private Corrections Working Group's website. Catch up on CCA's Idaho "Gladiator School", too. But give the people of Eloy a chance...)

Prosecute CCA Prisoner Abuse.

FROM HAWAI'I PRISON WATCH:

Hey folks: this is Peggy Plews at Arizona Prison Watch. My comrade from Nevada Prison Watch set up this site and has been staffing it, but we could use some help from Arizona and/or Hawai'i. For more information, contact me at:

arizonaprisonwatch@gmail.com 

Arizona Prison Watch
PO Box 20494
Phoenix, AZ 85036 
(480-580-6807) 


Most people have probably read the news reports on the lawsuit filed by the prisoners who were repeatedly assaulted and threatened with more time in prison, rape and even death. Even their families were threatened. Read the actual suit. It's really contemptible. As a member of the Arizona public, I even feel violated by what's happened here. 

Now, maybe I missed it, but I haven't been able to find anything about aggravated assault charges, among other things, being brought against the guards and warden at the Saguaro Correctional Center in Eloy AZ. That's criminal conduct, and if the assaultive behavior was the other way around all those prisoners would be up on the most serious charges the state could bring against them by now.


So, I'm encouraging EVERYONE who cares about human rights out there to please contact the Pinal County Attorney's and Sheriff's offices to ask about criminal prosecution of those people responsible for the violence committed against their prisoners. Here's the contact info:

James P. Walsh
Pinal County Attorney
P.O. Box 887
Florence, AZ 85132


Front Desk: 520-866-6271

email:  PinalCountyAttorney@co.pinal.az.us




Paul Babeu, Sheriff
Pinal County Sheriff's Office
P.O. Box 867
Florence, AZ 85132 

PCSO Main Number: 1-800-420-8689
Administration: 520-866-6800
Public Information Office: 520-866-6800
Records: 520-866-5193

you need to go here to submit an email comment to the Sheriff.


I plan to write to them both, myself, soon, and will post my letters so you get the gist of what I'm advocating here. Don't wait for me, though, if you already know what you want to say. Letters/email are best, because they provide written documentation that phone calls can't capture, but doing both is even better.

Also, here's the info you need to send copies of your correspondence to the area media, and to urge them to investigate the matter as well:

Phoenix New Times
PO Box 2510
Phoenix, AZ 85002
Phone: 602-271-0040
Fax: 602-340-8806


Tucson Citizen
4850 S. Park Ave.
Tucson, AZ, 85714


The Arizona Republic
Letters to the Editor
P.O. Box 2244
Phoenix, AZ 85002

Main switchboard
(602) 444-8000
(800) 331-9303 toll-free

Letters may also be faxed to (602) 444-8933.



Arizona Daily Star
4850 S. Park Ave.
Tucson, AZ 85714


Cruz, Veronica
News Assistant
520-573-4179 office
520-573-4107 fax
vcruz@azstarnet.com

Fell, Cina
News Assistant
520-573-4203 office
520-573-4107 fax
cfell@azstarnet.com

O'Sullivan, JayneNews Assistant
520-573-4133 office
520-573-4140 fax



That should get you started, at least. Send copies of what you end up doing to the above email or PO Box addresses, too, and I'll post them. And again, READ THE LAWSUIT! Then you'll know what you're talking about.

Thanks -

Peg

Hawai'i Prison Watch: More details on CCA prisoner abuses.

Just got the link on the following article with more details of the suit from Caroline Isaacs (CIsaacs@afsc.org), Program Manager at the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) in Tucson, which has done extensive work in AZ around private prisons. Especially if you're in Hawai'i wondering about what's going on here, contact her. She's much more up on CCA than I am.

Any AZ communities considering a new CCA prison in their town: think again. It may not give your kids the dream jobs you think it will.

American Friends Service Committee
Arizona Area Program
103 N. Park Ave., Suite 111
Tucson, AZ 85719
520.623.9141 p
520.623.5901 f

www.afsc.org/az

----------------Great national source: Courthouse News--------------

Arizona: Brutality at CCA

http://www.courthousenews.com/2010/12/15/32607.htm

Brutality at a Private Prison

Courthouse News

December 15, 2010

Last Update: 9:05 AM PT

By PURNA NEMANI

HONOLULU (CN) - Guards at a privately run prison in Arizona stripped, beat and kicked inmates and threatened to kill them, banged their heads on tables while they were handcuffed, and "the warden himself" joined in threatening their families, 18 inmates say in state court. Then the Corrections Corporation of America and its employees, who run the prison, "deliberately destroyed and failed to preserve evidence of their wrongdoing, including videotapes," and "deliberately falsified reports," according to the complaint.

The beatings and death threats came at the Saguaro Correctional Center in Eloy, Ariz., to which Hawaii sent its prisoners to be held by CCA, the nation's largest private prison company.

The inmates say CCA guards beat them to retaliate for a July 26 fight or "disturbance" in which "a lieutenant or other employee of CCA was injured."

The guards beat the plaintiffs to coerce "statements" from them, and "when plaintiffs wrote brief statements, defendants demanded that plaintiffs disclose more, and then engaged in the acts alleged herein [in] an effort to coerce further statements," the complaint states.

"Plaintiffs were beaten and assaulted, including by having their heads banged on tables while they were stripped to their underwear and while their hands were handcuffed behind their backs.

"Plaintiffs were stripped of nearly all of their clothing while being beaten, questioned, and humiliated.

"Plaintiffs were threatened with harm to themselves and their families, including through such statements as:

"a. 'We have your emergency contact information;'

"b. 'We know who your family is and where they live and we are going to harm them;'

"c. 'We are going to kill you;'

"d. 'We will continue to beat you and the only way to stop that is to commit suicide;'

"e. 'We will send you to hell;'

"f. 'We will stick something up your ass.'

"Inmates were required to get on their knees with their hands handcuffed behind their back, whereupon they were beaten by multiple officers employed by defendants.

"Inmates were kicked while on the ground. ...

"Inmates were denied prompt medical treatment for their injuries in an effort to conceal what had happened.

"Inmates were told that if they did not provide written statements, their beatings would continue.

"Beatings in fact continued for those who refused to provide statements.

"In an effort to conceal what was happening, defendants violated their own policy that a handheld camera would be used to film inmates whenever they were being handled by the SORT team.

"As a result [of] duress, force, and threats of force, some of the plaintiffs provide statements in the hope of ending their beatings.

"Inmates were told that if they told anyone what had happened, they would be killed or beaten further.

"CCA personnel, including the warden himself, threatened parents of some inmates, including with longer incarceration."

The inmates also sued Hawaii, which sent them to the prison. They say: "During many of the occurrences alleged above, defendant State of Hawaii had on site its contract monitor, John Ioane, who had actual knowledge and personally was aware of some of the above occurrences, and yet acquiesced in and permitted them to continue."

The inmates demand a protective injunction and punitive damages from CCA, Hawaii and Ioane, for assault and battery, cruel and unusual punishment, coercion and retaliation.

They are represented by Michael Jay Green and John Rapp of Honolulu.

Hawai'i Prison Watch: CCA Guards Abusing Saguaro Prisoners

The AP story distributed and publised by several news outlets in AZ last night on the abuse of prisoners at CCA's Saguaro Correctional Center in Eloy didn't even touch on what really happened there. I fidn it offensive that they refer to abused prisoners as "cons", too. This is the best coverage I've found of it so far, and comes right out of Hawai'i - thank you Denby Fawcett and KITV. Go to the link for the article to get the video, too.

I'm really outraged to hear the details of this abuse at Saguaro, but not at all surprised, sadly. The uncommon thing is that it's no longer invisible to the rest of us. Those prisoners have guts for coming forward; they put themselves on the line more than most of us can imagine. Sounds like they were between a rock and hard place as it was, though. Blessings to each and every one of them - they will make a difference for all.

Mahalo nui, guys.

To the families and supporters of Hawai'i prisoners here, PLEASE contact me so we can coordinate how best to support these guys. We can help you put together a Hawai'i Prison Watch site to stay on top of this and hold Abercrombie to his promise to bring them home, but we can't do it without you.

----------------------------------------

18 Hawaii Inmates At Mainland Prison Sue State

Inmates Say Arizona Guards Beat, Threaten To Kill Them

Denby Fawcett, KITV 4 News Reporter

HONOLULU -- Eighteen Hawaii inmates have sued the state of Hawaii and the Corrections Corporation of America.The inmates claimed they were stripped, beaten and kicked by guards in Saguaro Correctional Center in Arizona.

The prisoners said they were targeted after a guard was seriously hurt when he tried to break up a prison gang fight at Saguaro Correctional Center where they are incarcerated.

The suit was filed Monday by attorneys Michael Jay Green and John Rapp in Circuit Court in Honolulu.

The inmates are among 1,840 Hawaii prisoners serving sentences at Saguaro in Eloy, Ariz. The prison is run by the Corrections Corporation of America.

Saguaro was built to exclusively house Hawaii offenders because of prison overcrowding in Hawaii.

Attorney Rapp said the 18 inmates suing claim Saguaro guards have beaten and threatened them regularly after stripping them down to their underwear and hauling them out of their cells, one by one."The guards are banging their heads on tables, threatening them, beating them, kicking them, punching them," said Rapp.

In written statements the inmates have sent to Rapp, they say they have been forced to stand in the cold in their underwear, kicked while they are on the ground, and denied the opportunity to change their clothes for days. The inmates claim Saguaro guards are trying to coerce them to write statements about a prison gang fight July 26 in which a prison guard was severely beaten. They said the guards shove a pen into their hands and urge them to write about the incident.

"The inmates, of course, were reluctant to say things about other inmates. The last thing they want to do in prison is be a rat because that is pretty much a death sentence," said Rapp.

Rapp said Saguaro guards have also told the Hawaii inmates they will kill them or keep beating them until the prisoners commit suicide to stop the pain.

Rapp said the guards' threats to the inmates have continued up until the present.

Rapp said this week a Saguaro guard told an inmate if he and the others did not withdraw the lawsuit, "he would be cut into a million pieces. His mother would never see him again. So, the threats are continuing."

The suit asks for monetary damages and an injunction to stop the inmate beatings.

"We need to put a stop to the threats. We want to put a stop to the violence and to make sure it doesn't happen again," said Rapp.

Both the Hawaii's prisons department and the Corrections Corporation of America said Tuesday they will reserve comment until they have been served with the lawsuit and had time to review it.

Saguaro Prison is no stranger to violence. In June at Saguaro Clifford Medina, a 23-year-old Hawaii inmate was killed. His cellmate later admitted to Eloy, Arizona police he strangled Medina. And in February, Hawaii prisoner Bronson Nunuha died after he was stabbed multiple times in the neck. Two Hawaii inmates were charged with first degree murder and face a possible death sentence in that case.

Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie (D) promised in his campaign this year to bring Hawaii prisoners home from the mainland. In a written statement, Abercrombie said today: "The violence involving Hawaii inmates at Saguaro Correctional Facility underscores why we need to stop sending prisoners out of state. We are facing many challenges in the state and we need to work together to find solutions that include bringing our inmates home."

Abercrombie said he is committed to building more prisons in Hawaii that are safe and set high standards for corrections staff.

CCA prison murders: Another Hawaiian faces capital punishment

Hey Director Frank - you seem to think that murder is just a given in prison, since CCA doesn't need to change anything. That's kind of disturbing. As for your assessment of the relationship between the murderer and his victim: I'd call choking someone to death a good indication of "bad blood".

Since you seem to lack any ideas, here's a procedural change I can think of that needs to be made at all the prisons: stop putting the folks in for fraud and drug-related crime in cells and yards with the real bad guys (murderers, gang members, etc.). How about increasing staffing and surveillance, too? We just pack people into these prisons to warehouse them now, putting two and three into cells designed for one, and stuffing hundreds into huge gyms converted into dorm rooms, too. There can't possibly be adequate supervision or protection for those guys. They just keep getting killed that way.

Better yet, if you care enough about their lives to kill the people who end them, then maybe you should find something else to do with your non-violent offenders than send them off to an expensive prison with the worst-of-the-worst thousands of miles from home. These prisoners families should be marching in the streets demanding that the rest be brought back home. Putting them on a tether and enrolling them in school would be cheaper and more effective towards rehabilitating them than what you're doing now.

Of course, Arizona won't even make sure our youth can succeed in school before they get criminalized, so I don't think we're about to entertain that one here. We're pretty invested in keeping a certain portion of our population uneducated enough to fill those low-wage jobs we just chased all our migrants out of...

----------------------------------

Third Hawaii inmate faces death penalty in Arizona

By Gregg K. Kakesako

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Sep 04, 2010

Honolulu Star Observer

A third Hawaii inmate serving time in an Arizona prison faces the death penalty after allegedly killing a fellow inmate during an argument in June.

Mahina Uli Silva, 21, was indicted by a Pinal County grand jury yesterday for allegedly strangling his cellmate from Hawaii, Clifford Medina, 23, on June 8. Medina was found unresponsive in the cell he shared with Silva at Saguarao Correctional Center in Eloy, Ariz.

Clayton Frank, director of the state Department of Public Safety, said his office was informed of the indictment yesterday.

Frank said Silva was sent to prison in 2006 after being convicted for burglary, theft and robbery. He is eligible for parole in October 2011.

Silva is the third inmate from Hawaii facing capital crime charges.

The other two are Miti Maugaotega Jr., 24, who is serving a life sentence for first-degree attempted murder for the June 2003 shooting of Punchbowl resident Eric Kawamoto; and Micah Kanahele, 29, who is serving two 20-year sentences for the October 2003 shooting deaths of Greg Morishima at his Aiea home and Guylan Nuuhiwa in a Pearl City parking lot a week later.

Maugaotega and Kanahele were indicted earlier this year for the stabbing death of fellow inmate Bronson Nunuha, 26, who died Feb. 18.

Frank said the two are expected to stand trial in Arizona this month.

The three are the first to face capital punishment for a crime committed in a private prison on the mainland since Hawaii started housing inmates out of state in 1995.

Hawaii, which abolished capital punishment in 1957, is one of 11 states and the District of Columbia that do not have the death penalty.

Maugaotega, Kanahele and Silva are among the 1,871 male Hawaii inmates at Saguaro, a 1,897-bed prison owned by Corrections Corp. of America.

Frank said an internal investigation into Medina's death by his staff hasn't turned up any major problems or procedures that need to be changed at the private prison.

He said that Medina and Silva are both from the Pahoa area on the Big Island.

"There is no indication of bad blood between the two," Frank said.

Hawaiian prisoners in lockdown at CCA prison in AZ

Hawaii Inmates In Lockdown At Arizona Prison
Prisoners Fight Over Xbox, Prison Employee Seriously Injured
Jodi Leong KITV4 News Reporter
July 30, 2010

HONOLULU -- An Arizona prison that is housing about 1,884 Hawaii inmates, remains in lockdown -- five days after a big brawl.

The Saguaro Correctional Center in Eloy, Arizona, houses Hawaii inmates only. The state hired Corrections Corporation of America to house the inmates at the Arizona facility because of prison over crowding in Hawaii.

Public Safety director Clayton Frank said 30 inmates from the high security unit were involved in the scuffle over an Xbox owned by one inmate.

When prison staff members intervened to stop the brawl, Clayton said 13 inmates turned on the facility's gang intelligence officer and severely beat him. Public Safety’s mainland branch administrator, Shari Kimoto, said the prison employee suffered a broken nose, broken cheekbones and eye socket damage. He has since been released from the hospital.

Read more at http://www.kitv.com/news/24461434/detail.html

Hawaii: Gov Lingle vetoes CCA audit bill.

I still say that you don't need an audit anyway to determine that CCA is killing too many prisoners. Thank god they took the women out of the other CCA facility already, considering how they were being sexually assaulted.

It's time to bring these people home.

------------------------

Bill calling for audit of prison contract vetoed

By Associated Press

Posted: KPUA (Hilo, Hawaii)

Saturday, June 26th, 2010 3:16 AM HST

HONOLULU (AP) — Gov. Linda Lingle has vetoed legislation that called for an audit of a state contract with a private prison firm that houses Hawaii felons.

In a statement Friday, Lingle said HB 415 would be costly, duplicative and would force the state auditor to go provide a legal opinion and make a policy judgment outside the scope of a normal audit.

The state's contract with the Corrections Corp. of America has come under scrutiny lately in part because of the deaths of two Hawaii prisoners at the firm's Arizona facility.

Two female inmates from Hawaii serving time at the company's Kentucky prison are suing the company and Hawaii. One of the inmates claims she was raped by two guards.

Hawaii removed its female inmates from that facility last year.

Hawai’i: Legislature demands CCA audit

I'm sorry, but when your citizens are dying like this, why do you need a cost-benefit audit in order to decide whether or not to pull them out? Isn't negligence a violation of CCA's contract, anyway?

It seems like in the human analysis financial concerns are already over-emphasized by the legislature (and still they waste through incarceration of burglars); that's how Hawai'i got into the business of outsourcing their prisoners - the family members of their people - in the first place. Everyone jumped on the bandwagon to "save money" - now we are beginning to finally ask "at what cost?".

Hawai'i - take advantage of this moment in history to tear this system down and start over - when will you or your children ever get another chance? Don't let it pass you by.

----------------------

Lawmakers Want Governor To Sign Prisons Audit Bill

Say Needed Now After Two Prison Deaths

Denby Fawcett

KITV 4, Honolulu

POSTED: 5:55 pm HST June 22, 2010

UPDATED: 10:10 pm HST June 22, 2010

HONOLULU -- State lawmakers said Tuesday they are seriously considering a veto override if Gov. Linda Lingle (R) vetoes a bill calling for a cost-benefit audit of a privately run Arizona prison.

The state spends more than $60 million a year to send nearly 2,000 Hawaii inmates to Saguaro Correctional Center in Eloy, Ariz., because of prison overcrowding in Hawaii.

Saguaro is run by the Corrections Corp. of America.

Two Hawaii inmates have died at Saguaro Prison in Arizona in less than four months.

Inmate Clifford Medina's cellmate admitted to Arizona police he strangled Medina June 8th.

Bronson Nunuha died Feb. 18 after multiple stab wounds to his neck. Two Hawaii inmates have been indicted in the case on first degree murder and gang related charges.

State Sen. Will Espero (D) said Tuesday, in light of the deaths at Saguaro, it's time for an audit.

"If the governor does veto this bill. I think it would be a big mistake," said Espero. "I think it would be unwise considering in the last several months there have been two murders at Saguaro plus the fact that we pay $61 million a year to CCA to keep our inmates in there."

The Corrections Corp. of America also runs Otter Creek Prison in Kentucky where after allegations of rape and inmate abuse, all Hawaii's female inmates were returned to Hawaii.

Lingle in her potential veto message said an audit of mainland prison operations is expensive and unnecessary.

But Espero said that's not so.

"The governor said it would be too expensive, but in the bill we do not have an appropriation so the auditor's office would be using funds it already has," said Espero.

State Auditor Marion Higa said she is operating under the assumption Lingle will let the audit bill become law.

Higa said next week two analysts from her office will spend the week at Saguaro working beside prisons officials from Hawaii as they do their quarterly quality control inspection. Higa said that will help her analysts begin planning for the audit Hawaii lawmakers requested.

Higa said she expects the prisons audit will be inexpensive because she will use in-house staff and money that has already been appropriated for her department.

Espero said that if the governor vetoes the prisons audit bill, he will recommend a veto override.

House Public Safety Chairwoman Faye Hanohano was a prison guard at Hawaii's Kulani Prison for 25 years. Hanohano said she will also recommend an override if the governor vetoes the prisons audit bill.

Hanohano said more needs to be known to determine if Hawaii taxpayers are getting their money's worth by sending prisoners to the mainland instead of incarcerating them in Hawaii.

"There is a lot of missing data that needs to be brought out and hopefully an audit will flush it out," said Hanohano.

The Hawaii Prisons Department opposes the audit bill as it is written, it would too expensive and its scope is too broad.

"It is unclear exactly what they are asking to audit," said Hawaii Public Safety Director Clayton Frank.

Frank said the bill calls for the auditor to look not only at the Arizona prison but also the closure of Kulani Prison on Hawaii island, and the state's practice of paying for Hawaii inmates to be housed at the Federal Detention Center at Honolulu International Airport.

Daniel Gluck, an attorney with ACLU Hawaii said an audit of CCA's services at Saguaro Correctional Center could end up saving Hawaii money as it has for other states who have reviewed their own contracts with CCA.

Gluck said after Idaho audited CCA earlier this year, it began withholding $2,600 a day from CCA for its denial of proper health services to Idaho inmates.

" Hawaii allowing a $61 million no-bid contract to go on for 15 years with no independent oversight is an unsound financial practice for the state," said Gluck. "We are hoping that the governor will consider these numbers and allow the audit to become law."

Honolulu to Eloy: Medina's family seeking answers.

From our friends in Honolulu at KITV 4 ... no surprise here from CCA. They don't need to deal with grieving families -what profit is there to be extracted from a man once he's dead, except by an undertaker? They passed off his belongings as carelessly as they are letting these guys get slaughtered.

I have such a hard time believing that some communities actually want these private prisons in their backyards. They dehumanize staff as much as they do the prisoners. That's got to have an effect on the ethos of a town...

What do the people of Eloy say about all this anyway? They welcomed CCA with dollar signs in their own eyes: Are they ethical business men and women willing to take responsibility for the consequences of their investment? Do they have a human rights committee overseeing prisons in their town, holding these people accountable? Or do they just rant when articles come out about these things, then quietly wash their hands of the blood spilled in their presence?

What do the people of Eloy have to say to the people of Hawaii and - more pointedly - to this man's family? Why has your prison not been able to keep those in its custody and care safe from harm?

--------------------

Hawaii Family Seeking Answers About Inmate's Death

Snubbed By Arizona Prisons Officials

Denby Fawcett KITV 4 News Reporter

POSTED: 11:44 pm HST June 18, 2010

UPDATED: 3:15 pm HST June 19, 2010

KITV.com

HONOLULU -- Clifford Medina, 23, died in his prison cell at Saguaro Correctional Center in Eloy, Ariz., June 8.

Eloy police said Medina's cellmate, 21 year-old, Mahinauli Silva admitted to strangling Medina.

Loke Medeiros, Clifford Medina's aunt, and his sister, Roseanna Medeiros, flew to Arizona from their Puna, Hawaii, home Wednesday, hoping to find out what happened. They said felt they needed to travel to Arizona after receiving no information from Hawaii prisons officials.Clifford Medina was among 1900 Hawaii inmates in Saguaro. Hawaii has been sending inmates to the privately run Arizona prison since 2007 to ease prison overcrowding here.

Roseanna Medina said she and her aunt went to Saguaro Correctional Center Friday to ask for an appointment with prison warden Todd Thomas. They were told the warden was too busy to see them. Then, they said another official brought them a box of Clifford Medina's personal belongings, asked them to sign for it, and then turned on his heels without saying another word to them.

"It was very disappointing," said Roseanna Medeiros. "There are so many questions we hoped to have answered, and so much we wanted to find out that only the prison staff could have told us."

"They were just rude," said Loke Medeiros. "I couldn't believe they wouldn't talk to us.Medina was serving time for burglary, theft, jumping bail and assaulting a law enforcement officer."Even though he was in prison, he should have been safe. It's very sad," said Roseanna Medeiros.

A team of investigators from Hawaii has been at Arizona prison since Tuesday to investigate Medina's death.

Medina is the second Hawaii inmate to be killed at Saguaro Correctional Center in less than four months. Bronson Nunuha of Maui died of multiple stab wounds in the neck February 18. Two Hawaii inmates, Miti Maugaotega and Micah Kanahele, were indicted May 20 on first degree- murder and gang related charges in Nunuha's killing. A spokesman with the Pinal County attorney's office prosecuting the Nunuha case said the prosecutor is reviewing a possible death penalty sentence if the two defendants are convicted.

Clifford Medina's aunt and sister said they will remain in Arizona next week still hoping to get a better sense of why he died, and why more was not done to protect him and to supervise the inmate police say killed him.

They said they don't want it to happen to anyone else.

CCA, Nunuha, and the right to life.

Hawaii inmates complain about safety in Arizona prison

Posted: Jun 17, 2010 1:07 AM EDT

Hawaii News Now

By Tim Sakahara - bio | email

Two Hawaii inmates were murdered in the last four months at a prison in Arizona and tonight we're hearing more complaints about safety.

Miti Maugaotega and Micah Kanahele were indicted on first degree murder charges. They're accused of stabbing fellow Hawaii inmate Bronson Nunuha several times in February. Investigators believe it was a gang murder. Nunuha was set to be released in October.

Both suspects were already serving lengthy prison terms. Kanahele was serving 25 years for shooting and killing a man in an Aiea carport, then killing another man in the parking lot of the Longs Drugs in Pearl City.

Maugaotega was described as a "walking crime wave" by a judge. He is serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole for shooting a man in the chest during a home invasion in Punchbowl. Maugaotega was 17 at the time and had a lengthy criminal record.

Arizona prosecutors should decide in the next few days if they will pursue the death penalty option, even though Hawaii does not have capital punishment.

Earlier this month a second Hawaii inmate was killed. Mahinauli Silva is accused of strangling his cell mate Clifford Medina.

Among the complaints from inmates is that there aren't enough guards and they are denied "comfort moves," meaning if cell mates have problems with each other they are not moved until there's an assault or worse.

Just today State Senator Will Espero received a letter from an inmate at Saguaro Correctional Facility in Arizona complaining about housing conditions and their safety.

"If you get this letter I guess it's an I told you so," Espero read from the letter. "Help before it gets worse and more people die or get hurt. There's a lot to this death that you don't know and may never know."

He's got a drawer full of these types of letters.

"Inmates are human beings too and have needs and must be dealt with properly or else if you treat them like animals they'll act like animals," said Espero.

It's not just letters. We spoke with an inmate by phone who wanted to remain anonymous for his safety.

"This facility (Saguaro) is greatly understaffed pursuant to the contract," he said. He also said he's worried about his safety, not necessarily from other inmates but from the prison staff.

Nearly 1,900 Hawaii inmates are incarcerated at Saguaro Prison in Arizona. The state says it pays Corrections Corporation of American $60 million a year to lock them up. That's about $43 million a year cheaper than keeping them here in Hawaii.

But some feel the savings isn't worth the cost. Meaning with a private company making money the public gets no accountability.

"I think the system was broken in the first place. The problem is we contract with a facility or a company that has no incentive to provide rehabilitative services. It's a for profit operation," said Myles Breiner, Attorney. "No one is saying let's coddle these people but you have to balance out. The reality is every single individual, the vast majority are going to return to Hawaii so we have every reason in the world to treat these people in a way where they can come back into the community and not be a risk and we're not doing that. We're closing our eyes. I want accountability."

"You know if they really want to complain about it don't do the crime," said Peter Carlisle, Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney.

Carlisle says it's prison. It's not supposed to be a cake walk and sending them to Arizona is the best option otherwise they'd kill each other in Hawaii.

"We've had deaths in all of our prison systems here in the State of Hawaii. We've had people killed in prison regularly, we've had people commit suicide, when you're dealing with an unstable and dangerous population like this it's not unusual for them to do the most horrendous, horrific and violent acts," said Carlisle.

Today Hawaii Department of Public Safety Director Clayton Frank said he's heard the complaints, but says the prison's process is appropriate and he has not seen anything that would raise a red flag.

He also says Saguaro is accredited by the American Correctional Association, which is difficult to get. None of Hawaii's prisons accredited.