Private prisons

[Nogbad]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090211/ap_on_re_us/courthouse_kickbacks

Read this and was rather surprised. Who the hell thought it would be a good idea to let a contract based on the throughput of inmates? How on earth did a Judge get away with sentencing a girl to three months for making fun of her school vice principal on her Face Book page?

The world has gone mad.

[WildCat]

Wow...

[Homeland Insurgency]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090211/ap_on_re_us/courthouse_kickbacks

Read this and was rather surprised. Who the hell thought it would be a good idea to let a contract based on the throughput of inmates? How on earth did a Judge get away with sentencing a girl to three months for making fun of her school vice principal on her Face Book page?

The world has gone mad.

How could this have gone on for so long? It says in the article that the one judge...

"Conahan shut down the county-run juvenile prison in 2002 and helped the two companies secure rich contracts worth tens of millions of dollars, at least some of that dependent on how many juveniles were locked up."

jeeez

[drkitten]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090211/ap_on_re_us/courthouse_kickbacks

Read this and was rather surprised. Who the hell thought it would be a good idea to let a contract based on the throughput of inmates? How on earth did a Judge get away with sentencing a girl to three months for making fun of her school vice principal on her Face Book page?

The world has gone mad.

I hope the relevant kids get their records cleaned up.

[BPSCG]

Heh. I'll bet there are parents out there who are thinking, "Dammit, I wish my little hellraiser had ended up in front of one of those guys..."

[Kestrel]

How could this have gone on for so long? It says in the article that the one judge...

"Conahan shut down the county-run juvenile prison in 2002 and helped the two companies secure rich contracts worth tens of millions of dollars, at least some of that dependent on how many juveniles were locked up."

jeeez

The other judge involved was Ciavarella. According to this article (http://www.citizensvoice.com/articles/2008/11/27/news/wb_voice.20081127.a.pg5.cv27cdcourtbudget_s1.21234 74_top3.txt) from last November, at least one County Commissioner figured out how much he was costing the county.

The bulk of the cuts to the court system — approximately $4.1 million — would come from the probation services department, where spending on out-of-home placements has been reduced by approximately $3 million since Judge David W. Lupas replaced Ciavarella as the full-time juvenile court judge, Commissioner Stephen A. Urban said.

Lupas took over on May 23 of last year, so the harsh sentences were costing the county roughly $5 million extra every year.

[The Atheist]

Mirroring Steven King & Peter Straub's Sunshine Gardner Home in The Talisman, a couple of judges have been charged with illegally sending hundreds of kids to private correctional facilities for kickbacks.

Lovely (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10556403).

[quixotecoyote]

I'm shocked this is the first I've heard of it. Then again, I've always been leery of the for-profit prison system, so I'm biased.

[fuelair]

I hope the relevant kids get their records cleaned up.and sue the living excrement out of all involved.

[geni]

Well thats one way to cut out the middle man.

[Giggywig]

I hope the relevant kids get their records cleaned up.
Well, if PA wants to keep even the illusion of a fair trial, they have to either retry every kid that went out in front of these judges or overturn the convictions outright. Probably cheaper to overturn, and can they be retired or is that double jeopardy?

[Kestrel]

Well, if PA wants to keep even the illusion of a fair trial, they have to either retry every kid that went out in front of these judges or overturn the convictions outright. Probably cheaper to overturn, and can they be retired or is that double jeopardy?

Overturn all the cases and expunge all records seems to be the only appropriate way to handle it at this point.

[Smackety]

Heh. I'll bet there are parents out there who are thinking, "Dammit, I wish my little hellraiser had ended up in front of one of those guys..."

I know man...out here it is like, "Who does my kid have to kill before he gets some attention?"

[Puppycow]

Thread title is not descriptive.

Both the judges and the prison owners should spend the rest of their lives in prison.

[geni]

Thread title is not descriptive.

Both the judges and the prison owners should spend the rest of their lives in prison.

No. That would be expensive. In any case I doubt there is much risk of reoffence.

[Nogbad]

Thread title is not descriptive.

Both the judges and the prison owners should spend the rest of their lives in prison.

Sorry - I posted it in a bit of a rush and realised that the title could do with amplification. If a Mod can change it to Private Prisons = money making scam for Judges or similar I would be grateful.

[Toke]

I wonder if that extends to other parts of for-profit prison systems, perhaps less blatant.
I could imagine that legistators voting for strichter sentenses would get paid by prison companies. And that such prisons are quick to find crime among inmates.

What happens to these jugdes, companies and kids would be a reasonable indicator of how unaccaptable this behavior is to legistators.

[Puppycow]

No. That would be expensive. In any case I doubt there is much risk of reoffence.

I don't care if it's expensive. I don't care about the risk of reoffence. I care about justice.

[Beerina]

I am a thorough believer that corruption of this type should be sentenced to a minimum of the cumulative sentences actually handed out. If it's 60 years, c'est la arrogance.

[Puppycow]

I am a thorough believer that corruption of this type should be sentenced to a minimum of the cumulative sentences actually handed out. If it's 60 years, c'est la arrogance.

Agreed.

[dudalb]

No. That would be expensive. In any case I doubt there is much risk of reoffence.

It's called "Deterrence". Why the idea that severaly punishing people will make others think twice before commiting the same crime..in this case in particular....is so hard for people to grasp I just don't know.

[geni]

It's called "Deterrence". Why the idea that severaly punishing people will make others think twice before commiting the same crime..in this case in particular....is so hard for people to grasp I just don't know.

Deterrence is only effective if you can show a signifcant chance of getting caught. There are very few crimes where people think "well I'll only get eight years for this". There are far more where people think they wont get caught at all.

[Puppycow]

The main reason, even above deterrance, is justice.
In any case, the people who need to be deterred here are other judges and private prison owners. People with a lot to lose in social status, wealth and honor. Harsh sentences would be a good deterrant, but more importantly they would be just.

[meg]

Looks like Ciavarella got 28 years.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-08-11-pa-courthouse-kickbacks-sentence_n.htm

[A Laughing Baby]

Private prisons and their consequential profiteering are just one part of the problem with the modern American incarceration system:

Prison gerrymandering (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrymandering#Prison-based_gerrymandering), for example.

Or auctioning off of ownership of private prisons (http://www.grassrootsleadership.org/blog/?p=56) referring to inmates as "product."

This is an image from Angola, a prison in Louisiana where inmates pick cotton by hand and maintain a golf course for use by the staff. It is also the prison where 3 members of the Black Panthers were held in solitary confinement for 36 years. 85% of it's 5100 inmates are expected to die while in Angola.
http://i.imgur.com/GRDRL.jpg

[Schrodinger's Cat]

Overturn all the cases and expunge all records seems to be the only appropriate way to handle it at this point.

From the salon article:

the Pennsylvania Supreme Court was forced to throw out about 4,000 juvenile convictions issued by Ciavarella, saying he routinely trampled on juvenile offenders' civil rights, including the right to legal counsel and the right to intelligently enter a plea


http://www.salon.com/wires/allwires/2011/08/08/D9P027KG2_us_courthouse_kickbacks/index.html

[Carnivore]

Looks like Ciavarella got 28 years.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-08-11-pa-courthouse-kickbacks-sentence_n.htm

Woo hoo!

Ciavarella acknowledges that he has no one to blame but himself for his sentence, then goes on to blame everyone but himself, then goes on to deny he did anything wrong. Stay classy, Your Honour!

[Schrodinger's Cat]

What I find most amusing is that after sending huge numbers of kids as young as 10 to detention centers for the most minor of crimes, the defendent and his lawyer then argued that this grown adult in a position of power and authority has been "punished enough" and that jail time is not warranted.

[A Laughing Baby]

What I find most amusing is that after sending huge numbers of kids as young as 10 to detention centers for the most minor of crimes, the defendent and his lawyer then argued that this grown adult in a position of power and authority has been "punished enough" and that jail time is not warranted.

People tend to be in favor of prisons being as hellish and barbaric as possible until they may end up going to one themselves.

[3point14]

I'm firmly against the death penalty on all occasions but one. In most instances I don't think it's a deterrant at all.

Abuse of the public trust while in high office would be the one exception. In this instance I think, as they laundered the cheque, the thought of it costing them their lives might make such scum think twice.

[A Laughing Baby]

I'm firmly against the death penalty on all occasions but one. In most instances I don't think it's a deterrant at all.

Abuse of the public trust while in high office would be the one exception. In this instance I think, as they laundered the cheque, the thought of it costing them their lives might make such scum think twice.

If this man isn't placed in PC for the entire term of his stay in prison, he's already received a death sentence.

[leftysergeant]

If this man isn't placed in PC for the entire term of his stay in prison, he's already received a death sentence.Not a problem.

[pipelineaudio]

Some Hawaii contractors and corrupt politicians have a great system whereby they criminalize all sorts of harmless activities and take a cut of sending them off to a private prison in Arizona

[leftysergeant]

Private prisons are the new slavery.

There is also no way in hell that for-profit prisons can do the same job as state-run prisons cheaper.

They can hire a bunch of thugs unfit for any other work and pay them utter crap, but that just guarantees a less satisfactory outcome.

Thewre is just too much opportunity for abuse buillt-in.

It's a worse idea than letting KBR build shower points and provide drinking water for our troops in Iraq.

[INRM]

The problem with privately run prisons is that they make their money by imprisoning people. They as a result will lobby politicians to increase the jail time for various criminal acts, and to craft new criminal statutes making things that weren't previously criminal criminal; they also will try and avoid rehabilitative treatment because that would cut recidivism which would be bad for business.

[leftysergeant]

Fascist groups like ALEC have been pushing the idea of for-profit prisons for some time now. That low-life Russell Pearce in Arizona is totally in their pocket. That was why he pushed the legislation to lock up anyone who coukld not prove they were in the state legally. It keeps Corrections Corporation of America supplied with product indefinitely.

Frankly, I think the entire board of directors of that dirtbag outfit should be in jail for corruption. Their money helps keep worthless slime like Pearce in office.

[pipelineaudio]

The problem with privately run prisons is that they make their money by imprisoning people. They as a result will lobby politicians to increase the jail time for various criminal acts, and to craft new criminal statutes making things that weren't previously criminal criminal; they also will try and avoid rehabilitative treatment because that would cut recidivism which would be bad for business.

Precisely

Welcome to Hawaii

[NewtonTrino]

Talk about an egregious abuse of power. I like the death sentence idea actually.

We put way too many people in jail as it is. Private prisons? No thanks.