Despite setback, private prison companies have track record of influence in Florida
Private prison companies lost the possibility of a big profit last week when one of the largest known government privatization campaigns in the country was
Jul 31, 2020110.4K Shares1.5M Views
Image has not been found. URL: http://images.americanindependent.com/2010/08/MahurinLobbying_Thumb1.jpgPrivate prison companies lost the possibility of a big profit last week when one of the largest known government privatization campaigns in the country was blocked by a Florida judgefor being unconstitutional. But the private-prison players like GEO Group and the Corrections Corporation of America that would have won big from the bill, and the tactics they use to ensure they stay in good graces with the state, have remained in the shadows even as the future of the legislation remains in question.
The plan to privatize 29 correctional facilities across 18 counties in South Florida was introduced by state legislators as an amendment to a budget bill, which, according to Thursday’s ruling, didn’t allow for full consideration of the costs of the planned mass privatization. GEO Group and the Corrections Corporation of America were set to see a steep windfall from the privatization deals but lobbying records show the companies invested in lawmakers long before these lucrative contracts were penned.
GEO Group, the second-largest private prison operator in the country, is headquartered in Florida and is already running the state’s largest private prison, the Blackwater River Correctional Facility in Milton. When the Corrections Corporation of America builds the largest private immigration centerin the country, as it agreedwith the town of Pembroke Pines and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to do earlier this year, Florida will become ground zero for private prisons.
The situation in Florida isn’t unique, but advocates say the scale of Florida’s plan is remarkable.
“It’s precedent setting,” said Ken Kopczynski, executive director of the Private Corrections Working Group, a website that collects news and resources on the growing influence of the private prison industry.
Image has not been found. URL: http://images.americanindependent.com/CCA-protests-11.jpgCommunity protests planned CCA immigration center. (Photo courtesy of Gail Tyree)
Kopczynski said proposed budget amendment and the planned Immigration and Customs Enforcement-contracted center “is the largest privatization effort in the U.S. if not in the world.”
The private-prison industry, like many others service-based private companies, relies on the goodwill of legislators. Campaign finance rules in Florida place a limit on how much companies can give to any individual state legislator, so companies often give to a party instead, said Nicole Porter, state advocacy coordinator for the Justice Center.
GEO Group, conceived in 1954, is a significant donor to the Republican Party of Florida, according to information from the Florida Department of State; in 2010, GEO Group donated $575,000, and through the first two quarters of 2011, they gave $160,000 total.
This often means if donations trickle down to an individual candidate, there is little record, said Porter. Gov. Rick Scott and Senate President Mike Haridopolos, the most vocal proponents of the privatization bill, have no record of funding from GEO Group in their campaign disclosure statements from the last three years.
Porter says considering the political donations of GEO Group, the “assumptions around efficiency and cost management” in private prisons “is problematic particularly when you are talking about policies that impact the real lives of people.”
Image has not been found. URL: http://images.americanindependent.com/CCA51-225x300.jpgCommunity protests planned CCA immigration center. (Photo courtesy of Gail Tyree)
The planned privatization would have impacted one-fifth of Florida’s prison population, and investigations have shown private prisons often cut costs at the expense of prisoner safety.
In fact, GEO Group is already under investigation for apay-for-play scandalinvolving Blackwater River Correctional Facility in Florida. An FBI subpeona calls for, among othe rthings, the travel vouchers of a former Florida speaker of the house, Rep. Ray Sansom, according to legal documents obtained by DBA Press. Sansom resigned amid an ethics investigation in Feburary 2010.
Prominent lawmakers on the national stage, including Sen. Marco Rubio, have been tarred with the same brush - Sansom was Rubio’s budget chief when he allegedly inserted language creating Blackwater into a Florida budget bill.
On the congressional level, six of thetop twenty recipientsof private-prison cash are from Florida, more than any other state.
Rubio was the largest recipient of funds from GEO Group and its subsidiaries — he received $27,400 between 2009 and 2010, according to Open Secrets.
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and U.S. Reps. David Rivera, Vern Buchanan, Sandy Adams and Allen West all received between $18,950 and $5,500 dollars from GEO Group or CCA.
CCA, in operation since 1983, “always thinks 3-5 years ahead,” said Kopczynski, “anticipating they will get a contract,” and their political donations reflect this.
Contributions aside, one of Gov. Scott’s top transition budget advisers, Donna Arduin, is a former trustee of a GEO Group real-estate company called Correctional Properties Trust.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters brought an ethics complaint against the prison privatization measure, arguing that the Scott’s support for the bill faces a conflict of interest because as governor, he oversees both the state Department of Corrections and a state investment fund that has stock in private prison companies, according to the Florida News Service.
Grassroots groups have continued to voice their opposition to pay-for-play private prison contracts and private detention centers in their communities, as The Florida Independent has reported, and they hope shining light on the issues is the first step to increasing accountability and culpability in prison privatization.
“The private prison industry for as long as I have been doing this work has always worked undercover,” said Gail Tyree, a fellow at the Open Society Foundation working to bring together a coalition of organizations to oppose prison privatization.
“They’re always saying you don’t stand a chance, but I believe that you stand a chance to stop the project until the last brick is in the building.”
Image has not been found. URL: http://images.americanindependent.com/CCA4-300x225.jpgCommunity protests planned CCA immigration center. (Photo courtesy of Gail Tyree)
Rhyley Carney
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