Nevada Prisoners’ Newsletter-2 (2010)
Dear Bay View readers, and especially my
“Knowledge is power”
Colofon
NPN is made by volunteers for prisoners in
NV prisons so that they are a little bit more
informed about prisons, about new ideas and
initiatives, articles by prisoners published in
other media, and it gives a few handy
addresses and reading ideas. The contents are
taken from weblogs and other media outlets.
We cooperate with Nevada Prison Watch and
the Prison Reform Community Center. If you
want to receive this Newsletter and have some
stamps left, please help us send this out to you
by sending us a few stamps! Thank you.
NPN
------- ------- ------- --------
LV Sun: Lawmakers keep Nevada’s old
prison
The Associated Press
Sunday, Feb. 28, 2010
Source: Las Vegas Sun
Legislative leaders say Gov. Jim Gibbons' plan
to shut down the 148-year-old Nevada State
Prison in Carson City is dead.
Gibbons wanted to move most of the 740
inmates to the High Desert State Prison in
Clark County and others to prisons around
Nevada.
Corrections chief Howard Skolnik said that
would have accomplished half of the budget
cut his department is taking.
But Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-
Las Vegas, says shutting down the old prison
would cost money in the long run.
The American Federation of State, County and
Municipal employees protested the disruption
for prison guards.
Cut due to copyright…
##
Tu wa moja watu (We are the people)
SF Bay View
February 5, 2010 by Ikemba S. Mutulu
1
fellow convicts throughout the country, I send
this call out to you to join with me in showing
some love to the Haitian people. Yes, we all
have problems. I too have many of my own.
But they all pale in comparison to what’s
happening in Haiti: over a hundred thousand
estimated dead and missing after a 7.0
earthquake destroyed what little infrastructure
the people had. Tens of thousands more
injured, left with no medical support, and
forced to sleep in the streets with no food or
water.
Long before this great tragedy, though, the
Western world has been shitting on the people
of Haiti. And Amerika has ignored the plight
of Haiti long enough. We in Amerika,
especially Blacks and Browns, have a
responsibility to stand with our Haitian
brothers and sisters.
For the young Gs and Sistas who don’t know,
because the schools lied to you and hid the
truth: Prior to the European invasion – or
arrival – of Christopher Columbus in 1492, a
single island nation occupied the island of
Hispaniola, now shared by Haiti and the
Dominican Republic. It was inhabited by the
Carib and Arawak Native tribes who were all
but killed off after welcoming the Europeans,
who staged brutal massacres, during which
they raped and murdered both women and
children.
As in Mexico and South America, African
slaves were brought in by European colonists
to supplement the enslaved Natives, sick and
dying from European diseases. They were
brought to dig for gold and cultivate crops etc.,
which were then shipped out to the European
rulers.
Under the leadership of African and Native
warriors, they were able to break their chains
and escape into the mountain jungles, where
they organized raiding parties to free the
people and to build an army. Best known of
these leaders was an African named Toussaint
L’Ouverture. Together the Africans and
Natives waged war, over many years, to
eventually repel these European invaders,
defeating their great armies and declaring
independence from European rule in 1804.
And if not for the blood and courage of our
ancestors there in Haiti, we here in the U.S.
would not have our freedom today, as it was
the example of Haiti defeating the great
powers of Europe that sparked numerous other
rebellions against slavery and oppression – in
Mexico, South America and here in the U.S.
Nat Turner knew about Haiti, David Walker,
Harriet Tubman and countless other freedom
fighters knew of and were empowered by our
people in Haiti.
The schools tell you Abraham Lincoln is the
father of freedom, that he freed the slaves. But
if you want the real, look at Haiti. And in
solidarity with our brothers and sisters there
today, all of us – convicts and comrades
reading these words – donate what you can. If
you have no money, write to your loved ones
and ask them to donate. You can send your
extra stamps to the Bay View and they’ll make
sure they go to the cause. I personally am
pledging $40 and will be organizing a stamp
drive here in my unit.
In the Nevada prison system, 10 percent of any
monies we receive is taken and placed in a
savings account up to $200. We are not
allowed to spend this money, as it is used to
bury us when we die, or it is our gate money
when we leave. But if you are broke and you
wanna donate to a known nonprofit charity to
help the brothas and sistas in Haiti, per A.R.
258 (page 2), you may submit a DOC-515
form for approval to do so. I’ve asked the Bay
View to list the name and address of a
legitimate charitable organization for you to
donate to.
Tu wa moja watu (we are one people)!
Editor’s note: The Bay View heartily
recommends the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund,
which was founded by Harry Belafonte, Danny
Glover and attorney Walter Riley, who heads
its board and, incidentally, is the proud father
of Boots Riley of The Coup. HERF has a long
track record of aid and solidarity with the
people of Haiti’s grassroots, who are often
passed over by other organizations. Make your
check or money order payable to “Haiti
Emergency Relief Fund/EBSC” and mail it to
East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, 2362 Bancroft
Way, Berkeley, CA 94704.
2
##
Paid leave adds up for prison system
Monday February 15, 2010
Top Story Fact Finder - Joe Hart - News 4
A News 4 investigation into paid
administrative leave in our state government
has uncovered hundreds of thousands of
dollars being spent to pay people who are not
working.The Department of Public Safety has
now adopted new policies to cut down on the
amount of money paid to employees who are
put on leave because they've been accused of
some type of wrongdoing. Last year the bill for
paid administrative leave at DPS, which
oversees the Nevada Highway Patrol, came to
$370,000.
When we contacted the department of
corrections to find out how much it spends on
paid administrative leave, we were first told
that information would not be
available.Suzanne Pardee, the prison public
information officer, told us:
"We could probably get an overall amount, but
it would not break it down to administrative
leave. I don't have specifics for you."
Two hours later, Pardee was able to find the
information we had asked for. She says the
prison system paid out $400,000 last year to
workers who were under investigation after
being accused of some type of wrongdoing.
Cut due to copyright…
##
Brainwashing Techniques Used by the
Oppressor
2010/01/31
from: Coyote's Weblog Coyote-
calling.blogspot.com
My greetings of solidarity and respects are
extended to all comrades on both sides of the
razorwire. I just wanted to take this time to
reproduce this list of CIA brainwashing
techniques that are being used against the
imprisoned and the oppressors. This is going
on in all prisons across the nation, but
especially here at Ely State Prison, Nevada’s
notorious maximum security lock-up. I’ve
been here for over 11 years and I’ve seen all of
these tactics being used against us; and so I felt
compelled to make a reproduction of this list
so that awareness can be raised!
Here’s a list of 25 tactics being used on us
daily:
1) Physical removal of prisoners to areas
sufficiently isolated to effectively break or
seriously weaken close emotional ties.
2) Segregation of all natural leaders.
3) Use of cooperative prisoners as leaders.
4) Prohibition of group activities not in line
with brainwashing objectives.
5) Spying on prisoners and reporting back
private materials.
6) Ticking men into written statements which
are then shown to others.
7) Exploitation of opportunities and
informants.
8) Convincing prisoners that they can trust no
one.
9) Treating those who are willing to
collaborate in far more lenient ways than those
who are not.
10) Punishing those who show uncooperative
attitudes.
11) Systematic withholding of mail.
12) Preventing contact with anyone non-
sympathetic to the method of treatment and
regimen of the captive populace.
13) Disorganization of all group standards
among prisoners.
14) Building a group conviction among the
prisoners that they have been abandoned by
and totally isolated from their social order.
15) Undermining of all emotional supports.
16) Preventing prisoners from writing home or
to friends in the community regarding the
conditions of their confinement.
17) Making available and permitting access to
only those publications and books that contain
materials which are neutral to or supportive of
the desired new attitudes. While making it hard
or impossible to gain access to radical,
political, educational or empowering literature
and books.
18) Placing individuals into new and
ambiguous situations for which the standards
are kept deliberately unclear and then putting
pressure on him to conform to what is desired
in order to win favour and a reprieve from the
pressure.
3
19) Placing individuals whose willpower has
been severely weakened, or eroded, into a
living situation with several others who are
more advanced in their thought-reform, whose
job is to further undermine the individual
emotional supports.
20) Using techniques of character invalidation,
i.e. humiliations, revilement, shouting, to
induce feelings of guilt, fear and suggestibility;
coupled with sleeplessness and exacting prison
regimen and periodic interrogational
interviews.
21) Meeting all insincere attempts to comply
with cellmates’ pressures with renewed
hostility.
22) Rewarding of submission and subservience
to the attitudes encompassing the brainwashing
objective with a lifting of pressure and
acceptance as a human being.
23) Providing social and emotional supports
which reinforce the new attitudes.
24) Divide and conquer techniques to quell
riots and disruptions. When one prisoner is
acting out or causing disruption on the tier over
an injustice being done to him, guards will go
to other inmates’ door laughing, joking,
slandering and defacing the character of the
disruptive inmate, trying to turn the other
prisoners against him. Those who go along
with this and take the bait by laughing and
joking with the guards, are in turn ostracized
and looked down upon by the other prisoners.
25) Using food as a control method, “doggy
treat” tactics”. “If you comply we will give
you extra food that we would otherwise throw
away.” Those who are extremely non-
compliant, or who write grievances, might not
get fed at all.
Those are just 25 of the brainwashing
techniques being used on us daily. There are
more though. But now that we know what is
being done to us, it is up to us to figure out
ways to defend ourselves against these tactics.
The best weapon for anyone to have is
knowledge. Knowledge of yourself, knowledge
of your enemy, knowledge of your
surroundings, knowledge of your culture, your
history, knowledge of your purpose in life.
Knowledge is a weapon. Arm yourself with
knowledge.
My love goes out to all of those who keep the
fire of resistance burning in their hearts! Peace.
Solidarity and Respects,
Coyote
January 25th, 2010
ABC Nevada Prison Chapter
##
North Carolina woman jailed in attempt to
smuggle drugs into Nevada State Prison
Nevada Appeal, Feb. 18, 2010
by F.T. Norton
A North Carolina woman remained in custody
Wednesday on charges she tried to smuggle
drugs into Nevada State Prison last week.
Cut due to copyright…
##
Plan to close youth prison questioned
Feb. 11, 2010
Source: Las Vegas Review Journal
CARSON CITY -- Legislators questioned
Wednesday whether Gov. Jim Gibbons' plan to
close the maximum-security Summit View
Youth Correctional Center in Las Vegas would
save money or just lead to problems at wide-
open rural centers where offenders would be
moved.
They said that the state still must pay off costs
for constructing the $15 million Summit View
youth prison near Nellis Air Force Base and
that the Elko and Caliente facilities, where
some 40 offenders would be sent, might not be
secure enough for them.
Summit View is built like a prison with razor
wire fencing. The rural youth training centers
do not have fences. They are cottagelike
settings where the staff members make sure
offenders don't just walk away.
Department of Health and Human Services
Director Michael Willden told legislators the
state can save $3.7 million by closing Summit
View. Layoff notices have been sent to facility
workers.
Cut due to copyright…
##
Escape sparks probe, temporary closure of
prison camp
Jan. 27, 2010
Las Vegas Review-Journal
4
By Henry Brean
An investigation of a recent escape has
triggered the surprise closure of a state prison
camp in central Nevada.
Early this morning, state corrections officers
removed all 113 minimum security prisoners
from the Tonopah Conservation Camp and the
entire staff was placed on paid administrative
leave.
Cut due to copyright…
##
Voices from Solitary: Coyote Calling
From: Solitary Watch Blog:
http://solitarywatch.wordpress.com/2010/01/24
/voices-from-solitary-coyote-calling/
2010 January 24
by James Ridgeway and Jean Casella
One of the aims of Solitary Watch News is to
build an online archive of literature, drawings,
and reportage by people who are, or have been,
in solitary confinement. These will be
compiled in the Voices from Solitary section
of the site, and sometimes featured in blog
posts. Readers are encouraged to send in their
suggestions.
A reader from Nevada Prison Watch recently
told us about the writings of Coyote Sheff,
which are now being published by his friends
on the outside on a blog, Coyote Calling.
Coyote has been in Nevada’s Ely State Prison
for about a decade, much of it in Discliplinary
Segregation. In fact, of the eight units at Ely,
seven are in some form of permanent
lockdown, where prisoners are held in their
cells 23 hours a day, either alone or with a
cellmate.
Ely State Prison, located in a remote town in
Eastern Nevada, is currently being sued by the
American Civil Liberties Union’s National
Prison Project for ”grossly inadequate medical
care” to its 1,000 prisoners. The ACLU filed
suit after state officials failed to act on the
findings of an expert, Dr. William Noel, who
was sent in to investigate medical conditions at
Ely. According to the ACLU:
“In his report, Noel wrote that medical care at
ESP shows “the most shocking and callous
disregard for human life and human suffering
that I have ever encountered in the medical
profession in my 35 years of practice.”
According to the report…there is a horrific
pattern of neglect, misguided health care
policies, and little accountability for frequently
under-qualified staff. Noel also noted
numerous instances where important medical
records were missing from prisoners’ medical
files. Finally, Noel and the ACLU have raised
serious concerns about prisoners who died and
were cremated before autopsies were
completed and their families notified.”
This piece by Coyote Sheff is called “Solitary
Enslavement.”
“We sit in these cells like dead bodies sit in
cemeteries. Death fills our lungs, fills our
minds, fills our hearts and fills our souls as it
lurks and lingers and seeps through the
concrete. Our minds go numb and our spirits
fade into inactivity. We sit here waiting to
waste away, erode, dissolve, and disappear into
the cracks of the cement.
Solitary confinement. What an evil concept,
what a wicked notion, what a clever way to
destroy a man without even laying a finger on
him. Solitary confinement — the murderer of
minds, hearts, and souls. The person who
designed such an evil conception must’ve had
murder on his mind and hate in his heart.
We die alone in these cold cells, as our hands
stretch out to clutch concrete, but fail
miserably to hold anything in their grasp other
than the death-stenched air. We die alone — a
lonely, miserable, suffering death. We die
alone….”
##
From the Minutes of the Meeting of Prison
Commissioners, Jan. 12, 2010:
“Tonya Brown stated she had a private autopsy
performed on Mr. Klein and passed out the
updated death certificate to the Board. She
stated had he been properly treated, he would
still
be alive today and the State of Nevada will
now be charged with a wrongful death suit.
Ms. Brown stated an innocent man died for a
crime he didn’t commit. She stated if the
Pardons Board had granted a pardon for Mr.
Klein he would be alive today and said his
5
medical condition went untreated. Ms. Brown
stated inmates are coming into the prison
system and leaving with a death sentence
because they were not being treated properly.
She
submitted the Death Certificate for the record.
See Exhibit C”
The next meeting is on April 13th, 2010. Send
in your comments for the record about the
rules and regulations, or things you want to see
changed to: Secretary of State, 101 North
Carson Street, Suite 3
Carson City, NV 89701-3714; “for Meeting of
the Prison Commissioners.”
##
Addresses of use for you:
Nevada Prison Watch
[old address clipped]
Nevadaprisonwatch.blogspot.com and on
Nevada Prison Watch is an independent
weblog made by people concerned about the
human rights of people in Nevada´s prisons. It
was started in the beginning of 2009.
NPW is meant to gather and publish stories
about Nevada's prisons, news stories directly
from the prisoners and their families and
friends, and from the prisoners who published
their stories in other media. The idea is to
gather information and to have it documented,
so that it builds a picture of prison life, and to
teach the public what they can do to make sure
that abuses are stopped and that education,
justice and medical care are being practised, so
that prisoners can redeem themselves and
come out alive in better shape, ready to serve
society.
We have a flyer available for your information.
^^^
Inmate Family Connections
Inmatefamilyconnections.com
Organize bus trips for visits in several NV
prisons.
“We understand how emotional it is not being
able to visit and don't have a means of
transportation. The single most important
factor in reducing recidivism is maintaining a
strong supportive relationship during and after
confinement. Our staff is dedicated to ensuring
that you have an enjoyable, smooth, and
pleasant experience reserving transportation to
see your loved one. We are here to help you,
and work with you in any way that we can.”
Telephone: (702) 948-5055
^^^
Fortune Society
General Information:
The Fortune Society believes in a world where
all who are at-risk, incarcerated or formerly
incarcerated can become positive, contributing
members of society. Our work supports
successful reentry of formerly incarcerated
men and women and promotes alternatives to
incarceration, thus strengthening the fabric of
our communities.
The Fortune News is available free of charge
to incarcerated men and women. Please print
the following information clearly: first name;
last name; ID number; correctional facility;
address; city; state; zip code. Be sure to
indicate whether the request is a renewal, a
transfer, or new subscription request.
Please mail your request to:
The Fortune Society
ATTN: Fortune News Subscriptions
29-76 Northern Boulevard
Long Island City, NY 11101
^^^
AIDWYC
The Association in Defence of the Wrongly
Convicted (AIDWYC) is a Canadian volunteer
organization dedicated to preventing and
rectifying wrongful convictions.
AIDWYC has two broad objectives: first,
eradicating the conditions that can cause
miscarriages of justice; and second,
participating in the review and, where
warranted, correction of wrongful convictions.
AIDWYC is a primarily voluntary, non-profit
organization. At this time, AIDWYC's focus is
limited to murder convictions only.
Review Process
At this time, AIDWYC only handles homicide
cases.
6
While we recognize that there are many cases
in which the reasonableness of a guilty verdict
may be questioned, AIDWYC has chosen to
devote itself exclusively to cases in which the
Board is convinced--and will be able to prove--
that the accused is factually innocent. This
process ensures quality control of all cases and
speaks clearly to the integrity of our process.
FACTUAL INNOCENCE is where proof
exists (through DNA or other means) that the
person was not involved in any way with the
murder. For a case to be considered, an
applicant must file a formal request with
AIDWYC.
Our intake form requires the applicant to agree
to DNA testing if applicable. An initial review
of the applicant's case involves reading
transcripts, obtaining any files in the
possession of the Crown Attorney's office,
reviewing all witness statements, forensic
reports, interviewing witnesses, the applicant,
forensic experts and any other relevant
persons. This work is done by volunteer
lawyers and law students. During this time, the
supervising lawyer presents the case on an
ongoing basis to AIDWYC's Review
Committee.
The Review Committee is comprised of lawyer
members of the Board and other lawyers
working on cases. The Review Committee
offers advice and mentoring with the
supervising lawyer. Once the investigative
stage is complete, the case is presented to the
Review Committee for possible approval.
Once the Review Committee approves the
case, it is then submitted for a further review to
the Board for final adoption.
If you are interested, write to:
Association in Defence of the Wrongly
Convicted
111 Peter Street
Suite 626
Toronto, Ontario M5V 2H1
CANADA
Ask for a Case Application Form if you think
your case falls under those under review by
AIDWYC.
^^^
Books for you:
In this NPN, we concentrate on a national
teacher who died recently:
Howard Zinn (1922-2010), author of: A
People's History of the United States
1492-Present (1980), his book is still very
much available and a great book to read and
discover history you were not taught in school.
So ask for it to the librarians or ask your family
to send it to you, it is a voluminous book
which is very interesting and accessable.
A tribute:
Howard Zinn: The People’s Historian.
Source:
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/howard_z
inn_the_peoples_historian_20100202/
Posted on Feb 2, 2010
By Amy Goodman
Howard Zinn, legendary historian, author and
activist, died last week at the age of 87. His
most famous book is “A People’s History of
the United States.” Zinn told me last May,
“The idea of ‘A People’s History’ is to go
beyond what people have learned in school ...
history through the eyes of the presidents and
the generals in the battles fought in the Civil
War, [to] the voices of ordinary people, of
rebels, of dissidents, of women, of black
people, of Asian-Americans, of immigrants, of
socialists and anarchists and troublemakers of
all kinds.”
It is fitting to write of Zinn’s life at the start of
Black History Month. Although he was white,
he wrote eloquently of the civil rights struggle
and was a part of that movement as well. Fifty
years ago, on Feb. 1, 1960, four black students
entered the F.W. Woolworth store in
Greensboro, N.C., and sat down at the “whites
only” lunch counter. They were refused
service, and returned day after day. Each day,
more and more people came with them. The
lunch-counter desegregation movement spread
to other Southern cities. By July, the
Greensboro Woolworth lunch counter was
desegregated. This week, the International
Civil Rights Center and Museum opened at the
site of that original lunch-counter protest.
At the time of the sit-ins, Zinn was a professor
at Spelman College, a historically black
women’s college in Atlanta. He told me why,
after seven years there, he was fired: “The
7
students at Spelman College rose up out of that
very tranquil and controlled atmosphere at the
college during the sit-ins and went into town,
got arrested, they came back fired up and
determined to change the conditions of their
lives on campus. ... I supported them in their
rebellion, and I was too much for the
administration of the college.” Zinn wrote in
the afterword of “A People’s History”: “It was
not until I joined the faculty of Spelman
College ... that I began to read the African-
American historians who never appeared in my
reading lists in graduate school. Nowhere in
my history education had I learned about the
massacres of black people that took place
again and again, amid the silence of a national
government pledged, by the Constitution, to
protect equal rights for all.”
One of his students at Spelman was Pulitzer
Prize-winning author Alice Walker. Soon after
she learned of Zinn’s death, Walker explained:
“He was thrown out because he loved us, and
he showed that love by just being with us. He
loved his students. He didn’t see why we
should be second-class citizens.” Just a few
years ago, Zinn was invited back to Spelman to
give the commencement address and receive
an honorary degree.
World-renowned linguist and dissident Noam
Chomsky, a longtime friend of Zinn’s,
reflected on Zinn’s “reverence for and his
detailed study of what he called ‘the countless
small actions of unknown people’ that lead to
those great moments that enter the historical
record.” Zinn co-wrote, with Anthony Arnove,
“Voices of a People’s History of the United
States,” with speeches, letters and other
original source material from those “unknown
people” who have shaped this country. It was
made into a star-studded documentary, which
premiered on the History Channel just weeks
before Zinn died. Matt Damon, its executive
producer, gave “A People’s History” enormous
popular exposure in the hit movie “Good Will
Hunting” when his character Will
recommended the book to his psychiatrist.
Damon was Zinn’s neighbor in Newton, Mass.,
and knew him since he was 10 years old.
Last May, when I interviewed Zinn, he
reflected on Barack Obama’s first months in
office: “I wish President Obama would listen
carefully to Martin Luther King. I’m sure he
pays verbal homage, as everyone does, to
Martin Luther King, but he ought to think
before he sends missiles over Pakistan, before
he agrees to this bloated military budget,
before he sends troops to Afghanistan, before
he opposes the single-payer system.
“He ought to ask: ‘What would Martin Luther
King do? And what would Martin Luther King
say?’ And if he only listened to King, he would
be a very different president than he’s turning
out to be so far. I think we ought to hold
Obama to his promise to be different and bold
and to make change. So far, he hasn’t come
through on that promise.”
Denis Moynihan contributed research to this
column.
Amy Goodman is the host of “Democracy
Now!,” a daily international TV/radio news
hour airing on more than 800 stations in North
America. She is the author of “Breaking the
Sound Barrier,” recently released in
paperback and now a New York Times best-
seller.
--
From Leonard Peltier: Feb 2nd, 2010
(http://freepeltiernow.blogspot.com/2010/02/re
etings-from-leonard-peltier-february.html)
“We were all sad to learn of the passing this
past week, of Howard Zinn. A brilliant author,
researcher, activist, not to mention a fine
human being and a friend to my cause, his loss
is a blow to all of us who struggle against
oppression. Please send up prayers for his
family and loved ones, and that his spirit has a
good journey. In the Spirit of Crazy Horse,
Leonard Peltier.”
##
Sayings
All persons deprived of their liberty shall be
treated with humanity and with respect for the
inherent dignity of the human person. (Article
10, International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights – UN)
Frederick Douglass (1818-1895):
“Believe in yourself.
Take advantage of every opportunity.
8
Use the power of spoken and written language
to effect positive change for yourself and
society.”
"What is possible for me is possible for you."
“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.”
“It is easier to build strong children than to
repair broken men.”
“No man can put a chain about the ankle of his
fellow man without at last finding the other
end fastened about his own neck.”
“A gentleman will not insult me, and no man
not a gentleman can insult me.”
“One and God make a majority.”
By taking these keys and making them his
own, Frederick Douglass created a life of
honor, respect and success that he could never
have dreamed of when still a boy on Colonel
Lloyd's plantation on the Eastern Shore of
Maryland.
##
February 25, 2010
CCA Loses Contracts for 7,594 Prison Beds
in Past 16 Months; More Losses Looming
CCA Loses Contracts for 7,594 Prison Beds in
Past 16 Months; More Losses Looming
February 24, 2010 – Private Corrections
Working Group
Nashville, TN – Corrections Corporation of
America (CCA), the nation’s largest private
prison company, has lost or terminated
contracts totaling 7,594 prison beds within the
past 16 months, and is expected to lose at least
3,696 more beds by the end of this calendar
year.
CCA announced on January 21, 2010 that
based on the State of Arizona’s proposed
budget, the company likely would lose its
contracts to house Arizona prisoners at the
company’s 752-bed Huerfano County
Correctional Center in Colorado and its 2,160-
bed Diamondback Corr. Facility in Oklahoma.
Last year, CCA generated about $56.5 million
in revenue from those contracts. It has since
been confirmed that the Huerfano contract,
which expires in March 2010, will not be
renewed. Arizona officials have said they
intend to return all of their inmates from out-
of-state facilities; thus, CCA is expected to
lose the Diamondback contract after it expires
in May.
On January 13, 2010, CCA announced that the
Bureau of Prisons had not renewed its contract
to house prisoners at the company’s 2,304-bed
California City Correctional Center. The
contract, estimated at $553 million over ten
years, instead went to competitor Cornell
Corrections.
Previously, Alaska removed approximately
770 of its inmates from CCA’s Red Rock
facility in Arizona in December 2009, and that
same month CCA announced the closure of its
1,600-bed Prairie Correctional Facility in
Appleton, Minnesota after losing contracts to
house Minnesota and Washington inmates at
the prison. The Prairie facility shut its doors on
February 2, 2010, with CCA laying off 400
employees.
In January 2009, CCA’s contracts to manage
the B.M. Moore Correctional Center and the
Diboll Correctional Center, both in Texas and
totaling 1,018 beds, went to competitor
Management and Training Corporation. And
on October 9, 2008, after CCA terminated its
contract to operate the 1,150-bed Bay County
Jail in Panama City, Florida, the county’s
Sheriff’s Department took over management of
that facility.
Thus, over the past 16 months from October
2008 to the present, CCA has lost contracts
totaling 7,594 prison beds, and is expected to
lose several thousand more beds when Arizona
returns its out-of-state inmates from the
company’s Diamondback Correctional
Facility.
During CCA’s fourth quarter 2009 earnings
conference call held on February 10, 2010,
CCA CEO Damon Hininger acknowledged in
response to a question from an analyst with
Avondale Partners that the company was
facing around 12,000 empty beds. As CCA has
approximately 87,000 prison beds available
nationwide, this represents a vacancy rate of
almost 14%.
9
Further, two other stock analysts who
participated in the conference call inquired
about CCA’s contract with the State of
Tennessee to house inmates at the 1,536-bed
Whiteville Correctional Facility. Mr. Hininger
was equivocal, saying the “legislature will take
this up and think about potentially funding
these beds through this fiscal year and
potentially long-term.” However, he failed to
mention that the Governor’s recommended
budget states the Whiteville prison “will be
closed at the end of calendar year 2010, and all
inmates will be transferred to other ...
facilities.” The proposed budget only includes
funding for CCA’s Whiteville prison to the end
of the year.
Additionally, Texas’ budget reduction plan,
unveiled on February 16, 2010, indicates that
$10.7 million in funding for 817 private prison
beds will be eliminated. CCA, which operates
seven facilities that hold Texas state inmates,
likely would be affected by this reduction.
Previously, Texas state Senator John
Whitmire, Chairman of the Senate Criminal
Justice Committee, had suggested terminating
CCA’s contract to house prisoners at the
company’s Mineral Wells Pre-Parole Transfer
Facility.
Although CCA has several new prisons and
facility expansions in the construction phase,
they do not make up for the company’s loss of
7,594 contract beds over the past 16 months
and the additional 3,696 beds that CCA is
expected to lose at its Whiteville prison in
Tennessee and Diamondback facility in
Oklahoma by the end of this year.
“It’s hard to understand how CCA can
continue to maintain its market share and its
projected earnings with the loss of so many
contracted prison beds,” stated Ken
Kopczynski, executive director of the Private
Corrections Working Group.
Apparently, CCA’s repeated contract losses
and less-than favorable outlook have caused
some investors to back off. On February 16,
2010, it was reported that billionaire investor
George Soros had divested all of his share
holdings in CCA. CCA’s Chairman, John D.
Ferguson, sold 20,000 shares on February 22.
The company’s stock is off about 15% since
the beginning of the year.

According to recent news reports, lost
contracts, empty prison beds and declining
investor confidence aren’t CCA’s only
problems. On February 23, Courthouse News
Service reported that two former inmates had
claimed they were sexually victimized by CCA
employees at the company’s Correctional
Treatment Facility in the District of Columbia.
The former prisoners, who are represented by
counsel, have filed separate $20 million
lawsuits against CCA. www.privateci.org
##
Howard Zinn, from A people's History of the
United States, these are a few parts of Chapter
24:
The Coming Revolt of the Guards
...
One percent of the nation owns a third of the
wealth. The rest of the wealth is distributed in
such a way as to turn those in the 99 percent
against one another: small property owners
against the propertyless, black against white,
native-born against foreign-born, intellectuals
and professionals against the uneducated and
unskilled. These groups have resented one
another and warred against one another with
such vehemence and violence as to obscure
their common position as sharers of leftovers
in a very wealthy country.
Against the reality of that desperate, bitter
battle for resources made scarce by elite
control, I am taking the liberty of uniting those
99 percent as "the people." I have been writing
a history that attempts to represent their
submerged, deflected, common interest. To
emphasize the commonality of the 99 percent,
to declare deep enmity of interest with the 1
percent, is to do exactly what the governments
of the United States, and the wealthy elite
allied to them-from the Founding Fathers to
now-have tried their best to prevent. Madison
feared a "majority faction" and hoped the new
Constitution would control it. He and his
colleagues began the Preamble to the
Constitution with the words "We the people
...," pretending that the new government stood
for everyone, and hoping that this myth,
accepted as fact, would ensure "domestic
tranquility."
The pretense continued over the generations,
helped by all-embracing symbols, physical or
10
verbal: the flag, patriotism, democracy,
national interest, national defense, national
security. The slogans were dug into the earth
of American culture like a circle of covered
wagons on the western plain, from inside of
which the white, slightly privileged American
could shoot to kill the enemy outside- Indians
or blacks or foreigners or other whites too
wretched to be allowed inside the circle. The
managers of the caravan watched at a safe
distance, and when the battle was over and the
field strewn with dead on both sides, they
would take over the land, and prepare another
expedition, for another territory.
...
In every period of history, people have found
ways to help one another-even in the midst of a
culture of competition and violence-if only for
brief periods, to find joy in work, struggle,
companionship, nature.
The prospect is for times of turmoil, struggle,
but also inspiration. There is a chance that such
a movement could succeed in doing what the
system itself has never done-bring about great
change with little violence. This is possible
because the more of the 99 percent that begin
to see themselves as sharing needs, the more
the guards and the prisoners see their common
interest, the more the Establishment becomes
isolated, ineffectual. The elite's weapons,
money, control of information would be
useless in the face of a determined population.
The servants of the system would refuse to
work to continue the old, deadly order, and
would begin using their time, their space-the
very things given them by the system to keep
them quiet-to dismantle that system while
creating a new one.
The prisoners of the system will continue to
rebel, as before, in ways that cannot be
foreseen, at times that cannot be predicted. The
new fact of our era is the chance that they may
be joined by the guards. We readers and
writers of books have been, for the most part,
among the guards. If we understand that, and
act on it, not only will life be more satisfying,
right off, but our grandchildren, or our great
grandchildren, might possibly see a different
and marvelous world.
##
Who Gets Wrongly Convicted and Why —In 27 percent of the cases, the accused
by Dave Mann, in the Texas Observer falsely confessed to a crime that DNA would
Published on: Thursday, February 25, 2010 later prove they didn’t commit.

On Feb. 4, Freddie Peacock was cleared of his
wrongful conviction for rape 33 years ago in
New York State. He’s the 250th innocent
person exonerated in the United States by
DNA testing, according to the New York-
based Innocence Project. To mark the
occasion, the Innocence Project released a
report that details each of the 250 cases.
The report has some fascinating figures on
who gets wrongly convicted and why. I've
listed a few of the most interesting numbers
below. My comments are in italics.
—The 250 innocent people have been sent to
prison in 33 states for a combined 3,160 years.
That's an average of 13 years in prison. Think
about where you were in 1997. (I was in the
middle of my sophomore year in college). Bill
Clinton was just a year into his second term.
Now think about spending every day from
1997 till now in prison for a crime you didn’t
commit.
I know many people can’t envision how
someone could confess to a crime they didn’t
commit, but it clearly happens. And I believe
that’s what happened to Alfredo Guardiola,
who the Observer profiled last fall.
—Finally, the 250 wrongful convictions
allowed the actual perpetrators to commit at
least 72 violent crimes that could have been
prevented. This is the facet of wrongful
convictions that’s often overlooked. Wrongful
convictions harm many people, not just the
person imprisoned for a crime they didn't
commit. That includes the victims (and their
families) of violent crimes that could have
been prevented had the right person been in
prison all along.
##

—60 percent of the 250 exonerees are African

American; 29 percent are white.

—17 were on death row when they were

exonerated. That’s 17 innocent people who
would have been executed had DNA testing
not cleared them. You have to assume there's
been an innocent person somewhere who
wasn’t lucky enough to have testable DNA in
their case and was wrongly executed in this
country—quite possibly in Texas and quite
possibly Cameron Todd Willingham.

—76 percent of the wrongful convictions were

caused, at least in part, by witness
misidentification. In 38 percent of the cases,
more than one eyewitness wrongly identifying
an innocent person.

—52 percent of the cases involved faulty

forensic evidence. Makes me think of the
flawed arson convictions of Curtis Serverns
and Ed Graf that the Observer chronicled last
year.

11