Geo Group

---

see two

SEE BAK

2 big co, w/ CCA

see PIC

disaster capitalism, ICE, opioids

outside leadership pacs

bak 619

---

---

---

---

---

recipients?id=D000022003

GEO Group

Top Affiliates: GEO Care · BI Inc · Geo Acquisition II

Cycle:

2024

Contributions

RanksMore info

274 of 40,455

$3,718,518

Lobbying

RanksMore info

541 of 9,200 in 2024

$1,380,000

in 2024

$1,250,000

in 2023

Outside Spending

$0

Charlie Kirk: “These are members of Congress that stormed into a federal ICE facility despite warnings. They should absolutely be charged for this.”

05/12/25

Charlie Kirk: “These are members of Congress that stormed into a federal ICE facility despite warnings. They should absolutely be charged for this.”}:

05/12/25

May 12, 2025, edition ofThe Charlie Kirk Show, streamed on Rumble

CHARLIE KIRK (HOST): This is a very easy one for my friend, Kash Patel and Pam Bondi. Very easy. They went after American patriots for peacefully walking into the United States Capitol building, nonviolently, while being invited, while doors were opened, and they stayed within the lanes, the little rope lines. These are members of Congress that stormed into a federal ICE facility despite warnings. They should absolutely be charged for this, without a doubt. No one is above the law, is what we've always been saying. No one is above the law.

...

KIRK: And that's exactly what should happen. You see, the Democrats have a big problem with Immigration Customs and Enforcement. But if you assault ICE, you get consequences. If you storm an ICE facility, there will be consequences. Rob Menendez complained that they had put their hands on a member of Congress. Oh, I must have missed the memo that he was an untouchable. He thinks they should be invulnerable, that he is royalty. And by the way, his dad is literally a traitor. Bob Menendez sold our country out to Egypt for gold bars while on the Senate foreign intelligence committee, selling out American secrets for cash. And did — he also had multiple instances of near misses with the law. This guy was a disgusting person.

...

KIRK: Throw the book at them. Kash and Pam, you got all the details you need — charge these members of Congress. The facts are there. They stormed the facility. They assaulted our ICE officers. They think they are above the law. They tried to put President Trump in jail for 700 years for something he did not do. They are begging you to indict them and do it. Don't make a big show of it. Indite them. Charge them. The only way that we end the lawfare chapter in this country is reciprocity. They came after us, they assaulted ICE officers, and we will go after them.

3. ### Fox’s comically pathetic spin for a foreign government gifting Trump a $400 million plane

05/12/25

Steve Bannon: “Certain members of Congress should be arrested this afternoon for their activities on this situation up in Newark”}:

:{:{05/12/25}:

May 12, 2025, edition of Real America's Voice's War Room

STEVE BANNON (HOST): This hurtling towards a constitutional crisis, which we are hurtling towards, it must be resolved by the end of June. When the Supreme Court leaves for the summer, they're not back until October. This cannot fester over the summer. This issue, particularly about the deportations.

Something else, I believe certain members of Congress should be arrested this afternoon for their activities on this situation up in Newark. The mayor was already arrested.

I think Stephen Miller, as we started here on the show with Rogan O'Handley, DC Draino, to talk about the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus like President Lincoln did during the Civil War, that this is something that has to be on the table.

I believe that this is going to be even a bigger part of the controversy. I think it's gonna become part of the conversation. I know Stephen Miller and the crack team over there, he's deputy White House counsel — chief of staff for policy, I think Stephen and his team are all over this. Remember Stephen ran America First Law, which is outstanding, did so much of the great work.

This is the convergence of the crises, right? You have the constitutional crisis on the mass deportations and really President Trump's power under Article 2. The judge in San Francisco on Friday said he doesn't have the ability to either cut costs of personnel at 21 separate federal agencies, so the whole Article 2 powers of the president now being challenged by, let's face it, radical Marxist — neo-Marxist, a judicial supremacists in the federal judiciary, it's got to be taken care of.

They asked me at the Financial Times situation on Saturday night, what happens to the Supreme Court's rules? I said, hey, we're going to see at the time. It's that open a question.

---

---

POLITICO

New Jersey Mayor Ras Baraka arrested at ICE facility

The Democrat, who is also running for governor, was involved in a scrum with three members of Congress seeking a tour of Delaney Hall.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was detained while at Delaney Hall, a facility to house migrants. | Seth Wenig/AP

By Ry Rivard

05/09/2025

NEWARK, New Jersey — The mayor of New Jersey’s largest city, who is also a Democratic candidate for governor, was handcuffed and detained by federal officials on Friday at a protest ofan immigration detention centerfollowing a scrum involving federal agents and three members of Congress seeking a tour of the facility.

The arrest followed a chaotic scene in the detention facility’s parking lot involving protesters, federal law enforcement officers and the three Democratic members — Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman, Rob Menendez and LaMonica McIver — at Delaney Hall. It is the Trump administration’s newest Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility, which is expected to play a major role in its Northeast immigration operations.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was being held at a separate ICE field office in his own city as elected Democrats in New Jersey scrambled to get him released.

House members, protesters clash with authorities at New Jersey ICE facility

IFrame Content

Play Video

The members of Congress all said they were touched to varying degrees and, in one case, assaulted by federal authorities at the facility.

“This most assuredly is the most discomforting, concerning visit we have had. And what we experienced was the weaponization, of the abuse of power, that this administration has given ICE to do,” Watson Coleman said. “ICE is out of control.”

The mayor and the three members of Congress had been visiting Delaney Hall hoping to inspect conditions inside. While the members were inside, Baraka waited in a fenced in parking lot at the facility while protesters gathered outside the fence.

The roughly 1,000-bed facility just recently started taking detainees. The Baraka administration has tried to prevent it from opening, taking the private prison operator that runs the facility to court and alleging it does not have proper city permits.

The detention unfolded after Baraka was apparently allowed inside the fenced parking lot at the facility and then later told to leave.

The three House members had been inside the facility waiting for a tour [for two hours?] but then came out after officers wearing gear that identified them variously as federal police, ICE and Homeland Security personnel began gathering near Baraka in the parking lot. At one point, the three Democratic members came out as authorities threatened to arrest Baraka. They all exited to a parking lot outside the fence where protesters had gathered in an attempt to defuse the situation and to avoid Baraka getting arrested.

The three members then reentered the fenced area while Baraka waited outside the fence, but Menendez quickly came back and warned Baraka that the authorities still wanted to arrest him. When Menendez came to warn Baraka, he looked through the fence and told the mayor, “They are talking about coming out to arrest you.”

Later, Menendez told POLITICO that he’d witnessed an agent inside the fenced area talking on the phone with someone who told the agent to arrest Baraka, who by then was outside of the fenced area. McIver gave a similar account in a press conference.

Then law enforcement officials all came out, setting off a scrum in the parking lot area outside the fence, with Baraka and 80-year-old Watson Coleman near its middle.

It was a chaotic scene.

The group then moved to reenter the fenced-in area as Baraka was handcuffed and detained.

The interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, Alina Habba, confirmed that Baraka was in custody.

“The Mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself from the ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey this afternoon,” shewrote on X. “He has willingly chosen to disregard the law. That will not stand in this state. He has been taken into custody. NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW.”

But the members of Congress also said they had been touched.

McIver, who represents Newark, said she and her colleagues came to the facility for a “simple oversight visit” but they had to wait about two hours to get inside. She and Watson Coleman were “assaulted” and Menendez was “roughed up” afterward. Menendez said that “all of us were touched,” calling what happened to McIver an “assault.”

As they reached the gate after the scrum to reenter the secure area of the facility, Menendez said he witnessed a federal law enforcement official assault McIver.

“It was a complete shove,” Menendez said in an interview.

McIver gave a similar account.

But even after that, the three members of Congress continued inside the secure area and received a tour. None of the members said they witnessed deplorable conditions at the facility, but by then the mayor’s arrest had overtaken the inspection.

“What we just witnessed was disgusting,” McIver told reporters. “If they can treat three members of Congress like that, just imagine how they can treat people on the street each and every day.”

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, described the events differently. It said in a statement that as a bus of detainees was entering the security gate of Delaney Hall a group of protesters and two members of Congress — Menendez and Watson Coleman — “stormed the gate and broke into the detention facility.”

“These members of Congress storming into a detention facility goes beyond bizarre political stunt and puts the safety of our law enforcement agents and the detainees at risk,” the agency said. “Members of Congress are not above the law and cannot illegally break into detention facilities. Had these members requested a tour, we would have facilitated a tour of the facility. This is an evolving situation.”

protesters on the scene, which included members of the SEIU union, began moving to the field office across town when they learned Barak was being taken there.

By late afternoon, the three members of Congress reassembled at the field office and began pushing back against claims that they had stormed the facility. At least 100 protesters remained outside the facility in the rain Friday evening, chanting “free Ras Baraka.”

IFrame Content

Baraka, astaunch progressive and one of six Democrats running for governor this year, has been a vocal opponent of the Trump administration’s plans for the immigration detention facility. While other Democratic candidates have spoken out against the Trump administration’s recent immigration actions, none have done so as forcefully as Baraka. He took part in a rally against the reopening of the facility in March — footage of which hasappeared in his campaign ads — and has been “demanding entry” into Delaney Hall throughout the week since its opening.

Newark, which is home to a diverse population, previously filed a complaint with the Essex County Superior Court, alleging that ICE was planning to open Delaney Hall “without following proper building safety protocols.” (DHS told POLITICO in a statement that the facility has “valid permits and inspection from plumbing, electricity to fire codes has been cleared.”) GEO Group, the private prison contractor that owns the facility, has accused the legal action of being “politically motivated.” GEO Group referred POLITICO to ICE for comment.

At the March rally, Baraka told reporters that he would “love to see action” from his fellow Democratic candidates regarding immigration.

“They say they are against the detention facility in Newark, and that’s the talk,” Baraka said at the time. “I would love to see them out to help us in this effort. I mean, it is a competition, so maybe they feel like coming here supports me. I don’t know what it is. I can’t speak for them, but I would love to see them out here.”

The arrest puts Baraka in the national spotlight with a month to go before the June 10 primary. Just two hours after he was led away in handcuffs, Baraka’s campaign sent out a text message asking for donations. “Ras was at Delaney Hall today demanding entry into the ICE detention center where Trump and MAGA extremists are illegally detaining people,” it read. “Ras is ready to do whatever it takes to stop Trump and to protect New Jerseyans from his extreme agenda. We need you with us now more than ever.”

Gov. Phil Murphy said in a statement he was “outraged by the unjust arrest” of Baraka. The governor noted that he signed a law several years ago that aims to ban private immigration detention facilities, but the law has not been enforced amid a pending lawsuit.

“Mayor Baraka is an exemplary public servant who has always stood up for our most vulnerable neighbors,” he said. “I am calling for his immediate release by federal law enforcement.”

The arrest alarmed other pro-immigrant activists who were in attendance.

“If they can do this to a mayor that has a profile as large as Mayor Baraka, what are they going to do to people protesting at Tesla stores?” said Amy Torres, executive director of the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice.

Other Democratic candidates running for governor condemned the arrest. Rep. Mikie Sherrillcalled it an “absolute outrage,” while Steven Fulop, mayor of Jersey City,said it was “a dangerous precedent — and it demands condemnation in the strongest possible terms.” Former state Senate President Steve Sweeney called for his release, as did Rep. Josh Gottheimer, who said that Delaney Hall has “an environment ripe with mistreatment and abuse.”

New Jersey Education Association President Sean Spiller said that he will go to Delaney Hall tomorrow, and called on the other candidates to join him “in standing together for justice.”

Meanwhile, Republicans attacked Baraka. Bob Hugin, the state Republican Party chair, warned that Baraka would be a governor “who puts political theater ahead of public safety and the rule of law.” The GOP gubernatorial hopefuls also went after him, with former radio host Bill Spadea saying that he “should be embarrassed by his behavior” and former Assemblymember Jack Ciattarelli calling Baraka “shameful.”

“In Newark, the airport is in the midst of an unprecedented & dangerous meltdown, the public schools are failing students & families, and there is crime in the streets every day,” Ciattarelli wrote. “And yet its Mayor and leading Democrat candidate for Governor … is busy shilling for illegal Immigrants at an ICE detention center with a cheap publicity stunt.”

*Madison Fernandez and Daniel Han contributed to this report.

• Filed under:
• New Jersey,
• Ras Baraka,
• Immigration And Customs Enforcement,

---

==

geo gp  922 won lawsuit CA immigr jails

https://www.reuters.com/legal/geo-group-wins-legal-challenge-california-private-immigrant-prisons-2022-09-26/

sept 26 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Monday struck down California's ban on privately-run immigrant detention centers in a challenge brought by private prison operator GEO Group Inc (GEO.N) and the Biden administration.

The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said California's 2019 ban gave the state too much control over how the federal government handles immigrant detainees.

A federal judge in San Diego had upheld the state law in 2020, ruling that California could prohibit private detention centers because federal law does not explicitly allow for them.

The 9th Circuit, in an 8-3 decision, said the government has come to rely almost exclusively on detention centers operated by GEO Group and other companies. California, the largest U.S. state, does not have the authority to interfere with the federal government's operations, the court said.

About 80% of immigrants awaiting deportation hearings are held in private facilities, according to the American Civil Liberties Union and other advocacy groups. Most are operated by GEO Group and rival CoreCivic Inc (CXW.N), but dozens are owned by smaller companies.

:{https://www.classaction.org:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:var(--theme-col-txt-url-domain)"):}::{ › news › lawsuit-claims-geo-group-workers-owed-unpaid-overtime-wages:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:var(--theme-col-txt-url-path)"):}:

:{Lawsuit Claims Geo Group Workers Owed Unpaid Overtime Wages - Class Action:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;vertical-align:top;display:inline-block;max-width:100%;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap"):}:

Apr 22, 2021The lawsuit claims Geo Group's failure to provide time-and-a-half overtime wages amounts to violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act (PMWA).

:{https://www.baumhedlundlaw.com:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:var(--theme-col-txt-url-domain)"):}::{ › blog › 2022 › july › lawsuit-alleges-geo-group-s-deliberate-and-consc:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:var(--theme-col-txt-url-path)"):}:

:{Lawsuit Alleges Geo Group's 'Deliberate and Conscious Indifference' to ...:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;vertical-align:top;display:inline-block;max-width:100%;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap"):}:

Jul 14, 2022The national law firm of Baum Hedlund Aristei & Goldman filed a wrongful death lawsuit today on behalf of Jennifer Guadarrama, a mother who alleges numerous failures by private prison giant Geo Group, Inc. at the Val Verde Correctional Facility in Del Rio, Texas led to her son's preventable suicide.

:{https://www.eeoc.gov:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:var(--theme-col-txt-url-domain)"):}::{ › newsroom › geo-group-pay-550000-settle-eeoc-sexual-harassment-and-retaliation-lawsuit:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:var(--theme-col-txt-url-path)"):}:

:{GEO Group to Pay $550,000 To Settle EEOC Sexual Harassment and ...:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;vertical-align:top;display:inline-block;max-width:100%;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap"):}:

phoenix - the geo group, inc., operator of the central arizona correctional facility (cacf) and arizona state prison-florence west facility (florence west) in florence, ariz., will pay $550,000 and furnish other relief pursuant to a consent decree to settle lawsuits for sexual harassment and retaliation filed by the u.s. equal employment …

:{https://www.newsweek.com:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:var(--theme-col-txt-url-domain)"):}::{ › investors-sue-private-prison-firm-geo-group-over-blundering-coronavirus-response-1519116:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:var(--theme-col-txt-url-path)"):}:

:{Private Prison Firm GEO Group Faces Investor Lawsuit Over ... - Newsweek:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;vertical-align:top;display:inline-block;max-width:100%;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap"):}:

Private prison giant The GEO Group is facing a class action lawsuit from investors over its "blundering" response to the coronavirus pandemic. The federal securities class action lawsuit was filed...

:{https://www.classaction.org:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:var(--theme-col-txt-url-domain)"):}::{ › news › class-action-lawsuit-accuses-geo-group-of-profiting-from-forced-labor-at-civil-immigration-detention-facilities:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:var(--theme-col-txt-url-path)"):}:

:{Class Action Lawsuit Accuses GEO Group of Profiting from 'Forced Labor ...:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;vertical-align:top;display:inline-block;max-width:100%;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap"):}:

Jul 18, 2022The lawsuit charges that GEO Group's so-called "voluntary" work program is not voluntary "in any meaningful sense." Further, GEO Group maintains a policy of depriving detained individuals of necessary cleaning services, personal hygiene supplies, and other items to "ensure a ready supply of available labor" needed to run the ...

:{https://abcnews.go.com:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:var(--theme-col-txt-url-domain)"):}::{ › US › wireStory › jury-geo-group-owes-immigrant-detainees-17m-back-80877152:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:var(--theme-col-txt-url-path)"):}:

:{Jury: GEO Group owes immigrant detainees $17M in back pay:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;vertical-align:top;display:inline-block;max-width:100%;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap"):}:

Oct 30, 2021The two lawsuits were consolidated for the first phase of a trial, determining whether GEO was obligated to pay minimum wage. Adam Berger, one of the attorneys representing detainees in the private lawsuit, said he and his colleagues had asked for $13.7 million, but the jury decided the immigrants were owed more.

:{https://schallfirm.com:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:var(--theme-col-txt-url-domain)"):}::{ › cases › the-geo-group-inc:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:var(--theme-col-txt-url-path)"):}:

:{The GEO Group, Inc. | Schall Law Firm:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;vertical-align:top;display:inline-block;max-width:100%;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap"):}:

los angeles, july 8, 2020 — the schall law firm, a national shareholder rights litigation firm, announces the filing of a class action lawsuit against the geo group, inc. ("geo" or "the company") (nyse: geo) for violations of §§10 (b) and 20 (a) of the securities exchange act of 1934 and rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder by the u.s. securities …

neglected, most undoc detainees in pvt jail?!

Coronavirus CrisisHow the Coronavirus Became a Death Sentence at a GEO Group Halfway House

Liliana Segura

==

...

4. The Conference Organizers, Who Said It Was a “Half-Million Dollar Event”…

The conference was organized by American Priority, a for-profit company that describes itself as supporting free speech and free association. The company charged $250 for general admission and said about 1,000 people registered. The conference also sold entry to VIP events, such as photo ops with Trump Jr.

The head of American Priority, Alex Phillips, declined to say exactly what the company took in. But he did give an estimate of how much the conference cost. “This is pretty much a half a million-dollar event,” Phillips said. “Our next one probably will be a million-dollar event.”

Phillips also said he would have the conference at the president’s hotel again: “The only thing that would keep us from coming here again is if our attendance projections got higher than they can handle.”

5. The Nonprofits

The conference hosted golfing and poker events for two charities: The WalkAway Campaign and the American King Foundation. The WalkAway Campaign aims to convert Democrats to the Republican Party. The American King Foundation is a pro-Trump nonprofit that supports job training for former inmates. Phillips said that the conference will announce the amount raised for charity “in the next several weeks.”

And then a new (profitable) meme was born…

During Trump Jr.’s speech, he repeatedly raised the idea that Hunter Biden — former Vice President Joe Biden’s son — is missing. “Where’s Hunter? Where’s Hunter?” people in the audience yelled. That phrase later took off outside the conference, amplified by the president himself, who tweeted it.

“Where’s Hunter?” T-shirts are now available on Trump’s reelection site. They are $25 each.

And don’t forget the Private Prison Company That Gave Money…

One of the event’s sponsors was the GEO Group, a private prison company that the government uses to house immigrant detainees. A GEO Group spokesman said the company sponsored the conference by donating $25,000 to the American King Foundation.

It’s not the first time at the Doral for the GEO Group. The company also held its annual leadership conference there in 2017.

==

https://news.littlesis.org/2019/08/14/private-prisons-now-face-87-4-financing-gap-as-banks-continue-to-flee-industry

As of August 2019, eight banks – JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, SunTrust, BNP Paribas, Fifth Third Bancorp, Barclays, and PNC– have publicly committed to ending their future financing relationships with the private prison industry, including CoreCivic and GEO Group. Together these eight banks represent an estimated $2.35 billion – or 87.4% – of the credit lines and term loans that are central to these companies’ operations.

Notably, all of the banks that provide credit and term loans to GEO Group have committed to end their future financing relationships with the industry. These commitments are the result of ongoing campaigns from #FamiliesBelongTogether and #BackersOfHate to end Wall Street’s financing and profiting off of the private prison industry.

This mass exodus of banks has had a cascading effect on the industry. Fitch Ratings, one of the three premier credit rating agencies, recently downgraded CoreCivic from BB+ to BB. This downgrade will make it more difficult for CoreCivic to secure the plentiful, cheap credit and loans they have accessed in the past.

Moreover, California’s $356 billion pension fund, CalPERS, is now considering divesting from the industry due to “egregious activities” at the border and the increased riskiness as banks continue to flee. Finally, CBS MoneyWatch reported that stock values for CoreCivic (CXW) and GEO Group (GEO) have been cut in halfsince April 2017.

Estimated Impact on CoreCivic and GEO Group’s Future Financing

As shown in the chart below, these eight banks provide an estimated combined $2.352 billion of GEO and CoreCivic’s financing, or 87.4% of the total financing currently available to these private prison companies. Given the eight banks’ commitments to provide no new financing, GEO Group and CoreCivic will potentially face a $2.352 billion shortfall when the current agreements expire.

==

==

fac so 919

• George Zoley, CEO of the GEO Group in Boca Raton, Florida. The GEO Group is one of the largest for-profit private prison companies in the country. GEO facilities hold 32 percent of the immigrants detained by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the United States, according to 2017 ICE data obtained by the Detention Watch Network. 
• :{

}:

• The Trump administration's immigration policies have been lucrativefor the GEO Group's bottom line:23 percentof the company’s revenue came from ICE in 2017, up from 10 percent in 2007, and $480 million in federal funding has been directed from ICE to the GEO Group since Trump's inauguration. On an earnings call with shareholders earlier this year, Zoley told investors that he was "hopeful" that increased federal funding for immigrant detention would, in the words of an inquiring shareholder, "translate into business opportunities."

==

https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.php?ind=G7000

Since President Richard Nixon declared the national "War on Drugs" in the 1970s, the American prison population has skyrocketed; the same is true of the numbers of people locked up in private prisons, especially since the 1990s. Over their history, private prisons have been controversial for several reasons, including in some cases their treatment of incarcerated individuals. Supporters, however, say private prison companies have shouldered some of the burden from overpopulated federal prisons.

In the 2016 election cycle, private prisons gave a record $1.6 million to candidates, parties and outside spending groups. That was nearly triple what they'd given in 2014 and more than double their contributions in the 2012 presidential cycle. Most of the increase came in the form of donations to outside groups, and Geo Group was responsible for most of that: It gave $300,000 to super PACs backing various Republican presidential candidates, including one backing now-President Donald Trump. *[Read more Background]*

...

top 20

https://www.alternet.org/2019/06/heres-the-shocking-amount-of-money-private-companies-are-making-from-detaining-immigrants/

no lnx grafs vid

Here’s the shocking amount of money private companies are making from detaining immigrants

written by Jen Hayden / Daily Kos June 26, 2019

A new report from NBC News has detailed the enormous cost of housing the children and families being detained at the border. Are you sitting down? Because a for-profit, private company is billing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services a whopping$775 per child, per day to hold them in one of the “tent cities” on the Trump administration’s orders.

Professor W. Warren Binford, a law professor who is an “internationally recognized children’s rights scholar and advocate” and founder of the Willamette’s Child and Family Advocacy Clinic, visited a Border Patrol detention facility in Clint, Texas,and she told PBS and several other media outlets about the squalid conditions these children are living in—sleeping on concrete floors, children taking care of toddlers, flu outbreak, diapers being reused or no diapers at all. Separated from their loved ones at the border as they turned themselves in to seek asylum and legal entry into the United States. This is a crisis entirely manufactured by the Trump administration as Professor Binford notes that nearly every child she interviewed had a family member in the United States willing to take them in and care for them.

Almost none of the children that we interviewed had come across the border themselves alone.

Essentially, they came across the border with family. And they are trying to be reunited with family who are living in the United States. Almost every child that I interviewed had family, parents, uncles, aunts, grandparents, siblings here in the United States who are waiting for them and are ready to care for them.

Instead they are being held in these facilities for an endless amount of time. How in the world is this fiscally responsible? Republicans are laser-focused on “responsible spending” and we can’t give health care to low-income residents because we must prove how we will pay for every penny in advance. But shelling out $775 per child, per day? They don’t bat an eye. To show you how utterly ridiculous this spending truly is, especially when these children could be released to waiting relatives desperate to see these kids again, I checked into rates at Trump’s D.C. hotel. On the random dates I checked (September 4-6, 2019), the room rate was $395. Throw in a breakfast package and we are looking at $415. These children could be staying in luxury hotels, ordering room service and we’d still be paying half the daily fee. THINK ABOUT THAT! And yet, we are told there isn’t even a budget for these children to have toothpaste, soap, mattresses, bed linens, or diapers. We are paying $775 per day, per child, to hold them in abusive, neglectful situations.

If you are asking yourself why the U.S. government is doing this, well, let’s follow the money.

Alexandria Ocasio-CortezAOC

Reminder: Caging kids is a for-profit enterprise, & the people who profit off camps finance the political campaigns of those who legislate more caging.

If you want to follow the money: GEO Group & CoreCivic are big ones. Look at the lenders & private equity grps they deal with. https://twitter.com/joycewhitevance/status/1143161956309884928 …

Joyce Alene

$775 per day, per kid & it doesn’t even cover a toothbrush, soap, a bed.  https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/immigration-border-crisis/trump-admin-s-tent-cities-cost-more-keeping-migrant-kids-n884871 …

The ACLU has a brief, but informative, video below about the GEO Group in particular, which makes $1.6 billion per year from government contracts.It is not coincidence whatsoever that private prison companies like GEO Group donate heavily to Republicans and Donald Trump. Their investment is paying off nicely for them at the expense of children dying and living in squalid conditions.

Here are some data points and graphics from OpenSecrets.org that tell the story.

Here’s a stunning graph showing the contribution trends of these for-profit companies and their record of donating to politicians. As you can see, they opened the taps to Republicans over the last three years and boy is it ever paying off for them!

We are paying Donald Trump and Republican party donors billions in U.S. taxpayer dollars to abuse these children and families, even though their own families are waiting for them. They have no interest whatsoever in processing these asylum claims in a timely manner. In fact, they’ve made it harder to process claims, allocating fewer resources. So, immigrants pile up at the border, Donald Trump gets to keep feeding red meat to his racist followers with a crisis of his own making, Fox News gets to keep their ratings up with a new “immigration scare,” Republicans cash those private prison checks and see their base motivated to come to the polls. It’s a win-win for Republicans, but a loss for humanity.

==

==

divest PIC 3/19

a host of efforts to push big banks to divest from private prisons, including by the Families Belong Together coalition led by MomsRising, the #BackersOfHate campaign, and Freedom to Thrive, notched a big victory when JPMorgan Chase recently announced that it will stop financing CoreCivic and GEO Group, the two biggest private prison corporations. LittleSis partnered on the research to identify private prison profiteers that was used by the Families Belong Together coalition and the #BackersOfHate campaign. Wells Fargo, another target of the campaign, has also indicated that it is pulling back from financing private prisons.

==

==

https://www.democracynow.org/2018/8/7/activists_nationwide_aim_to_disrupt_geo

for-profit prison company GEO Group has threatened to sue the human rights group Dream Defenders, which is planning a national day of action today to protest the private prison company. GEO Group is Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s single biggest contractor, receiving hundreds of millions of dollars to run private immigrant prisons. The Dream Defenders are planning to disrupt GEO Group operations in cities across the United States today, including in Florida, Arizona, California and New York City. For more we speak with Rachel Gilmer, co-director of the Florida-based Dream Defenders. The organization was recently served a cease-and-desist letter by attorneys representing the for-profit detention company GEO Group. They have launched a campaign website, GEOcages.com.

==

https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/07/politicians-shun-geo-contributions

Politicians sent a message to one of the country’s largest for-profit prison companies: Your money’s no good here.

Ten members of Congress last month either rejected or refunded contributions from the political action committee of GEO Group amid a backlash over the company’s role in holding immigrants detained at the Southwest border, according to the PAC’s July report with the Federal Election Commission.

Since October 2016, GEO Group and its subsidiaries have received $560 million from contracts awarded by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and oversee a number of ICE detention facilities.

Eight of the 10 members were Democrats.

Two came from retiring members, who often return unused PAC contributions: Rep. John Conyers of Michigan ($1,000) and House Majority Leader Paul Ryan ($5,000). Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma was the lone non-retiring Republican with a voided contribution ($2,500) last month.

Four Republicans accepted money from the PAC in June: Senate candidate Josh Hawley of Missouri; Reps. Mike Bishop of Michigan and Martha Roby of Alabama; and Indiana state Rep. Tom Saunders.

Roby, Bishop and Saunders each received $1,000 last month. Hawley, the frontrunner in Missouri’s Republican primary, received $5,000.

Since January 2017, the company’s PAC and employees have spent over $800,000 in political contributions. In May, the PAC donated $102,650 to federal candidates. Due to the uncashed contributions, however, the PAC’s June spending total was negative $3,000.

In April, GEO’s PAC reported two $5,000 donations to Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s Republican Senate campaign. A month later, the PAC reported the checks as “void.” The Boca Raton-based company, which gave $225,000 to a pro-Trump super PAC during the 2016 presidential election and $250,000 for Trump’s inauguration, operates six private prisons in Florida.

A spokeswoman for Scott said Friday the campaign never received the donations appearing in GEO’s FEC filing.

In the past, the company has aggressively lobbied to secure government contracts and influence the nation’s immigration policy.

In 2017, the company spent $1.7 million on lobbying, the highest amount on record for a private prison contractor. GEO Group’s lobbying slowed in the second quarter, however, similar to its decline in PAC contributions to federal candidates.

GEO Group spent about $200,000 on lobbying from April to June, according to second-quarter reports filed by the July 20 deadline. In the first quarter of 2018, the company spent $380,000 on lobbying.

==

omg bizarre confluence of MIC and PIC!

https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/06/zero-tolerance-immigration-is-big-money-for-contractors-nonprofits/

no lnx

‘Zero-tolerance’ immigration policy is big money for contractors, nonprofits

June 21, 2018 | President Trump’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy under the direction of Attorney General Jeff Sessions is big business for U.S. companies — from private prison and tech firms to defense and security contractors — as well as nonprofits.

...Under bipartisan pressure, Trump signed an executive order Wednesday ending the administration’s controversial child-separation policy. But Trump’s “zero-tolerance” policy, in which individuals who enter the U.S. illegally are prosecuted, will continue.

All this comes as the country grapples with harrowing images of babies stripped from their mothers’ arms and children playing soccer on the grounds of abandoned Walmart stores along the Southwest border.

Trump defended his policy in a campaign speech Wednesday in Minnesota. That came a day after the raid of an Ohio meat plant in which Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested 146 employees accused of being in the country illegally. It was the largest workforce raid in recent history, according to the agency.

ICE, which enforces the administration’s immigration policy, has allocated billions in federal contracts to private companies for software, consulting and manpower. Overall, the federal government has spent $4 billion since October 2016 — the start of 2017 fiscal year — on contracts and grants to counter illegal immigration.

OpenSecrets analyzed the money going to these often high-profile, publicly traded companies as well as their political spending and lobbying, along with the nonprofits commissioned to care for minors.

Private Prisons and Security

Trump’s hardline approach to illegal immigration is a boon for private prisons and security companies.

In 2016, the Department of Justice under the Obama administration began phasing out for-profit prisons for federal inmates following a DOJ report that found poor management practices at one private facility contributed to an inmate riot that killed a prison guard in 2012.

The Trump administration, however, has embraced them — particularly as a solution for the high cost of detaining people who crossed the border illegally.

The 2012 inmate riot occurred inside a prison owned and operated by CoreCivic, formerly Corrections Corporation of America.Since 2017, CoreCivic has received $225 million in ICE funding to manage immigrant detention facilities, according to USASpending.gov data.

A subsidiary of the Tennessee-based company donated $250,000 toward Trump’s inaugural festivities last year.

Another $250,000 Trump inaugural donor —GEO Group — is the country’s largest for-profit prison operator and amultimillion-dollar beneficiary of the administration’s aggressive immigration policy.

The Florida-based company and its subsidiaries, which also gave $225,000 to a pro-Trump super PACduring the 2016 presidential election, have been paid $560 million over the last two fiscal years for contracts they hold with ICE.

GEO Group and its subsidiaries oversee a number of ICE detention facilities and have aggressively lobbied to secure contracts and influence the nation’s immigration policy. In 2017, the company spent $1.7 million on lobbying, the highest amount on record for a private prison contractor.

Aside from lobbying, the company has a prolificpolitical action committee and a number of big-donor employees. So far in 2018, the company’s PAC and employees have contributed$727,000 to candidates — a total that is on track to continue the upward contribution trend.

The top three recipients are Texas House members — Republicans John Culberson and John Carter and Democrat Henry Cuellar, each having received at least $31,000 dollars.

While GEO certainly profits off keeping immigrants detained, they also make money once they’re released. A large share of ICE’s payments to GEO last year went to BI Inc., a subsidiary that provides ankle bracelets and monitoring services to track those awaiting trial for immigration violations.

BI first received an ICE contract in 2008 and was paid $10 million that year. Payments have grown steadily since then, topping out at $115 million in the 2017 fiscal year. 2018 totals are on track to surpass that.

MVM Inc., a Virginia-based private security contractor, has earned $115 million since 2017 through immigration-related ICE contracts. The company provided “security guards and patrol services” for $53.7 million, according to the contract description.

In 2017, the company was sued for workplace discrimination and had a lucrative CIA contract canceled for failing to provide enough security guards.

The company does not appear in lobbying disclosures. Company founder Dario Marquez Jr. is an active political donor, however. Since 1990, Marquez has given $212,321, including donations to Virginia Democrats Tim Kaine ($51,340) and Gerry Connolly ($29,100).

Tech Firms...

https://www.alternet.org/some-trumps-biggest-donors-are-profiting-big-time-immigration-detention-centers

no lnx

Some of Trump’s Biggest Donors Are Profiting Big-Time on Immigration Detention Centers

The plan to lock-up asylum-seeking migrants may seem like it happened overnight, but it has been years in the making.

By Jen Hayden / Daily Kos June 20, 2018, 1:51 AM GMT

The giant retail stores being converted into detention centers and these large tent cities cropping up to house immigrants, where did they come from? As always, it is important to follow the money. This plan to lock-up asylum-seeking migrants may seem like it happened overnight, but it has been years in the making. Only weeks after Donald Trump put his filthy hand on Lincoln’s Bible and took the Oath of Office, this was the February 24, 2017, headline at CNN Money:

The actions Donald Trump, his sycophant Stephen Miller and Minister of White Supremacy Jeff Sessions are taking today are a huge payoff to the prison lobbyists and the border security industry that spent millions helping to get Donald Trump elected. Private for-profit prison executives were furious that President Obama decided to end the practice of using private prisons. They poured everything into Donald Trump and his campaign, maxing out $250,000 donations and even helping Trump raise $100 million in sketchy, secret money for his “inauguration committee.” And it paid off, as one of the first decisions from the Trump administration was to rescind Obama’s order to phase out private prisons.

They didn’t stop there. These groups have been spending lavishly at Trump’s private business as well. The Miami New Times noted the private prison company GEO Group was one of the newest big spenders at Trump’s Doral property in Florida.

The GEO Group private-prison bash. Private-prison-company stock was cratering at the end of Barack Obama's time in office after his Department of Justice announced the federal government would no longer work with private, for-profit prison operators. But the Trump administration rapidly rolled those rules back after taking power. Then Boca Raton's GEO Group, the second-largest private-prison firm in America, moved its yearly company gathering to the Trump Doral.

At the core of it all, there are two factors that dovetail together when it comes to the immigrant detention centers: corruption and white supremacy. In fact, these are the core elements of the Trump administration overall.

In March of 2017, then Homeland Security chief John Kelly told Wolf Blitzer on CNN that he was considering a plan to separate families and detain them.

"We have tremendous experience of dealing with unaccompanied minors," he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on "The Situation Room." "We turn them over to (Health and Human Services) and they do a very, very good job of putting them in foster care or linking them up with parents or family members in the United States."

It didn’t take long for Kelly to publicly walk back that statement, denying he meant it would be a cruel, intentional warning or deterrent to others who might be thinking of seeking asylum in the U.S. But we can clearly see now, they’ve been plotting this for quite some time. The sadistic, racist voices appear to have won over Donald Trump as we can clearly see he approved this action in April 2018, when he sent his attorney general out with a public statement and then began snatching children from their parents at the border.

Later in 2017, NPR highlighted the big money to be made from putting migrants and their children into detention centers. Money siphoned from our tax dollars to pay for their private profit cruelty.

:{

}:

The Trump administration wants to expand its network of immigrant jails. In recent months, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has called for five new detention facilities to be built and operated by private prison corporations across the country. Critics are alarmed at the rising fortunes of an industry that had fallen out of favor with the previous administration.

:{

}:

...

AN msnbc

STEPHANIE RUHLE (HOST): In today's money, power, politics: private prisons. They are cashing in on President Trump's get-tough policies at the border. Since 1997, the Federal Bureau of Prison has paid private companies to build and operate prisons to ease capacity at government-run facilities. The share of federal prisoners nationwide held in private prisons has surged from just 3 percent in the late 90's to more than 20 percent today. The biggest factor fueling growth is, you guessed it, immigration detention centers.

Who are these companies? CoreCivic, also known as CCA; Management and Training Corporation, known as MTC; and the GEO Group are three of the biggest players in the private prison business. Together, they operate some 14 federal facilities nationwide, providing 27,000 beds for federal inmates, and that is growing.

That growth was under threat when the Obama administration attempted to phase out all contracts with private prisons. The big three players decided to take action, and theyspent big on the 2016 campaign. Guess how. GEO donated $1.1 million to Republican candidates and political action committees. CoreCivic spent another $1.1 million on lobbying efforts. And MTC spent nearly half a million bucks to do the same. And those efforts, they certainly paid off.

When President Trump reversed the phase out decision early in his administration, that is despite a2014 lawsuit accusing GEO of forcing immigration detainees to work for little or no pay by threatening them with solitary confinement. Sounds like slavery, doesn't it?Critics say the private business model encourages cost-cutting and even slavery to boost its bottom line profits. And guess what? It's working.

Since President Trump's election, shares for GEO have shot up 25 percent, while CoreCivic stock is 12 percent higher. MTC is not publicly traded, but its revenues are said to be robust. I want to point out some of the larger shareholders, if you want to check your 401(k), BlackRock and Vanguard, and granted, they may own them as part of an index, but they choose to do them.

==

https://boingboing.net/2017/12/28/corrections-corporation-of-ame.html

see guard uk link

The new GOP tax plan slashes the taxes on real estate investment trusts (REITS) by a quarter, dropping the rate from 39.6% down to 29.6% -- a move that will put tens of millions of dollars in the pockets of investors in America's notorious private prisons.

Companies like Corecivic (formerly Corrections Corporation of America/CCA) and Geo Group are structured as REITS, a tax-dodge that has already made the companies millions -- Corecivic was able to lower its effective tax rate from 36% to 3% by restructuring as a REIT, and now that rate is going down by 25%.

The Trump administration reversed the Obama ban on the use of private prison contractors, and has also stepped up the use of private prisons to detain migrants awaiting immigration hearings.

Oregon Democratic senator Ron Wyden, a ranking member on the finance committee, has called the use of the reit structure by prisons “unfair” and “unjust”. In 2016, after being pressed by Enlace, he introduced legislation to end such practices. The bill was reintroduced this year but it has yet to make it out of committee and is not likely to do so any time soon.

A CoreCivic representative told the Guardian that, in their view, “there are far more pressing matters for Congress to pursue” than the reit tax classifications. The Geo Group added they are “treated exactly the same as other real estate investment trusts without any special tax treatments or loopholes.” The point that activists make, though, is that treating prisons as real estate is a loophole.

==

https://petitions.moveon.org/sign/no-tax-breaks-for-private 2013?

The Joint Committee on Taxation must end tax breaks for private prisons by revoking private prisons’ REIT Status.

In 2013, GEO and CCA received Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) status, which creates a loophole for them and their investors to make billions in profit from incarcerating people of color and immigrants TAX-FREE! In the first year of their REIT status, CCA and GEO received almost $100 million in tax breaks. That $100 million should be reinvested in our communities, not sent to corporate prison CEOs and prison industry shareholders.

==

==

storming the wall bk

haiti earthquake geo built camp for detainees from sea? many CC cutters deployed [gitmo?]

https://www.alternet.org/human-rights/trumps-first-year-has-been-private-prison-industrys-best

Exactly 17 months ago, in August of 2016 -- back when most election polls had Hillary Clinton clinching the 2016 presidential election -- the Obama administration announced that it would end the Justice Department’s (DOJ) reliance on private prisons. The announcement came seven days after the DOJ’s inspector general (IG) called on the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to more rigorously oversee its contracts with private prison companies. The IG’s report found that private prisons at the federal level consistently fail to measure up to federal standards in preventing dangerous conditions, intercepting contraband, and ensuring internal accountability for staff misconduct.

Shares of the private prison titans tanked.

CoreCivic and GEO Group’s stocks both ended the day down more than 35 percent and 39 percent, respectively -- an indication that the nation’s largest for-profit prison corporations' profitability might be on the wane. The day after the announcement, GEO Group CEO George Zoley stated in a conference call, “There’s been an overreaction to the news about the contracts. We think, in time, this will correct itself.” Even George Zoley couldn’t have predicted today’s turnaround.

With the election of Donald Trump to the White House a few months later, Zoley’s prescient statement of an “overreaction” made him look like a fortune teller.

On Nov. 7, 2016, when the closing bell of the American Stock Exchange rang and before any sense of who the 45th president of the United States would be, CoreCivic traded at 14.36 and GEO Groupstood at 15.93. Following Trump's electoral victory, private prison company stocks skyrocketed. Today, CoreCivic is trading at  23.19 (a 61 percent increase) and GEO Group is trading at 23.03 (a 45 percent increase). And for good reason. The Trump administration is a godsend for the private prison industry.

First, there is the dangerous and misguided rhetoric that President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions constantly spew -- despite evidence to the contrary -- about how the nation’s violent crime rate is rising and America’s streets are filled with carnage. Second, along with this bombastic language are their calls for harsher sentencing and draconian enforcement of drug and immigration offenses. Third, federal spending on private prisons has remained steady, despite Republican support for across-the-board budget cuts to other federal programs. Trump’s proposed fiscal year 2018 budget calls for $1.2 billion in new spending on detention, transportation and deportation of undocumented immigrants to expand detention capacity to more than 48,000 beds a day. Finally, in February of 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions revoked the Obama-era initiative to phase out the use of private contractors to run federal prisons, delivering the industry its biggest victory yet.

Private prison corporations have publicly expressed enthusiasm for the current administration’s aggressive stance on crime and immigration. In a 2017 third-quarter earnings call, a GEO official noted that the government’s need for additional detention space should benefit company revenues.

Here is how the private prison industry fared during Trump’s first year. Today, 65 percent of detainees held by the Department of Homeland Security are housed in privately run facilities. With the administration’s plans to increase the capacity to hold undocumented immigrants behind bars, the private prison industry’s revenues will surely follow suit. And in an unprecedented move, in late 2017, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) asked for information from contractors who can provide additional immigration detention space in the interior of the nation, in major cities such as Salt Lake City, Chicago, Detroit and St. Paul, along with an expected request for information on contractors who can provide additional capacity along the southern U.S. border in Texas.

CoreCivic’s CEO Damon Hininger publicly touted the administration’s move as a source of potential revenue to his company, noting in an August’s earnings call with investors, “ICE expects the average length of stay for detainees to increase as a result of increased interior enforcement. While immigrants arrested at the border typically are detained for 27 days, those arrested in the interior of the country are detained for roughly 52 days.” More days behind bars in their detention centers translates into more profits for the company.

The current administration and the private prison industry are also doing more than just merely talking. In April, ICE awarded GEO Group with a $110 million contract to build a new immigration detention center in Conroe, Texas, 40 miles north of Houston. At the time, the Associated Press reported that this contract award took many by surprise because GEO had “a surplus of 3,000 beds across its nationwide network of prisons.” And in December, CoreCivic filed plans with government officials in Elkhart County, Indiana, to construct an approximately $100 million detention facility. The move sparked candlelight vigils from area residents distraught by the development. CoreCivic has not yet received final approval from the Elkhart County Commissioners or ICE.

In April, the administration -- sticking to the message from Attorney General Sessions’ one-paragraph memo to the BOP reversing the Obama administration’s intent to reduce reliance on private prisons -- posted a notice requesting proposals from private prison companies to house prisoners in Criminal Alien Requirement (CAR) facilities. CAR prisons are privately managed prisons. There are 11 CAR prisons across the country run by three companies: GEO Group, CoreCivic and Management & Training Corp. The solicitation signaled a planned increase of 1,607 beds over BOP’s then-current population of privately imprisoned people -- 21,287 in total, as of May 2017. And on May 26, GEO Group announced that it had been awarded renewed contracts with the BOP for CAR facilities at the company’s prison complex in Big Spring, Texas. The 10-year agreement for 3,532 beds is worth up to $664 million.

My new book, "Inside Private Prisons: An American Dilemma in the Age of Mass Incarceration," notes that given today’s political realities, the private prison industry is not disappearing any time soon. Given the current administration’s penchant for privatizing government services -- including increasing its reliance on private prisons -- we owe the thousands of people who cycle into and out of private prisons and immigration detention centers a duty to constantly monitor their conditions and ensure that private entities that perform public functions should be subject to the same transparency, accountability and oversight as public entities. And for those worried about the private prison industry’s lack of transparency and accountability (in just one example, private prisons at the federal level are not subject to Freedom of Information Act Requests), if the first year of the Trump administration reflects the next three years, we need to act quickly to ensure that the ever-growing number of people behind bars in private prisons and immigration detention centers are the beneficiaries of improved conditions of confinement and better transparency. How? We need to ensure that state and federal laws are changed to require these corporations to comply with open records requests. And state and federal governments need to rewrite contracts with the private prison industry to require better programming, transparency, accountability and conditions of confinement.

While most of the coverage on private prisons has focused on the federal contracts, the administration’s rhetoric on reviving the war on drugs is starting to have a domino effect at the state level. Most recently, in Kentucky, the state signed a contract with CoreCivic to reopen a shuttered prison -- the Lee Adjustment Center in Beattyville --  and move about 800 inmates there. The opioid crisis in Kentucky pushed state policymakers to draft more draconian drug penalties that played a role in increasing its prison population to a record high of more than 24,000 inmates. With full prisons and jails, Kentucky felt it had no choice but to contract with CoreCivic to house almost 1,000 men it doesn’t have room to keep behind bars.

...

==

==

inaug

GEO CORRECTIONS HOLDING INC.

$250,000 12/10/2016 621 NW 53RD STREET BOCA RATON FL 33487 address checks out but is under GEO Group, Inc. Private prison company providing "faith-based services across the entire corrections spectrum" per https://www.geogroup.com Private prison operator. There are significant questions about the legality of their campaign contributions, since they are a federal contractor. They claim they routed the donations through a separate subsidiary.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/12/14/did-private-prison-contractor-illegally-boost-trump.html:{ }:

==

trump funder

http://www.prwatch.org/news/:{2012:(style="background-color:#ffff66;"):}:/08/11591/marco-rubio-geo-group-and-legacy-corruption

beau h

Newly minted U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) was sworn in on January 5, 2011 with unfinished business back home.

Rubio, as former speaker of the Florida House of Representatives (R-Miami, 2006-2008) -- as well as other state GOP lawmakers and party contributors -- have been the subjects of multiple wide-ranging state and federal investigations conducted by the FBI and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) into improper use of credit cards issued by the Republican Party of Florida, as well as tax evasion and improper budgetary appropriations. (Note: The state's prosecution of improper use of Florida Republican Party credit cards eventually focused on former party chairman Jim Greer. While evidence suggested that improper use of these cards may have been made by Rubio, former state representative Ray Sansom and former Rubio/Sansom staffer Melanie Phister, none of these parties were indicted.)

One such set of appropriations/legislative actions reportedly investigated by federal authorities are those which led to the development of the state's largest private prison, the Blackwater River Correctional Facility (CF), which opened its gates for operation in November, 2010. The prison was designed and is operated by Florida-based Geo Group, the nation's second largest private prison operator.

Investigations into members of the Florida Republican Party, as well into party donors, have resulted in multiple indictments. And, on November 2, 2010 -- election day -- federal investigators subpoenaed the party's financial records.

Perhaps the most notable individual charged to date is former Rep. Ray Sansom (R-Destin), who, while serving as Rubio's budget chief, inserted language into the state's 2008-2009 budget for what was to become Blackwater CF.

While Sansom has not yet been indicted or officially charged with any wrongdoing in relation to the development of Blackwater CF, in February, 2010, Sansom, while serving as successor to Speaker Rubio, resigned amid criminal and ethics investigations -- chief of which is the allegation that he falsified the 2007-2008 budget by inserting a $6 million appropriation into the state spending bill for the construction of an aircraft hangar for Destin businessman and prominent Florida Republican Party contributor, Jay Odom. (Note: Sansom was indicted on charges of lying to a grand jury, official misconduct, grand theft and conspiracy in relation to the Odom case, but the state of Florida dropped all charges in May 2011. See "subsequent events" section below for more details.)

Cash that rings the till

On March 30, 2010, Elva McCaig, a nurse employed at the Florida Department of Corrections' (FDOC) Santa Rosa Correctional Institute, and treasurer of Nurses Behind the Gate, a prison nurse advocacy group, wrote a letteraddressed to both United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida Thomas Kirwin and State Attorney for Florida's Second Judicial District Willie Meggs.

In essence, the letter laid out McCaig's concerns that the development of Blackwater CF was yet another legislatively-mandated handout to yet another prominent Florida Republican Party contributor, Geo Group. Geo consistently reports annual revenue in excess of one billion dollars -- all of which it earns through state, county and federal contracts for the detention of both criminal offenders and immigrant detainees.

And indeed, Geo is a top Florida Republican Party contributor; through two political action committees (PACs), Florida Geo Group, Inc. PAC and Geo Group, Inc. PAC, the corporation gave $85,000 to the Republican Party of Florida from 2006 through 2009, along with tens of thousands of dollars in additional contributions to other state Republican Party PACs and campaigns of individual Republican candidates.

It is also worth noting that from 2005 through 2010, Geo, through its PACs, dispensed an additional $15,000 to the National Republican Congressional Committee, an additional $32,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and an additional $10,000 over 2009 and 2010 directly to the Marco Rubio for U.S. Senate PAC.

Geo's PAC spending, however, is not the limit of their appreciation shown to Rubio.

On September 13, 2010, several top Geo corporate executives, along with Geo lobbyists and subcontractors, gave a total of $33,500 in individual contributions to the Florida Victory Committee, a PAC created for the benefit of three other PACS: Marco Rubio for U.S. Senate, the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the Republican Party of Florida.

All-in-all, the Florida Victory Committee received $113,500 -- all on September 13, 2010 -- during its most active period (August 20 through September 30, 2010). Of this amount, $51,735.90 was disbursed to the National Republican Senatorial Committee (which, in turn, contributed an amazing $2,509,644 to Rubio's campaign throughout the 2010 election cycle), $13,305 was disbursed to the Republican Party of Florida, and $31,458.15 was disbursed to the Rubio PAC.

In addition, Geo Chief Executive Officer and founder George Zoley gave Rubio a further $4,800 in personal contributions over the course of 2009 and 2010 -- half of which Zoley gave to the Rubio campaign on September 13, 2010 -- putting his own personal disbursements to the Rubio campaign for that single day at $7,400.

It is worth noting that Geo was the most generous single-interest/corporate donor to contribute to the Florida Victory Committee during this period. It is also worth noting that, of the $33,500 contributed by Geo and its affiliates to this particular PAC, $10,000 came directly from Guy and Neel White, owners and chief executive officers of White Construction Company, the Geo subcontractor awarded the $114 million contract for the construction of Blackwater CF.

The McCaig letter went on to lay out points of the legislative history and perceived "backroom transactions" behind the development of Blackwater CF, as well as the odd "relationships and conflicts" in the proximity of both Rubio's economic consultant, Donna Arduin, and former Senate President Jeff Atwater's Chief of Staff Robert "Budd" Kneip to lawmakers working to push the development of Blackwater CF.

Both Arduin and Kneip have deep ties to the Geo Group and its parent, Wackenhut Corporation.

Without going into too much detail on the claims and concerns outlined in the McCaig letter (for all the factual background provided in the letter, it contained a number of factual errors -- including erroneous claims that Xe Services, LLC/Blackwater USA were involved in the deal), the point was essentially that budgetary provisos which called for $110 million to be appropriated as a giveaway to the Geo Group were inserted into the state budget under very questionable circumstances.

Federal Investigators on the Trail

In any event, it seems the letter contained enough salient, solid information that it sparked the interest of federal investigators.

According to multiple sources in the area, federal investigators began making house calls in and around Santa Rosa County (home of Blackwater CF), and around the capital buildings of Tallahassee, during the summer of 2010, asking questions about the origins of Blackwater.

FBI spokesman Special Agent Jeff Westcott declined to either confirm or deny the reports of the bureau's interest in Blackwater.

The Origins of Blackwater in the Florida House of Representatives

In November 2006, Donna Arduin, president of Arduin, Laffer and Moore Econometrics (ALME, incorporated in Florida, February, 2005), as well as of Arduin Associates, Inc. (incorporated in Florida, January, 2005), was hired as an economic consultant by former Florida House Speaker Allen Bense (R-Panama City) for work on the 2007-2008 House General Appropriations Bill under incoming Speaker Marco Rubio. (Bense signed this contract in his last days as speaker, while Rubio was speaker-designate). The contract commenced December 1, 2006, and expired in May, 2007, with the finalization of the appropriations bill. Under this contract Arduin's rate of pay was $10,000 per month.

Arduin was again contracted in September 2007, as an economic consultant for work on the 2008-2009 House General Appropriations Bill under Speaker Rubio. The contract again ran through May of the following year, terminating with the finalization of the appropriations bill. Her rate of pay was again $10,000 per month.

At the time of Arduin's initial contract under Rubio, as well as during her work over the course of 2006 on the Florida Property Tax Reform Committee, she was also a compensated trustee of Correctional Properties Trust (AKA CentaCore Properties Trust, CPT), a real estate investment trust (REIT) established by Wackenhut Corrections in 1998.

Wackenhut Corrections, a subsidiary of Wackenhut Corporation, spun off as a separate entity (Geo Group) following the purchase of Wackenhut by United Kingdom-based Group 4 Falck (currently called "G4S") in 2003.

It is worth noting that Arduin's ALME partners, Arthur Laffer and Stephen Moore, were both economic advisors to President Ronald Reagan, Moore serving on Reagan's Commission on Privatization, which established policy resulting in the rebirth of the American private prison industry in the 1980s. Additionally, both Laffer and Moore are members of the American Legislative Exchange's (ALEC) "board of scholars." Both Geo Group and Corrections Corporation of America (CCA, the nation's largest operator of for-profit prisons and immigrant detention centers) are corporations with a history of involvement in ALEC.

On February 19, 2008, Geo Group Vice Chairman, President and Chief Operating Officer Wayne Calabrese, along with Geo Senior Vice President of North American Operations John Hurley, Geo Vice President of Business Development Cloid Shuler, and Geo lobbyist Damon Smith, delivered a presentation before the Florida Senate Committee on Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations.

The presentation was straightforward, with two primary objectives: 1.) Geo would take on more prisoners and would discount per diem rates of incarceration of state prisoners in exchange for longer contracts with the state, and 2.) Geo sought appropriations for two expansions to one of their existing private facilities, Graceville CF, in the form of one 384-bed expansion, coupled with the development of a 1,500-bed "special needs annex" (for the "chronically mentally ill") to the facility.

To illustrate the scope of this proposal, the Geo executives were essentially seeking to sell the Florida Legislature on an expansion of the existing Graceville CF (which contained 1,884 "beds" at that time) by up to 1,884 additional beds. In exchange for this concession -- as well as increased contract lengths at other existing facilities -- Geo would offer the state a "discounted rate."

Ray's Trip to Boca

Then-House Policy and Budget Chief Ray Sansom did not seem like a man happy in his work. Reports filed with the Florida House of Representatives for travel and other expense reimbursement by Sansom during this period are marked at the outset of each legislative session with the foreboding words, "session subsistence begins," scrawled in Sansom's hand over travel reports detailing his commutes from Destin to Tallahassee. A Florida state representative doesn't make much -- less than $30,000 per year. As such, Sansom filed meticulous reports seeking reimbursement for travel, copier toner and other office expenses.

One such report shows Sansom embarking, on March 27, 2008, for a rare trip out of his district in the Florida Panhandle (or outside of the capital) to Boca Raton, nearly 400 miles away at the southern tip of Florida, for "personal business." Boca Raton is home to Geo Group's corporate headquarters.

It should be noted that this single trip to Boca Raton is the only one of its kind found on travel reimbursement forms filed by Sansom (for himself or his staff) from 2007 to his resignation in February, 2010.

While it is unclear what business Sansom had in Boca Raton (Neither Sansom, nor any representative of Geo Group responded to requests for comment), it is clear that the lawmaker returned to Tallahassee and inserted a proviso in the initial draft of the 2008-2009 House General Appropriations Bill (filed with Policy and Budget Committee on April 4, 2008) which called for "$110,000,000 in non-recurring general revenue... for the planning, design, permitting, equipping and construction of a state-owned, privately operated 2,000 bed correctional institution... for the housing of 2,000 medium and close custody inmates as a stand-alone annex to the Graceville Correctional Facility in Graceville, Florida."

"Project Justice:" Sansom, Gaetz and TEAM Santa Rosa

On April 7, 2008, following the insertion of this proviso -- which was never run by any committee for approval -- Representative Curtis Richardson (D-Tallahassee) amended the budget to strike the proviso, as it was obviously a legislatively-mandated giveaway to Geo Group.

Sansom responded on April 8, 2008 with a revised proviso stripped of all Graceville-specific language. In all other respects the new proviso was identical in that it called for $110 million for a new 2,000-bed private prison to be constructed somewhere in the state.

On June 11, 2008, the budget was approved by then-Governor Charlie Crist.

On July 15, 2008, the Florida Department of Management Services (DMS) issued an "Invitation to Negotiate" (ITN) for the development of the proposed private prison. Responses to the ITN were due by September 9, 2008.

Interestingly, although no binding agreement had been reached between Geo Group and DMS, on November 26, 2008, Geo Group purchased 126 acres of land outside of Milton, Santa Rosa County, for $2.65 million -- 59 acres of which Geo would go on to resell to the state of Florida through the Florida Correctional Finance Corporation (FCFC, an instrumentality of DMS) for $1.6 million on March 24, 2009, as the site of what would become Blackwater CF -- after being awarded the development contract by DMS on March 18, 2009.

It is worth noting that, while DMS had issued a "notice of intent" to award the development contract to Geo on October 21, 2008, that Geo had apparently selected the prospective Blackwater acreage prior to the issuance of the July 15, 2008 ITN.

According to documents submitted to DMS as part of Geo's ITN response, the corporation had already assessed the feasibility of using the selected land as early as July 7, 2008. The following month, the Santa Rosa Board of County Commissioners approved a resolution to provide $1.8 million in funding for additional infrastructure to feed the proposed facility.

Under the terms of the design/build agreement entered into between DMS and Geo, the corporation was awarded $115,364,828 in state project financing, along with another $2,081,984 for payment to Georgia-based "program manager" Carter Goble Lee.

Following the contract award to Geo, construction began on the facility -- slated for completion in July, 2010.

Further exacerbating the appearance that the Blackwater deal had been sewn up long before the 2008-2009 General Appropriations Bill had been passed -- let alone the issuance of the DMS ITN -- according to documents released by TEAM Santa Rosa, the economic development arm of Santa Rosa County, Sansom and Senator Don Gaetz (R-Destin) had been discussing the idea of a new prison as a means of economic development (code name "Project Justice") with TEAM members as early as February of 2008. Santa Rosa County was partially represented by both Sansom and Gaetz.

Strangely, Arduin denies that she ever worked with Sansom or his Policy and Budget Committee staff during the formation of the 2008-2009 budget, insisting that she only worked with Rubio.

Work invoices filed by Arduin pursuant to the terms of her September 2007 through May 2008 contract with the House tell a different story.

"ALME provided consulting services to the House as directed by the Speaker relating to property tax reform, economic development and budget issues," reads the invoice for April 2008. "Those services included participating in meetings, planning sessions and conferences with Legislators and staff of the Speaker's Office and Policy and Budget Committee on economic development initiatives, spending reductions and policy development for the 2008 Florida Legislative session... ALME continues to provide ongoing economic and policy advice to the staff of the Speaker's Office and Policy and Budget Committee on Florida's budget and economy."

Or, as stated by the "scope of services" section of Arduin's contract with the House: "services include advisory services to the House, as directed by the Speaker of the House, to the Policy and Budget Committee, as directed by the Chairman of the Committee (Sansom), or as directed by the Chief of Staff."

Nevertheless, public records requests submitted to the Florida House of Representatives for reports authored or submitted by Arduin, as well as for written communications between Arduin and her employers, Rubio and Sansom, turned up empty.

According to then-Florida House of Representatives Communications Director Jill Chamberlin (retired September, 2010), there simply are no records of work performed by Arduin (no reports, no audits, no presentations, no memos... nothing) during her time in the House under Rubio.

And Chamberlin, who served as spokeswoman for both Speaker Rubio and later for Speaker Sansom, says that it is not likely Arduin ever filed any reports of any kind -- as she was hired on as a consultant more for her connections in both the public and private sector. As such, said Chamberlin, most of Arduin's consultations took the form of face time with those in her immediate circle.

Rubio did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Consummating Blackwater in the State Senate in 2010

In early 2010, Arduin was contracted for work as an economic consultant in the Florida Senate under the purview of the office of then-Senate President Jeff Atwater (R-North Palm Beach), tasked with "providing analytical review of state government agency operations, including overlapping agency jurisdictions and functions, the financial structure of agencies, sources and uses of agency revenue, and agency expenditure patterns that will aid in economic and budgetary decisions associated with the development of Florida's budget."

This laundry list was broken down into three key functions (as itemized in the 2010 contract): 1) work with and advise the chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee (Sen. J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales), 2) to coordinate with staff during development of the budget and during the conference committee on appropriations, and 3) to serve as otherwise directed by Chairman Alexander and Senate President Atwater.

As such, Arduin was contracted for employment in the Senate from February 4 through June 30, 2010, not through ALME, but through Laffer Associates (a Tennessee corporation founded by partner Arthur Laffer in October, 2006). The rate of pay for the duration of this contract was $7,000 per month.

As a private consultant under contract with the office of Senate President Atwater, Arduin worked under Atwater's Chief of Staff, Robert "Budd" Kneip.

Over the course of the past two decades, prior to becoming a public servant, Kneip served as "senior vice president of corporate planning and development" for Wackenhut Corporation, and as president and chief executive officer of several Wackenhut subsidiaries: Oasis Outsourcing, Oasis Outsourcing II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, and IX, Oasis Outsourcing of Colorado, Oasis Outsourcing of Georgia, Oasis Outsourcing of Ohio, as well as of several other corporations operating under the banners of Oasis Outsourcing Benefits, Workforce Alternative and Wackenhut Resources, Incorporated (WRI).

While Kniep had been employed as chief of staff for the Office of the Florida Senate President from 2007 through 2010 (following Atwater's election to the office of Florida's Chief Financial Officer in November, 2010, Atwater appointed Kneip as his chief of staff in that office), incorporation papers for Oasis Outsourcing II on file with the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission show that Kneip had been acting as president of this Wackenhut subsidiary as recently as December 31, 2005.

To further illustrate the cycle of influence between Wackenhut/Geo and the Florida Senate, it is important to note that nearly all of the Wackenhut subsidiary corporations over which Kneip had control were offshoots of King Employee Services, Inc., as well as related companies, King Staffing and King Benefits, which were purchased in 1997 from former Florida Senate President (2002-2004) Jim King by Wackenhut for $16 million -- reportedly King's cut of this deal was $5 million. King died in July 2009, still serving in the Senate.

In May 2010, during the last week of the Florida Legislature's conference to finalize the state budget bill, Ways and Means Chair Alexander slipped a proviso into the spending bill's section on criminal justice and corrections appropriations.

The proviso called for a cut of over $24 million to FDOC in order to close an unspecified number of state facilities in order to fill and open Blackwater.

This $24 million cut to FDOC was essentially written in as compensation, or displacement of funds, for the additional $22 million written into the budget for the sole purpose of "the operation [of] 2,224 adult male beds at Blackwater River Correctional Facility to be operational by November 1, 2010."

The state budget bill also called for FDOC to identify some 1,350 male adult custody psychological and medical care "beds" for potential privatization. Additionally, the budget bill stated that FDOC was required to develop a plan to reduce the operating costs of 6,400 additional beds by five percent -- using private beds if necessary.

And, just as the 2010-2011 budget bill was generous in its cuts to the state's public prison system, it was equally generous in handouts for private prison operators.

All-in-all the 2010-2011 budget bill contained over $1.2 million in state funds to be paid to local government taxing authorities in lieu of property taxes for the state's six existing private correctional facilities.

As such, the criminal justice corrections section of the 2010-2011 budget bill was met by stiff criticism -- most audibly from FDOC and the Florida Police Benevolent Association (Florida PBA, the state's prison guard union), and from Sen. Paula Dockery (R-Lakeland), chair of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee.

Dockery noted in her criticism of the Blackwater-related provisions that, as was the case with the 2008 Sansom proviso, the appropriations and mandates concerning FDOC and Blackwater had never been discussed or approved in any committee.

According to FDOC Communications Director Gretl Plessinger, the issue most difficult to reconcile with the 2010-2011 budget was the fact that the state's prison system was actually running under capacity. Put simply, there was no need to push through the opening of Blackwater.

Whereas state inmate growth projections in 2008 had actually suggested that there may be a need for the facility by 2010, Plessinger said inmate growth had slowed to the point where construction/expansion projects underway on state-owned and operated facilities had ceased.

Regardless of the fact that there was no need on the part of the state to open Blackwater at the time, or the fact that by mandating the facility's opening by November 1 through the closure of existing state facilities, lawmakers were in effect mandating the possible loss of thousands of state jobs, there was a very real need on the part of Geo Group to have Blackwater CF opened as soon as possible.

In April 2010, DMS announced that it had awarded contracts for the management of both Moore Haven CF (985-beds)and Graceville CF (1,884 beds) -- both of which had been operated by Geo up to that point -- to CCA, thereby reducing Geo's holdings in their home state to 1,861 beds at South Bay CF by the end of the year -- unless Blackwater CF could be filled.

For her part, Arduin says that the idea of opening or building a private prison was never run by her in either the House or the Senate in 2008 or 2010.

When asked about the facility and the provisions of the 2010-2011 budget bill which called for its immediate opening, Arduin, who was paid $7,000 per month by the Senate as an economic consultant -- who, as stated by the terms of her contract, was to know the business of the state of Florida inside and out, down to the last dime -- responded, "Was that something that was in the 2010 budget?"

Ghosts of Private Prisons Past: Cash That Rings the Till, Part 2

Beginning in :{January of 1:(style="background-color:#ffffff;"):}::{999 through November, 2003:(style="background-color:#ffff66;"):}:, Arduin served as director of the Office of Policy and Budget under Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Prior to her appointment under Bush, Arduin had served in similar roles under Michigan Governor John Engler and New York Governor George Pataki.

From November 17, 2003 through October 15, 2004, Arduin served as director of the California Department of Finance under Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. As director of finance, Arduin was Gov. Shwarzenegger's chief fiscal advisor -- with purview over 70 state boards and governmental authorities.

It is worth noting that, while Arduin has earned a reputation for herself as being a tough opponent of government spending -- even referred to as an "ogre" by a California state lawmaker for her cuts to the state's public health care system -- this tough posture on governmental spending does not seem to apply to Arduin's rate of pay.

For example, just as Arduin was paid $10,000 per month by both the Florida House under Rubio, and $7,000 per month in the Florida Senate under Atwater, Arduin was paid $10,248 per month at the time she left the administration of Gov. Jeb Bush. What's more, the state of Florida disbursed an additional $25,913 to Arduin for 438 hours of vacation pay on December 8, 2003 -- at which time she was employed as director of the California Department of Finance.

Other sets of monetary disbursements surrounding the commencement of Arduin's work under Gov. Schwarzenegger are equally interesting.

On October 10, 2003, three days following Schwarzenegger's election and a little more than a month prior to Arduin's appointment to the Schwarzenegger administration, Wackenhut Corrections paid out $5,000 to Californians for Schwarzenegger 2003 PAC.

On November 17, 2003, Arduin assumed her role as director of finance.

On November 20, 2003, Wackenhut Corrections paid out an additional $16,200 to Californians for Schwarzenegger 2003 PAC. Also on November 20, 2003, Wackenhut Corrections paid out $36,800 to Schwarzenegger's "Total Recall Committee, Vote Yes to Recall Gray Davis" committee, a PAC established by the Schwarzenegger campaign in 2003 and which remained active through 2005, which was intended to drive the 2003 ballot initiative to recall the election of former California Gray Davis.

During Arduin's tenure as California's director of finance, two private prisons which had been decommissioned in 2003 by Gov. Davis, McFarland Community Correctional Facility (CF) and Mesa Verde CF, were re-appropriated and reopened -- with no-bid contracts issued to the Geo Group and another private prison operator, Civigenics, for the operation of the facilities.

Arduin Joins Wackenhut/Geo REIT

On October 28, 2004, 13 days after her resignation from the Schwarzeneggeradministration, Arduin was elected to replace George Wackenhut (co-founder of Wackenhut Corp. and Wackenhut Corrections, who had died earlier that year) on the :{board of trustees of:(style="background-color:#ffffff;"):}::{ CentraCore Properties Trust:(style="background-color:#ffff66;"):}: (AKA Correctional Properties Trust, CPT), the real estate investment trust (REIT) of Wackenhut/Geo.

CPT was founded in 1998 by Richard and George Wackenhut, along with several other Wackenhut Corrections directors and executives, including current Geo Group director and then-mayor of South Bay, Florida (which, incidentally, is the site of one of Geo's prisons, South Bay CF), Clarence Anthony.

Additionally, Geo Group/Wackenhut Corrections president and CEO George Zoley was a founding CPT trustee, holding several tens of thousands of shares of common stock in the company.

Over the course of the REIT's existence, Charles R. Jones served as CPT President and CEO. According to court documents, Jones -- CPT founding trustee along with Zoley -- was Wackenhut's "investment banker" at the time of CPT's inception.

As an REIT, CPT was essentially the entity which held all of Wackenhut/Geo's real estate holdings.

While CPT was technically a separate independent entity outside the purview of Wackenhut/Geo, it is important to note that at the time its creation, the REIT's holdings consisted solely of Wackenhut properties. At the time of its eventual merger back into Geo Group in 2007 (at which time it became Geo Acquisition II, a Delaware corporation governed by Zoley, Calabrese and Geo General Counsel John Bulfin), the REIT owned 13 properties, 11 of which it "leased" to Geo.

Due to this extremely close relationship to Wackenhut/Geo, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) auditors had questioned on at least one occasion whether CPT was in fact an entity independent of Wackenhut/Geo.

In 2006, following the announcement that CPT was set to merge with Geo (effective January, 2007), CPT shareholders filed class action suits seeking injunctions against the merger in Maryland and Florida courts, alleging that the merger was an inside deal beneficial to CPT trustees and Geo executives and that there were irreconcilable conflicts of interests between the two. As such, the shareholders alleged that the merger was, in essence, Geo bringing its real estate holdings back in-house -- allegations which Arduin flatly denies.

Both cases were settled out of court in 2008 for an undisclosed sum.

At the time of Arduin's appointment to the CPT board, as well as during her service under Schwarzenegger, McFarland CF was owned by CPT and leased to Geo.

In January 2006, CPT finalized its purchase of Mesa Verde CF, operated by Civigenics, another CPT customer, which also operated a CPT-owned minimum security prison in New Jersey.

Following Arduin's appointment to CPT, the California State Auditor launched an investigation into the appearance of conflicts of interest in the McFarland/Mesa Verde deals.

According to the California State Auditor's investigation report, issued on September 13, 2005, the Schwarzenegger administration had relied on misleading cost-benefit analysis which did not factor in other potential cost saving measures in awarding theno-bid contractsto Civigenics and Geo.

Additionally, the state found that there were indeed conflicts of interest on the part of Civigenics in that the corporation failed to disclose that two of their employees in the state were former high ranking California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) employees who were still receiving annuities from CDCR.

However, the report found no evidence of wrong doing on the part of Arduin, per the odd timing of her appointment to CPT, because: "since the former Finance director is associated with the trust (CPT) and not with Geo, it does not appear that she has a conflict of interest in regards to the McFarland contract."

The report made no mention of the business relationship between CPT and Civigenics, or of the fact that CPT was an offshoot of Geo.

What's more, the report stated that the California State Auditor could find no evidence that Arduin had influenced CDCR's decision to reopen the facilities.

However, the report failed to note that, just prior to her appointment as director of Finance, Arduin had been commissioned by the Schwarzenegger administration to perform an audit of California's government and state finances.

Whether or not this audit recommended the reopening of the private facilities is unknown as there are no audit reports authored by Arduin on file with either the Department of Finance or with the Office of Governor Schwarzenegger.

While written communications in the form of emails and memos do exist between Arduin and Schwarzenegger, the administration refused (in July, 2010) to release any of these documents for public inspection.

When asked specifically for any written communications between Arduin and the Governor from the month prior to Arduin's sudden resignation and appointment to CPT, Deputy Legal Affairs Secretary to the Office of the Governor Dan Maguire responded that, while such documents do exist, any and all communications between Arduin and Schwarzenegger are exempt from public disclosure under California Government Code executive and deliberative process exemptions to the state's open records laws.

When asked that the administration waive their legal right to withhold executive communications between Arduin and Schwarzenegger in the spirit of transparency and open government -- in that there is a definite public interest in documents demonstrating whether or not Arduin advocated for the Mesa Verde or McFarland re-appropriations, or whether Schwarzenegger had knowledge of Arduin's imminent appointment to CPT -- the administration refused, stating: "...there are strong policy reasons to protect the confidentiality of communications to and from the Governor's Office. Disclosure of such communications could chill the candid discussion of critical issues, and deprive the Governor of information he needs to discharge his duties... Therefore we are not producing these documents to you."

Wackenhut/Geo investments: Corestates, Wachovia, Wells Fargo

It is unclear at what point Arduin became involved in the private prison business.

An Arduin statement of financial interests filed with the Florida Commission on Ethics in 2000 may shed some light on this history. The document lists Arduin's primary source of income as being First Clearing Corporation, simply described as a "brokerage."

Documents on file with the Florida Secretary of State, Division of Corporations, reflect that First Clearing Corporation (a North Carolina corporation doing business in Florida) merged into Corestates Securities Corp (a Pennsylvania corporation) in 1998.

SEC documents show that in 1996 Corestates Financial Corp (a corporate relative of Corestates Securities Corp) purchased 12,000,200 shares, or 54.7055 percent, of Wackenhut Corrections. Under this ownership class, Corestates was considered to be a "parent holding company" of Wackenhut Corrections.

Corestastes subsequently merged with Wachovia, which in 2008 merged with Wells Fargo. As of January 20, 2011, Wells Fargo and Company owned 3,623,603 shares, or 5.62 percent of Geo Group.

Arduin says she has no knowledge of any personal financial interest in First Clearing Corporation or in Corestates and does not know why that entry was made on her 2000 statement of financial disclosure, outside the possibility of clerical error on the part of her assistant.

Strange Appearances and Strange Bedfellows

On the evening of Monday, August 22, 2005, a party of high ranking Florida Department of Corrections personnel met up at a bar in Tallahassee. The bar was Clyde and Costello's, an establishment known to cater to the Tallahassee lobbyist/mover-and-shaker crowd. The party that night consisted of FDOC Secretary James Crosby, Washington Correctional Institution (CI) Warden Rick Anglin, Gulf CI Warden Dale Hughes, and FDOC Region 1 Correctional Services Consultant Brad Tunnell.

According to documents obtained from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), sometime toward the end of the evening, Crosby took Tunnell to the side and told him, "You know, you need to talk to your dad. You need to get him off my boys."

Brad Tunnell's father is Guy Tunnell, who, at that time was FDLE Commissioner.

At the time of the August, 2005 meeting at Clyde and Costello's, FDLE was investigating Crosby, FDOC Region 1 Director Allen Clark, and several other FDOC employees on a wide array of charges including assault, steroids distribution, misappropriation of state funds/resources, and a kickback scheme involving two private prison canteen service providers: Keefe Commissary Network and American Institutional Services (AIS).

According to FDLE records, Crosby continued in his threat, putting a fine point on his demands after Tunnell stated that he didn't understand what Crosby was getting at: "AC (Allen Clark), they need to lay off AC. They need to leave him the fuck alone. You need to tell your dad."

Brad Tunnell claimed that he responded by stating that he could not tell his father how to do his job, to which Crosby allegedly responded by threatening to open an administrative investigation into a brawl Tunnell had reportedly been a party to at a FDOC event earlier that year.

Subsequent events -- namely the federal indictments and convictions of both Allen Clark and James Crosby in 2006 and 2007 -- shed some light on why Crosby was so eager that the FDLE investigation into Clark end.

Both Clark and Crosby had been involved in a kickback scheme in which two Gainesville area businessmen, Edward Lee Dugger and Joseph Arthur Deese, proprietors of AIS, paid out approximately $130,000 to Clark and Crosby from October, 2003 through February, 2006, in exchange for Crosby and Clark's facilitating and arranging a partnership between AIS and Keefe Commissary wherein AIS provided visitor canteen services at FDOC Region 1 facilities as a vendor under subcontract with the state through Keefe.

David Ericks and Donna Arduin

Crosby stated under oath to FDLE investigators looking into his alleged threat to Tunnell on the evening of August 22, 2005, that he had gone to Clyde and Costello's that evening to meet with Clyde and Costello's owner, David Ericks, and Ericks' longtime girlfriend, Donna Arduin.

Ericks, aside from being the owner of Clyde and Costello's, is owner of Ericks Consultants, a lobbying firm which has represented Wackenhut/Geo Group for over a decade. Ericks was also the chief lobbyist for Keefe Commissary in Florida from March, 2005 through 2009. What's more, Ericks represented Arduin, Laffer and Moore Econometrics (ALME) in 2005.

Additionally, Ericks paid the bar tab of $143.25 for the 31 drinks consumed by the FDOC men that evening. It is important to note that all of the FDOC employees present at Clyde's that evening, with the exception of Secretary Crosby, were high ranking officials in FDOC Region 1 -- the region for which all of the AIS/Keefe bribes were intended to facilitate business.

Court documents filed with the mysteriously late indictments (given the fact that both Crosby and Clark had already been convicted and sentenced for their roles in thekickback scheme) of Deese and Dugger in June, 2010, indicate that Keefe was also a recipient of the kickbacks reaped through the AIS/Crosby arrangement in that Deese and Dugger would also pay both monetary and non-monetary bribes to unnamed Keefe executives and representatives -- most significantly the payment of a Keefe executive's $5,000 credit card bill in October, 2005, about a month from the date of the Clyde and Costello's meeting.

Furthermore, a federal civil case (seeking forfeiture of criminally-obtained revenue) based on the testimony of FBI Special Agent Jannet Pellicciotti, which is stayed pending the outcome of the Deese and Dugger cases, alleges that Keefe Commissary, along with AIS, Crosby and Clark, is guilty of mail fraud, in that the U.S. Postal Service was used to deliver the criminally-obtained proceeds of the canteen partnership to Keefe's corporate offices in St. Louis, Missouri.

During the FDLE interview following the Clyde's incident, Crosby stated that he, Ericks and Arduin, had spent a substantial amount of time that evening speaking privately outside Clyde and Costello's on an undisclosed subject.

Oddly enough, while FDLE investigators had interviewed every person, from an off-duty cocktail waitress who had been drinking with the men, to Ericks, on the events of the night of August 22, 2005, they never interviewed Arduin.

It also appears that then-Governor Bush recognized the significance of Clyde and Costello's as the setting for this particular meeting. According to FDLE transcripts, then-Commissioner Tunnell recalled Bush's dismay during his briefing on the investigation following the threats made by Crosby (click here to listen to full FDLE interview with Tunnel wherein Tunnell discusses Bush's concern with Crosby's activities at Clyde and Costello's).

"The Governor was upset Crosby was back at Clyde's again," recalled Tunnell to investigators, suggesting that Crosby had ongoing business at Ericks' bar of which Bush was aware.

Tunnell declined repeated requests for an interview, stating only: "I'm not interested in opening that painful chapter of my family's life again."

Bush could not be reached for comment.

For her part, Arduin, who was appointed by Bush to the Florida Property Tax Reform Committee the following year (2006, while still serving as a CPT trustee), denies the meeting ever took place, or that she ever had occasion to meet with Crosby outside of her role as an agency head of the Bush administration. Nor, says Arduin, did she ever have any business with Keefe.

"I never had a meeting with James Crosby. I mean, if he said he went over there to meet us, he might have been -- he and Dave might have had something to talk about, but I never had a meeting with him," said Arduin. "I never had any business with him after I left the state of Florida. We were -- we both worked for the same administration for a while. I was consulting for Speaker Rubio, but I never did any work for Speaker Rubio that would have had me have a meeting with a corrections secretary... But obviously, he had reasons to be meeting with Dave."

Interestingly, perhaps indicative of some shared business growth strategy, just as Ericks represented the interests of Keefe, Geo Group, and ALME (at a time when Arduin was a trustee of CPT) in Florida in 2005, this pattern of mutual lobby representation was replicated the following year in Texas with Keefe, CPT, Atlantic Shores Healthcare (the entity which would become Geo Group's prison medical service arm, Geo Care), all represented by Texas lobbyist and former chief of staff to Texas State Rep. Ray Allen, Scott Gilmore.

Crosby, who is currently incarcerated at a federal prison camp in Pensacola, turned down a request for an interview.

Ericks did not return multiple phone calls and emails requesting comment.

It is also worth noting that every single federal campaign contribution -- except for one -- recorded by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) for Arduin over the past decade lists her place of residence as being either Ft. Lauderdale or Tallahassee. The exception is a single :{$1,000 contribution to then-Missouri Senator :(style="background-color:#ffffff;"):}::{James Talent:(style="background-color:#ffff66;"):}:, credited to Arduin in 2005, the record of which lists her place of residence as being St. Louis, Missouri, home of Keefe Commissary and its parent company, Centric Group.

Arduin says that she has no recollection of any such contribution or any idea why her address would be listed as being in St. Louis.

And while Arduin claims that she never had any involvement with Keefe, FEC records show that Talent was the top pick above and beyond all other candidates for Keefe and Centric Group during the 2006 election cycle -- with at least $35,950 in campaign contributions from Keefe and Centric Group executives and employees going to Talent from October, 2005 to June, 2006.

Of this nearly $36,000 campaign cash influx, $20,000 was paid directly into Talent's two political action committees ($10,000 to each) by Keefe and Centric Group President Douglas Albrecht. Albrecht retired his post at the helm of Keefe and Centric Group following the Crosby and Clark indictments. He could not be reached for comment.

Arduin was not alone in her sudden interest in Missouri lawmakers in 2005. Ericks -- who, according to data compiled by the National Institute on Money in State Politics, has restricted his campaign finance spending solely to Florida lawmakers from 1998 to present -- also broke with his pattern of political largesse in 2005 with a gift of $600 to the campaign of Missouri State Senator Brad Lager.

While Ericks and Arduin are no longer romantically involved, it seems that their business relationship is alive and well; Arduin's residential property in Ft. Lauderdale is jointly owned between herself and Ericks.

Incorporation papers on file with the Florida Secretary of State Division of Corporations from 2005 to present for ALME, as well as Arduin Associates, list Arduin's business address as 205 S. Adams, Tallahassee. 205 S. Adams is also the address for Ericks Consultants. The building located at 205 S. Adams is in fact owned by Ericks Consultants. In fact, Arduin's office is the office of Ericks Consultants -- the two share the same phone and fax numbers. The receptionist who answers the phone when you call looking for Arduin says, "Ericks Consultants, how may I help you?"

FBI Special Agent Rick Dent declined to confirm or deny whether the FBI is investigating any other parties in conjunction with the June indictments of Deese and Dugger.

Steve Cole, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Jacksonville, the office which had prosecuted, and which continues to prosecute all cases involved with the Crosby/AIS kickback scheme, declined to comment on any aspect of any related cases -- past or present -- or on whether further indictments are forthcoming.

As for Arduin, she says she does not know whether or not she currently has any financial interest in the Geo Group, or in any other private corrections interest.

"My investment guys have me in so many different mutual funds, I can't... I have no idea," said Arduin. "I don't know."

Over the course of the 2010 midterm election year, Arduin worked as an advisor to the campaign of U.S. Senator Rubio, as well as to the campaign of newly-elected Florida Governor Rick Scott. She currently heads Scott's budget advisory team.

Subsequent Events: August 2012 Postscript to January 2011 DBA Press publication

The state of Florida dropped its prosecution of former Rep. Ray Sansom in May of 2011. Florida State Attorney Willie Meggs cited the court's refusal to allow the testimony of a key witness as grounds for the dismissal. The state's prosecution stemmed from allegations that Sansom had inserted a $6 million appropriation into the state's 2007-2008 budget for the construction of a private aircraft hangar for GOP donor Jay Odom.

Nevertheless, on June 6, 2011, federal investigators subpoenaed records at the Florida House of Representatives pertaining to Sansom's travel and legislative expenses drawn from excess campaign finances. Travel vouchers filed by former Sansom staffers -- Melanie Phister, Eric Edwards, Dort Baltes and Samantha Sullivan -- were also subpoenaed. Sullivan was ordered to appear for testimony before a federal grand jury.

It is worth noting that Phister, who had been hired by the office of Speaker Rubio in 2006 to work under Sansom, was hired as a lobbyist by the firm of Johnson and Blanton in January, 2012. Johnson and Blanton's principals, Jon Johnson and Travis Blanton, along with Johnson and Blanton lobbyist Amy Christian, are longtime Geo Group/Geo Care lobbyists. Phister currently lobbies on behalf of both Geo Group and Geo Care, among other clients. (It is also worth noting that, according to Phister's Johnson and Blanton staff biography, Phister had been employed by the firm in the years immediately preceding her work under Sansom. From 2004 through 2006, Phister worked for Johnson and Blanton as a lobbyist, a manager of "projects" and "special assignments," and as a "marketing strategies" researcher.)

A month prior to the issuance of the House subpoenas, federal investigators subpoenaed records in the possession of TEAM Santa Rosa. The subpoenas specifically sought records pertaining to Sansom, Geo Group and "Project Justice." (Read more about the June 2011 subpoenas and view subpoenaed House and TEAM records here.)

Since the issuance of the June 2011 subpoenas, members of the Florida press have asked Sansom about a March 27, 2008 trip to Boca Raton. This trip, and its proximity to events surrounding the legislative birth of Blackwater River CF were first reported by DBA Press in January of 2011.

As reported by DBA Press, House travel records show then-House Budget Chair Sansom taking a trip to Boca Raton, 400 miles from his north Florida district. Sansom reported, at the time, that the trip was conducted for "personal business." Sansom has subsequently stated that the purpose of the trip was to meet with other unnamed lawmakers. The former lawmaker has consistently been unable to state the purpose of the trip or to name other lawmakers present.

Boca Raton is the site of Geo Group's corporate headquarters.

Interestingly, Sansom returned to Tallahassee and, on April 4, inserted a proviso in the 2008-2009 House General Appropriations Bill calling for the $110 million expansion of a Geo Group facility. This proviso would eventually morph into the creation of Blackwater CF.

Subsequent federal grand jury subpoenas issued in August, 2011 in Santa Rosa County, to both TEAM Santa Rosa and to the Santa Rosa County Commission, seem to focus on a Sansom-owned business, Ray Sansom, Inc., as well as Blackwater CF project manager, Georgia-based Carter Goble Lee.

Federal investigators also seized a Santa Rosa County Commission computer in August. The computer had formerly been used by former County Commissioner Gordon Goodin. Goodin was a leading proponent of "Project Justice."

Rick Scott, Donna Arduin, and a Historic Privatization Attempt

On February 7, 2011 newly-elected Florida Governor Rick Scott unveiled his budget proposal to cut approximately $5 billion in state spending. The proposal was the actuation of Scott's "7-7-7 Jobs" plan ("seven steps, seven years, 700,000 jobs"), much touted by Scott and supporters over the course of the 2010 campaign as the solution for the state's deep fiscal woes.

The plan was Donna Arduin's key contribution to the Scott campaign. And Arduin, as head of Scott's transitional budget advisory team, was tasked with assembling the full budget proposal for presentation to the legislature.

According to documents released by the Executive Office of Governor Scott (EOG), this budget team was handpicked and led by Arduin. The team consisted of Tad DeHaven, Talmadge Heflin, Randall Holcombe, Art Lafferand Robert McClure.

DeHaven is a budget analyst at the Cato Institute. Heflin is director of the Texas Public Policy Foundation's Center for Fiscal Policy. Arduin is a senior fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Interestingly enough, 2010 Texas Public Policy Foundation tax records list a donation of $15,000 from Geo Group.

Laffer is, of course, Arduin's business partner at Arduin, Laffer and Moore (ALME). Laffer and Stephen Moore (of ALME) are also on the American Legislative Exchange Council's (ALEC) Board of Scholars. Moore had served as director of fiscal policy and as a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and is founder of Club for Growth -- yet another limited-government-free-market "conservative" "think tank."

It is worth noting, given Arduin's advisory role with the Rubio senate campaign, that the Club for Growth Political Action Committee (PAC) committed $10,002.45 in support to Rubio's senate bid in just over two months, from February 12 to April 16, 2010. This support was delivered in the form of independent expenditures for electioneering communications aimed both at supporting Rubio and at criticizing Rubio's chief opponent, Charlie Crist. These expenditures occurred in the heated pre-primary election months leading up to Crist's departure from the Republican Party (Crist announced he would continue to run as an independent on April 29, 2010) .

McClure is president and CEO of the James Madison Institute.

Holcombe is a senior fellow at the James Madison Institute.

The Cato Institute is an offshoot of the Charles Koch Foundation. Charles and David Koch, the principal shareholders of Koch Industries, are the financiers of a network of "conservative" and "libertarian" not-for-profit organizations. Such Koch-funded groups have included Americans for Prosperity, the Reason Foundation, ALEC, the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and the James Madison Institute.

A staple agenda item for these "think tanks" has been the privatization of public services.And, according to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, Koch Industries was fairly heavily invested in Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) -- owning tens of thousands of shares in the nation's largest private profit prison/immigrant detention center operator -- from 2002 through 2005 (to be fair, Koch Industries held hundreds of thousands of shares in a diverse set of corporate interests during this time). During the 1990s, the private prison industry enjoyed tremendous growth, thanks, in large part, to "tough-on-crime" legislation advanced by ALEC (of which CCA was a part), the National Rifle Association (another longtime ALEC member) and other "conservative" Koch-backed think tanks.

Not surprisingly, given the influence of Arduin's budget advisory team, the 2011 Scott budget proposal took heavy aim at the state's prison system and state prison health care.

Prior to the unveiling of the full budget proposal, the Arduin/Scott "7-7-7" budget plan advertised a reduction in correctional costs by $1 billion simply by "paying competitive market-based salaries for correction's staff, utilizing inmate labor to grow prison food, and competitively bidding health care contracts resulting in public prison costs that are as low as private prisons..." In reality, as shown with the unveiling of the full budget proposal, the plan called for the elimination of nearly 8,700 state government positions -- 1,690 of which would be eliminated from FDOC through $82 million in budget cuts.

Additionally, the proposed budget called for the privatization of all three of the Florida's public mental hospitals -- a gig which seemed ideally suited for Geo Group's correctional/mental health care subsidiary, Geo Care, already the largest private provider of such services in the state.

As dramatic as the proposed cuts to FDOC were at the time of the budget's unveiling, a proviso inserted into the budget called for the privatization of a full third of FDOC operations -- 29 facilities in 18 south Florida counties. Not surprisingly, the proviso had been inserted into the budget by Senate budget chair J.D. Alexander (R-Lake Wales). Arduin had worked as a budget consultant to Alexander in 2010. This collaboration resulted in a proviso to that year's budget that called for a $24 million cut to the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) budget in order to close existing state-run facilities so that Blackwater River CF could be filled and opened.

And, as was the case in 2010, the 2011 Alexander privatization proviso bore Arduin' hoofmarks. In October of 2011, Alexander told the Tallahassee Democrat that the proviso calling for the privatization of the 29 FDOC facilities had been "suggested" by Arduin.

With the passage of this budget and the privatization proviso, the Florida legislature initiated one of the largest prison privatization plans in the history of the nation (comparable efforts had previously been attempted in Tennessee and Arizona). Nevertheless, in July of 2011, the Florida Police Benevolent Association (FPBA) -- the union then representing the bulk of the state's prison guards -- filed suit to enjoin the privatization plan. Essentially, FPBA argued that the privatization plan violated extant state law governing prison privatization in that the privatization mandate had been passed as a budgetary proviso -- not as a stand-alone bill.

In September, 2011, Leon County Circuit Court Judge Jackie Fullford ruled in favor of FPBA.

"This Court concludes that if it is the will of the Legislature to itself initiate privatization of Florida prisons, as opposed to [FDOC], the Legislature must do so by general law, rather than 'using the hidden recesses of the General Appropriations Act,'" opined Fullford in her ruling.

While the Scott administration had stated it would not appeal the ruling, in October, 2011, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi filed an appeal to the Fullford ruling. In July, 2012, the appeals court struct down Bondi's appeal, ruling that the Attorney General did not have standing in the case, as Bondi was not a party listed in the original circuit court case.

In January, 2012, lawmakers championing the prison privatization agenda, led by Senate President Mike Haridopolos (R-Melbourne) and Alexander, introduced SB 2038, which -- like the budget proviso before it -- called for the privatization of the entire southern FDOC region.

Despite intensive partisan and industry lobbying on behalf of the bill, SB 2038 was defeated in the Florida Senate on February 14, 2012 (dubbed the "St. Valentine's Massacre" by opponents of the privatization plan). Interestingly enough, though many Republican senators had broken party ranks and joined with the Senate's 12 Democrats in voting the bill down, Sen. Don Gaetz (who had been a staunch supporter, along with former Rep. Sansom, of Blackwater River CF and "Project Justice"), Sen. John Thrasher (who had introduced the Senate counterpart to 2011's anti-public-emplyee-union "Paycheck Protection" bill -- a bill with ALEC roots, heavily touted by such Koch-backed public policy groups as Americans for Prosperity) and Senate President Mike Haridopolos (whose "special counsel" Andy Bardos had worked closely with the Florida Chamber of Commerce in drafting the 2011 "Paycheck Protection" bill) all joined Alexander in voting for the bill. And, as in the death of the "Paycheck Protection" bill, a handful of moderate Republicans led opposition within the state's GOP ranks. Namely, in the case of SB 2038, the Republican privatization resistance was led by Sen. Mike Fasano (R-New Port Richey), Sen. Paula Dockery (R-Lakeland -- Dockery had been an outspoken critic of Blackwater River CF as well) and Sen. Jack Latvala (R-Clearwater).

These Republican lawmakers, for whatever reason, simply could not be convinced that trading more than 3,500 state jobs for negligible savings though privatization -- at a time when both the state prison population and economy were virtually static -- was a good idea.

In a statement to the Miami Herald, one of the GOP senators who voted against the bill summed up what seemed to be the key to dissent on the issue:

"What's wrong with state employees?" said Sen. Dennis Jones (R-Seminole). "We should be taking care of them, rather than kicking them under the bus."

Sen. Fasano, then-chairman of the Senate Civil and Criminal Justice Budget Subcommittee, had been one of the most outspoken legislative critics of the Scott privatization plan, questioning, since the unveiling of the 2011 Scott budget proposal, why the Governor would push for increased spending for prison privatization when existing state-run facilities contained thousands of unoccupied beds.

Following the introduction of the budget in 2011, Fasano called for key Scott budget staff to appear before his committee for questioning. Amazingly, members of Scott's budget staff stated publicly that they intended to boycott the subcommittee.

For his criticism of the privatization plan, Sen. President Haridopolos removed Fasano as chair of the criminal justice appropriations subcommittee in February of 2012. And Fasano wasn't the only casualty of the Scott privatization plan. In August of 2011, Scott forced the resignation of FDOC Secretary Edwin Buss. Buss, like Fasano, had been an ardent critic of the privatization plan.

Those seeking clarity in understanding Florida's unprecedented slide into wholesale prison privatization under the Scott administration may need look no farther than the events of February 6, 2011 -- Super Bowl Sunday.

As reported by the Orlando Sentinel, Scott was a guest at a Super Bowl party at the home of lobbyist Brian Ballard the day prior to the unveiling of the budget proposal. According to Florida lobby disclosure records, Ballard is a longtime state legislative lobbyist for Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and, as of January 14, 2011, an executive branch lobbyist for Geo Group.

According to the Sentinel, Ballard had helped to raise more than $3 million for Scott's inaugural celebration (according to EOG documents, Ballard and his wife Kathryn actually served as "finance chairs" for the inaugural committee). Additionally, as reported by the Sentinel, Geo Group -- in addition to the more than $400,000 in contributions paid out to the Republican Party of Florida during the 2010 election cycle -- contributed $25,000 to the Scott debutante event.

It is also worth noting that Carrie O'Rourke is the daughter of former Geo Group Chief Financial Officer John O'Rourke (1991 to August 2009. It should be noted, however, that a Geo Group press release announcing O'Rourke's retirement stated that O'Rourke would likely continue work for the private prison corporation as a "consultant" following his departure as CFO. In keeping with this, O'Rourke founded the consulting firm of J.G. O'Rourke and Associates, LLC. in August, 2009), served as finance director of the Scott inaugural committee. It is also worth noting that the Scott gubernatorial campaign employed the services of veteran Florida GOP fundraiser Meredith O'Rourke, Carrie O'Rourke's sister.

As such, given these ties, it comes as no surprise that, according to EOG records, the Scott gubernatorial transition team considered and interviewed John O'Rourke for the position of FDOC secretary during these early months of the administration. While O'Rourke did not get the FDOC job, Scott did appoint O'Rourke to the Florida Prepaid College Board (Gubernatorially-appointed administrators of the state secondary education scholarship and savings programs) in February of 2011.

As reported by Politico, the Romney presidential campaign retained the fundraising services of Meredith O'Rourke in March of 2011. Senatorial candidate Rubio also retained the fundraising services of O'Rourke's firm, Forward Strategies, during the 2010 election cycle.

==

==

A for-profit immigrant family detention center in Karnes County, Texas, has banned migrant children held there from having access to crayons while their mothers meet with lawyers. Immigration authorities claim the ban is a response to children coloring on a table in the prison’s visiting area, which "caused damage to the contractor." The facility is operated by the private prison company GEO Group, which saw its stock price jump after Donald Trump won the presidential election. Human rights advocates are calling for the Obama administration to cut ties with the private prison industry and end family detention before the close of his term.

==

http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/private-prison-companies-openly-boast-about-soaring-profits-locking-children-and

The largest private prison companies in the United States are assuring their shareholders that profits are up, thanks in part to the windfall from locking up women and children in controversial “family detention centers.”

"We are pleased with our first quarter financial performance, which exceeded our first quarter guidance despite incremental startup expenses incurred during the operational ramp of our Trousdale Turner Correctional Center," said Damon Hininger, chief executive officer of the private prison behemoth Corrections Corporation of America, in a press statement issued earlier this month. "Our financial performance was driven primarily by stronger than anticipated demand from our federal partners, most notably Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”

According to the company’s assessment, the spike in revenue was “primarily attributable to a contract at the South Texas Family Residential Center,” which brought in over $70 million during the first quarter of 2016 alone—roughly double levels seen in the first quarter of 2015.

The prison-like facility is located in Dilley, Texas and holds up to 2,400 women and children. Atlanticmagazine writer J. Weston Phippen reports that more than half of the people incarcerated there are children whose average age is nine.

Remarkably, the company’s statement came the same day a judge imposed a two-week restraining order on the facility to temporarily prevent the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services from implementing a childcare license for the prison. The advocacy organization Grassroots Leadership has vigorously opposed such licensing, arguing that the facilities are prisons, not childcare accommodations.

“We’re talking about prison-like conditions, in that people are locked up with their kids in these facilities,” said Bob Libal, executive director of Grassroots Leadership, in an interview with AlterNet. “When you talk to the moms there, they say that their kids are really suffering in detention.”

Meanwhile, Brian Evans, senior vice president and chief financial officer of the private prison giant GEO Group, reported in a late April conference call with shareholders, “Our revenues for the first quarter 2016 increased to approximately $510 million from $427 million a year ago.” This was attributed, in part, to the “activation of the 626-bed expansion of the Karnes residential center in December 2015.”

The Karnes camp, also located in Texas, has been the site of repeated hunger strikes over inhumane conditions, including nearly free labor, lack of legal representation and contaminated drinking water. In 2014, some women detained at the prison alleged that guards sexually assaulted them.

“The conditions in which our children find themselves, are not good. Our children are not eating well and every day they are losing weight,” dozens of women at the camp declared last year in a joint statement. “In the name of the mothers, residents of the Center for Detentions in Karnes City, we are writing this petition whereby we ask to be set free with our children. There are mothers here who have been locked in this place for as long as 10 months.”...

==

Even if it might be the case that incarceration rates don’t necessarily correlate with corruption, they do necessarily reflect the extent to which a given nation’s government is (by means of its laws and its enforcement of those laws) at war against its own population; and, so, technically speaking, incarceration rates (the percentage of the population who are in prison) are supposed to reflect the prevalence of law-breaking within a given nation.

After all, by definition, people are presumed to be in prison for law-breaking, irrespective of whether the given nation’s laws are just — and if they’re not just, then this fact reflects even more strongly that the nation itself is corrupt. So, a high incarceration rate does strongly tend to go along with a nation’s being highly corrupt, in more than merely a technical sense — it’s almost more like being the definitive measure of “corruption.” So, the correlation between incarceration rates and corruption must be assumed to be high, and any measure of corruption which fails to at least include countries’ incarceration rates should be rejected. 

Out of the world’s 223 countries, the U.S. has the world’s second-highest incarceration rate: 698 per 100,000, just behind #1 Seychelles, with 799 per 100,000.Seychelles doesn’t even have as many as 100,000 people (but only 90,024 — as many people as are in the city of Temple, Texas). By contrast, the U.S. has 322,369,319; so, the U.S. is surely the global leader in imprisonment. And, furthermore, #3, St. Kitts and Nevis, with an incarceration rate of 607 per 100,000, has only 54,961 people (as many people as are in the city of Columbus, Indiana). The only other country that might actually be close to the U.S. in imprisoning its own people is North Korea, which could even beat out the U.S. there, but wouldn’t likely beat tiny Seychelles: North Korea is estimated to have “600-800 people incarcerated per 100,000,” and a total population of “24,895,000.”

Thus, for imprisonments, the U.S. really does have no close second: it’s the unquestionable global market-leader, for prisons and prisoners.

And this brings us to the market-leader for prisons within America itself, and to the stunning corruption that stands behind it. So, here’s that extraordinary example, and the story behind its corruption, which will provide a closeup view of America’s general corruption, from the top (including the government itself) on down: 

In order to protect the profits of privately run prisons in the U.S. (where “Sixty-two percent of detention beds are administered by private prison corporations,” meaning that most U.S. prisoners are being ‘served’ by for-profit corporations in for-profit-run prisons), the U.S. federal government is refusing to honor Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) requests by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), which is trying to find out why people are being imprisoned as illegal immigrants who ought not to be. Wrongly imprisoned people are a device by which private prison-operating companies keep their prison beds occupied and thus drawing income from the U.S. government, just like a high occupancy-rate is essential for a hotelier’s profitability.

But unlike in the hotel trade, this coercive bed-occupancy produces more than mere profits; it produces also distressed families, of those individuals who are yanked and unjustifiably imprisoned, families suffering needlessly. 

It turns out that U.S. federal laws, passed mainly by the Republicans, but also with votes from corrupt Democrats, require (in H.R.3547) the U.S. government to pay for “a level of not less than 34,000 detention beds” for ‘illegal immigrants.’ (You can see that requirement being cited by the Republican interrogator of an Obama Administration official, Department of Homeland Security, at 1:03:00- in this video, where the Obama official is being criticized for not locking up enough people to meet the law’s requirements.) (Republicans and other conservatives love to punish people, irrespective of justice; so, they want at least those 34,000 prisoners. To be concerned about justice, as the CCR is, is to be ‘soft on crime,’ as Republicans view it.

Instead of justice, Republicans seek revenge; thus, for example, Republicans overwhelmingly support torture against ‘terrorist’ suspects; Democrats overwhelmingly oppose it. Torture greatly reduces the trustworthiness of a suspect’s statements, but it always serves as a vent for revenge, even when the suspect actually had nothing to do with terrorism; so, Republicans strongly approve of torture. Similarly, the most-conservative Muslims approve of beheading ‘infidels.’ Conservatives everywhere, and in every faith, support harsh punishments; and the U.S. is a conservative country; so, sentences are long, and the conditions are harsh.)

However, the Obama Administration itself, even as it locks up, on some days, just shy of the legally mandated minimum of 34,000 accused ‘illegal immigrants’ (which shortfall is here drawing the ire of that congressional Republican in the video), is also actively blocking CCR from access to the information about how the government and private corporations set rates for immigration detention beds and facilities. CCR argues that private profits are being given higher priority by the Administration than is the welfare of the public; and, thus, that the General Welfare Clause of the U.S. Constitution is being violated here. 

The Obama administration says that it won’t release the information, because to do so would “harm corporations competitively.” 

CCR claims, and the Obama administration is opposing their claim, that "there is essentially no competitive market in government contracts that could be harmed by the release of information, that there should be nothing proprietary about the terms of a government contract, and that the public has a right to understand how Congress funds immigration detention and how that funding is influenced.”

The Obama administration is arguing that if this same cost-information were being requested concerning any of the 38% of government-run prisons, then the FOIA request would be complied with, but that contracting-out or privatizing that function has freed the government from any such obligation.

However, CCR is concerned specifically about that profit-motive here— that the revolving door between government service and the private sector might itself be a key part of the explanation for the government’s requiring that at least 34,000 people will be in prison for, or awaiting trial on charges of, ‘illegal immigration.’ CCR contends that the only reason why people should be imprisoned in America is that they’ve actually broken laws for which the correct punishment is a prison term. But the position of the U.S. government is contrary: if the beneficiary of someone’s imprisonment is a private corporation, the public shouldn’t necessarily be allowed to know what’s going on, nor why. And, so, that’s the issue here. Does a private corporation’s privacy-right exceed the public’s right-to-know? The government says yes; CCR says no. CCR argues that to privatize is not to immunize: the government has the same obligations to the public, regardless of how it has chosen to carry out its obligations — either directly, or else by contracting them out (such as here). The Obama Administration argues that a private corporation is private, protected from the public’s scrutiny — and that the corporation’s only obligations are to the government, not  to the public; thus, no such FOIA requests will be honored. 

Here’s what’s not  in dispute about the case: the man who, in the first Obama Administration, was the head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations, David Venturella, is now the top sales official at GEO Group, which is "the world's leading provider of correctional detention, and residential treatment services around the globe” — and that’s also the first thing GEO says about itself, on its own “Who We Are” page. And Mr. Venturella is now being cited by the Obama Administration as an ‘expert,’ in order to deny CCA’s FOIA request.

As a GEO official, Venturella claims in his 22 December 2015 declaration in the court case, that, “the winning proposal in almost every Federal procurement competition is awarded to the lowest priced bidder,” and that, “The disclosure of GEO’s proprietary bed-day rates and staffing plans would result in substantial competitive financial harm to GEO.” He claims that, “Even with access to their larger competitors’ staffing plans, the smaller private companies do not have access to the capital needed to compete to win a large facility.” In other words: he pretends that GEO is one of “the smaller private companies.” But then he goes on to say (just in case a reader might happen to consider GEO not to be one of “the smaller private companies"): "The second stage would be acrimonious competition between the larger organizations, public and private, that will very likely lead to their withdrawal from the detention market as well, thereby leaving ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] with no viable detention service providers.” Venturella assumes here that ICE cannot itself own and operate its prisons. (He doesn’t say why; he merely assumes that it’s the case — perhaps that everything should be privatized, and must be privatized, so ICE shouldn’t run its own prisons.) And, he also is vaguely threatening there to abandon this market. He’s actually suggesting that, if the government were to require this information about cost and profitability to be released to CCA, then GEO might no longer even bid on this business — regardless of how profitable it is to them. And, he says, this would leave ICE “with no viable detention service providers.” 

So: that (ridiculously and multiply false) argument is the reason why injustices to defendants in the U.S. immigration system must continue, Venturella, the salesman for GEO (his title is “Senior Vice President”), is here arguing. And, the U.S. government doesn’t challenge it, but instead unquestioningly accepts it. 

Essentially, the Obama Administration is joining with GEO arguing that the profitability of private prison companies is more important than any injustices that might happen to be caused by Congress’s establishment of an arbitrary fixed and stable minimum number of prisoners every day — and, since the head of the top prison-company is saying that profits would be threatened by adhering to FOIA in this particular matter, the Freedom Of Information Act request in this case must be denied.

The basic  argument, in other words, is that privatization is more important than the U.S. Constitution and its General Welfare Clause.

How close are these contractors to  the government?

Here are five of the seven members of the Board of Directors of GEO:

One is “Former Director, Federal Bureau of Prisons.”

Another is “Former Under Secretary United States Air Force.”

Another is “Executive Director, National League of Cities.”

Another is “Chairman and CEO of ElectedFace Inc.,” which “will connect people to their elected officials in every political district.”

Another is George C. Zoley, the company’s founder and CEO, who is also “America’s Highest Paid ‘Corrections Officer.’” In fact: "GEO Group's revenue in 2012 exceeded $1.4 billion and CMD [Center for Media and Democracy] estimates that 86% of this money came out of the pockets of taxpayers.CMD's investigation of GEO Group unearthed how the company's cost-cutting strategies lead to a vicious cycle where lower wages and benefits for workers, high employee turnover, insufficient training, and under-staffing results in poor oversight and mistreatment of detained persons, increased violence, and riots.” (If so, then that would add to the misery that’s produced by the improper imprisonments.)

“According to Nasdaq, major investors in GEO Group include: Vanguard, BlackRock, Scopia Capital (a hedge fund run by Jeremy Mindich and Matt Sirovich) Barclays Global Investors, Bank of New York Mellon, and more.[132] George Zoley, CEO of GEO, is a major stockholder with over 500,000 shares.[133] For more on investors, see Ray Downs, ‘Who's Getting Rich Off the Prison-Industrial Complex?' Vice, June 2013.”

Privatization is very profitable. But not for everybody. Only for the well-connected. For everybody else, it’s just more poor and abused workers, and unjustly imprisoned people. But virtually all Republicans, and also the Obama Administration and other corrupt Democrats (and Obama will get his enrichment after he leaves office), think that privatization is necessary — even more necessary than is adherence to the U.S. Constitution, or than a justly ruled nation, and a prosperous public.

This type of government fits with America’s extraordinarily high incarceration rate. Looking under the hood of one dysfunctional car, one finds a dysfunctional motor.

But a few U.S. officials do whatever they can to reduce the country’s corruption. For example, the “Immigration Detention Bed Quota Timeline” shows that, in September 2015, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders(who probably is the U.S. federal government’s leading campaigner against corruption) “introduces the Justice is Not for Sale Act of 2015, which seeks to end the bed quota among other criminal justice and immigration detention reforms. The bill is the first effort in the U.S. Senate to eliminate the bed quota. In addition, Reps. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), Keith Ellison (D-MN), and Bobby Rush (D-IL) introduce the bill in the U.S. House of Representatives.” 

Those are the most progressive members of the U.S. Congress. Arrayed against them are the billions of dollars in political propaganda that cause the number of such progressives to be extremely few in the U.S. government. For that bill to pass in Congress, practically all conservatives would first have to become replaced by progressives, and by other supposed non-conservatives (called ‘liberals’), in Congress. Sanders says that it would require “a political revolution,” and he’s correct on that. But that’s the least likely type of “revolution” the U.S. might have. Perhaps Sanders knows this but doesn’t want to shock people, who are too indoctrinated to be able to accept the uncomfortably ugly truth, that things are probably already be too far gone for that type of “revolution” to be sufficient (even if feasible).

Everyone in Congress knows that this is the reality. On December 28, Huffington Post bannered, “Why Jon Stewart Fought So Hard For 9/11 Responders: The former ‘Daily Show’ host went to Capitol Hill twice to help the people who had risked their lives get access to health care. It left him disgusted.” He was shocked at how psychopathic almost all of the members of Congress are. Apparently, the closer you get to it, the worse it smells.

==

 center, which would be built next to the city's airport, is being touted as a job-creator and a source of revenue.

Gary mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson estimated that the facility would generate $1 million in annual property taxes. “I can use that,” she noted.

Councilwoman Linda Barnes-Caldwell agreed, saying, “I think it is a wonderful idea. It will bring revenue to the city and jobs. And I think it is an ideal location.”

GEO Group has long come under fire for practices within its facilities as well as its profiteering off of the criminal justice system. From 2008 to 2012, CEO George C. Zoley had a compensation of $22,315,704. Because the company largely contracts with the government, almost all of this money came from American taxpayers.

The Private Corrections Working Group notes that GEO has faced hundred of lawsuits over conditions within its facilities, with scores being settled before reaching trial. As Brendan Fischer notes, research has shown that “assaults on guards by inmates were 49 percent more frequent in private prisons than in government-run prisons. The same study revealed that assaults on fellow inmates were 65 percent more frequent in for-profit/private prisons.”

GEO has steadily expanded its operations due to its close political connections. It has close ties to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who has in the past employed several staffers tied to GEO, including a chief of staff who co-founded the same lobbying firm employed by GEO.

Some local residents are concerned. Tom Dubois of Concerned Citizens of Hobart, who opposes such detention facilities, said, “It's a moral issue as well as an economic one.”

Gary's unemployment rate has been persistently high, and it has been described by some of its residents as a “ghost town.” In 2011, Gary had to close its main library due to budget cutbacks. Building an economy and tax base based on detaining migrants is probably not the ideal strategy, but in an America where so much of the Midwest has been deindustrialized and left in decay, it's the sort of perverse idea that makes sense to local leaders.

 ===

applied to be day care provider?

==

immigr moms in solitary for hunger strike, w/ kids; paid 3$/day, ice cream is 350, color bedspread syndrome kpfa 4/17

For the second time this spring, mothers held in a southern Texas privately-run immigrant detention center with their children have staged a hunger strike and work stoppage to protest their inhumane conditions of confinement and demand immediate release for themselves and their families.

Ten mothers detained at Karnes Detention Camp began the peaceful protest on Tuesday, vowing to eat only one meal per day until their demands are met, Mohammad Abdollahi, advocacy director for the San Antonio-based Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (Raices), told Common Dreams Wednesday morning.

The women's demands echo those issued by dozens of mothers who staged a similar peaceful protest at the facility in late March and early April to coincide with the Easter holiday.

The hunger strike launched on Tuesday aims high in the chain of command, calling forImmigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Sarah Saldaña to reverse course from the Obama administration's controversial policy of detaining families seeking asylum, and instead, grant the strikers parole and release.

The women say the situation is urgent.

They report harrowing conditions at the prison, which has a capacity of 532 but is slated to expand to more than double its current beds. People held there are compensated just $3 a day for working to run the facility, denied their rights to meet with legal aid workers, forced to drink water contaminated by fracking waste, and their children are suffering ill health and psychological effects related to their incarceration, according to a letter sent toColorlines.

Women have alleged sexual abuse and assault from prison guards and staff, prompting community protests outside the facility.

Abdollahi, who is involved in direct support, compared the facility to an internment camp: "The conditions are absolutely horrendous. Parents are not allowed to be parents, to decide what their kids eat, how many times their diapers have changed. They have to ask permission for milk to nurse their children with."

These conditions are "very harmful and detrimental," Abdollahi added, because a majority of people in the prison are fleeing violence.

Delmi Cruz is a 37-year-old mother and asylum-seeker from Honduras who has been detained at the facility with her 11-year-old son for over six months. "It’s very hard here, the food isn’t adequate, it’s awful, horrible...the children who eat it become sick," Cruz toldthe Guardian, according to an article published Tuesday. "My son has horrible stomach pain and is still very sick."

Cruz is participating in the hunger strike despite what she described as retaliation from guards for her part in the earlier protest, when she was placed in the medical unit's solitary confinement along with her son.

Abdollahi said there are signs this punishment is beginning again: "Cruz called us frightened on Tuesday, saying that women are being called to medical and there has been retaliation."

Bob Libal, executive director of the advocacy organization Grassroots Leadership, toldCommon Dreams that the women on hunger strike are victims of the Obama administration's harsh policies towards people who seek asylum in the United States.

"Between 2009 and 2014, the policy was not to detain asylum-seeking families," said Libal. "This was after a very controversial policy during the Bush administration of locking up families. Many groups were involved in organizing and legislative efforts to end the practice of detaining families, and in 2009, the Obama administration said it was ending this practice."

"However," Libal added, "last summer after the increase in the number of refugee kids made the news, the administration reversed course."

Amid this political climate, theKarnes facility was opened by ICE last summer under orders from the Department of Homeland Security to detain asylum-seekers at the border, rather than grant them bond.

GEO Group, the private company that runs the prison, has faced numerous accusations of abuse, medical neglect, violence, and civil rights violations, including hundreds of lawsuits, at its prisons and mental health facilities around the world. A report released on Wednesday by Grassroots Leadership reveals that GEO Group, along with other private prison corporations, has aggressively lobbied for harsher immigration policies.

Outside the Karnes prison, people across the country are mobilizing to defend the people impacted by these policies.

Supporters of the hunger strike are making phone calls to ICE, signing petitions, and even planning solidarity vigils and fasts, said Abdollahi, adding, "These women are desperate to get out."

==

==

open secrets

• Police Unions. Public Safety First itself, however, is largely funded by a different industry that’s unhappy about the legalization of marijuana: law enforcement. The revenue from waging the war on drugs has become a significant source of financial support for local law enforcement. Federal and state funding of the drug war — as well as the property police forces seize as a part of drug raids — have become significant financial supplements to local forces’ budgets. While these unions exert more influence at the local level (what state or local candidate doesn’t want the endorsement of the Fraternal Order of Police?), they have a presence in Washington as well. Every year since 2008 the National Fraternal Order of Police has spent at least $220,000 on lobbying efforts; the National Association of Police Organizations, $160,000; the International Union of Police Associations, $80,000; and the International Association of Chiefs of Police, $80,000.
• Private Prison Corporations. Private prisons are in the business of filling their jails’ beds, and they make millions by incarcerating nonviolent drug users, such as those convicted for marijuana use and possession, along with violent felons and white-collar criminals. The private prison company GEO is particularly successful at this. In its 2012 annual report, GEO noted that it had filled 65,949 out of 73,000 beds in its 96 facilities; on average the company had a facility occupancy rate of 95.7% for 2012. One of the largest for-profit prison companies, Corrections Corporation of America, even stated in a regulatory filing that keeping the drug war alive is essential to its success as a business: “[A]ny changes with respect to drugs and controlled substances or illegal immigration could affect the number of persons arrested, convicted, and sentenced, thereby potentially reducing demand for correctional facilities to house them.” Since 2008, the Corrections Corporation of America has spent at least $970,000 a year on lobbying. GEO has been less consistent in its lobbying efforts and has spent anywhere between $240,000 to $660,000 a year on lobbying since 2008.
• Prison Guard Unions. Similar to for-profit prison companies, prison guard unions also have a vested interest in keeping nonviolent drug offenders behind bars. TheCalifornia Correctional Peace Officers Association for example gave $1 million to the successful 2008 campaign against Proposition 5, which would have “reduce[d] the parole terms of nonviolent [drug] offenders” while emphasizing drug treatment and rehabilitation programs. At the national level, many prison guards are represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), one of the most politically active labor unions. In the 2012 campaign cycle AFSCME gave more than $13 million to candidates, parties and committees at the federal level. In 2013, AFSCME spent almost $2.7 million on lobbying efforts.

Last November, CCA’s top management in Tennessee contributed the largest block of out-of-state campaign contributions received by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer.[1] CCA, which already has several detention facilities in Arizona and hopes of expanding its immigrant prison business in that state, is expected to gain a huge increase in revenues with the implementation of SB 1070. Currently, Latinos driving out of the city of Tucson in any direction are being stopped at checkpoints, where they are asked to show their papers.

GEO and CCA are now heavily involved in the governor and state legislative races in states where they plan to expand their respective shares of the prison and incarceration market. GEO, for example, backed first-term Republican Governor, Bob McDonnell, in Virginia last year, and has contributed heavily to the Republican Governor’s Association and to the Florida Republican Party. In addition to Jan Brewer in Arizona, CCA is contributing to the campaigns ofboth, Republican Meg Whitman, and Democrat Jerry Brown, for governor in California. CCA is also giving money to Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, even though Jindal isn’t currently facing an election, and to the Republican Governors Association, which has contributed over $1.5 million to state races this year.[2]

==

750 on Hunger Strike at Washington State Immigration Prison

Around 750 prisoners at a Washington state immigration jail have launched a hunger strike. The strikers at the Northwest Detention Center are protesting the Obama administration’s record deportations as well as poor conditions that include wages of just one dollar a day for prison labor. Some areas of the prison have been locked down, and around 30 people are reportedly being held in isolation or crowded cells. Speaking on Friday, two prisoners appealed for public support.

Prisoner 1: "So that they give us better food, so that they give us lower prices on what they sell here in the commissary, and so that they stop the deportations."

Prisoner 2: "I’m hoping we can get some support from all the people who are listening, because, don’t believe what you hear, life in here is not very easy. They have us here working for one dollar a day. We work for four hours, five hours sometimes, and for just one dollar."

The prison is run by The GEO Group, a contractor for Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. According to The Nation magazine, GEO recently violated a pledge to refrain from lobbying Congress on immigration reform, presumably in favor of for-profit jails.

The Center for Media and Democracy’s (CMD) series of profiles on “America’s Highest Paid Government Workers” today puts the spotlight on George Zoley, Chief Executive Officer of GEO Group, one of America’s largest for-profit prison firms providing services to states and the federal government.

GEO Group’s revenue in 2012 exceeded $1.4 billion and CMD estimates that 86% of this money came out of the pockets of taxpayers. CMD’s investigation of GEO Group unearthed how the company’s cost-cutting strategies lead to a vicious cycle where lower wages and benefits for workers, high employee turnover, insufficient training, and under-staffing results in poor oversight and mistreatment of detained persons, increased violence, and riots.

But according to SEC filings, top officials at the firm are doing just fine. From 2008-2012 George C. Zoley raked in $22 million in compensation. Thank you taxpayers!

Read the rest of this item here.

==

ties to buy cred  with naming rights fla

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/27/florida-atlantic-university-geo-group-fau_n_2774100.html

http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/08/11591/marco-rubio-geo-group-and-legacy-corruption

Marco Rubio, Geo Group, and a Legacy of Corruption

by Beau Hodai [1] — August 29, 2012 - 7:00am

• Topics: Corporations [2], Politics [3], U.S. Government [4]

This article was published by DBA Press [6] in January 2011 and has been updated.

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio’s unsettling history of extremely close ties to private prison operator Geo Group and the possible federal investigation into Florida’s private prison giveaway of more than $120 million.

Jump to source materials directory for this story [7].

Newly minted U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) was sworn in on January 5, 2011 with unfinished business back home.

Rubio, as former speaker of the Florida House of Representatives (R-Miami, 2006-2008) -- as well as other state GOP lawmakers and party contributors -- have been the subjects of multiple wide-ranging state and federal investigations conducted by the FBI and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) into improper use of credit cards issued by the Republican Party of Florida, as well as tax evasion and improper budgetary appropriations. (Note: The state's prosecution of improper use of Florida Republican Party credit cards eventually focused on former party chairman Jim Greer. While evidence suggested that improper use of these cards may have been made by Rubio, former state representative Ray Sansom and former Rubio/Sansom staffer Melanie Phister, none of these parties were indicted.)

One such set of appropriations/legislative actions reportedly investigated by federal authorities are those which led to the development of the state’s largest private prison, the Blackwater River Correctional Facility (CF), which opened its gates for operation in November, 2010. The prison was designed and is operated by Florida-basedGeo Group [8], the nation’s second largest private prison operator.

Investigations into members of the Florida Republican Party, as well into party donors [9], have resulted in multiple indictments. And, on November 2, 2010 -- election day -- federal investigators subpoenaed the party’s financial records.

Perhaps the most notable individual charged to date is former Rep. Ray Sansom [10] (R-Destin), who, while serving as Rubio’s budget chief, inserted language into the state’s 2008-2009 budget for what was to become Blackwater CF.

While Sansom has not yet been indicted or officially charged with any wrongdoing in relation to the development of Blackwater CF, in February, 2010, Sansom, while serving as successor to Speaker Rubio, resigned amid criminal and ethics investigations -- chief of which is the allegation that he falsified the 2007-2008 budget by inserting a $6 million appropriation into the state spending bill for the construction of an aircraft hangar for Destin businessman and prominent Florida Republican Party contributor, Jay Odom. (Note: Sansom was indicted on charges of lying to a grand jury, official misconduct, grand theft and conspiracy in relation to the Odom case, but the state of Florida dropped all charges in May 2011. See "subsequent events" section below for more details.)

Cash that Rings the Till

On March 30, 2010, Elva McCaig, a nurse employed at the Florida Department of Corrections’ (FDOC) Santa Rosa Correctional Institute, and treasurer of Nurses Behind the Gate, a prison nurse advocacy group, wrote a letter [10] addressed to both United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida Thomas Kirwin and State Attorney for Florida’s Second Judicial District Willie Meggs.

In essence, the letter laid out McCaig’s concerns that the development of Blackwater CF was yet another legislatively-mandated handout to yet another prominent Florida Republican Party contributor, Geo Group. Geo consistently reports annual revenue in excess of one billion dollars -- all of which it earns through state, county and federal contracts for the detention of both criminal offenders and immigrant detainees.

And indeed, Geo is a top Florida Republican Party contributor [11]; through two political action committees (PACs), Florida Geo Group, Inc. PAC and Geo Group, Inc. PAC, the corporation gave $85,000 to the Republican Party of Florida from 2006 through 2009, along with tens of thousands of dollars in additional contributions to other state Republican Party PACs and campaigns of individual Republican candidates.

It is also worth noting that from 2005 through 2010, Geo, through its PACs, dispensed an additional $15,000 to the National Republican Congressional Committee, an additional $32,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and an additional $10,000 over 2009 and 2010 directly to the Marco Rubio for U.S. Senate PAC.

Geo’s PAC spending, however, is not the limit of their appreciation shown to Rubio.

On September 13, 2010 [11], several top Geo corporate executives, along with Geo lobbyists and subcontractors, gave a total of $33,500 in individual contributions to the Florida Victory Committee, a PAC created for the benefit of three other PACS: Marco Rubio for U.S. Senate, the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the Republican Party of Florida.

All-in-all, the Florida Victory Committee received $113,500 -- all on September 13, 2010 -- during its most active period (August 20 through September 30, 2010). Of this amount, $51,735.90 was disbursed to the National Republican Senatorial Committee (which, in turn, contributed an amazing $2,509,644 to Rubio’s campaign throughout the 2010 election cycle), $13,305 was disbursed to the Republican Party of Florida, and $31,458.15 was disbursed to the Rubio PAC.

In addition, Geo Chief Executive Officer and founder George Zoley gave Rubio a further $4,800 in personal contributions [11] over the course of 2009 and 2010 -- half of which Zoley gave to the Rubio campaign on September 13, 2010 -- putting his own personal disbursements to the Rubio campaign for that single day at $7,400.

It is worth noting that Geo was the most generous single-interest/corporate donor to contribute to the Florida Victory Committee during this period. It is also worth noting that, of the $33,500 contributed by Geo and its affiliates to this particular PAC, $10,000 came directly from Guy and Neel White, owners and chief executive officers of White Construction Company [12], the Geo subcontractor awarded the $114 million contract for the construction of Blackwater CF.

The McCaig letter went on to lay out points of the legislative history and perceived "backroom transactions" behind the development of Blackwater CF, as well as the odd "relationships and conflicts" in the proximity of both Rubio’s economic consultant, Donna Arduin, and former Senate President Jeff Atwater’s Chief of Staff Robert "Budd" Kneip to lawmakers working to push the development of Blackwater CF.

Both Arduin and Kneip have deep ties to the Geo Group and its parent, Wackenhut Corporation.

Without going into too much detail on the claims and concerns outlined in the McCaig letter (for all the factual background provided in the letter, it contained a number of factual errors -- including erroneous claims that Xe Services, LLC/Blackwater USA were involved in the deal), the point was essentially that budgetary provisos which called for $110 million to be appropriated as a giveaway to the Geo Group were inserted into the state budget under very questionable circumstances.

Federal Investigators on the Trail

In any event, it seems the letter contained enough salient, solid information that it sparked the interest of federal investigators.

According to multiple sources in the area, federal investigators began making house calls in and around Santa Rosa County (home of Blackwater CF), and around the capital buildings of Tallahassee, during the summer of 2010, asking questions about the origins of Blackwater.

FBI spokesman Special Agent Jeff Westcott declined to either confirm or deny the reports of the bureau’s interest in Blackwater.

The Origins of Blackwater in the Florida House of Representatives

In November 2006, Donna Arduin, president of Arduin, **Laffer** and Moore Econometrics [13] (ALME, incorporated in Florida, February, 2005), as well as of Arduin Associates, Inc [13]. (incorporated in Florida, January, 2005), was hired as an economic consultant by former Florida House Speaker Allen Bense (R-Panama City) for work on the 2007-2008 House General Appropriations Bill under incoming Speaker Marco Rubio. (Bense signed this contract [14] in his last days as speaker, while Rubio was speaker-designate). The contract commenced December 1, 2006, and expired in May, 2007, with the finalization of the appropriations bill. Under this contract Arduin’s rate of pay was $10,000 per month.

Arduin was again contracted in September 2007 [14], as an economic consultant for work on the 2008-2009 House General Appropriations Bill [15] under Speaker Rubio. The contract again ran through May of the following year, terminating with the finalization of the appropriations bill. Her rate of pay was again $10,000 per month.

At the time of Arduin’s initial contract under Rubio, as well as during her work over the course of 2006 on the Florida Property Tax Reform Committee [16], she was also a compensated trustee of Correctional Properties Trust [17] (AKA CentaCore Properties Trust, CPT), a real estate investment trust (REIT) established by Wackenhut [18] Corrections in 1998.

Wackenhut Corrections, a subsidiary of Wackenhut Corporation, spun off as a separate entity (Geo Group) following the purchase of Wackenhut by United Kingdom-based Group 4 Falck (currently called "G4S") in 2003.

It is worth noting that Arduin’s ALME partners, Arthur Laffer and Stephen Moore, were both economic advisors to President Ronald Reagan, Moore serving on Reagan’s Commission on Privatization, which established policy resulting in the rebirth of the American private prison industry in the 1980s. Additionally, both Laffer and Moore are members of the American Legislative Exchange [19]’s (ALEC) "board of scholars." Both Geo Group and Corrections Corporation of America [20] (CCA, the nation's largest operator of for-profit prisons and immigrant detention centers) are corporations with a history of envolvement in ALEC.

On February 19, 2008 [15], Geo Group Vice Chairman, President and Chief Operating Officer Wayne Calabrese, along with Geo Senior Vice President of North American Operations John Hurley, Geo Vice President of Business Development Cloid Shuler, and Geo lobbyist Damon Smith, delivered a presentation before the Florida Senate Committee on Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations.

The presentation was straightforward, with two primary objectives: 1) Geo would take on more prisoners and would discount per diem rates of incarceration of state prisoners in exchange for longer contracts with the state, and 2) Geo sought appropriations for two expansions to one of their existing private facilities, Graceville CF, in the form of one 384-bed expansion, coupled with the development of a 1,500-bed "special needs annex" (for the "chronically mentally ill") to the facility.

To illustrate the scope of this proposal, the Geo executives were essentially seeking to sell the Florida Legislature on an expansion of the existing Graceville CF (which contained 1,884 "beds" at that time) by up to 1,884 additional beds. In exchange for this concession -- as well as increased contract lengths at other existing facilities -- Geo would offer the state a "discounted rate."

Ray's Trip to Boca

Then-House Policy and Budget Chief Ray Sansom did not seem like a man happy in his work. Reports [15] filed with the Florida House of Representatives for travel and other expense reimbursement by Sansom during this period are marked at the outset of each legislative session with the foreboding words, "session subsistence begins," scrawled in Sansom's hand over travel reports detailing his commutes from Destin to Tallahassee. A Florida state representative doesn’t make much -- less than $30,000 per year. As such, Sansom filed meticulous reports seeking reimbursement for travel, copier toner and other office expenses.

One such report shows Sansom embarking, on March 27, 2008, for a rare trip out of his district in the Florida Panhandle (or outside of the capital) to Boca Raton, nearly 400 miles away at the southern tip of Florida, for "personal business." Boca Raton is home to Geo Group's corporate headquarters.

It should be noted that this single trip to Boca Raton is the only one of its kind found on travel reimbursement forms filed by Sansom (for himself or his staff) from 2007 to his resignation in February, 2010.

While it is unclear what business Sansom had in Boca Raton (Neither Sansom, nor any representative of Geo Group responded to requests for comment), it is clear that the lawmaker returned to Tallahassee and inserted a proviso in the initial draft [15] of the 2008-2009 House General Appropriations Bill (filed with Policy and Budget Committee on April 4, 2008) which called for "$110,000,000 in non-recurring general revenue… for the planning, design, permitting, equipping and construction of a state-owned, privately operated 2,000 bed correctional institution… for the housing of 2,000 medium and close custody inmates as a stand-alone annex to the Graceville Correctional Facility in Graceville, Florida."

"Project Justice:" Sansom, Gaetz and TEAM Santa Rosa

On April 7, 2008, following the insertion of this proviso -- which was never run by any committee for approval -- Representative Curtis Richardson (D-Tallahassee) amended the budget to strike the proviso [15], as it was obviously a legislatively-mandated giveaway to Geo Group.

Sansom responded on April 8, 2008 with a revised proviso [15] stripped of all Graceville-specific language. In all other respects the new proviso was identical in that it called for $110 million for a new 2,000-bed private prison to be constructed somewhere in the state.

On June 11, 2008, the budget was approved [15] by then-Governor Charlie Crist.

On July 15, 2008, the Florida Department of Management Services (DMS) issued an "Invitation to Negotiate [12]" (ITN) for the development of the proposed private prison. Responses to the ITN were due by September 9, 2008.

Interestingly, although no binding agreement had been reached between Geo Group and DMS, on November 26, 2008, Geo Group purchased 126 acres of land [12] outside of Milton, Santa Rosa County, for $2.65 million -- 59 acres [12] of which Geo would go on to resell to the state of Florida through the Florida Correctional Finance Corporation (FCFC, an instrumentality of DMS) for $1.6 million on March 24, 2009, as the site of what would become Blackwater CF -- after being awarded the development contract [12] by DMS on March 18, 2009.

It is worth noting that, while DMS had issued a "notice of intent" to award the development contract to Geo on October 21, 2008, that Geo had apparently selected the prospective Blackwater acreage prior to the issuance of the July 15, 2008 ITN.

According to documents submitted to DMS as part of Geo’s ITN response [12], the corporation had already assessed the feasibility of using the selected land as early as July 7, 2008. The following month, the Santa Rosa Board of County Commissioners approved a resolution to provide $1.8 million in funding for additional infrastructure to feed the proposed facility.

Under the terms of the design/build agreement [12] entered into between DMS and Geo, the corporation was awarded $115,364,828 in state project financing, along with another $2,081,984 for payment to Georgia-based "program manager" Carter Goble Lee.

Following the contract award to Geo, construction began on the facility -- slated for completion in July, 2010.

Further exacerbating the appearance that the Blackwater deal had been sewn up long before the 2008-2009 General Appropriations Bill had been passed -- let alone the issuance of the DMS ITN -- according to documents released by TEAM Santa Rosa [12], the economic development arm of Santa Rosa County, Sansom and Senator Don Gaetz (R-Destin) had been discussing the idea of a new prison as a means of economic development (code name "Project Justice") with TEAM members as early as February of 2008. Santa Rosa County was partially represented by both Sansom and Gaetz.

Strangely, Arduin denies that she ever worked with Sansom or his Policy and Budget Committee staff during the formation of the 2008-2009 budget, insisting that she only worked with Rubio.

Work invoices [14] filed by Arduin pursuant to the terms of her September 2007 through May 2008 contract with the House tell a different story.

"ALME provided consulting services to the House as directed by the Speaker relating to property tax reform, economic development and budget issues," reads the invoice for April 2008. "Those services included participating in meetings, planning sessions and conferences with Legislators and staff of the Speaker’s Office and Policy and Budget Committee on economic development initiatives, spending reductions and policy development for the 2008 Florida Legislative session… ALME continues to provide ongoing economic and policy advice to the staff of the Speaker’s Office and Policy and Budget Committee on Florida’s budget and economy."

Or, as stated by the "scope of services" section of Arduin’s contract with the House: "services include advisory services to the House, as directed by the Speaker of the House, to the Policy and Budget Committee, as directed by the Chairman of the Committee (Sansom), or as directed by the Chief of Staff."

Nevertheless, public records requests submitted to the Florida House of Representatives for reports authored or submitted by Arduin, as well as for written communications between Arduin and her employers, Rubio and Sansom, turned up empty.

According to then-Florida House of Representatives Communications Director Jill Chamberlin (retired September, 2010), there simply are no records of work performed by Arduin (no reports, no audits, no presentations, no memos… nothing) during her time in the House under Rubio.

And Chamberlin, who served as spokeswoman for both Speaker Rubio and later for Speaker Sansom, says that it is not likely Arduin ever filed any reports of any kind-- as she was hired on as a consultant more for her connections in both the public and private sector. As such, said Chamberlin, most of Arduin’s consultations took the form of face time with those in her immediate circle.

Rubio did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Consummating Blackwater in the State Senate in 2010

In early 2010, Arduin was contracted for work as an economic consultant in the Florida Senate under the purview of the office of then-Senate President Jeff Atwater (R-North Palm Beach), tasked with "providing analytical review of state government agency operations, including overlapping agency jurisdictions and functions, the financial structure of agencies, sources and uses of agency revenue, and agency expenditure patterns that will aid in economic and budgetary decisions associated with the development of Florida’s budget."

This laundry list was broken down into three key functions (as itemized in the 2010 contract [14]): 1) work with and advise the chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee (Sen. J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales). 2) to coordinate with staff during development of the budget and during the conference committee on appropriations, and 3) to serve as otherwise directed by Chairman Alexander and Senate President Atwater.

As such, Arduin was contracted for employment in the Senate from February 4 through June 30, 2010, not through ALME, but through Laffer Associates [13] (a Tennessee corporation founded by partner Arthur Laffer in October, 2006). The rate of pay for the duration of this contract was $7,000 per month.

As a private consultant under contract with the office of Senate President Atwater, Arduin worked under Atwater’s Chief of Staff, Robert "Budd" Kneip [21].

Over the course of the past two decades, prior to becoming a public servant, Kneip served as "senior vice president of corporate planning and development" for Wackenhut Corporation, and as president and chief executive officer of several Wackenhut subsidiaries [21]: Oasis Outsourcing, Oasis Outsourcing II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, and IX, Oasis Outsourcing of Colorado, Oasis Outsourcing of Georgia, Oasis Outsourcing of Ohio, as well as of several other corporations operating under the banners of Oasis Outsourcing Benefits, Workforce Alternative and Wackenhut Resources, Incorporated (WRI).

While Kniep had been employed as chief of staff for the Office of the Florida Senate President from 2007 through 2010 (following Atwater’s election to the office of Florida’s Chief Financial Officer in November, 2010, Atwater appointed Kneip as his chief of staff in that office), incorporation papers for Oasis Outsourcing II on file with the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission show that Kneip had been acting as president of this Wackenhut subsidiary as recently as December 31, 2005.

To further illustrate the cycle of influence between Wackenhut/Geo and the Florida Senate, it is important to note that nearly all of the Wackenhut subsidiary corporations over which Kneip had control were offshoots of King Employee Services, Inc., as well as related companies, King Staffing and King Benefits, which were purchased in 1997 from former Florida Senate President (2002-2004) Jim King by Wackenhut for $16 million -- reportedly King’s cut of this deal was $5 million. King died in July 2009, still serving in the Senate.

In May 2010, during the last week of the Florida Legislature’s conference to finalize the state budget bill [22], Ways and Means Chair Alexander slipped a proviso into the spending bill's section on criminal justice and corrections appropriations.

The proviso called for a cut of over $24 million to FDOC in order to close an unspecified number of state facilities in order to fill and open Blackwater.

This $24 million cut to FDOC was essentially written in as compensation, or displacement of funds, for the additional $22 million written into the budget for the sole purpose of "the operation [of] 2,224 adult male beds at Blackwater River Correctional Facility to be operational by November 1, 2010."

The state budget bill also called for FDOC to identify some 1,350 male adult custody psychological and medical care "beds" for potential privatization. Additionally, the budget bill stated that FDOC was required to develop a plan to reduce the operating costs of 6,400 additional beds by five percent -- using private beds if necessary.

And, just as the 2010-2011 budget bill was generous in its cuts to the state’s public prison system, it was equally generous in handouts for private prison operators.

All-in-all the 2010-2011 budget bill contained over $1.2 million in state funds to be paid to local government taxing authorities in lieu of property taxes for the state’s six existing private correctional facilities.

As such, the criminal justice corrections section of the 2010-2011 budget bill was met by stiff criticism-- most audibly from FDOC and the Florida Police Benevolent Association (Florida PBA, the state’s prison guard union), and from Sen. Paula Dockery (R-Lakeland), chair of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee.

Dockery noted in her criticism of the Blackwater-related provisions that, as was the case with the 2008 Sansom proviso, the appropriations and mandates concerning FDOC and Blackwater had never been discussed or approved in any committee.

According to FDOC Communications Director Gretl Plessinger, the issue most difficult to reconcile with the 2010-2011 budget was the fact that the state’s prison system was actually running under capacity. Put simply, there was no need to push through the opening of Blackwater.

Whereas state inmate growth projections in 2008 had actually suggested that there may be a need for the facility by 2010, Plessinger said inmate growth had slowed to the point where construction/expansion projects underway on state-owned and operated facilities had ceased.

Regardless of the fact that there was no need on the part of the state to open Blackwater at the time, or the fact that by mandating the facility’s opening by November 1 through the closure of existing state facilities, lawmakers were in effect mandating the possible loss of thousands of state jobs, there was a very real need on the part of Geo Group to have Blackwater CF opened as soon as possible.

In April 2010, DMS announced that it had awarded contracts for the management of both Moore Haven CF (985-beds) [23] and Graceville CF (1,884 beds) [23] -- both of which had been operated by Geo up to that point -- to CCA, thereby reducing Geo’s holdings in their home state to 1,861 beds at South Bay CF by the end of the year -- unless Blackwater CF could be filled.

For her part, Arduin says that the idea of opening or building a private prison was never run by her in either the House or the Senate in 2008 or 2010.

When asked about the facility and the provisions of the 2010-2011 budget bill which called for its immediate opening, Arduin, who was paid $7,000 per month by the Senate as an economic consultant -- who, as stated by the terms of her contract, was to know the business of the state of Florida inside and out, down to the last dime -- responded, "Was that something that was in the 2010 budget?"

Ghosts of Private Prisons Past: Cash That Rings the Till, Part 2

Beginning in January of 1999 through November, 2003 [16], Arduin served as director of the Office of Policy and Budget under Florida Governor Jeb Bush.Prior to her appointment under Bush, Arduin had served in similar roles under Michigan Governor John Engler and New York Governor George Pataki.

From November 17, 2003 through October 15, 2004 [24], Arduin served as director of the California Department of Finance under Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. As director of finance, Arduin was Gov. Shwarzenegger’s chief fiscal advisor -- with purview over 70 state boards and governmental authorities.

It is worth noting that, while Arduin has earned a reputation for herself as being a tough opponent of government spending -- even referred to as an "ogre" by a California state lawmaker for her cuts to the state’s public health care system -- this tough posture on governmental spending does not seem to apply to Arduin’s rate of pay.

For example, just as Arduin was paid $10,000 per month by both the Florida House under Rubio, and $7,000 per month in the Florida Senate under Atwater, Arduin was paid $10,248 per month at the time she left the administration of Gov. Jeb Bush. What’s more, the state of Florida disbursed an additional $25,913 to Arduin for 438 hours of vacation pay on December 8, 2003 -- at which time she was employed as director of the California Department of Finance.

Other sets of monetary disbursements [11] surrounding the commencement of Arduin’s work under Gov. Schwarzenegger are equally interesting.

On October 10, 2003 [11], three days following Schwarzenegger’s election and a little more than a month prior to Arduin’s appointment to the Schwarzenegger administration, Wackenhut Corrections paid out $5,000 to Californians for Schwarzenegger 2003 PAC.

On November 17, 2003, Arduin assumed her role as director of finance.

On November 20, 2003 [11], Wackenhut Corrections paid out an additional $16,200 to Californians for Schwarzenegger2003 PAC. Also on November 20, 2003, Wackenhut Corrections paid out $36,800 to Schwarzenegger’s "Total Recall Committee, Vote Yes to Recall Gray Davis" committee, a PAC established by the Schwarzenegger campaign in 2003 and which remained active through 2005, which was intended to drive the 2003 ballot initiative to recall the election of former California Gray Davis.

During Arduin’s tenure as California’s director of finance, two private prisons which had been decommissioned in 2003 by Gov. Davis, McFarland Community Correctional Facility (CF) and Mesa Verde CF, were re-appropriated and reopened -- with no-bid contracts issued to the Geo Group and another private prison operator, Civigenics, for the operation of the facilities.

Arduin Joins Wackenhut/Geo REIT

On October 28, 2004, 13 days after her resignation from the Schwarzenegger administration, Arduin was elected to replace George Wackenhut (co-founder of Wackenhut Corp. and Wackenhut Corrections, who had died earlier that year) on the board of trustees of CentraCore Properties Trust [17] (AKA Correctional Properties Trust, CPT), the real estate investment trust (REIT) of Wackenhut/Geo.

CPT was founded in 1998 by Richard and George Wackenhut, along with several other Wackenhut Corrections directors and executives, including current Geo Group director and then-mayor of South Bay, Florida (which, incidentally, is the site of one of Geo’s prisons, South Bay CF), Clarence Anthony.

Additionally, Geo Group/Wackenhut Corrections president and CEO George Zoley was a founding CPT trustee, holding several tens of thousands of shares of common stock in the company.

Over the course of the REIT’s existence, Charles R. Jones served as CPT President and CEO. According to court documents [17], Jones—CPT founding trustee along with Zoley -- was Wackenhut’s "investment banker" at the time of CPT’s inception.

As an REIT, CPT was essentially the entity which held all of Wackenhut/Geo’s real estate holdings.

While CPT was technically a separate independent entity outside the purview of Wackenhut/Geo, it is important to note that at the time its creation [17], the REIT’s holdings consisted solely of Wackenhut properties. At the time of its eventual merger back into Geo [17] Group in 2007 (at which time it became Geo Acquisition II, a Delaware corporation governed by Zoley, Calabrese and Geo General Counsel John Bulfin), the REIT owned 13 properties, 11 of which it "leased" to Geo.

Due to this extremely close relationship to Wackenhut/Geo, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) auditors had questioned [17] on at least one occasion whether CPT was in fact an entity independent of Wackenhut/Geo.

In 2006, following the announcement that CPT was set to merge with Geo [17] (effective January, 2007), CPT shareholders filed class action suits [17] seeking injunctions against the merger in Maryland and Florida courts, alleging that the merger was an inside deal beneficial to CPT trustees and Geo executives and that there were irreconcilable conflicts of interests between the two. As such, the shareholders alleged that the merger was, in essence, Geo bringing its real estate holdings back in-house -- allegations which Arduin flatly denies.

Both cases were settled out of court in 2008 for an undisclosed sum.

At the time of Arduin’s appointment to the CPT board, as well as during her service under Schwarzenegger, McFarland CF was owned by CPT and leased to Geo.

In January 2006, CPT finalized its purchase of Mesa Verde CF [17], operated by Civigenics, another CPT customer, which also operated a CPT-owned minimum security prison in New Jersey.

Following Arduin’s appointment to CPT, the California State Auditor launched an investigation into the appearance of conflicts of interest in the McFarland/Mesa Verde deals.

According to the California State Auditor’s investigation report [24], issued on September 13, 2005, the Schwarzenegger administration had relied on misleading cost-benefit analysis which did not factor in other potential cost saving measures in awarding the no-bid contracts to Civigenics and Geo.

Additionally, the state found that there were indeed conflicts of interest on the part of Civigenics in that the corporation failed to disclose that two of their employees in the state were former high ranking California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) employees who were still receiving annuities from CDCR.

However, the report found no evidence of wrong doing on the part of Arduin, per the odd timing of her appointment to CPT-- because: "since the former Finance director is associated with the trust (CPT) and not with Geo, it does not appear that she has a conflict of interest in regards to the McFarland contract."

The report made no mention of the business relationship between CPT and Civigenics, or of the fact that CPT was an offshoot of Geo.

What’s more, the report stated that the California State Auditor could find no evidence that Arduin had influenced CDCR’s decision to reopen the facilities.

However, the report failed to note that, just prior to her appointment as director of Finance, Arduin had been commissioned by the Schwarzenegger administration to perform an audit of California's government and state finances.

Whether or not this audit recommended the reopening of the private facilities is unknown as there are no audit reports authored by Arduin on file with either the Department of Finance or with the Office of Governor Schwarzenegger.

While written communications in the form of emails and memos do exist between Arduin and Schwarzenegger, the administration refused [24] (in July, 2010) to release any of these documents for public inspection.

When asked specifically for any written communications between Arduin and the Governor from the month prior to Arduin’s sudden resignation and appointment to CPT, Deputy Legal Affairs Secretary to the Office of the Governor Dan Maguire responded that, while such documents do exist, any and all communications between Arduin and Schwarzenegger are exempt from public disclosure under California Government Code executive and deliberative process exemptions to the state’s open records laws.

When asked that the administration waive their legal right to withhold executive communications between Arduin and Schwarzenegger in the spirit of transparency and open government -- in that there is a definite public interest in documents demonstrating whether or not Arduin advocated for the Mesa Verde or McFarland re-appropriations, or whether Schwarzenegger had knowledge of Arduin’s imminent appointment to CPT-- the administration refused [24], stating: "…there are strong policy reasons to protect the confidentiality of communications to and from the Governor’s Office. Disclosure of such communications could chill the candid discussion of critical issues, and deprive the Governor of information he needs to discharge his duties… Therefore we are not producing these documents to you."

Wackenhut/Geo investments: Corestates, Wachovia, Wells Fargo 

It is unclear at what point Arduin became involved in the private prison business.

An Arduin statement of financial interests [16] filed with the Florida Commission on Ethics in 2000 may shed some light on this history. The document lists Arduin’s primary source of income as being First Clearing Corporation [25], simply described as a "brokerage."

Documents on file with the Florida Secretary of State, Division of Corporations, reflect that First Clearing Corporation (a North Carolina corporation doing business in Florida) merged into Corestates Securities Corp [25] (a Pennsylvania corporation) in 1998.

SEC documents [25] show that in 1996 Corestates Financial Corp (a corporate relative of Corestates Securities Corp) purchased 12,000,200 shares, or 54.7055 percent, of Wackenhut Corrections. Under this ownership class, Corestates was considered to be a "parent holding company" of Wackenhut Corrections.

Corestastes subsequently merged with Wachovia, which in 2008 merged with Wells Fargo. As of January 20, 2011, Wells Fargo and Company [25] owned 3,623,603 shares, or 5.62 percent of Geo Group.

Arduin says she has no knowledge of any personal financial interest in First Clearing Corporation or in Corestates and does not know why that entry was made on her 2000 statement of financial disclosure, outside the possibility of clerical error on the part of her assistant.

Strange Appearances and Strange Bedfellows

On the evening of Monday, August 22, 2005 [26], a party of high ranking Florida Department of Corrections personnel met up at a bar in Tallahassee. The bar was Clyde and Costello’s, an establishment known to cater to the Tallahassee lobbyist/mover-and-shaker crowd. The party that night consisted of FDOC Secretary James Crosby, Washington Correctional Institution (CI) Warden Rick Anglin, Gulf CI Warden Dale Hughes, and FDOC Region 1 Correctional Services Consultant Brad Tunnell.

According to documents obtained from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement [26] (FDLE), sometime toward the end of the evening, Crosby took Tunnell to the side and told him, "You know, you need to talk to your dad. You need to get him off my boys."

Brad Tunnell’s father is Guy Tunnell, who, at that time was FDLE Commissioner.

At the time of the August, 2005 meeting at Clyde and Costello’s, FDLE was investigating Crosby, FDOC Region 1 Director Allen Clark, and several other FDOC employees on a wide array of charges including assault, steroids distribution, misappropriation of state funds/resources, and a kickback scheme involving two private prison canteen service providers: Keefe Commissary Network and American Institutional Services (AIS).

According to FDLE records, Crosby continued in his threat, putting a fine point on his demands after Tunnell stated that he didn’t understand what Crosby was getting at: "AC (Allen Clark), they need to lay off AC. They need to leave him the fuck alone. You need to tell your dad."

Brad Tunnell claimed that he responded by stating that he could not tell his father how to do his job, to which Crosby allegedly responded by threatening to open an administrative investigation into a brawl Tunnell had reportedly been a party to at a FDOC event earlier that year.

Subsequent events -- namely the federal indictments and convictions of both Allen Clark and James Crosby [27] in 2006 and 2007 -- shed some light on why Crosby was so eager that the FDLE investigation into Clark end.

Both Clark and Crosby had been involved in a kickback scheme in which two Gainesville area businessmen, Edward Lee Dugger and Joseph Arthur Deese [27], proprietors of AIS, paid out approximately $130,000 to Clark and Crosby from October, 2003 through February, 2006, in exchange for Crosby and Clark’s facilitating and arranging a partnership between AIS and Keefe Commissary wherein AIS provided visitor canteen services at FDOC Region 1 facilities as a vendor under subcontract with the state through Keefe.

David Ericks and Donna Arduin

Crosby stated under oath [26] to FDLE investigators looking into his alleged threat to Tunnell on the evening of August 22, 2005, that he had gone to Clyde and Costello’s that evening to meet with Clyde and Costello’s owner, David Ericks, and Ericks’ longtime girlfriend, Donna Arduin.

Ericks, aside from being the owner of Clyde and Costello’s, is owner of Ericks Consultants [28], a lobbying firm which has represented Wackenhut/Geo Group for over a decade. Ericks was also the chief lobbyist for Keefe Commissary in Florida from March, 2005 through 2009. What’s more, Ericks represented Arduin, Laffer and Moore Econometrics (ALME) in 2005.

Additionally, Ericks paid the bar tab of $143.25 for the 31 drinks consumed by the FDOC men that evening. It is important to note that all of the FDOC employees present at Clyde’s that evening, with the exception of Secretary Crosby, were high ranking officials in FDOC Region 1—the region for which all of the AIS/Keefe bribes were intended to facilitate business.

Court documents filed with the mysteriously late indictments [27] (given the fact that both Crosby and Clark had already been convicted and sentenced for their roles in the kickback scheme) of Deese and Dugger in June, 2010, indicate that Keefe was also a recipient of the kickbacks reaped through the AIS/Crosby arrangement in that Deese and Dugger would also pay both monetary and non-monetary bribes to unnamed Keefe executives and representatives—most significantly the payment of a Keefe executive’s $5,000 credit card bill in October, 2005, about a month from the date of the Clyde and Costello’s meeting.

Furthermore, a federal civil case (seeking forfeiture of criminally-obtained revenue) based on the testimony of FBI Special Agent Jannet Pellicciotti [27], which is stayed pending the outcome of the Deese and Dugger cases, alleges that Keefe Commissary, along with AIS, Crosby and Clark, is guilty of mail fraud, in that the U.S. Postal Service was used to deliver the criminally-obtained proceeds of the canteen partnership to Keefe’s corporate offices in St. Louis, Missouri.

During the FDLE interview following the Clyde’s incident, Crosby stated that he, Ericks and Arduin, had spent a substantial amount of time that evening speaking privately outside Clyde and Costello’s on an undisclosed subject.

Oddly enough, while FDLE investigators had interviewed every person, from an off-duty cocktail waitress who had been drinking with the men, to Ericks, on the events of the night of August 22, 2005, they never interviewed Arduin.

It also appears that then-Governor Bush recognized the significance of Clyde and Costello’s as the setting for this particular meeting. According to FDLE transcripts, then-Commissioner Tunnell recalled Bush’s dismay during his briefing on the investigation following the threats made by Crosby (click here [26] to listen to full FDLE interview with Tunnel wherein Tunnell discusses Bush’s concern with Crosby’s activities at Clyde and Costello’s).

"The Governor was upset Crosby was back at Clyde’s again," recalled Tunnell to investigators, suggesting that Crosby had ongoing business at Ericks’ bar of which Bush was aware.

Tunnell declined repeated requests for an interview, stating only: "I’m not interested in opening that painful chapter of my family’s life again."

Bush could not be reached for comment.

For her part, Arduin, who was appointed by Bush to the Florida Property Tax Reform Committee the following year (2006, while still serving as a CPT trustee), denies the meeting ever took place, or that she ever had occasion to meet with Crosby outside of her role as an agency head of the Bush administration. Nor, says Arduin, did she ever have any business with Keefe.

"I never had a meeting with James Crosby. I mean, if he said he went over there to meet us, he might have been -- he and Dave might have had something to talk about, but I never had a meeting with him," said Arduin. "I never had any business with him after I left the state of Florida. We were—we both worked for the same administration for a while. I was consulting for Speaker Rubio, but I never did any work for Speaker Rubio that would have had me have a meeting with a corrections secretary… But obviously, he had reasons to be meeting with Dave."

Interestingly, perhaps indicative of some shared business growth strategy, just as Ericks represented the interests of Keefe, Geo Group, and ALME [28] (at a time when Arduin was a trustee of CPT) in Florida in 2005, this pattern of mutual lobby representation was replicated the following year in Texas with Keefe, CPT, Atlantic Shores Healthcare (the entity which would become Geo Group’s prison medical service arm, Geo Care), all represented by Texas lobbyist and former chief of staff to Texas State Rep. Ray Allen, Scott Gilmore [29].

Crosby, who is currently incarcerated at a federal prison camp in Pensacola, turned down a request for an interview.

Ericks did not return multiple phone calls and emails requesting comment.

It is also worth noting that every single federal campaign contribution -- except for one -- recorded by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) for Arduin over the past decade lists her place of residence as being either Ft. Lauderdale or Tallahassee. The exception is a single $1,000 contribution to then-Missouri Senator James Talent [28], credited to Arduin in 2005, the record of which lists her place of residence as being St. Louis, Missouri, home of Keefe Commissary and its parent company, Centric Group.

Arduin says that she has no recollection of any such contribution or any idea why her address would be listed as being in St. Louis.

And while Arduin claims that she never had any involvement with Keefe, FEC records [28] show that Talent was the top pick above and beyond all other candidates for Keefe and Centric Group during the 2006 election cycle—with at least $35,950 in campaign contributions from Keefe and Centric Group executives and employees going to Talent from October, 2005 to June, 2006.

Of this nearly $36,000 campaign cash influx, $20,000 was paid directly into Talent’s two political action committees ($10,000 to each) by Keefe and Centric Group President Douglas Albrecht. Albrecht retired his post at the helm of Keefe and Centric Group following the Crosby and Clark indictments. He could not be reached for comment.

Arduin was not alone in her sudden interest in Missouri lawmakers in 2005. Ericks -- who, according to data compiled by the National Institute on Money in State Politics, has restricted his campaign finance spending solely to Florida lawmakers from 1998 to present -- also broke with his pattern of political largesse in 2005 with a gift of $600 to the campaign of Missouri State Senator Brad Lager.

While Ericks and Arduin are no longer romantically involved, it seems that their business relationship is alive and well; Arduin’s residential property in Ft. Lauderdale [28] is jointly owned between herself and Ericks.

Incorporation papers [13] on file with the Florida Secretary of State Division of Corporations from 2005 to present for ALME, as well as Arduin Associates, list Arduin’s business address as 205 S. Adams, Tallahassee. 205 S. Adams is also the address for Ericks Consultants. The building located at 205 S. Adams is in fact owned by Ericks Consultants [28]. In fact, Arduin’s office is the office of Ericks Consultants -- the two share the same phone and fax numbers. The receptionist who answers the phone when you call looking for Arduin says, "Ericks Consultants, how may I help you?"

FBI Special Agent Rick Dent declined to confirm or deny whether the FBI is investigating any other parties in conjunction with the June indictments of Deese and Dugger.

Steve Cole, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Jacksonville, the office which had prosecuted, and which continues to prosecute all cases involved with the Crosby/AIS kickback scheme, declined to comment on any aspect of any related cases—past or present—or on whether further indictments are forthcoming.

As for Arduin, she says she does not know whether or not she currently has any financial interest in the Geo Group, or in any other private corrections interest.

"My investment guys have me in so many different mutual funds, I can’t… I have no idea," said Arduin. "I don’t know."

Over the course of the 2010 midterm election year, Arduin worked as an advisor to the campaign of U.S. Senator Rubio, as well as to the campaign of newly-elected Florida Governor Rick Scott. She currently heads Scott’s budget advisory team.

Subsequent Events: August 2012 Postscript to January 2011 DBA Press publication

The state of Florida dropped its prosecution of former Rep. Ray Sansom in May of 2011. Florida State Attorney Willie Meggs cited the court's refusal to allow the testimony of a key witness as grounds for the dismissal. The state's prosecution stemmed from allegations that Sansom had inserted a $6 million appropriation into the state's 2007-2008 budget for the construction of a private aircraft hangar for GOP donor Jay Odom.

Nevertheless, on June 6, 2011, federal investigators subpoenaed records at the Florida House of Representatives pertaining to Sansom's travel and legislative expenses drawn from excess campaign finances. Travel vouchers filed by former Sansom staffers -- Melanie Phister, Eric Edwards, Dort Baltes and Samantha Sullivan -- were also subpoenaed. Sullivan was ordered to appear for testimony before a federal grand jury.

It is worth noting that Phister, who had been hired by the office of Speaker Rubio in 2006 to work under Sansom, was hired as a lobbyist by the firm of Johnson and Blanton in January, 2012. Johnson and Blanton's principals, Jon Johnson and Travis Blanton, along with Johnson and Blanton lobbyist Amy Christian, are longtime Geo Group/Geo Care lobbyists. Phister currently lobbies on behalf of both Geo Group and Geo Care, among other clients. (It is also worth noting that, according to Phister's Johnson and Blanton staff biography, Phister had been employed by the firm in the years immediately preceding her work under Sansom. From 2004 through 2006, Phister worked for Johnson and Blanton as a lobbyist, a manager of "projects" and "special assignments," and as a "marketing strategies" researcher.)

A month prior to the issuance of the House subpoenas, federal investigators subpoenaed records in the possession of TEAM Santa Rosa. The subpoenas specifically sought records pertaining to Sansom, Geo Group and "Project Justice." (Read more about the June 2011 subpoenas and view subpoenaed House and TEAM records here [30].)

Since the issuance of the June 2011 subpoenas, members of the Florida press have asked Sansom about a March 27, 2008 trip to Boca Raton. This trip, and its proximity to events surrounding the legislative birth of Blackwater River CF were first reported by DBA Press in January of 2011.

As reported by DBA Press, House travel records show then-House Budget Chair Sansom taking a trip to Boca Raton, 400 miles from his north Florida district. Sansom reported, at the time, that the trip was conducted for "personal business." Sansom has subsequently stated that the purpose of the trip was to meet with other unnamed lawmakers. The former lawmaker has consistently been unable to state the purpose of the trip or to name other lawmakers present.

Boca Raton is the site of Geo Group's corporate headquarters.

Interestingly, Sansom returned to Tallahassee and, on April 4, inserted a proviso in the 2008-2009 House General Appropriations Bill calling for the $110 million expansion of a Geo Group facility. This proviso would eventually morph into the creation of Blackwater CF.

Subsequent federal grand jury subpoenas issued in August, 2011 in Santa Rosa County, to both TEAM Santa Rosa and to the Santa Rosa County Commission, seem to focus on a Sansom-owned business, Ray Sansom, Inc., as well as Blackwater CF project manager, Georgia-based Carter Goble Lee.

Federal investigators also seized a Santa Rosa County Commission computer in August. The computer had formerly been used by former County Commissioner Gordon Goodin. Goodin was a leading proponent of "Project Justice."

Rick Scott, Donna Arduin, and a Historic Privatization Attempt

On February 7, 2011 newly-elected Florida Governor Rick Scott unveiled his budget proposal to cut approximately $5 billion in state spending. The proposal was the actuation of Scott's "7-7-7 Jobs" plan ("seven steps, seven years, 700,000 jobs"), much touted by Scott and supporters over the course of the 2010 campaign as the solution for the state's deep fiscal woes.

The plan was Donna Arduin's key contribution to the Scott campaign. And Arduin, as head of Scott's transitional budget advisory team, was tasked with assembling the full budget proposal for presentation to the legislature.

According to documents released by the Executive Office of Governor Scott (EOG), this budget team was handpicked and led by Arduin. The team consisted of Tad DeHaven, Talmadge Heflin, Randall Holcombe, Art Laffer and Robert McClure.

DeHaven is a budget analyst at the Cato Institute [31]. Heflin is director of the Texas Public Policy Foundation [32]'s Center for Fiscal Policy. Arduin is a senior fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Interestingly enough, 2010 Texas Public Policy Foundation tax records list a donation of $15,000 from Geo Group.

Laffer is, of course, Arduin's business partner at Arduin, Laffer and Moore (ALME). Laffer and Stephen Moore (of ALME) are also on the American Legislative Exchange Council's (ALEC) Board of Scholars [33]. Moore had served as director of fiscal policy and as a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and is founder of Club for Growth [34] -- yet another limited-government-free-market "conservative" 'think tank.'

It is worth noting, given Arduin's advisory role with the Rubio senate campaign, that the Club for Growth Political Action Committee (PAC) committed $10,002.45 in support to Rubio's senate bid in just over two months, from February 12 to April 16, 2010. This support was delivered in the form of independent expenditures for electioneering communications aimed both at supporting Rubio and at criticizing Rubio's chief opponent, Charlie Crist. These expenditures occurred in the heated pre-primary election months leading up to Crist's departure from the Republican Party (Crist announced he would continue to run as an independent on April 29, 2010) .

McClure is president and CEO of the James Madison Institute [35].

Holcombe is a senior fellow at the James Madison Institute.

The Cato Institute is an offshoot of the Charles Koch Foundation [36]. Charles and David Koch, the principal shareholders of Koch Industries [37], are the financiers of a network of "conservative" and "libertarian" not-for-profit organizations. Such Koch-funded groups have included Americans for Prosperity [38], the Reason Foundation [39], ALEC, the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and the James Madison Institute.

A staple agenda item for these "think tanks" has been the privatization of public services. And, according to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, Koch Industries was fairly heavily invested in Corrections Corporation of America (CCA)-- owning tens of thousands of shares in the nation's largest private profit prison/immigrant detention center operator-- from 2002 through 2005 (to be fair, Koch Industries held hundreds of thousands of shares in a diverse set of corporate interests during this time). During the 1990s, the private prison industry enjoyed tremendous growth, thanks, in large part, to "tough-on-crime" legislation advanced by ALEC (of which CCA was a part), the National Rifle Association (another longtime ALEC member) and other "conservative" Koch-backed think tanks.

Not surprisingly, given the influence of Arduin's budget advisory team, the 2011 Scott budget proposal took heavy aim at the state's prison system and state prison health care.

Prior to the unveiling of the full budget proposal, the Arduin/Scott "7-7-7" budget plan advertised a reduction in correctional costs by $1 billion simply by "paying competitive market-based salaries for correction's staff, utilizing inmate labor to grow prison food, and competitively bidding health care contracts resulting in public prison costs that are as low as private prisons…". In reality, as shown with the unveiling of the full budget proposal, the plan called for the elimination of nearly 8,700 state government positions-- 1,690 of which would be eliminated from FDOC through $82 million in budget cuts.

Additionally, the proposed budget called for the privatization of all three of the Florida's public mental hospitals-- a gig which seemed ideally suited for Geo Group's correctional/mental health care subsidiary, Geo Care, already the largest private provider of such services in the state.

As dramatic as the proposed cuts to FDOC were at the time of the budget's unveiling, a proviso inserted into the budget called for the privatization of a full third of FDOC operations-- 29 facilities in 18 south Florida counties. Not surprisingly, the proviso had been inserted into the budget by Senate budget chair J.D. Alexander (R-Lake Wales). Arduin had worked as a budget consultant to Alexander in 2010. This collaboration resulted in a proviso to that year's budget that called for a $24 million cut to the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) budget in order to close existing state-run facilities so that Blackwater River CF could be filled and opened.

And, as was the case in 2010, the 2011 Alexander privatization proviso bore Arduin's stamp. In October of 2011, Alexander told the Tallahassee Democrat that the proviso calling for the privatization of the 29 FDOC facilities had been "suggested" by Arduin.

With the passage of this budget and the privatization proviso, the Florida legislature initiated one of the largest prison privatization plans in the history of the nation (comparable efforts had previously been attempted in Tennessee and Arizona). Nevertheless, in July of 2011, the Florida Police Benevolent Association (FPBA)-- the union then representing the bulk of the state's prison guards-- filed suit to enjoin the privatization plan. Essentially, FPBA argued that the privatization plan violated extant state law governing prison privatization in that the privatization mandate had been passed as a budgetary proviso-- not as a stand-alone bill.

In September 2011, Leon County Circuit Court Judge Jackie Fullford ruled in favor of FPBA.

"This Court concludes that if it is the will of the Legislature to itself initiate privatization of Florida prisons, as opposed to [FDOC], the Legislature must do so by general law, rather than ‘using the hidden recesses of the General Appropriations Act,’” opined Fullford in her ruling.

While the Scott administration had stated it would not appeal the ruling, in October 2011, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi filed an appeal to the Fullford ruling. In July 2012, the appeals court struct down Bondi's appeal, ruling that the Attorney General did not have standing in the case, as Bondi was not a party listed in the original circuit court case.

In January, 2012, lawmakers championing the prison privatization agenda, led by Senate President Mike Haridopolos (R-Melbourne) and Alexander, introduced SB 2038, which-- like the budget proviso before it-- called for the privatization of the entire southern FDOC region.

Despite intensive partisan and industry lobbying on behalf of the bill, SB 2038 was defeated in the Florida Senate on February 14, 2012 (dubbed the "St. Valentine's Massacre" by opponents of the privatization plan). Interestingly enough, though many Republican senators had broken party ranks and joined with the Senate's 12 Democrats in voting the bill down, Sen. Don Gaetz (who had been a staunch supporter, along with former Rep. Sansom, of Blackwater River CF and "Project Justice"), Sen. John Thrasher (who had introduced the Senate counterpart to 2011's anti-public-emplyee-union "Paycheck Protection" bill-- a bill with ALEC roots, heavily touted by such Koch-backed public policy groups as Americans for Prosperity) and Senate President Mike Haridopolos (whose "special counsel" Andy Bardos had worked closely with the Florida Chamber of Commerce in drafting the 2011 "Paycheck Protection" bill) all joined Alexander in voting for the bill. And, as in the death of the "Paycheck Protection" bill, a handful of moderate Republicans led opposition within the state's GOP ranks. Namely, in the case of SB 2038, the Republican privatization resistance was led by Sen. Mike Fasano (R-New Port Richey), Sen. Paula Dockery (R-Lakeland-- Dockery had been an outspoken critic of Blackwater River CF as well) and Sen. Jack Latvala (R-Clearwater).

These Republican lawmakers, for whatever reason, simply could not be convinced that trading more than 3,500 state jobs for negligible savings though privatization-- at a time when both the state prison population and economy were virtually static-- was a good idea.

In a statement to the Miami Herald, one of the GOP senators who voted against the bill summed up what seemed to be the key to dissent on the issue:

“What’s wrong with state employees?” said Sen. Dennis Jones (R-Seminole). “We should be taking care of them, rather than kicking them under the bus.”

Sen. Fasano, then-chairman of the Senate Civil and Criminal Justice Budget Subcommittee, had been one of the most outspoken legislative critics of the Scott privatization plan, questioning, since the unveiling of the 2011 Scott budget proposal, why the Governor would push for increased spending for prison privatization when existing state-run facilities contained thousands of unoccupied beds.

Following the introduction of the budget in 2011, Fasano called for key Scott budget staff to appear before his committee for questioning. Amazingly, members of Scott's budget staff stated publicly that they intended to boycott the subcommittee.

For his criticism of the privatization plan, Sen. President Haridopolos removed Fasano as chair of the criminal justice appropriations subcommittee in February of 2012. And Fasano wasn't the only casualty of the Scott privatization plan. In August of 2011, Scott forced the resignation of FDOC Secretary Edwin Buss. Buss, like Fasano, had been an ardent critic of the privatization plan.

Those seeking clarity in understanding Florida's unprecedented slide into wholesale prison privatization under the Scott administration may need look no farther than the events of February 6, 2011-- Super Bowl Sunday.

As reported by the Orlando Sentinel, Scott was a guest at a Super Bowl party at the home of lobbyist Brian Ballard the day prior to the unveiling of the budget proposal. According to Florida lobby disclosure records, Ballard is a longtime state legislative lobbyist for Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and, as of January 14, 2011, an executive branch lobbyist for Geo Group.

According to the Sentinel, Ballard had helped to raise more than $3 million for Scott's inaugural celebration (according to EOG documents, Ballard and his wife Kathryn actually served as "finance chairs" for the inaugural committee). Additionally, as reported by the Sentinel, Geo Group -- in addition to the more than $400,000 in contributions paid out to the Republican Party of Florida during the 2010 election cycle -- contributed $25,000 to the Scott debutante event.

It is also worth noting that Carrie O'Rourke is the daughter of former Geo Group Chief Financial Officer John O'Rourke (1991 to August 2009). It should be noted, however, that a Geo Group press release announcing O'Rourke's retirement stated that O'Rourke would likely continue work for the private prison corporation as a "consultant" following his departure as CFO. In keeping with this, O'Rourke founded the consulting firm of J.G. O'Rourke and Associates, LLC. in August 2009), served as finance director of the Scott inaugural committee. It is also worth noting that the Scott gubernatorial campaign employed the services of veteran Florida GOP fundraiser Meredith O'Rourke, Carrie O'Rourke's sister.

As such, given these ties, it comes as no surprise that, according to EOG records, the Scott gubernatorial transition team considered and interviewed John O'Rourke for the position of FDOC secretary during these early months of the administration. While O'Rourke did not get the FDOC job, Scott did appoint O'Rourke to the Florida Prepaid College Board (Gubernatorially-appointed administrators of the state secondary education scholarship and savings programs) in February of 2011.

As reported [40] by Politico, the Romney presidential campaign retained the fundraising services of Meredith O'Rourke in March of 2011. Senatorial candidate Rubio also retained the fundraising services of O'Rourke's firm, Forward Strategies, during the 2010 election cycle.

Center for Media and Democracy • 520 University Avenue, Suite 260 • Madison, Wisconsin 53703

Phone: 608-260-9713 • Fax: 608-260-9714

Source URL: http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/08/11591/marco-rubio-geo-group-and-legacy-corruption

Links:

[1] http://www.prwatch.org/users/35302/beau-hodai

[2] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/corporations

[3] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/politics

[4] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/us-government

[5] http://www.addtoany.com/share_save?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.prwatch.org%2Fnews%2F2012%2F08%2F11591%2Fmarco-rubio-geo-group-and-legacy-corruption&linkname=Marco%20Rubio%2C%20Geo%20Group%2C%20and%20a%20Legacy%20of%20Corruption

[6] http://dbapress.com/archives/655

[7] http://dbapress.com/source-materials-archive/legacy-of-corruption-source-materials-directory

[8] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Geo_Group

[9] http://dbapress.com/source-materials-archive/legacy-of-corruption-source-materials-directory/documents-related-to-investigations-into-florida-republican-party-donors

[10] http://dbapress.com/source-materials-archive/legacy-of-corruption-source-materials-directory/documents-related-to-ray-sansom-criminal-investigationelva-mccaig-letter

[11] http://dbapress.com/source-materials-archive/legacy-of-corruption-source-materials-directory/documents-related-to-geo-group-campaign-finance-spending

[12] http://dbapress.com/source-materials-archive/legacy-of-corruption-source-materials-directory/documents-florida-department-of-management-services-geo-group-and-team-santa-rosa-related-to-blackwater-cf-development-and-management

[13] http://dbapress.com/source-materials-archive/legacy-of-corruption-source-materials-directory/documents-related-to-arduin-laffer-and-moore-alme-arduin-associates-and-laffer-associates

[14] http://dbapress.com/source-materials-archive/legacy-of-corruption-source-materials-directory/documents-related-to-arduins-employment-in-the-florida-house-and-the-florida-senate

[15] http://dbapress.com/source-materials-archive/legacy-of-corruption-source-materials-directory/documents-related-to-2008-legislative-inception-of-blackwater-cf

[16] http://dbapress.com/source-materials-archive/legacy-of-corruption-source-materials-directory/documents-related-to-arduins-time-as-an-executive-appointee-under-florida-governor-jeb-bush

[17] http://dbapress.com/source-materials-archive/legacy-of-corruption-source-materials-directory/documents-related-to-correctional-properties-trust-centracore-properties-trustgeo-acquisition-ii

[18] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Wackenhut

[19] http://www.ALECexposed

[20] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Corrections_Corporation_of_America

[21] http://dbapress.com/source-materials-archive/legacy-of-corruption-source-materials-directory/documents-related-to-robert-budd-kneip-and-wackenhutwackenhut-subsidiaries

[22] http://dbapress.com/source-materials-archive/legacy-of-corruption-source-materials-directory/documents-related-to-2010-blackwater-appropriations

[23] http://dbapress.com/source-materials-archive/legacy-of-corruption-source-materials-directory/documents-related-to-2010-contract-awards-for-operation-of-graceville-cf-and-moorehaven-cf

[24] http://dbapress.com/source-materials-archive/legacy-of-corruption-source-materials-directory/documents-related-to-arduins-employment-under-california-governor-arnold-schwarzenegger

[25] http://dbapress.com/source-materials-archive/legacy-of-corruption-source-materials-directory/documents-related-to-first-clearing-corporation-corestates-wells-fargo-and-geo-group-ownership

[26] http://dbapress.com/source-materials-archive/legacy-of-corruption-source-materials-directory/documents-related-to-florida-department-of-law-enforcement-fdle-investigations-into-james-crosby-allen-clark-and-american-institutional-services-ais

[27] http://dbapress.com/source-materials-archive/legacy-of-corruption-source-materials-directory/documents-related-to-federal-investigationsprosecution-of-james-crosby-allen-clark-ais-and-keefe

[28] http://dbapress.com/source-materials-archive/legacy-of-corruption-source-materials-directory/documents-relating-to-david-ericks

[29] http://dbapress.com/source-materials-archive/legacy-of-corruption-source-materials-directory/documents-relating-to-scott-gilmore

[30] http://dbapress.com/archives/1892

[31] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Cato_Institute

[32] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Texas_Public_Policy_Foundation

[33] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=ALEC_Board_of_Scholars

[34] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Club_for_Growth

[35] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Madison_Institute

[36] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Charles_G._Koch_Charitable_Foundation

[37] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Koch_Industries

[38] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity

[39] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Reason_Foundation

[40] http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/51039.html

==

Virginia is in the final stages of reviewing proposals that would privatize a mental health treatment facility for sex offenders who can be held indefinitely under state law, according to state officials and a private prison company seeking a contract to operate the institution.

The GEO Group, the nation's second-largest private prison operator, and Liberty Healthcare Corp., which manages mental health institutions, are vying to manage the 300-bed state facility, known as the Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation. Both companies bring checkered histories in their experiences managing a similar facility in Florida, according to reports in that state.

The proposed contract in Virginia would give a private company authority over convicted sex offenders enrolled in a controversial program known as "civil commitment," through which the state designates some inmates sexually violent predators. That label gives the state the right to hold those inmates indefinitely while administering mental health treatment.

Twenty states and the District of Columbia employ the process, which the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld as constitutional in three separate cases. But critics contend that ceding control of the process to a profit-making corporation poses an enormous conflict of interest: The company would have a financial incentive to hold onto sex offenders for as long as possible while skimping on required mental health services.

"These people could be held forever," said Tracy Velazquez,executive director of the Justice Policy Institute, a non-profit group that is critical of the rise of private involvement in the nation's penal system. "There's a disincentive for the companies to provide treatment, because the inmates continue to be customers. There is no end of sentence."

A spokesman for the GEO Group said the company would administer the facility in the public interest....huffpo

==

The growth of the private detention industry has long been a subject of scrutiny. A recent eight-part series in the New Orleans Times-Picayune chronicled how more than half of Louisiana’s 40,000 inmates are housed in prisons run by sheriffs or private companies as part of a broader financial incentive scheme. The detention business goes beyond just criminal prisoners.

As a Huffington Post investigation pointed out last month, nearly half of all immigrant detainees are now held in privately run detention facilities. Just this week, the New York Times delved into lax oversight at industrial-sized but privately run halfway houses in New Jersey.

We’ve taken a look at some of the numbers associated with the billion-dollar and wide-ranging for-profit detention industry—and the two companies that dominate the market:

General Statistics:

1.6 million: Total number of state and federal prisoners in the United States as of December 2010, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics

128,195: Number of state and federal prisoners housed in private facilities as of December 2010

37: percent by which number of prisoners in private facilities increased between 2002 and 2009

217,690: Total federal inmate population as of May 2012, according to the Bureau of Prisons

27,970: Number of federal inmates in privately managed facilities within the Bureau of Prisons

33,330: Estimated size of detained immigrant population as of 2011, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Corrections Corporation of America

66: number of facilities owned and operated by Corrections Corporation of America, the country’s largest private prison company based on number of facilities

91,000: number of beds available in CCA facilities across 20 states and the District of Columbia

$1.7 billion: total revenue recorded by CCA in 2011

$17.4 million: lobbying expenditures in the last 10 years, according to the Center for Responsive Politics

$1.9 million: total political contributions from years 2003 to 2012, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics

$3.7 million: executive compensation for CEO Damon T. Hininger in 2011

132: recorded number of inmate-on-inmate assaults at CCA-run Idaho Correctional Center between Sept. 2007 and Sept. 2008

42: recorded number of inmate-on-inmate assaults at the state-run Idaho State Correctional Institution in the same time frame (both prisons at the time held about 1,500 inmates)

The Geo Group, Inc., the U.S.’s second largest private detention company

$1.6 billion: total revenue in year 2011, according to its annual report

65: number of domestic correctional facilities owned and operated by Geo Group, Inc.

65,716: number of beds available in Geo Group, Inc.’s domestic correctional facilities

$2.5 million: lobbying expenditures in the last 8 years, according to the Center for Responsive Politics

$2.9 million: total political contributions from years 2003 to 2012, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics

$5.7 million: executive compensation for CEO George C. Zoley in 2011

$6.5 million: damages awarded in a wrongful death lawsuit against the company last June for the beating death of an inmate by his cellmate at a GEO Group-run Oklahoma prison. An appeal has been filed and is pending.

$1.1 million: fine levied against the company in November 2011 by the New Mexico Department of Corrections for inadequate staffing at one of its prisons

wells fargo assists geo in various ways kpfa

shared lobbyist w/ geo

Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), based in Nashville, Tennessee, and the GEO Group, a global corporation based in Boca Raton, Florida are the nation’s two largest prison companies. They run highly integrated operations to design, build, finance and operate prisons. GEO rakes in $1.17 billion in annual revenue, and CCA tops that at $1.69 billion. Together these companies are principal moving forces in the behind-the-scenes organization of the current wave of anti-immigrant legislative efforts, which, if successful, would dramatically increase the number of immigrant prisoners in over 20 states.

Following the Money

GEO CEO, George Zoley, was a Bush “Pioneer” who bundled more than $100,000 in contributions for the Bush-Cheney campaigns in 2000 and 2004. In October 2003, GEO was successful in securing the contract to run the Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp, in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

GEO hired the services of lobbyists who had held influential positions in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Bureau of Prisons, Office of the Attorney General, and the office of then-Senate Majority Leader, George Mitchell, to lobby their former employers and Congress. Throughout 2005 and leading up to the largest immigration raid in U.S. history in December 2006, GEO and CCA spent a combined total of over $6 million on lobbying efforts.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=George_C._Zoley

George C. Zoley "is Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of The GEO Group,Inc. and Chief Executive Officer of GEO Care, Inc. He served as The GEO Group’s Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer from January 1997 to May 2002, as President and a Director of GEO since it was incorporated in 1988, and Chief Executive officer since April 1994.

"Dr. Zoley established The GEO Group as a division of The Wackenhut Corporation (TWC) in 1984 when the company was named Wackenhut Corrections Corporation. Dr. Zoley continues to be a major factor in GEO’s development of the privatized correctional and detention facility business. Dr. Zoley is also a director of The GEO Group Australia Pty Ltd, Australasian Correctional Services Pty Limited, Australasian Correctional Management Pty Limited, Canadian Correctional Management Inc., GEO RE Holdings, LLC., GEO Care, Inc. (formerly Atlantic Shores Healthcare, Inc.), The GEO Group, N.V., and of other subsidiaries through which GEO conducts its operations. From 1981 through 1988, he served as manager, director, and then vice president of Government Services for Wackenhut Services, Inc. (“WSI”). Dr. Zoley was responsible for the development of opportunities in the privatization of government services by WSI.

"Prior to joining WSI, Dr. Zoley held various administrative and management positions for city and county governments in South Florida. Dr. Zoley has a Masters Degree in Public Administration from Florida Atlantic University and a Doctorate Degree in Public Administration from Nova Southeastern University.

"Dr. Zoley, an alumnus of Florida Atlantic University, is a member of their Board of Trustees. He also serves on the Board of Take Stock in Children." ^[1]^

Resources and articles

Related Sourcewatch articles

References

1. ↑ Directors, The GEO Group, accessed February 27, 2008.

Category: United States

	George C. Zoley Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer
		Held current title since: 2002	Director since: 1988	Officer since: 1988	Age: 62
	Mr. George C. Zoley, Ph.D., is Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Geo Group Inc., since May 15, 2002, and is Chairman of GEO Care, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of The GEO Group, Inc. He served as GEO's Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer from January 1997 to May of 2002. Mr. Zoley has served as GEO's Chief Executive Officer since the company went public in 1994. Prior to 1994, Mr. Zoley served as President and Director since GEO's incorporation in 1988. Mr. Zoley founded GEO in 1984 and continues to be a factor in GEO's development of new business opportunities in the areas of correctional and detention management, health and mental health and other diversified government services. Mr. Zoley also serves as a director of several business subsidiaries through which The GEO Group, Inc. conducts its operations worldwide. Mr. Zoley has bachelor's and master's degrees in Public Administration from Florida Atlantic University (FAU) and a Doctorate Degree in Public Administration from Nova Southeastern University (NSU). For seven years, Mr. Zoley served as a member of the Board of Trustees of Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida, and previously served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees. Mr. Zoley also served as Chair of the FAU Presidential Search Committee and a member of the FAU Foundation board of directors. yaf claims fau unfair http://fau.campusreform.org/ = Leadership Inst. got TP backing, radio BO spoke, allen west objects

	Compensation		Options		Number		Value
	Salary		$1,145,000		Exercised		58,056		$1,076,185
	Bonus		$1,334,498		Unexercised but Exercisable		0		$0
	Other Short-Term		$0		Unexercised but Granted		0		$0
	Long-Term Compensation		$794,451		Total				$1,076,185
	Total*		$5,734,949
	*Total includes Long-Term Incentive Payout of $3,255,451. Data reflects Year Ended Jan. 01, 2012	*Total includes Long-Term Incentive Payout of $3,255,451. Data reflects Year Ended Jan. 01, 2012	*Total includes Long-Term Incentive Payout of $3,255,451. Data reflects Year Ended Jan. 01, 2012	*Total includes Long-Term Incentive Payout of $3,255,451. Data reflects Year Ended Jan. 01, 2012	*Total includes Long-Term Incentive Payout of $3,255,451. Data reflects Year Ended Jan. 01, 2012	*Total includes Long-Term Incentive Payout of $3,255,451. Data reflects Year Ended Jan. 01, 2012	*Total includes Long-Term Incentive Payout of $3,255,451. Data reflects Year Ended Jan. 01, 2012	*Total includes Long-Term Incentive Payout of $3,255,451. Data reflects Year Ended Jan. 01, 2012	*Total includes Long-Term Incentive Payout of $3,255,451. Data reflects Year Ended Jan. 01, 2012	*Total includes Long-Term Incentive Payout of $3,255,451. Data reflects Year Ended Jan. 01, 2012

Take a look at the money.

The CEO of GEO George C. Zoley earned a salary of $1,145,000, got a bonus of $1,334,498 and with other compensations like stock options, the total for him is $5,734,949. The company he heads up, the GEO Group, is raking in the blood money by the barrel full.

This isn't the first investigation into the private for-profit prison empire, and it won't be the last. SPLC has sent an open letter of appeal to the Louisiana legislature regarding House Bill 850, which would allow the state to accept offers for the private purchase and operation of the Avoyelles Correctional Center.

(Abandoned) Cell at Camp HAngola Prison (Lee Honeycutt, Wikimedia)

Louisiana has 12 adult state prisons including Angola, which is the largest maximum security prison in the U.S., and conditions in them will worsen if the mega-hucksters move in.

SPLC documents the ugly recent histories of for-profit prison cesspits:

Examples of violence and human rights abuses at CCA and GEO facilities include the following:

In 2011, our neighbors in Mississippi were sued because of deficiencies in the GEO Group's administration of Walnut Grove Correctional Facility, a 1,500-bed facility plagued with dangerous conditions due to the private operator's cost-saving measures. Countless youth sustained serious injury, and one child will live with permanent brain damage as a result of the deficiencies in care there. Because of ensuing litigation, the State of Mississippi now must take costly remedial measures to bring the facility back in line with correctional standards. We in Louisiana cannot afford this type of crisis in our prisons.

In October 2011, prisoner fights in several locations throughout a CCA prison in Oklahoma left 46 prisoners injured and required 16 inmates to be sent to the hospital, some of them in critical condition.

Between October 2011 and February 2012 five preventable deaths occurred in the GEO-operated East Mississippi Correctional Facility, a prison for people living with mental illness.

At least eight people died between 2005 and 2009 at the GEO Group-operated George W. Hill Correctional Facility in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, the state's only privately run jail. In January 2009, GEO pulled out of operations at this facility, citing "underperformance and frequent litigations" as the reasons.

....

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/29/1086699/-Billion-dollar-GEO-prison-for-profit-group-abandons-its-Mississippi-cesspool-?detail=hide

===

http://www.privateci.org/rap_geo.html

built prison on toxic waste

GEO Group, Inc.: Despite a Crashing Economy, Private Prison Firm Turns a Handsome Profit by Erin Rosa, Special to CorpWatch March 1st, 2009	GEO Group, Inc.: Despite a Crashing Economy, Private Prison Firm Turns a Handsome Profit by Erin Rosa, Special to CorpWatch March 1st, 2009	GEO Group, Inc.: Despite a Crashing Economy, Private Prison Firm Turns a Handsome Profit by Erin Rosa, Special to CorpWatch March 1st, 2009	GEO Group, Inc.: Despite a Crashing Economy, Private Prison Firm Turns a Handsome Profit by Erin Rosa, Special to CorpWatch March 1st, 2009	GEO Group, Inc.: Despite a Crashing Economy, Private Prison Firm Turns a Handsome Profit by Erin Rosa, Special to CorpWatch March 1st, 2009	GEO Group, Inc.: Despite a Crashing Economy, Private Prison Firm Turns a Handsome Profit by Erin Rosa, Special to CorpWatch March 1st, 2009	GEO Group, Inc.: Despite a Crashing Economy, Private Prison Firm Turns a Handsome Profit by Erin Rosa, Special to CorpWatch March 1st, 2009
					Cartoon by Khalil Bendib	While the nation’s economy flounders, business is booming for The GEO Group Inc., a private prison firm that is paid millions by the U.S. government to detain undocumented immigrants and other federal inmates. In the last year and a half, GEO announced plans to add a total of at least 3,925 new beds to immigration lockups in five locations. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency and the U.S. Marshals Service, which hire the company, will fill the beds with inmates awaiting court and deportation proceedings. GEO reported impressive quarterly earnings of $20 million on February 12, 2009, along with an annual income of $61 million for 2008 – up from $38 million the year before. But the company’s share value is not the only thing that’s growing. Behind the financial success and expansion of the for-profit prison firm, there are increasing charges of negligence, civil rights violations, abuse and even death. Detaining immigrants has become a profitable business, and the niche industry is showing no signs of slowing down. The number of undocumented immigrants the U.S. federal government jails has grown by at least 65 percent in the last six years. In 2002, the average daily population of immigration detainees was 20,838 people, according to ICE records. By 2008, the average daily population had grown to 31,345. Since 2003, more than a million people have been processed through federal immigration lockups, which are part of a network of at least 300 local, state and federal lockups, including seven contracted detention facilities. GEO operates four of those seven for-profit prisons. Numerous investigations and reports have documented problems at GEO’s immigration detention facilities. At the company’s Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, federal prosecutors charged a GEO prison administrator in September 2008 with “knowingly and willfully making materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statements to senior special agents” with ICE, according to court filings. A February 2008 audit found that over a period of more than two years ending in November 2005, GEO hired nearly 100 guards without performing the required criminal background checks. The GEO employee responsible, Sylvia Wong, pleaded guilty. In the plea agreement the federal government stated that Wong falsified documents “because of the pressure she felt” while working at the GEO lockup to get security personnel hired at the detention center “as quickly as possible.” Two months before the fraud charges, a study by the Seattle University School of Law and the nonprofit group OneAmerica reported that conditions at the Tacoma facility violated both international and domestic laws that grant detained immigrants the right to food, due process and humane treatment. Federal immigration officials have the authority to incarcerate undocumented immigrants, asylum-seekers, and even lawful permanent residents while they await hearings with immigration judges or appeal decisions. ICE reports the average length of stay is 30 days, but detentions can last years, according to a November 2008 ICE fact sheet. Pramila Jayapal, executive director with OneAmerica, took part in interviewing a random sample of more than 40 immigrants detained at the Northwest Detention Center, which holds approximately 1,000 immigrants at any given time. “It’s a very giant concrete box. It’s just like a jail,” said Jayapal. “You’re only supposed to meet in the client area, which is only a few rooms.” One inmate from Mexico, Hector Pena-Ortiz, told interviewers that guards had interrogated and handcuffed him twice, demanding that he sign immediate deportation papers despite the fact that he had a pending appeal. Under federal law, immigrants cannot be deported from the United States if their immigration legal cases are still pending. During one of the incidents, guards admitted to having a file on the wrong inmate, Pena-Ortiz said. In addition to violations of legal rights, inmates cited food as a major concern. The vast majority of the 40 prisoners interviewed at the facility said rations were inadequate and sometimes rotten. Inmates with financial resources depended on food bought from the lockup’s commissary. Others went hungry. A man identified in the study as “Ricardo” said he had lost 50 pounds of his original 190-pound weight since arriving at the detention center. ICE officially denied the claims in the report, but in 2005, annual agency inspections at the Northwest Detention Center documented problems with the quality and quantity of food and found that some meals were so poor, guards had to collect and replace them. Looking for Opportunities The Tacoma lockup, site of the most recent GEO controversy, is located on top of a former toxic waste dump that borders coastal wetlands near the Port of Tacoma, Washington. In August 2008, the firm announced plans to expand its 1,030-bed Northwest Detention Center to 1,575 beds, “to help meet the increased demand for detention bed space by federal, state, and local government agencies around the country.” Just four months after GEO’s announcement, ICE notified government contractors that the agency was looking for a contractor-owned and -operated detention facility. According to federal procurement data, the new facility should be capable of providing 1,575 beds – the same number GEO was set to build – to be completed no later than September 2009 – the same date GEO had set for the completion of its own construction project. Lorie Dankers, ICE spokeswoman in Washington state, implied that the similarity in numbers and date was a coincidence. “I would never comment, nor have I in the past, on what GEO is doing and why they’re doing it. That’s a business decision that GEO made,” said Dankers. “To insinuate that there was some kind of connection, or that they has some inside information as to the request, that would be incorrect.” Dankers added that ICE’s request for more space is still in the “pre-solicitation” phase, meaning that there is no guarantee a contract will be offered, and the agency is simply requesting information from contractors to “guage interest.” “I don’t have any information one way or the other as to what would happen,” Dankers said. “I think often times, if I had to speculate, they see where there’s a need. I think they’re always looking for opportunities.” Canceled Contracts And opportunities, like prisoners, abound. GEO owns more than 62,000 prison beds in the United States, with approximately 3,000 beds used for detained immigrants. The company also claims a global market share of 25 percent of the private corrections industry. Currently, the Northwest Detention Center incarcerates immigrants mainly from Oregon, Washington and Alaska, according to Dankers. In the last five years, criminal immigration prosecutions have surged by 388 percent according to federal court data obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University in New York. The most recently available court information shows that there were 11,454 prosecutions in September 2008 alone. Adding to GEO’s profitability and prospects are immigration laws introduced in the 1990s, the expanding use of immigration detention without bond, and a greater emphasis on prosecutions after 9/11. The company’s relationship with government officials has also proven valuable in winning corrections contracts. In 2006, while on the state payroll as director of prisons at the Colorado Department of Corrections, Nolin Renfrow helped GEO obtain a $14 million-per-year contract to detain 1,500 inmates in a proposed state prison project in the northern part of the state. Renfrow was moonlighting for GEO –with an expected compensation of $1 million – when a 2007 state audit and news reports uncovered the public servant’s business deal. The audit found that Renfrow’s actions could “arguably present a conflict of interest and result in a breach of ... the public trust,” because state law prohibited an “employee from assisting any person for a fee or other compensation in obtaining any contract.” The county district attorney with jurisdiction over Renfrow declined to press criminal charges, but in the wake of the scandal, officials with the state’s corrections department rescinded the contract. Prisons as Money Makers Immigrant facilities are not the only GEO lockups that have sparked claims of negligence and abuse. In 2007, the firm settled a lawsuit with the family of an inmate for $200,000. LeTisha Tapia, a 23-year-old woman incarcerated at the GE0-owned Val Verde Correction Facility in southern Texas, told her family in July 2004 that she had been raped and beaten after being locked in the same cell block with male inmates. Shortly after, she had hung herself in her cell. The nonprofit Texas Civil Rights Project sued GEO on behalf of Tapia’s family. “The jail drove this young woman to kill herself,” charged the family’s attorney, Scott Medlock, in a February 15, 2006 press release from the Texas Civil Rights Project. “GEO cuts corners by hiring poorly trained guards, providing inmates with cut rate medical care, and running their facility in a grossly unprofessional manner.” Citing confidentially provisions in the settlement, Medlock refused further comment. More recently, in 2008, civil liberties attorneys sued the company for failing to provide adequate medical attention to inmates outsourced from Washington, DC, to the Rivers Correctional Institute, located in North Carolina and overseen by GEO through a contract with the federal Bureau of Prisons. That same year, Idaho state authorities removed 125 inmates from a GEO prison after an investigation – spurred by the suicide of a detainee at the facility – revealed poor staff training and health care. “Pretty immediately when people started going to Rivers we started to get letters about how bad the health care was, and just how people were really scared of dying there,” said Deborah Golden, an attorney with the DC Prisoners Project, a group that is representing inmates in the legal case against GEO. One inmate named in the report, Keith Mathis, claims he was denied medical treatment for a cavity until the tooth became infected and caused an open ulcer on his face that eventually “burst open,” requiring surgery and three days hospitalization. “The more we looked into the situation the more we realized it was a systemic problem,” said Golden. “I suspect that it’s a pattern all over. When you try to run prisons as money makers what you do is cut back on the most expensive thing you can, which is medication and medical care.” GEO has said it will not publicly comment on pending legal cases or abuse claims by third parties, including nonprofit groups. Company spokesman Pablo Paez says that on the subject of business plans, “we have no comment beyond what’s in our public disclosures.” Despite a wide array grievances and tragedies, GEO has accrued contracts worth more than $588 million in federal tax dollars since 1997, according to available federal procurement data. And as long as federal officials continue to remand a growing number of inmates and immigrants over to private businesses, without imposing strict oversight, GEO will likely remain profitable. http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=15308