Unions fear Snyder will limit transparency on Aramark prison contract
Source: Detroit Free Press
LANSING — About 50 unionized state employees demonstrated outside the governor’s office Thursday against a private prison food contractor and said Gov. Rick Snyder’s recent announcement that he will shift monitoring of the contract into his office is likely an attempt to shield problems with the contract from public scrutiny.
Unlike the Michigan Department of Corrections, which has been overseeing the $145-million contract with Aramark Correctional Services of Philadelphia since it began in December, the governor’s office is exempt from the Michigan Freedom of Information Act.
On July 13, the Free Press published a series of articles documenting widespread problems with food shortages, smuggling of contraband, food-related prisoner unrest, and Aramark employees getting too friendly with inmates. The reports were based on thousands of pages the newspaper received from the Corrections Department, through FOIA.
Michael Migrin, legislative liaison for the Michigan State Employees Association, an AFSCME union which represented the 370 state food workers displaced by the three-year contract, said he and other members suspect monitoring of the contract is being shifted to the governor’s office to shield e-mails and other related records from mandatory disclosure.
Read more: http://www.freep.com/article/20140814/NEWS06/308140195/aramark-prison-food-contract-foia
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