Ohio Becomes First American State To Sell Prison To Private Company

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/02/ohio-prison-sold_n_946862.html?ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false


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Lake Erie Correctional Institution in northeastern Ohio's Ashtabula County is the only one of five state prisons up for sale that will be sold, state officials said Thursday. Corrections Corporation of America will buy it for $72.7 million, more than the $50 million needed from the privatization effort to balance the state's prison budget.

The four other prisons for sale didn't generate offers advantageous to taxpayers, state officials said.

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Offering the prisons for sale was an idea spearheaded by Republican Gov. John Kasich as he grappled with an $8 billion budget hole earlier this year. He wasn't the only governor to propose it: Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana introduced a similar plan that was shot down by state lawmakers in June.

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"These changes are nothing more than a Band-Aid for the deep-seated problems that continue to plague our state," Policy Director Shakyra Diaz said in a statement. "Privatization does nothing to address it, and may actually make it worse by allowing companies to make a profit off imprisoning people."

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the amount of people in prison will go up - the buying of slaves for the prison slave worker Barons.

none of this is "advantageous to taxpayers". only advantageous to Gov. Kasich and the Barons.

[Shagbark Hickory]

1. Not good.

[CarmanK]

2. It is going to take years to recover from these abuses of power!

I just hope that some day the people of OH will get some justice. There is something about entering into a contract that is unconscienable and if the people of OH are really being bilked by their own govt, it may be there will be justice. I tell you one thing, we have already seen in other states where judges have been paid off to send prisoners to jail just to accommodate PRIVATIZERS in the prison sector. It is the job of the state to mete our justice and punishment and this is a reneging on that responsibility. There privateers, see dollar signs but have no idea about the responsibilities they are under taking. And the DOJ better be on top of this. We really do have to get the BUSHIES and their incompetence out of the DOJ.

[izquierdista]

3. There are advantages...

When Kasich starts serving his term, he'll know what to expect. :rofl:

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. Man, I remember reading

Greg Palast's writings on the horrors of the private prison system a decade ago: http://www.gregpalast.com/free-market-in-human-misery/ Obviously we have learned nothing since then.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. Ohio is not first state to privatize prisons.

The first county-level private prison contact was signed in 1984, between Hamilton County, Tennessee and the Corrections Corporation of America. Shortly thereafter, in 1985, the first state-level contract was signed, between the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the United States Corrections Corporation (NCPA 1995).

In 1987, approximately 3,122 inmates out of 3.5 million inmates were confined in private corrections facilities in the United States. By 2001, the total United States inmate population had swelled to a staggering 6.5 million inmates—123,000 of whom were confined in private facilities. This 4,000% increase in the number of prison beds in private hands was fed by the concomitant 90% growth in total inmate populations in the United States as a whole. (BOJS, 2001). Currently, over 32 states and Puerto Rico have formed contacts with corrections corporations.

http://government.cce.cornell.edu/doc/html/PrisonsPrivatization.htm

[ensho]

6. wasn't that just a contract and not outright selling of the prison?

nt

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. ahhh..a valid distinction, in some respects. I see.

[mod mom]

8. Cheap labor for cronies:

NOTE WHO KASICH CHOSE TO HEAD THE OHIO DEPT OF REHABILITATION & CORRECTIONS:



Kasich announced Gary Mohr as his pick to head the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

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Mohr is a managing director at the Corrections Corporation of America, which designs, builds, manages and operates federal, state and local prisons across the country.

http://www.vindy.com/news/2011/jan/04/kasich-picks-new-ohio-prison-chief/




No wonder Kasich is so gungho on selling off prisons: $.23 per hour! Are these the jobs Kasich is planning for Ohio?



U.S. Prisoners Build Missile Parts for Raytheon and Lockheed to Sell Abroad
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Inmates in American prisons have come a long way from the days of making license plates. Nowadays, prisoners are helping build missiles and other sophisticated weapons, and providing dirt-cheap labor in the process.

While earning as little as 23 cents an hour—and no more than $1.15—inmates assemble electronic components for the Patriot missile, which has been used by the U.S. military and sold to allies like Israel, Egypt, Kuwait and Taiwan . The use of prisoners employed by Unicor, a government-owned corporation formerly known as the Federal Prison Industries, saves the makers of the Patriot, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, a lot of money on labor costs.

Unicor inmates also have contributed work to the building of the McDonnell Douglas/Boeing F-15 fighter, the General Dynamics/Lockheed Martin F-16, Bell/Textron’s Cobra helicopter and BAE Systems’ Bradley Fighting Vehicle.

Prisoners used to make helmets for the military, until 44,000 of them had to be recalled for shoddy quality.

Although Unicor is pitched as a job training program for prisoners, it has some observers worried. William Hartung, author of Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex, told Justin Rohrlich of Minyanville, “It’s really on the cutting-edge of questionable practices. The fact that it does an end-run around organized labor is a problem. There’s no greater restriction on a worker’s rights than being stuck in prison.”
-Noel Brinkerhoff
http://www.allgov.com/Top_Stories/ViewNews/US_Prisoners_Build_Missile_Parts_for_Raytheon_and_Lockheed_to_Sell_Abroad_110310




NEXT POST
Prisoners Help Build Patriot Missiles
By Noah Shachtman March 8, 2011 | 12:24 pm |
This spring, the United Arab Emirates is expected to close a deal for $7 billion dollars’ worth of American arms. Nearly half of the cash will be spent on Patriot missiles, which cost as much as $5.9 million apiece.

But what makes those eye-popping sums even more shocking is that some of the workers manufacturing parts for those Patriot missiles are prisoners, earning as little as 23 cents an hour. (CreditJustin Rohrlich with the catch.)

The work is done by Unicor, previously known as Federal Prison Industries. It’s a government-owned corporation, established during the Depression, that employs about 20,000 inmates in 70 prisons to make everything from clothing to office furniture to solar panels to military electronics.

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http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/03/prisoners-help-build-patriot-missiles/