Another Reason Conservatives want to Defund NPR-More on Geo Group and Juvenile abuse in Miss.

[kpete]

Sat Mar 26, 2011 at 03:56 PM EDT
Another Reason Conservatives want to Defund NPR-More on Geo Group and Juvenile abuse in Miss.

by Bob Sloan

This article http://kosu.org/2011/03/town-relies-on-troubled-youth-prison-for-profits-9/released by NPR this morning shines a bright light on why the Conservatives, Tea Partiers and other Republicans are in such a hurry to cut funding to NPR.

Down south in Mississippi the state has a juvenile detention facility that is operated by Geo Group - formerly Wackenhut - the number two private prison corporation in the U.S. This facility is known as Walnut Grove and houses 1,200 "Boys" (here that term is used very loosely, indeed) between the ages of 13 and 22. Previous to the acquisition of this facility by Geo, youths between the ages of 13 and 18 were sent to Walnut Grove - or The Grove as most inmates call it.

The Good Ol' Boys run this facility down there; promoting fights on pay day so they can bet amongst themselves on the outcomes, physically abusing and beating the prisoners, frequent introduction of contraband into the facility, some guards at the facility are members of gangs housed there and sex between female staffers and prisoners is another frequent occurrence. What a spectacularly wonderful way to reform those youths that have made mistakes and need punishment and discipline to straighten them out. I'm betting Mississippi will come up with reports that will inform that the recidivism rate for youths housed at The Grove are lower than for juveniles housed elsewhere, to demonstrate what a wonderful thing privatization is.

In addition to the problems with out and out abuses, there have been deaths of prisoners there. The Southern Poverty Law Center and the ACLU National Prison Project have filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of 13 inmates against GEO Group, the prison administration and state officials.

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Of course when NPR dug a little deeper they found a reason why the Mayor's opinion was the opposite of many lawmakers and parents of the youths...
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more:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/03/26/960345/-Another-Reason-Conservatives-want-to-Defund-NPR-More-on-Geo-Group-and-Juvenile-abuse-in-Miss

[glinda]

1. K & R n/t