New AFSCME Report on Private Prisons: “Making A Killing”

A new report exposes how the private prison industry thrives in a pay-to-play culture; making our communities less safe and more prone to violent crime

WASHINGTON — This Wednesday, May 4, 2011, as correctional officers from around the country arrive in Washington for National Correctional Officers week, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) released a new report entitled, “Making A Killing: How Prison Corporations Are Profiting From Campaign Contributions and Putting Taxpayers at Risk.”

Each election cycle, America’s largest private prison companies pour hundreds of thousands of dollars into the campaigns of governors, state legislators, and judges, in the hopes of advancing their political agenda—establishing more private prisons and reducing the number of public ones. The report tracks the flow of money from the companies to the people in power, and details some of the worst cases of violence and death in the nation’s least safe facilities.

“Private prison companies have one goal, and that’s to maximize profits,” said Ken Kopczynski, Executive Director of the Private Corrections Working Group. “States considering privatization should be clear about the problems associated with these corporate facilities—high rates of violence, high staff turnover, lax security, and routine mismanagement. We should be securing our prisons, not selling them off to the highest bidder.”

“Making A Killing” was released on a press conference call today by Ken Kopczynski, Executive Director of Private Corrections Working Group, Glen Middleton, Chair of AFSCME Corrections United, Tom Jones, former Senior Manager of Quality Assurance at Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), and Marty Hathaway, Correctional Officer at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Coralville.

The report is now available at the following url: http://www.afscme.org/prisonreport

Corbett's priority: prison funding, not education

From the Patriot-News. Read the entire piece here

By Benjamin Jealous & J.W. Mondesire

During the last 30 years, our nation has become the world’s No. 1 jailer as our education pedigree has steadily declined. Correspondingly, we have seen a huge increase in prison spending, squeezing out funding for primary, secondary and higher education.

Gov. Corbett's budget increases prison spending, while cutting education.

A recent report released by the NAACP called “Misplaced Priorities” revealed a disturbing link between high prison spending and low educational achievement in Philadelphia and other cities. The report’s support among liberal and prominent conservative leaders makes it even more surprising that Gov. Tom Corbett’s budget seems to have completely ignored its lessons.