Former Florida prisons chief who took kickbacks released from federal prison

Former Florida DOC Secretary, James Crosby sent to prison for corruption involving kickbacks, was released today from federal prison.  His sentence was reduced last year after he helped authorities convict two co-defendants who participated in a $130,000 kick back scheme to Crosby and one of his chief district administrators, AC Clark.  The Kickbacks involved a canteen/commissary contract between the FDOC and Keefe Commissary Network - that still has the FDOC contract and has never been prosecuted for their part in the scheme.

Clark was convicted and sent to prison as well and released after serving less time than Crosby.



Read the full article here: http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2013-04-16/story/former-florida-prisons-chief-who-took-kickbacks-released-federal-prison

News Service of Florida: 5 Questions for Jim McDonough

by Margie Menzel, The News Service of Florida 

The below article containing the responses of former Florida Department of Corrections Secretary, Jim McDonough was published today.

Secretary McDonough answered tough questions about Governor Rick Scott's continuing pursuit of privatization of everything "Prison" in Florida...

__________________________________

James R. McDonough was the secretary of the Florida Department of Corrections from 2006 to 2008. He was tapped by Gov. Jeb Bush, for whom he'd worked as Florida's drug czar since 1999. McDonough moved to DOC after Bush fired Secretary James Crosby, who later went to prison for taking kickbacks.

His no-nonsense style proved the antidote to scandal at DOC. He fired or demoted dozens of prison officials and instituted random drug tests and mandatory fitness programs for employees. He angered many, but is widely credited for cleaning up the place.

Since leaving DOC, McDonough has stayed active in corrections. He's involved with the "smart justice" movement to cut recidivism via substance abuse and mental health treatment and basic education for prisoners. He also favors diversion programs and other reforms, and is comfortable sailing against the political winds.

"Politics in Florida has been such that public officials are afraid to appear, quote, weak on crime," he said. "And the way that's defined is, 'Don't lighten up on the sentencing in any way whatsoever.'"

A retired Army colonel, McDonough has won three Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart. He's written three books: "Platoon Leader;" "The Defense of Hill 781;" and "The Limits of Glory."

The News Service of Florida has five questions for Jim McDonough:

Q: Privatization is a big part of Gov. Rick Scott's approach to cutting prison costs. Agree or disagree?

McDONOUGH: I don't agree. There are some things government has to do. If you're going to be incarcerating its citizens, that's a state function, not a for-profit function. Right away, you have problems when you take that approach.

I think Florida became a very lucrative state to market private prison systems and the services that came with it. The medical issue, I think, is tied in with all of that. If the state is going to arrest people and put them behind bars, it picks up the obligation to look after their health – and not market that out to the most attractive bidder, which usually means the lowest bidder.

I'm not surprised Florida became such a target for the private companies. It's a huge market, and became, on the surface, an attractive way to go.

Now, in my opinion, it's the obligation of the state. I think if it becomes the obligation of the state, it'll be justly met. But if you turn it into an enterprise, with commercial profits involved, it's a risky business.

Q: The backers of private prisons argue they're more efficient than state prisons. True?

McDONOUGH: In my time as head of the corrections system of Florida, I considered it my obligation to look into the housing of all of the inmates, whether they were cared for by the state or the private prisons.

Clearly there was an effort to send to the privates the easier inmates to handle. That meant that you don’t have the more misbehaving inmates or the more dangerous inmates or the more medically ill inmates going to the privates. So for the privates, that becomes an advantage. If you're not working overtime to take care of all of that, and spending the money, then the overall outcome appears to be less expensive.

But it's not. When [private prisons] grow and take increasing percentages of the inmates, they get the ill as well as the well. They get the violent as well as the non-violent. They get the dangerous as well as the stable, and so on. So I always thought that the selling point that it could be done at a percent less than it cost the state to care for an inmate was absolutely skewed data.

One of their prime conceptions was to hire employees at the lowest possible wage level. I thought that meant there was not as careful a pick of who was going to work in the system. And my observation, going into the prisons, was that was political. And that meant, therefore, that the discipline, the behavior, the control within the privates were not up to the standards they should have been.

Q: You backed a bill last session to allow non-violent, drug-addicted inmates to move from prison to treatment programs after serving half their time. Why did it fail?

McDONOUGH: I continue to see some well-respected law enforcement officials arguing that any questioning of [current sentencing guidelines] proves there's a lack of understanding of the seriousness of crime. I think that's nonsense.

The Legislature, which is largely Republican, passed it. Not only did they pass it, it passed with overwhelming numbers. So there you had a good idea, a good bill, tremendous political support. And then you had shrill voices saying, "Oh, no, no, no...We shouldn't do this, because it'll be weak on crime."

And lo and behold, the governor vetoed it. It was an unbelievable instance of a lost opportunity, of playing to this over-inflated, get-tough-on-crime mystique.

Q: But hasn't the crime rate been going down? Doesn't that suggest getting tougher works?

McDONOUGH: Yes, when you get tougher on crime and you get a very violent criminal who's on a crime spree and can't change his behavior, incarcerating that guy and keeping him a long time does have an effect on public safety. I'm all for that.

But it's like a pendulum swinging. If you go too far, it's going to crash back of its own weight. The crash-back we have seen, by incorporating everybody into these policies and laws that lead to more time in prison.

It's just too expensive. You have caught up in this pendulum swing a lot of people who would not be doing damage on the outside, and who – with a little bit of money invested in their rehabilitation – would probably do quite well.

Q: Florida was just cited for a 166 percent increase in the average sentence between 1990 and 2009 – the most of any state. Other states have dialed back their sentences. Why not Florida?

McDONOUGH: Other states that are conservative in their political structure, like Texas, actually have gone the other way. They've really flattened out their prison growth. They've saved hundreds of millions of dollars on prison construction, and they have seen crime decrease.

So the examples are out there. Florida is sort of a holdout, on an idea that has seen its day, served a purpose for a bit, but now has gone too far. I'd like to see Florida come into the modern age a bit, and come up with smart justice approaches. 

INSOURCING - Will Florida's new Gov. Scott fall in with the crooks...or clean them out?
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by Bob Sloan

Thu Dec 23, 2010 at 05:22:44 PM PST

Here are links to the last 4 segments in the INSOURCING series:
INSOURCING - Florida Gov. Elect trashes PRIDE for prison industry operations

INSOURCING - Stimulus funds go to Prisons - their Lobbyists accompany new lawmakers to Washington

INSOURCING - Has the main enabler to job losses and slave labor in Prison Industries been caught?

INSOURCING - How your government does not protect your jobs or prosecute PIECP Violations

Yesterday I wrote about the advice given to Florida's Governor-Elect, Rick Scott by his transition team regarding the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) and Florida's prison industries operated by the non-profit corporation, Prison Rehabilitative Industries and Diversified Enterprises (PRIDE of Florida). Today I'd like to continue the discussion by better explaining PRIDE's activities and business practices that have resulted in such harsh language about them by the transition team - as well as others.

In simple terms it's because this corporation once served a necessary and important service for the state. They took over a state run prison industries that was floundering and costing the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to fund and turned those industries around within 4 short years. From 1980 through 1990 PRIDE was held out to all other state prison operations as a glowing and shining example of how private enterprise could work hand in hand with states to address recidivism through training and hard work.

In 1999 PRIDE participated before the U.S. House of Representatives' hearing: "OPTIONS TO IMPROVE AND EXPAND FEDERAL PRISON INDUSTRIES HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON CRIME OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES". PRIDE's General Manager of New Business Development, Michael N. Harrell (Keep Michael Harrell and Pamela Davis' name in mind as you read the rest of this segment) spoke to the committee that was chaired by Bill McCollum (R) of Florida. In that Committee hearing McCollum and others were attempting to "improve and expand the Federal Prison Industries." In fact McCollum was so proud of "his" state's prison industry operator, PRIDE, that he wanted to use PRIDE's business format as a basis for "improving" the federal prison industry. But I lost track again...PRIDE was being heralded as the pioneer in using inmate labor to produce products and lower costs for private sector manufacturers during the 1990's.

Other states began to integrate PRIDE's business plan into their own state run industries. This was the corporation that was drug store magnate Jack Eckerd's brainchild. He worked throughout the late 70's and early 1980 working with Florida's Governor and Legislature to get their approval to try his innovative approach to combining prison industry with training and a reduction in recidivism. He was successful and so was PRIDE through 1990.

During those early years Eckerd saw to it that PRIDE kept on track with the mission goals of the program he'd put into place: training of inmates in prison to reduce idleness and provide released offenders with the skills necessary to allow them to gain employment and avoid a return to prison. Eckerd also made sure PRIDE maintained an employment service for released inmates that worked with local businesses and manufacturers willing to hire ex-offenders. In addition PRIDE provided reentry assistance to those released: vouchers for tools, housing assistance, resume writing assistance. In other words back then PRIDE was totally dedicated to the mission goals set by the Legislature.

In 1990 Eckerd stepped down as Chairman of PRIDE's Board. At the same time J. Floyd Glisson also resigned from his post as President of PRIDE. At the time they both voiced opinions that they were concerned with the direction new PRIDE Administrators were taking the corporation - away from training and concentrating on profits. Both Eckerd and Glisson went on to other projects, most of which had to do with public service duties on behalf of the people of Florida.

Pam Davis succeeded Glisson and eventually took over as CEO of PRIDE. SHe was PRIDE's CEO at the time of the above-mentioned House Committee hearing. This was the pre-2000 PRIDE.

From 1999 through the present both PRIDE and the FDOC have become what can only be termed corrupt. PRIDE turned it's corporate efforts to illegal acquisitions in pursuit of more and more profits while the FDOC began a period of total anarchy. Secretary's of the FDOC from 1999 through early 2006 ran the FDOC in a manner that became openly called the "Dixie Mafia". Steroid and drug sales rings operated within the institutions, run by senior officials of the FDOC. Inmate abuse frequency escalated, staff began raping female staff members and lavish orgies were held at the state owned homes of top DOC officials. Kickbacks brought down Secretary James Crosby in February 2006 - along with his number one "road dog" A.C. Clark.

While the FDOC was busy finding ways to skim as much money as they could from taxpayers and through lucrative contracts that provided kickbacks to the top officials, PRIDE was busy doing damn near the same thing. Davis formed a number of spin-off corporations to use to launder PRIDE funds through to the benefit of she and other members of the PRIDE Board and executives involved. Davis also implemented a policy of partnering with private sector corporations under PIECP to allow the FDOC inmates to be used as laborers for those corporations. Even that wasn't enough though, and Davis and PRIDE began a plan of partnering with then stealing entire companies - literally taking every piece of equipment of her "partners", products, materials and technologies they had developed. Davis was assisted in this by her favorite cohort, legal counsel, resident agent and lobbyist, Wilbur Brewton (mentioned in yesterday's segment and named prominently in the Transition Team Report of Rick Scott). The plan worked by PRIDE having the "partners" move all equipment and supplies into one of the prison industry facilities upon prison property. Once PRIDE staff learned the production process completely, PRIDE would accuse the partner of owing them money, kick them off the property and Wilbur Brewton would then file suit against the former partners and inundate them with motions, discovery demands and stall long enough until the former partners spent all the money they had to file counter suits and prosecute those and defend PRIDE's false charges. This was a good plan, as without equipment, materials or supplies to keep their operation going, these businesses quickly ran out of money to fight the takeover and theft. End result; PRIDE kept everything and continued operations on their own.

The connection between PRIDE and FDOC were not just the inmates kept by one and worked by the other...Crosby as Secretary of the prison system also sat upon the Board of PRIDE - alongside Pam Davis. In that capacity he had the authority to remove all of PRIDE's partners from the state prison property and the staff to keep them from ever gaining access again - to the prison property or their equipment, materials or supplies.

In 1999 Davis served upon or within PRIDE and all of the spin-offs she'd helped fund and form. She also sat on the boards of the Florida Chamber of Commerce, Florida Tax Watch and had served as a director of the NCIA and that year she was serving as the Treasurer of that organization. She was also named to the Florida Council of 100 by Governor Bush.

From 1999 through 2005 the situation in Florida was that crooks were being guarded by crooks and being worked by other crooks - Crooks Crooks and Crooks? sounds like a law firm PRIDE had at one time before switching to Greenberg Traurig, or as I prefer to say, "Do, We Cheat'em and How". How the hell does that kind of thing work!? I mean what is up with that?

In 2005 the Governor's IG issued a report critical of PRIDE about the spin-offs and no-bid contracts between both. This resulted in the resignation of CEO Davis, President Bruells, CFO Robert Smith and several other PRIDE executive staff. After the report came out Governor Bush demanded the entire Board of Directors (appointed by the Governor) resign. Guess what? They had enough pull with the Legislature and at the Executive level through lobbyist Brewton that PRIDE and the Board thumbed their nose at Bush and told him in essence, to pound salt.

In 2006 the indictments of Crosby and Clark were issued and they were arrested, later accepting reduced prison sentences in exchange for guilty pleas. Davis and the rest of PRIDE avoided any prosecution by the state and were still able to avoid public exposure about their thefts of the 5 Florida businesses under the PIECP partnerships.

James McDonough was appointed by Governor Bush to take Crosby's position as Secretary of the FDOC. The Governor also replaced 5 of the PRIDE Board in January of 06, when their terms expired. Jack Edgemon was chosen from within PRIDE as the new President. The CEO position was left open. McDonough was expected to clean up the corruption in the FDOC and Edgemon was supposed to do the same thing with PRIDE. One succeeded too well and the other chose instead to cut himself - and his family - in on the money flowing through PRIDE.

McDonough went through the FDOC like a whirlwind; 20+ senior and many more mid-level staffers were given the boot. From 2006 through early 2008 James McDonough gained many supporters and accolades from the Legislature and public for cleaning up the FDOC. He believed the corruption had been eradicated from the Department within months of taking over and he turned his eye toward PRIDE where he also held a seat upon the Board.

PRIDE's President Edgemon took the low road. He upped his salary and instead of cleaning up PRIDE's situation involving the theft of the companies they stole, he approved the funding by his son-in-law of two for profit corporations - Century Meats and Circle A Brands - to be run by another former PRIDE employee. These companies took the place as PRIDE's business partner in the food processing industry operation, replacing ATL Industries (who they stole the business from). In addition, PRIDE worked closely with former ATL customers to help Century meats and Circle A to take over the federal and private contracts held by ATL. This effectively put ATL out of business and money to continue to battle them in Court.

In 2006 McDonough ordered his Inspector General to open an investigation into allegations I had provided to him concerning PRIDE. McDonough is a non-nonsense kind of guy and in responding to my allegations he asked for documentation and input as to what I thought needed to be done to fulfill PRIDE's role in training and reentry since that was their mission goal.

I provided the documents I had along with a plan that outlined my suggestions of replacing the entire PRIDE Board or the FDOC taking over the prison industries entirely. I told him the one thing that needed to be done was taking the PIECP certificate back from PRIDE.

Twice in 06 I met with Secretary McDonough at the PRIDE Board meetings and in between we corresponded about our concerns regarding PRIDE. In September 2007 the FDOC IG completed the PRIDE investigation and submitted it to McDonough. He resigned that same month from the PRIDE Board. In October he openly called upon the Governor and Legislature to abolish PRIDE and turn the prison industries and the PIECP certificate over to the FDOC. In addition McDonough demanded several million dollars in room and board deductions from PRIDE that they had taken out of the wages of inmates under PIECP and were supposed to turn over to the FDOC. The Governor agreed with McDonough and the Legislature threw a fit. When the dust settled, Secretary McDonough retired, the PIE Certificate was ordered turned back over to the FDOC and legislation was enacted on the issue of allowing the FDOC to operate the prison industries.

From 2007 to 2009 many things occurred that reinforced the concerns demonstrated by myself and Secretary McDonough: One of the companies stolen by PRIDE received a judgment against PRIDE's spin-off, Global Outsourcing (Pam Davis was the President of that one, Brewton was the attorney and resident agent of Global) for $31 million. Named in the suit? Davis and Mr. Mike Harrell (who gave testimony about PRIDE's successes at the House Sub-Comittee hearing in 1999). PRIDE hired Greenberg Traurig as their representative in one of the stolen business cases. Secretary McNeil that replaced McDonough has defied Governor Crist's demand that the FDOC take back the PIE Certificate, citing Departmental financial restraints (lest we forget, McNeil also holds McDonough's old seat on the Board of PRIDE and following his refusal to take back the certificate, PRIDE's Board in 2009 voted him the "best Secretary the FDOC has ever had").

So the important Certificate remains with and under the control of, PRIDE. Some wonder why this Certificate is worth fighting over when PRIDE only "trains" 2% or less of the inmates in FDOC and they're a "non-profit" corporation. Why put up such a battle over less than 2% of the inmates? Well because that certificate can only be held by one entity in the state issued and whoever holds it has control over which industries fall under PIECP and also over PIE industries being operated by private prison industries. The certificate allows PRIDE to sell their products upon the open markets of Florida and the holder of that certificate controls all PIECP operations in the state. Power, money and influence is attached to that piece of paper issued by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Complaints and documents I sent to Florida's Attorney General, Bill McCollum (yeah, that's right the same McCollum who chaired the House Sub-Committee Hearing back in '99) were forwarded by him to PRIDE's General Counsel, Ron LaFace (of Greenberg Traurig fame). Named in those documents were LaFace and PRIDE's long time spokesman and legislative liaison, Foster Harbin. I accused both of illegal or improper lobbying for PRIDE to amend a Florida statute to the benefit of PRIDE. Within days of receiving my complaint and the documents from McCollum, both LaFace and Harbin resigned their positions with PRIDE. And the crème de la crème? PRIDE hired Brewton back as their General Counsel. Now he is their resident agent, general counsel, lobbyists and sits on PRIDE's Board of Directors!

As I quoted from the Transition Team report yesterday, none of that legislation has made it out of committee, through "obstruction" provided by PRIDE's lobbyists in Tallahassee.

McDonough was able to clean up a huge state department rife with all classes of corruption, 28,000 employees and 100,000 inmates...but when he tried to clean up PRIDE - he ran into a brick wall and ultimately became another victim to their influence and power in the state capitol.

Now several years later, the F.B.I. and the Bureau of Justice Assistance are both investigating PRIDE and I certainly hope their findings result in mandatory prosecutions and a disbanding of the entire corporation.

So in the end all the important and influential players have taken up their positions within PRIDE and the FDOC. The incoming Governor's transition team is calling for reform of the FDOC and PRIDE and that the FDOC or state take back the PIECP certificate. This looks like it could become a nasty fight in the upcoming Florida Assembly - or will it? Scott is already known as purportedly being corrupt for defrauding Medicare through his business, so will he clean up both the department and PRIDE...or will he fall in with them?

Why should any of this matter to you? Because if you live in Florida thousands of your jobs have already been lost to or because of prison labor. If you live in any of the other 41 states operating under PIECP...you may have already lost one of the other thousands of jobs that have gone to prisoners...

Answer the poll and let me know

Poll
Will Rick Scott abolish PRIDE and clean up the FDOC? Or will he join them in further scamming Florida taxpayers?

Scott will clean up FDOC and PRIDE.
Scott will try, but fail because of PRIDE's influence with the legislature
Scott will ignore the advise of his transition team and leave both FDOC and PRIDE alone
Scott will cut himself into the corruption and money made from it.
Scott will resurrect and become the new head of the "Dixie Mafia".
I don't know
None of the above
| 29 votes | Results
COMMENTS to DK diary below

Tip Jar (15+ / 0-)
"Inmates should be reformed...not recycled"

by Bob Sloan on Thu Dec 23, 2010 at 05:22:42 PM PST
[ Reply to This ]
What an amazing diary. (8+ / 0-)
I am left wondering if one of the companies PRIDE 'installed' was yours?

I call insourcing OnShoring Labor.

The issue of private prisons and prison labor for profit and being the country with the highest percentage of incarcerated is really, really chilling.

You might enjoy this diary with a list of states and what their prisoners make:

Onshore Manufacturing - Cheap Prison Labor

by War on Error [Unsubscribe] [Edit Diary]

Sun Dec 21, 2008 at 08:53:06 AM PST

It's difficult to be happy knowing so many suffer. We must unite.

by War on Error on Thu Dec 23, 2010 at 06:03:55 PM PST
[ Reply to This | RecommendHide ]
Thanks and I read your diary linked above (5+ / 0-)
I read it and have to ask some of the same questions myself over and over again. Still haven't gotten a realistic answer to most.

This is why I didn't go near Onshoring when I began the series. These folks are busily trying to hook up small private sector companies with prison industries closest to their operation, so prison labor can replace their labor need.

They're prison labor brokers! Hard to believe anyone would choose that for an occupation, huh?

"Inmates should be reformed...not recycled"

by Bob Sloan on Thu Dec 23, 2010 at 06:20:50 PM PST
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]
Absolutely sick. (2+ / 0-)
Wonder what they're business card say on it...probably something stupid like

John Smith
Labor Infrastructure Analyst
US Prisons

You know what would be cool Bob....setting journalism students all across America on this story. Have them go to local area prisons and confront wardens regarding stories of prison labor. Then post the videos on facebook and youtube and political blogs, or maybe even send it in to their local television stations.

Hmmm...wonder if Mike Stark is still around. That dude is pretty aggressive with the confronting.

Sigh. Just thinking outside the box.

Hope you're doing well tonight Bob.

Bob Sloan: INSOURCING Slavery in the land of the free

by cosbo on Thu Dec 23, 2010 at 09:13:17 PM PST
[ Parent | Reply to This | RecommendHide ]
Thanks for stopping by and dropping (1+ / 0-)
such a neat suggestion. I wish I were able to coordinate something like that - journalism students.

However, it takes the mainstream media outlets with the most viewers to help get the work out, and they're mostly held by a few and won't say anything to upset owners - who may just have money invested in the likes of CCA.

Trying to get Christmas stuff done so Sunday I can put that behind - one more time, sigh...

"Inmates should be reformed...not recycled"

by Bob Sloan on Fri Dec 24, 2010 at 08:35:44 AM PST
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]
I wonder if the goal (0+ / 0-)
is to create a 'kinetic' system.

If prisons continue, and then succeed in bringing all the services needed to run/maintain the prison inside the prisons, they become a sort of "independent nation' operating within the communities they reside.

What is clear and impossible to defend is the reality, which your diary clearly points out, is that the US has created a huge Prison Industry.

Think about this. Robber Barons created/amassed great wealth with 'resources' that are freely provided by the earth, less the cost of extracting the resources.

Prisoners are a 'freely provided resource' for those morally bankrupt enough to profit from them.

Via poverty and neglect, the US 'manufactures' a 'cradle to prison' resource.

When will we the people be willing to push back against all that enables this travesty?

It's difficult to be happy knowing so many suffer. We must unite.

by War on Error on Fri Dec 24, 2010 at 08:31:47 AM PST
[ Parent | Reply to This | RecommendHide ]
We're pushing War on Error...we're pushing (1+ / 0-)
hard but it's all uphill right now. Many states have come to the conclusion that putting more and more in prison and using them for slave labor is not as cost efficient as previously. Some states have come to understand the real cost of prison labor is still borne by the taxpayers. I know they claim "prison industries are self sufficient, we take no tax dollars to fun our operations", etc. But...we taxpayers pay for the housing, clothing, feeding, medical and every other need inmates have. Once they walk out the cell door and go to work in the prison, the money they earn goes right back into the industry as profits...with their meager checks going into accounts so they can go to the stores and buy commissary that is sold by another corporation.

So we are paying for the total upkeep of the prison labor force with our funding. We keep their workers fed and ready to work.

"Inmates should be reformed...not recycled"

by Bob Sloan on Fri Dec 24, 2010 at 08:41:02 AM PST
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]
Why do images of... (3+ / 0-)
"Brubaker" and "Shawshank Redemption" spring to mind after reading this?!

In an insane society, the sane man would appear insane

by TampaCPA on Thu Dec 23, 2010 at 06:15:22 PM PST
[ Reply to This | RecommendHide ]
Hmmmm maybe because all of the players (3+ / 0-)
named in the diary watched both and that's where they got their ideas from? ;)

"Inmates should be reformed...not recycled"

by Bob Sloan on Thu Dec 23, 2010 at 06:22:05 PM PST
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]
Shouldn't this be done by the state? (2+ / 0-)
Why can't the states be in charge of their own prison systems? The whole community has a stake in this so it should administered by the state with auditors to make sure the goals of humane incarceration w/ rehabilitation takes place.
I find it hard to believe that the state could be as corrupt as these for profit scum suckers.

What do we want? Universal health care! When do we want it? Now!

by cagernant on Thu Dec 23, 2010 at 09:41:23 PM PST
[ Reply to This | RecommendHide ]
As I said in a response to GUGA below (0+ / 0-)
Scott just chose someone from the most corrupt of legal firms involved in assisting PRIDE - Greenberg Traurig - as his "Special Counsel" to oversee the Governor's Legislative agenda.

So the arguments put forth by his transition team appears to have gone up his nose rather than into his ear...the GT firm represents the very prison industry corporation that is causing all the problems (PRIDE) and he picks from that group? PRIDE is on safe ground, me thinks. So cleaning up the FDOC is nothing compared to what needs to be done with PRIDE and if he doesn't clean up both one will just feed off of the other.

"Inmates should be reformed...not recycled"

by Bob Sloan on Fri Dec 24, 2010 at 08:50:40 AM PST
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]
He was fined for fraud (1+ / 0-)
he stole money from Medicare. Instead of being in jail he is the governor.

Who do you think he will side with? The taxpayers of the crooks?

by GUGA on Fri Dec 24, 2010 at 05:15:01 AM PST
[ Reply to This | RecommendHide ]
Well I was holding out hope for his cleaning (0+ / 0-)
up the corruption...but sadly a news article was just released saying he has chosen a lobbyist from Greenberg Traurig as Special counsel :(.

"Scott appointed Hayden Dempsey, the former Bush aide, as special counsel to the governor who will also oversee Scott's legislative agenda. Dempsey is a lawyer and lobbyist at Greenberg Traurig and represented 13 clients before the legislature last year, including many health care concerns."So it looks to me that he wants to cut himself in on the free flow of tax money in Florida.

Such a shame, I really was hoping he would be different. Should have know by his brand (R)...

"Inmates should be reformed...not recycled"

INSOURCING - Fighting for reform - can cost you your job.

Bob Sloan (C)2010

Fri Dec 3, 2010

For those visitors who may have missed my Corporatocracy series involving corporations, private prisons and prison labor, below are links to the series.

Corporatocracy
Corporatocracy-II
Corporatocracy-III
Corporatocracy-IV
Corporatocracy-V
Corporatocracy-Conclusion

Bob Sloan's diary :: ::
From 2003 through 2006 the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) was suffering from a severe case of corruption. James Crosby, former Warden at Florida State Prison (FSP-Death Row) had been chosen by Governor Jeb Bush in January 2003 to serve as the new Secretary of the FDOC (a Cabinet poistion). He replaced Michael Moore (no relation) who was leaving under a cloud of controversy and allegations of corruption. The Secretary's position included a permanent seat upon the Prison Rehabilitative Industries and Diversified Enterprises (PRIDE) Board.

There were many other choices for the Governor to pick from, but he knew Crosby. During both elections where Bush prevailed, Crosby had been a loyal supporter. He held or sponsored many meetings, dinners, parties and fund raisers for his friend Jeb. In addition to Crosby's support, Bush also had the support of another FDOC employee - A.C. Clark. Later Crosby and Clark were often referred to within the FDOC as heads of the "Good Ol' Boy's Club" or collectively, "The Big Boys".

Together Clark and Crosby twisted arms, threatened loss of prime shifts or overtime in efforts to "get out the vote" for Jeb and suggest others within the FDOC make "contributions" to Bush's campaign. In both instances a lot of support and money was garnered from among FDOC staff (22,000+) in support of Jeb Bush. Later many of those FDOC employees voiced complaints that their attendance at fund raisers, contributions and votes were coerced by Clark and Crosby through fear of losing jobs, having their shifts changed or being transferred from one institution to another, if they did not do as "suggested" by the Good Ol' Boys.

So Crosby's selection to head the state's entire Department of Corrections appears to have been based - at least in part - as a reward to Crosby for his political activities related to both Bush campaigns in Florida. Of course Crosby was only too happy to carry A.C. Clark along with him - from within the ranks of FDOC to the very top rung of the department's ladder.

As Governor, Bush later appointed A.C. Clark to the 8th Circuit Judicial Nominations Committee (JNC Appointment). Later, Bush would be unable to recall why he appointed Clark to a four year term on the Committee in response to questions as to why he would appoint a high school drop-out to such a position.

Clark had been with FDOC for years - as had Crosby - and worked at several institutions. During his tenure with DOC he made rank, only to lose it on more than one occasion. Once Crosby took office as Secretary, Clark quickly rose from Sergeant...to Major...then Colonel...to Assistant Warden...to FDOC Regional I Director (NW Florida). He rose through all those ranks from 2003 to 2006. Other "pals" of Crosby and Clark were also promoted over others with more time and rank. Clark was provided a huge home (described as a "Mansion") located on prison property and owned by the State of Florida.

Together Crosby and Clark raised hell in and around Tallahassee, within the FDOC and community. They threw lavish parties and orgies for FDOC officials and politicians on DOC property. Some turned into brawls, with attendees throwing punches at one another. When the media would try to follow up on the rumors they heard, most kept quiet, referring all to interview Crosby. He tried to keep it out of the media but was unsuccessful and several FDOC staff were arrested for the bar fights.

Crosby recruited semi-pro ball players to play for the FDOC softball team. They were hired to work as prison staff, worked no shifts but received paychecks like the rest, for playing ball.

A steroid ring was begun among staff working in the DOC. The tendrils of the drug ring ran from North Florida across the state to many institutions and originated in Egypt.

Clark was at the center of many rumors: that he used money out of an FDOC recycling fund to open a limousine service, that he was strong-arming other staff members to cover his shifts with threats of termination, covering-up

In mid-November, 2005 Crosby had to address the poor behavior of his men and women staff:

"Effective in mid November, Crosby told his top staff to begin spreading the word that employees arrested for an "act of aggression" would automatically be placed on leave while the department investigates the arrest. Crosby also told reporters in mid-November that additional policy changes will be issued soon that will cover other areas of employee misconduct on and off the job."

Crosby should have taken his own words to heart. He didn't know it then, but he and the others were already under intense FDLE and F.B.I. joint investigations for corruption, taking kickbacks and embezzling funds from the recycling program and misuse of inmate labor. It was later learned that the investigations were begun in 2003.

It is inconceivable that anyone committing such rampant corruption and abuses of power was without knowledge of the corruption ongoing within PRIDE, when he held a seat on the Board. He ignored all of the information I and others provided him with about PRIDE's state and federal violations, complaints of the formation of the spin-offs used for money laundering, wages and reduced wages of inmates, that also reduced the money taken in by the FDOC for room and board deductions from those wages. He ignored all of our requests and complaints...yet in 2005 when the IG's Audit on PRIDE was released, Crosby publicly stated that from the time he became Secretary and became a member of PRIDE's Board, he had reservations about the business practices, formation of the spin-offs and accounting procedures employed by PRIDE. He further alleged that he brought all of that to the attention of the Governor and Legislators. He knew how to "spin" the facts, for sure.

Throughout the scandals, investigations and a multitude of calls for Governor Bush to fire Crosby, he refused and instead had Crosby's back right up until February 2006. The formal investigations involving all of the corruption in FDOC were completed after the first of the year and A.C. Clark was arrested and Bush could no longer keep the lid on and ordered Crosby to Resign.

On February 10, 2006 Governor Bush appointed James R. McDonough as interim Secretary to replace Crosby. McDonough had been with Bush's Administration for the full length of his Governorship, serving as director of the Governor's Office of Drug Control. McDonough is a West Point Graduate, Author of "Platoon Leader" - later made into a popular film - and served proudly in the military, serving last in the European theater where he wrote the manuals on strategy and tactics that are still in use today.

McDonough took over with Bush's instructions to weed out the corruption and reform the prison system. He accepted his orders and went to work as always. Within weeks of taking over, McDonough fired many top officials, demoted those who had been promoted due to crony-ism and promoted those who had the skills to perform the duties assigned and had been passed over under Crosby and Moore. He charged department staff to remember their oaths and abide by them in dealing with other staff and inmates.

McDonough made a lot of enemies in his reform efforts. Most of those were the remainder of the "Good Ol' Boys" who had survived but were keeping their heads down.

I contacted Secretary McDonough shortly after he became Interim-Secretary, providing him with documents and information alleging corruption and violations of the PIECP program within PRIDE. I advised that I had provided the information previously to Secretary Crosby, to no avail. He refused to look into or investigate the allegations - even as a Board Member. Secretary McDonough replied immediately, asking if I was sure of my allegations, did I have documentation in support and did I have any suggestions on how the prison industries should be run by PRIDE, knowing what their Mission Goals were: training and job placement of inmates?

In response I forwarded several confidential documents outlining the corruption and efforts that had been made by myself and a prison advocacy group I belong to: (Little Ol' Ladies In Tennis Shoes - Florida LOLITS) and Kay Lee of Making The Walls Transparent (MTWT) to bring corruption in FDOC and PRIDE to the attention of Governor Bush and the media. I also included an independent plan for the revamping of PRIDE that would return the corporation to the Mission Goals. I advised that the Board had to be replaced with members appointed from both the commercial corporate and public activist arena's.

McDonough responded that he appreciated the input and documents and that he had ordered an investigation to be conducted by the department's IG and as soon as the report was completed he would provide a copy. As I awaited the report, I asked the Secretary if he planned on being at the upcoming (April 2006) PRIDE Board meeting and would I be allowed to attend? He promptly replied that yes, he intended to be there and as a member of the public I could attend.

I made the meeting, flying down from Indiana. Secretary McDonough could not make it to the meeting as he was in the midst of several near crises within the FDOC, but his General Counsel did attend. She spoke on his behalf and asked if I was present. Finding me there, she advised the Board that Secretary McDonough asked that the Board allow me to make a presentation to the Board as I had several grave concerns as to the PIECP program and PRIDE's business operations an practices in that program and those same concerns were mirrored by Secretary McDonough.

At the conclusion, I was given the courtesy of giving a presentation. I raised the issues of underpaid wages, use of inventoried products to fill PIECP orders, the contaminated foods coming out of their food processing plant, ethics violations by PRIDE President Edgemon and his son-in-law also working for PRIDE at the food processing plant involving the theft of ATL's equipment and materials and the formation of two for-profit corporations by his son-in-law that took the place of ATL's contracts and profits.

In addition I spoke to the use of inmates in the training program who were serving life or other sentences in excess of 20 years - voicing concerns of safety to both staff and inmates (allowing those inmates access to dangerous tools) and issues of avoiding overtime by adjusting inmate hours by removing some hours from one pay period and putting them on subsequent periods and the sale of prison made goods upon open markets without paying any PIE wages at all.

The Board thanked me and advised they would address my concerns and answer the questions at the next meeting in July. However, the Board was not aware of the situation involving ATL and the food processing facility and wanted Edgemon to explain the circumstances. Edgemon declined, stating that they were currently in litigation with ATL and he was unable to speak to the issues until the litigation was completed.

I attended the July meeting also and the Board had their internal auditor present to give a report on PIECP and how it was operated by PRIDE. In that presentation she stated that PRIDE had been reviewed numerous times by the NCIA and had been found in compliance. In answer to the wages paid to inmates, she answered that currently "all inmates working on PIECP orders/projects are paid the Florida minimum wage of $6.40 per hour." Again, she reiterated that under PIECP law, that was sufficient to meet the wage requirements of 18 USC 1761(c)(2).

I was allowed to respond to her presentation and again, pointed out that upon their website they claim to pay inmates "prevailing wages" as required by the law:

"The PIE Certification Program was created by Congress in 1979 to encourage states and units of local government to establish employment opportunities for prisoners that approximate private sector work opportunities. The program is designed to place inmates in a realistic working environment, pay them the local prevailing wage for similar work, and enable them to acquire marketable skills to increase their potential for successful rehabilitation and meaningful employment upon release."

The Board said they would further investigate my argument and address the issues in the next meeting in November. I attended that one also and PRIDE's "PIE Coordinator, Brian Connet was brought in and gave a presentation on PIECP. He gave a glowing number of statistics alleging that their training program through PIECP was turning recidivism rates around and reported many individual success rates. He again, mentioned that the inmate workers were paid minimum wage and that was in compliance with the requirements of the "1999 Final PIECP Guidelines". Mr. Connett was unable to stay and answer any questions posed by myself or the Board members. He was followed by a presentation given by Ms. Carol Tortarelli, then serving as PRIDE's Program Director for Mission Programs. She added more glowing reports to those provided by Connett about successful reentries by former offenders, but did not futher address PIECP.

At the conclusion I again gave a presentation that challenged the legality of the minimum wages paid by PRIDE when they were supposed to be paying prevailing wages - a substantial difference. The Chairman of the Board and two othr members turned to President Edgemon and asked," Jack are we in compliance on PIECP requirements by paying minimum wages?" His reply was a nod yes. When I again advised they were not only in non-compliance, but the failure to pay the proper wage rendered each product shipped across state lines a federal felony, Edgemon was asked again; "Jack are we or are we not in compliance by paying minimum wages to the workers?" His response that time was a verbal, "Yes."

(I traveled several more times to Florida to attend the meetings but was unable to convince the Board that the inmates were being cheated by paying them less than required...and by doing that, they were reducing their tax requirement of matching deductions for S.S. as employers and it also reduced the amount of room and board taken from inmate wages and turned over to the FDOC. I was talking and my words fell upon 12 sets of deaf ears).

In July 2006 Crosby and Clark both plead guilty to receiving kickbacks under an FDOC canteen contract involving Keefe Commissary Network and American Institutional Services (Earlier this year the owners of AIS were indicted, arrested and are awaiting trial for their parts in the kickback scheme. Keefe has not been mentioned after the original stories broke, and there has been no indication they will also face prosecution for their involvement in furthering the bribery scandal).

When Governor Crist took over from Bush, he kept McDonough on, citing his great work at reforming the huge FDOC.

From my initial contact with Secretary McDonough we exchanged many emails and had lunch at one of the 06 Board meetings in Orlando, discussing the issues surrounding PRIDE and their business practices. I told him I had learned that ATL was not the first private business "stolen" by PRIDE through PIECP and provided him with the names of the companies and facts as I knew them. In September 2007 the investigation he had ordered into PRIDE's operations was completed and turned over to him and McDonough resigned his position on the PRIDE Board (I didn't get a copy of that report until late 2009). In October 2009 McDonough called for Governor Crist to abolish PRIDE and return the operations of the prison industries back to the FDOC and in November he cited the fact that PRIDE 'had lost their way" in pursuing their mission goals and statement. In addition he demanded that PRIDE turn over more than $1 million deducted from inmate wages for room and board deductions, but PRIDE refused, saying state law allowed them use of those funds and McDonough countered that federal law says it rightfully belonged to his department and superseded state law.

A Senate Appropriations hearing was scheduled for January 8, 2008 to hear the proposals presented by McDonough and the FDOC on PRIDE. On January 7, 2008 James McDonough submitted an unexpected announcement that he was "retiring" from the FDOC as Secretary. I had traveled to Floria to be present at the hearing in support of the FDOC and heard the news sitting in my hotel room. I immediately emailed the Secretary and questioned if his retirement was a result of his battle over PRIDE. He stated it was his decision and the PRIDE fight had no effect upon his decision. However, since that time McDonough has been involved in several efforts to change the laws surrounding incarceration, to reduce incarceration and remove some inmates from prison and place them in facilities to address their addictions or mental problems. He has also called for sentencing alternatives to prison. So McDonough remains active in trying to change Florida's dependence upon mass incarceration and the costs in tax dollars that results in.

Throughout my conversations and communications with James McDonough he was always truthful - regardless of any personal costs to him for voicing those truths - and demonstrated a huge amount of integrity and concern. While Secretary he eliminated wasteful contracts, reduced the cost of canteen items for the inmates - state wide - and re-negotiated the inmate phone access contracts, reducing the cost of collect calls to family and friends from within the FDOC. He made many changes to professionalize the FDOC and return it to a department that was again respected - a hard task after all the corruption in the nation's third largest correctional system.

His ability to understand and realize the actions of PRIDE were violative and hampering rather than assisting a reduction in prison recidivism made him respond as he had always done, by correcting the situation and addressing the corruption that lurked within PRIDE.

Unfortunately the Governor and Legislators were willing to support McDonough's efforts of ridding the FDOC of corruption and crony-ism - but not PRIDE. When his attention turned to PRIDE (Legislator's cash cow) he had to be stopped. Inmates and most corrupt officers do not contribute to campaign funds - PRIDE and their lobbyists do - so reforming the FDOC was okay. He had been so effective at rooting out all forms of corruption within FDOC that he simply could not be allowed to pursue the same attack upon the source of most Florida politician's lobby funding through PRIDE...and in his absence corruption and huge sums of money made off of inmate labor, continues as before; growing more insidious and being exported to other states every day.

In the next segment we'll discuss the NCIA and their impact upon the violations within PIECP.

Some have asked that I provide links to the other segments in this series. Below you will find them.

INSOURCING - A new concept about private sector job losses
INSOURCING-II-The Wheel of Money and Sorrow...
INSOURCING-III - Corporate Wheel of Profit Rolls On...
INSOURCING-IV - More Profits Through Monopolies...-
INSOURCING - The Real Reason your jobs MUST go to prison and what they do with the money saved...
INSOURCING - Why this Investigative series began...
INSOURCING - Florida Corruption Exposed
INSOURCING- Violations-under-PIECP

INSOURCING III - Corporate Wheel of Profit Rolls On...

Corporations depend upon labor for their manufacturing and service industry needs. To keep the labor pool full to the rim, they develop ideas for new laws that benefit them and contribute to access to more and more individuals, some of which are highly educated and well trained with skills that will benefit prison industry operations. To this end they partner with organizations and politicians sympathetic to their needs and desires.

The machinations in the foregoing paragraph are accomplished over and over again through the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and their corporate membership. Corporate representatives meet with ALEC's conservative lawmaker membership and write "model Legislation" that is then taken back to states where the member lawmakers attempt to attract sponsorship and eventually pass the legislation into law. One a law is enacted and put in place, other machinery awakens and goes to work.

A violation of the new law is discovered, the person committing the "crime" is arrested and the actual "Wheel of Sorrow and Money" begins to turn and generate profits for the corporate interests. First, the arrestee is provided an opportunity to be released pending trial by posting a surety bond to get out of jail.

ALEC's corporate member, the American Bail Coalition (ABC - it's Executive Director serving upon ALEC's Public Safety and Elections Task Force) is there to provide bonding and of course, profit from the "service" provided to the arrestee. Many state's and the federal government have implemented a pre-trial release program allowing pre-trial release of defendants, but ALEC vigorously fights against these programs to keep private sector bonding intact and making money. This is a a very important arena for ALEC, as can be seen at their Model Legislation page on Public Safety page. ALEC has no less than 13 proposed legislative bills dedicated to bail and bail recovery issues. No mis-understanding of the influence wielded by ABC within the Public Safety Task Force. Of course reading about any of this soon to be proposed legislation is not possible, due to the secretive nature of ALEC. You must be a member to access their model legislation pages.

However there is a way to discover some of what they propose by access to proposed legislation through other sources. For instance here is a two part clip on a presentation given by the ABC to ALEC lawmakers on Model bail bond legislation proposed by ALEC (second part here). For those who watch these video presentation and wonder what the document contained in the "package" given to lawmakers was, here it is. "A Plan to Reduce Prison Overcrowding and Violent Crime - “Conditional Post-Conviction Release Bond Act”. Earlier and detailed proposed legislation on this issue is found here.

For those too busy to watch the video or read the proposed legislation, here it is in a nutshell: the American Bail Coalition makes millions off of pretrial bonding. Now they want to make millions more off the same pretrial defendants - who were convicted and sent to prison - once they are up for early release. How? The ABC is promoting legislation that would allow states to require those up for release to get their family or friends to post a post-release surety bond, guaranteeing the state that they won't re-offend if released early. Of course the surety bonds issued would require a minimum 10% "fee" paid to the bonding company for the posting of the bond. The ABC Executive Director Dennis Bartlett suggested at one of the legislative presentation that lawmakers should first check to see if their state could implement this bonding system through administrative means, saying legislation takes longer and may not be as successful as just issuing and edict to allow bonding of released offenders.

So ALEC corporate members make money immediately on bonds issued to release pretrial defendants and they wish to make more on the back end through more bonding initiatives. Following arrest and bonding a trial is held - or pretrial deals made - and an offender is found guilty. Once that occurs, the sentencing guidelines enacted by ALEC model legislation kicks in and the offender is often times sentenced to the harshest sentence allowed under the guidelines, and returns to jail to await transfer to the state prison. Many jails are now privately run facilities outsourced to the likes of ALEC members Geo Group and CCA. The state or county pays these corporations a per diem for each day the convicted offender is housed there. Corporations providing food and canteen products to the inmates also make profits. Any phone calls made by the offender are handled by AT&T or other telecom providers, and the costs of these collect calls are as much as 300% higher from jail facilities than they are when made from pay phones. The convicted offender's family and friends pay these outrageous fees. The jail facility receives a "commission" from the telecom provider for allowing the placement of their equipment within the jail. Within many states county and municipal jails now charge inmates for their room and board, assessing a daily fee for incarceration. This charge is taken out of the offender's account and if he/she has no money, a lien is placed upon the account and any money received into the account is then debited first to pay for the charges and remaining funds can then be used by the offender.

Once bed space is available at the prison for the offender, he is put on a bus and transported from the jail to the prison. Often times this transfer is made using private transportation companies that contract to move prisoners around the state and country. More corporate profit from the prisoner.

Once at the prison the offender - now called an inmate - is put through orientation and medical screening. The medical department is also operated by a private corporation such as Prison Health Services, now called PHS Correctional Health out of Tennessee. Your tax dollars pay for this medical screening and any subsequent use of medical care or treatment needed by the inmate. Inmates are usually charged a co-pay of from $4.00 to $6.00 and this is turned over to the private contractor.

Following orientation the inmate is moved in the "general population" area of the prison for permanent housing. Once there he/she is put through another screening process to determine what job will be assigned to the inmate. IF he/she has skills particularly needed by the prison industry located at the prison, the inmate is assigned to the prison industry. Otherwise he/she is assigned to another job within the prison.

Again, phone calls are handled by the same or another telecom provider that is contracted with the prison operator to handle communications. The fees are usually higher from prisons than they were from jails (security is quoted as causing the increased rates) and again, paid for by the person or family called by the inmate.

The prison authority establishes an account for the new inmate. Banking has also been outsourced and privatized and the corporation with the contract is allowed to charge a monthly fee of between $4.00 and $6.00 for handling the account - regardless of whether or not the inmate has money in the account or not. Money sent in to the inmate can no longer be sent as money orders, personal checks or cash through the mail directly to the inmate or prison where he/she is housed. The inmate is provided "deposit slips" that he/she must send to friends and family who wish to send them money. They have to enclose a money order and send it with the deposit slip to the address established by the bank and prison authority. Once received it is deposited in the inmate's account - after a fee of from $.50 to $2.00 is taken out for "handling" by the bank.

Money that is left after paying the above fees is available to the inmate to purchase clothing, hygiene and other items he/she desires: food, snacks, tobacco, etc. The commissary where these items are purchased are owned and operated under contract between the prison authority and a private corporation such as Keefe Commissary Network. The only items available to an inmate must come from this provider. Family and friends can no longer send food, clothing, hygiene or other items to an inmate - everything an inmate buys or is allowed to have in his/her possession is purchased through the commissary provider.

Tomorrow I will continue this sad tale about the corporate profits from inmates - both as inmates and as a source of cheap labor.

INSOURCING II - The Wheel of Money and Sorrow...

Previously I discussed PIECP and how it is being used to increase prison labor while eliminating private sector jobs to reduce labor costs, overhead and increase profits. In this and the following segments I'll discuss the entire length of the money chain from arrest through bonding and incarceration to release. I'll provide the names of the corporations, organizations, and private businesses who make large profits off of arrests and incarceration and those who profit after release from reentry program funding and donations from you.

Today I want to explain the machination that make insourcing possible and who is involved, how they're involved and who funds these efforts. To understand the concept I need for you to form a mental image of a wagon wheel. This wheel is composed of: an outer iron rim, spokes that radiate and carry the weight and pressure from the rim equally to the outer hub that holds it all together. At the center of the hub is an inner hub that fits the entire wheel to an axle.

Without any one of those four necessary components, a wheel will not function: no spokes it collapses, no rim and the spokes will collapse without something to hold it together at the outer end. No outer hub, and the spokes dangle uselessly from the rim and no inner hub for an axle and the entire wheel has no purpose and could not function at all.

These mental images demonstrate that for a wheel to work properly there must be a way for several parts to work cohesively to perform a particular task, in this case roll while distributing weight evenly. This is also an apt description of how insourcing works.

For insourcing to work correctly for corporations, lawmakers and prison industries, everything must work together toward one goal: using inmate labor to produce products or provide services to consumers and other companies. When this is done properly, corporations and prison industries make lots of money and thousands of private sector jobs are eliminated.

In this case - back to the wheel - the "axle" represents the U.S. Government's Prison Industry Enhancement Certification Program - 18USC 1761(c). It fits nicely into the inner hub which in our wheel represents the National Correctional Industries Association (NCIA). NCIA is the connector between government program and prison industries and compliance with that program's laws and mandatory requirements.

The solid space between inner and outer hub represents the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). The Outer hub represents lobbyists, donors and affiliated sponsors who fund and support corporate and key legislative interests. The spokes radiating away from the hub are the U.S. Corporations and state lawmakers represented by the lobbyists and sponsors. The rim represents companies, associations and organizations that profit from arrests and incarceration (other than housing, care and labor) and serve as magnets that directs individuals to the wheel and transforms them into inmates. With all parts working in unison and smoothly the wheel rolls along the ground, accumulating inmates.

Attached to the axle (PIECP) is the authority and weight of the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and the Surface Transportation Board housed under the Department of Transportation that enforces the Interstate Commerce Act (this is important since PIECP statutes were created under the Interstate Transportation Act addressing interstate commerce involving prison made goods).

As the foregoing demonstration shows, the full weight of several United States Agencies and Departments - from the Secretary of Commerce through the DOJ, OJP to the BJA - bear authority for the PIECP program, that connects to our wheel. In reality this is the relationship between the highest level of our government, through a federal program to prisoners - state and federal. Interspersed within that link are private corporations, lobbyists, lawmakers, ALEC and the NCIA...all with a financial interest involving inmates (housing, banking, phone rates, medical services, food service and labor).

Tomorrow I will explain how our "wheel" operates in a most efficient manner to generate corporate profits from initial arrest through eventual release from prison. You won't have thought about the connections before and will be surprised - and angered to learn just who all profits and how.

Corporatocracy II

In my last post I provided two key words: fascism and Corporatocracy . I also provided definitions of both as found in the Urban Dictionary. I believe both words and the concepts they give us are important in today's social environment - not only in America, but also on the world stage.

As I stated before, I have had an opportunity to revisit the years of my youth and compare them to the years of late. As adults all of us have similar memories of growing up; games, friends, school, injuries, lost loves, good times and bad ones. All of these are "personal" memories important to us as individuals and define how we've grown and matured with age.

What we have less memories of are social issues that were important to us through our years of reaching our maturity. With age some of those issues have faded from memory and history itself. There are fewer and fewer of us born immediately after the last World War who grew up during the period known as the "Cold War" era. I grew up during that time and remember being provided with instructions of what to do in case of a "nuclear" attack - you know, under the desk, cover my head and wait for the all clear. Now I realize just how damn stupid and useless those instructions were. Nobody would live through such an event. It was all BS put out by our government to make us believe our safety was important to "them".

There were other issues and events that transpired during that terrible era that have somehow been forgotten by us - left by the wayside as technology and our "advanced" civilization evolved - and others that have stayed with us, providing continued controversy and discussion into this new millennium; abortion, homosexuality, gun rights, immigration and death penalty and human rights to name a few.

While we continue to grapple with these social issues that haunt us as Americans, the rest of the world has not been burdened with the foregoing topics. Nations "conquered" by the US and our allies in WWII have made great strides in technology, manufacturing and education, rising above us in all those categories.

Manufacturing in the US exploded during and immediately following WWII. Jobs were available for everyone and as a country we were envied by the rest of the world. Our technical schooling, public education and insistence upon human rights and the rights of our population were pointed to as the way to the future. This was all true and continued into the 1980's. Then something happened that changed the entire course of events.

Corporate influence is what happened. Corporations that made huge sums of money over the 30 year period following the end of WWII, used their profits to begin to dabble in politics. They learned that if they were willing to contribute sums to the campaigns of lawmakers, those they backed who won would be in a position to use their political positions to influence legislation sympathetic to their corporate backer's needs.

Over the past quarter century that's exactly what has transpired. Corporations realized minor then huge, tax breaks through lobbying. They have been able to change such laws as truth in lending and truth in advertising. Where prior to 1985 there were usury laws to protect all of us from predatory lending and excessive interest rates, they legislated for changes in the law that now allow financial and lending companies to impose interest rates of as much as 200% on short term payday loans and vehicle title loans. It used to be if you saw an ad on TV or heard one on the radio, the information provided to you was honest, correct and forbidden to be misleading. That has gone the way of our manufacturing capabilities.

Insurance has always been an integral and necessary part of our society. Without it we fear we'll be bankrupted due to health or medical treatment needs. Without auto insurance we can be sued and lose everything...if our homes are destroyed by fire, hurricane, flood or tornado we'd be homeless and without the funds necessary to rebuild, without insurance. So we've all maintained insurance for peace of mind and to comply with government mandates that force us to have such insurance policies for home, auto and medical. Government mandated? Yep. In most states if you own a vehicle you must have minimum coverages. If your car is financed those coverages increase to protect the lender. If your home is financed, then you are required to maintain a certain amount of insurance to, once again protect the lender. In both of these cases the government mandate protects the corporation, bank or finance company that lent you the money. It does not mandate that you be protected, only the corporate intersts involved.

Now we are bombarded with corporate advertising every few minutes while watching TV or listening to the radio. We cannot believe most of what is said by the actors or announcers and every ad has "fine print" or disclaimers in those ads that warn or inform us that what we've just been told are not necessarily true. Have any of you seen the ad for AARP's Medicare Supplement Insurance on TV? United Healthcare Insurance Company runs the ads and provides us with a warm fuzzy feeling that the AARP endorses this insurance program. AARP is splashed all over the screen throughout the commercial. Take the time to read the print at the bottom of the screen that informs: "AARP does not recommend health related products, services insurance or programs. You are strongly encouraged to evaluate your needs".

Now it's not good enough for pharmaceutical manufacturers to advertise their products to doctors through conventions and office visits by reps, they also have managed to lobby for legalizing their advertising of products directly to the consumer - you and I - through the mass media. Again these ads promise us immediate and continued relief from ailments and conditions if we use their medications. Each one of these ads are accompanied by disclaimers that you should discuss the product with your doctor, and of course there are always critical and life threatening side effects caused by most of these drugs and by law they have to advise us of that. I don't know about you, but I leave all that medication crap up to my doctors. I pay little attention to those ads, but others do and inundate their physicians with requests to change their medication due to the advertising they've seen on TV.

Increased incarceration is another example of corporate interests. Many companies now make huge profits from housing, providing medical "care" or treatment, feeding or clothing inmates. They also profit from selling commissary goods to inmates and their visitors Another source of vast income is from prison labor, using inmates to manufacture some of the very products you use in your homes and businesses. Think that's not true? Do you have a Computer? Do you have a Microsoft operating system - Windows or Vista? Yep, you have products that have been through the hands of state or federal prison inmates.

These are but a few of the changes in laws benefiting corporations and there are many more. I'll discuss those in my next post and go into greater detail on how corporations have grown to the point they now influence our everyday lives through manipulation of laws and our governments.

Corporations, Prisons, Politics and Our Interests

Oh, What a Wicked Web We’ve Woven

By Bob Sloan

As with any research on a particular issue or project, there comes a point where it becomes obvious that peripheral forces are responsible for – or impact upon – the singular subject under review. Such is the position I find myself in today on the various prison and prison industry issues I’ve dedicated many years to researching.

I recently wrote about the involvement of US corporations; PAC’s and state Lawmakers in the current situation involving immigration legislation in Arizona and within nationwide prison industry operations for profit. Both topics required me to look closer at the reason such manipulations of law occur – I was forced to look beyond the immediate and obvious reasons; profitability and acquisition of power, to determine why both are so necessary.

At some point it dawned on me that as both a society and species certain undeniable facts remain unaltered: greed, domination and a desire to “compete” at all levels throughout our lives are chief among those facts. We have sports with teams that represent our cities, state or country that compete against others. We compete industrially against other countries and we compete for public office.

As we enter the 21st Century some things have not changed over the past 2000 plus years. We still have the desire to be the dominate personae in everything we do on a personal as well as social and governmental levels. Each of us strives to have more than our neighbors in the way of wealth, property and influence. To accomplish these personal goals we are continuously competing against our neighbors, businesses and others we perceive as a “threat” to our personal or societal goals.

Our individual actions as described in the previous paragraph have been applied to all aspects of our lives; politics, government, business, family and internationally as we relate with and to other nations and societies that share our planet. If we are greedy, dominate and competitive in our personal lives and actions and become the owner of a corporation, we carry those characteristics into our business operations and relationships. The same is true of those of us who choose to become representatives of our society in local, state and federal governments.

The continuous and unrelenting “need” to always be the “winner” in any situation leads us to be nothing more than selfish in our interactions with other members of our society or business competitors. The actual need to come out on top goes back to our days as cave dwellers, hunters and gatherers. In those early periods of life as a society, it was necessary to be the first to find food, shelter, companionship and procreate. It was just as necessary to our ancestors to fight to protect their position within their meager societies, clans or groups. Thus the need for and creation of tools of war and social conflicts.

Over the centuries those basic needs described above have become less and less necessary, yet once instilled within our psyche they have remained and influence everything we do – personally and as a collective society and ultimately a nation. While industry, manufacturing and technological advances have brought us into one new and wonderful era after another, the basic tenets of pursuing wealth and influence have remained with us and are just as strong now as it was in our ancestor’s time. Thus while technical skills and technology have changed and evolved, our human character, personality and desires have not kept pace by evolving comparatively.

In an age where space travel, atomic research, cell phone technology, splitting the atom and other scientific marvels astound and amaze us, we are still a society that has failed to eliminate war, cure cancer, eliminate hunger and most importantly, have failed to use our acquired knowledge and technology to advance both our society and species in a manner beneficial to all. The desires to make our life, our business, our government or our religion dominate and controlling over all others is still there and affects everything we as humans do. To this end we have carried the personal selfishness that was necessary in the early days of human life with us into modern society. We want to “belong” to the strongest group, Political Party or Organization. We desire more and more wealth to separate us from our next door neighbors and collectively we want our nation to stand out from other nations for the same reasons.

Today we in the United States perceive that we are the dominate country in the world. We believe our democratic form of government is the best and our lifestyles and standard of living is beyond compare. And if other nations, peoples, religions or societies are unwilling to accept our beliefs as fact, we are willing to wage war upon those unbelievers. So with this in mind, we must question just how far we have actually evolved as a species or a society since we left our caves in millenniums past? After thousands of years we should be well beyond such petty desires and individual characteristics.

Here in the year 2010 we should be able to live and work together with all other peoples, cultures and societies inhabiting our planet for the betterment of all of us. Instead the technological advances and discoveries we’ve made are used as a means of control and power over our fellow man. This understanding brings us to the issues of prisons and prison industry that exploits both humans and competing private sector businesses. Through manipulation of our federal and state laws, corporations involved in prison industries exploit prisoners through using their labor to make the products we buy and use. This allows higher profits through depressed inmate wages far below those previously paid to private sector workers for the same labor. They’ve managed to do this through a cooperative effort between their goals and our state and federal lawmakers who perform the actual enactment of laws that benefit their corporate partners – and no one else. Here is the current, evolved form of greed, dominance and competition in the new millennium.

American Corporations could be working to improve the lives and living conditions of each one of us as they generate modest profits from those acts. They should have a loyalty to those within our society who helped make them what they are today, to the government that made it possible for them to exist and prosper. But they have shown us time and again that they have absolutely no loyalty to us as individuals or a society and unless our state and federal governments are willing to provide them with more and more tax breaks and other incentives, they have no loyalty to them either.

Again the ancient character of greed is the controlling interest that determines the path and activities of these corporations. They are without concern for American workers, their families or needs – only upon generating the most money and wealth and political influence to maintain their superior hierarchy. To this end they take their operations offshore or behind prison fences, denying us both manufacturing abilities and employment. They realize that to keep us employed and their operations here in the US, their profit margins would be much less than it is by moving out of the country, thus they follow the mighty dollar, taking their “ball” somewhere else to play where they can call the shots and profit the most. As I said, they have no loyalty to the country and people who made them what they are today. These corporations acting in this manner have no concern that their actions weaken us as a nation due to the visible and actual loss of industry here in the US and the massing of finances in the hands of fewer and fewer among us.

We could all be working cohesively to make our lives, work and personal relations with others better. Our lawmakers could be working diligently to enact legislation and laws that benefit our entire society, protect our environment, and provide necessary and comprehensive healthcare and other important social needs. Instead, reverting to those same individual goals of greed, dominance and competition, our lawmakers have succumbed to accepting financial “contributions” from the powerful US Corporations – explained as campaign contributions – to do their bidding. With the assistance of corporate contributions, our lawmakers willingly do their best to divert necessary funding for important social programs; education, mental health, drug and dependency efforts, to the goals and purposes of their corporate partners. They have absolutely no shame in doing this, as their actions fulfill their basic desires of personal greed, domination and the ability to win any competition from challenging opponents in an election. Representing corporate interests guarantees them a war chest for the next and following elections. Their constituents cannot match either donations or guarantee continued loyalty, whereas corporate interests promise and deliver both.

We as a society are thus placed in a situation where neither corporate interests nor lawmakers are working on our behalf or to better our world. The current stalemate situation in our Congress and House of Representatives clearly demonstrates the power struggle between society, corporate interests and Legislators. Republicans say no to every proposed bill that benefits us collectively or individually; healthcare, jobs, extending unemployment benefits, stimulus, infrastructure improvements, funding for more teachers and other important social matters. This party managed to drive us to the brink of bankruptcy – with the assistance of the actions of their corporate partners – over the past 8-10 years. Our economy crashed and they funded the Wall Street bailout with legislation that allowed for no actual oversight over the use of our money and they fight any effort to regulate these corporations in the wake of the worst financial melt-down since the “great depression” of the last century. They were responsible for starting two wars – one preemptive – that have cost us trillions of dollars. Those funds were not theirs to spend, but ours, given to the government in the form of taxes with the belief that the government and legislators would not squander our money on useless or needless activities. Instead of paying for education and increased teacher salaries, providing health coverage for all of us or reducing prison population, they spent our money on wars. Knowing public programs were suffering without financial support, they reduced taxes paid by the upper classes in the US, forcing the middle class to pick up the slack.

The Democratic Party is similarly situated. With an eye on being competitive in the upcoming election in 2010 and the more important one in 2012, they have ignored our collective voice to take us away from the path chosen by the previous administration. Instead, they concentrate on reelection efforts rather than important social needs and demands. They work daily on “getting along with the Republicans” by trying to invite them to the table to discuss issues and take part in bettering our country, environment and helping society by implementing social programs that benefit the masses. They have the numbers to actually advance any Party legislation beneficial to us, but instead fight among themselves and with the Republicans over petty issues instead of pulling together for the benefit of our country.

Now we have a situation where once a party assumes the mantel of the Presidency through election, the standard practice is to go immediately to work to assure they can prevail in the next election cycle instead of going to work representing the interests of society and those who elected them.

The result is we are left with very little voice or influence whatsoever. What voice we do have, is drowned out by the continuing party arguments and maneuvering to acquire and keep the upper hand, which in the US is influence and control of all things. Neither of our long standing political Parties are willing to work together on issues important to us as a society and as human beings. They could work together to advance our civilization but are too busy working against one another. Regardless of the issue or actual need for social improvements, each party adopts a competitive position – one for and the other against – on every issue or legislative bill regardless of whether it is necessary or a good idea.

Behind all of this political bickering are the corporations that are funneling money into the coffers of whomever they perceive as having their best interests in mind. While these manipulations and arguments continue, more and more of us are left with no job, no real healthcare, and no income with which to feed, clothe or raise our children. If we remove special interests and funding of campaigns by corporate interests, what is left for our elected officials to do? Our business is what they’re left with, but that doesn’t result in immediate financial reward or gratification. It’s hard to believe we live in the year 2010, where men have walked on the moon and are gearing up for a trip to Mars as we watch our political infrastructure self destruct in this way. Scandal after scandal and corruption abound within our federal government at the highest levels. Acts and deeds committed by those chosen as representatives by their districts and communities. This has become “acceptable” and expected behavior of late.

The end result of all of the foregoing is that corporations have outgrown us. Several decades ago they were dependent upon us for labor, consumer consumption of their products and by both, continued corporate growth. Corporations were never intended to be considered “individuals”. They are not human nor people, yet they have managed to adopt that personae through cooperative efforts of lawmakers and our US Supreme Court.

With the loss of the 2008 elections, the Republican’s were in a position of lost power and influence. They saw that generating contributions and raising funds to be “competitive” in the future were going to be difficult with a base that was dwindling. They were going to have to come up with a solution to the loss of party and overall community financial support. The answer was to turn to those wealthy corporations who had already benefited from laws and tax breaks enacted by Republicans, and empower their corporate partners with the ability to open their bank accounts to support the party. With the appointments made under the previous President, our Supreme Court willingly complied with the desires of both the Republican Party and their corporate sponsors, by finding it “legal” for corporations to fund any political activities in any election as they see fit – with no limitation on amounts spent or regard to party contributed to. This has led us further down the path of totally eliminating our voice in choosing our own political representatives by allowing corporations to “purchase” their choice of who should represent us.

Thus society’s needs, desires and choices have become passé. This method of politics will quickly widen the gap between the “Haves” and “Have Not’s” and contribute greatly to the elimination of the middle class in America. In response Libertarian, Independent and Tea Partiers groups have found support from within the masses, where previously no such support was forthcoming to any real degree. Society has determined that neither Democrat nor Republican are willing to listen to their needs on important issues and see the constant bickering for what it is – a power struggle for dominance. We hope by diverting our votes away from that already in power, we will be able to once again make choices and decisions beneficial to us as a society, rather than continue on a path that reserves such benefits for corporate interests.

Whether we realize it or not, our society and country is functioning as nothing more than a dictatorship. Not under an individual, a cabal or similar entity. No, we are now living under a Corporate Dictatorship. There are at least 300 huge US Corporations that now use their money, influence and position to dictate the path of our country. They purchase the cooperation of elected and appointed government officials who assist them in enacting laws to their benefit. They dictate who can and can’t work by manipulating where and by whom industry and manufacturing will be accomplished. If we as employees require higher wages to live and survive, they refuse and simply close up operation and take it where they can use labor that is cheaper. It does not matter to them that they are destroying our country and society or not. The goal is wealth, domination and eliminating any competition for the markets the control. To this end they must – and do – control government oversight and laws favorable to them.

Our Corporations have changed our society completely in the past three decades or so. They did this by making new gizmos and gadgets to awe us and make us want to buy them. To increase sales and profits, they used their influence to eliminate such things as “Truth in Advertising”, “Truth in Lending” and eliminating regulations and safeguards such as usury laws, government imposed restrictions on lending and mortgage financing so we could borrow more and more money to buy more and more of their products. They moved manufacturing to countries where meager wages were paid to their workers. The money made from those transitions to offshore operations and US sales were then used to increase their influence upon us, and we never saw it coming. We always presumed they had our best interests in mind – like our government. This has continued until it is nearly too late.

As Americans we are now at a crossroads. This is our country. It is not owned by our government, or by the corporations that now control nearly every aspect of that government. It is our time to make our voices heard above the greedy and bullying clamoring heard in the US Congress and House of Representatives and comparable state legislatures. If we continue along the path we are on, only the top few percent among us will have wealth, security, influence and the ability to determine the direction of our nation. Once that occurs we will truly become a majority ruled by a minority. One party now represents the interests of those few mentioned above and are doing everything they can to protect those interests, because that’s what they’re being paid to do.

It is time for all of us to come together, regardless of Party affiliations, religious beliefs, race or ethnicity to stand up and have our voices heard in unison. Whether we are Christian, Muslim, Protestant, Buddhist or some other faith – or atheist - we will become “one” as a suppressed and controlled society where those beliefs will no longer matter if we do not act. The same goes for political beliefs, whether Democrat, Republican, Independent or Libertarian, that will no longer matter, we will all be subjected to corporate controlled rule.

Revolution is not what is needed; it is a clear and distinct voice at the polls in the upcoming 2010 election cycle – and beyond. Our elected officials have lost their way and forgotten who they represent once elected. They go to Washington and immediately fall under the sway of those who are already there, having been entrenched there for decades and the special interest groups and organizations prevalent there. They quickly forget why they were elected, their campaign promises and resolutions to act on our behalf as they accept the wining and dining as a just reward for forgetting their real purpose for being there.

We need to step up and simply say no to the status quo by refusing to reelect those who have had an opportunity to serve us and have served corporate interests instead. One term will inform whether those elected work for their community or for corporate interests. If they make the wrong choices, replace them in the next election. Political office was never intended to be a lifetime position or career opportunity, though that is precisely what it has turned into. Political offices were not intended to function as a for-profit position or a “family run business”, but that is what they have become.

Let us announce we demand a return to politicians representing our interests and not the special interests of those lobbyists and corporations flooding DC. We do not have the wealth and finances to pay lobbyists to represent our interests and should not have to. But what we do have is our vote. All that is needed is to turn out and “turn them out”. We made a great effort in 2008 and made our voices heard for “Change”. Let’s do it again and again, until Lawmakers really and truly listen. We didn’t send our sitting lawmakers to Washington to argue amongst each other and do no business on our behalf – we sent them there to represent our interests, as humans and a community. Congress and the House are not there to accuse, cajole and make unreasonable demands upon their opposition members or to investigate members of the opposition party simply because they hold a majority in the House. They’re there to conduct business on our behalf.

Unless and until we act, more and more of us are going to lose jobs and place our family’s future in the hands of those only interested in their futures. More and more are going to wind up in jails and prisons, fodder for the politician’s corporate partners. How many of the two million plus citizens now behind bars ever thought they’d end up in prison during their lifetimes? How many more of our neighbors, sons, daughters, fathers and mothers must follow that path into isolation and servitude for the corporate interests before we are willing to stand up and say enough is enough? Give us back our jobs, our dignity and our voice.

If each of us continues to refuse to speak out against the continued Political and Corporate exploitations visited upon our neighbors, when they come for you and I, who will be left to object?

By Bob Sloan
Prison Industries Consultant
www.piecp-violations.com