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
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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
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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
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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
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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"
Showing posts with label corporations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label corporations. Show all posts
Friday, December 24, 2010
Friday, December 3, 2010
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
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
Saturday, November 20, 2010
INSOURCING IV – More Profits Through Monopolies...
So to take up where Segment III left off, our prisoner is now incarcerated safely away from society in a state prison that is privatized. Food provided to the inmate is provided by a private food service contractor such as Aramark or Trinity Food Service Group. These corporations receive large chunks of tax dollars to provide food to inmates and are often fined for non-compliance with contract terms.
On the first day of assigned work at the prison industry, the inmate is presented documents to sign. One of the documents is a “voluntary participation document” for PIECP. When asked what this program is, our inmate is informed that if they want to earn as much as minimum wage on some of the products they make, they have to volunteer for this program. That is usually all the information provided to new hires and they sign it.
During the course of employment within the prison industry the inmate works diligently at his assigned tasks, making a myriad assortment of products for a corporation partnered with the prison industry; Boeing, Microsoft, Victoria’s Secret, Starbucks or any one of the hundreds of other corporations operating under the PIECP program.
During the prison term the inmate visits the infirmary on several occasions and his/her account is debited with a $4.00 fee for each visit. Actual medical care and treatment was paid for with tax dollars due under the contract. Medication is provided to the inmate for ailments. The private prison physician orders pills in for the inmate in a dosage that are less than that manufactured by the pharmaceutical provider, so the pills are split under a separate private contract issued by the DOC to another company – such as TYA - to cut the pills in half. This contract is worth about $12 million annually, and paid for with tax dollars.
Successfully completing 85% of the imposed sentence, the inmate prepares to leave prison and return to the community. At this time he is introduced to Prison Fellowship Ministries (PFM). PFM is the largest prisoner reentry program provider in the U.S. They are the recipients of numerous state and federal tax payer grants for reentry assistance and are privately funded through donations. Our inmate is moved to a pre-release dormitory where he will meet with PFM representatives and be “counseled” through a program that is designed to indoctrinate inmates into the Evangelical Christian belief system. In addition the inmate is instructed to secure a surety bond guaranteeing the state that he/she will not violate the terms of post-release supervision he/she will be on until the 15% remainder of sentence (gain time) is finished. The bond will be issued through the American Bail Coalition (mentioned in the previous segment) or one of their agents who will receive from $2,500.00 to $5,000.00 up front from the inmate or his/her family for issuing the bond.
If our inmate is able to provide the money for the bond he/she will be released back to the community. If not, the gain time earned can be revoked and the inmate stay in prison until the sentence is completed in full – day for day.
In the foregoing scenario, our inmate has made thousands of dollars for all of the various corporations involved directly or indirectly with criminal justice. Private U.S. corporations providing food, housing, medical, banking, phone services, commissary, prison industry, bonding - pre-trial and post-release and reentry assistance have all profited from this one inmate’s term of incarceration. In addition other corporations profited; chemical spray manufacturers, construction companies building new prisons, prison staff unions made money from dues paid by the guards, taser manufacturers profited from sales.
The numbers of private corporate hands in the prison industrial complex are staggering. What is more alarming is the fact that many of those corporations and individuals involved are all affiliated with the American Legislative Exchange Council. They sit upon the board of ALEC’s nine Task Forces and “assist our lawmakers” in developing new laws and to increase the penalties for existing criminal violations. They work diligently to increase privatization of anything governmental – especially those duties involving incarceration.
One side effect of all this is the impact upon private sector jobs displaced by more and more manufacturing moving into prison industries. State correctional authorities that operate prison industries openly advertise the benefits of partnerships between private companies and prison industries by advising prospective partners that using prison labor allows them to label their products as “Made In The U.S.A.” and provides a workforce that requires no payment of benefits, are always on time and do not miss work due to family problems.
ALEC and their corporate benefactors and members receive invaluable assistance in their efforts of taking jobs from the private sector and replacing those positions with prisoners. One of the tools that assist them is the Correctional Industries Association. This Association is similar to the National Correctional Industries Association. A brief look at their Resolution on the Fair Labor Standards Act demonstrates their goal of reducing prison labor wages to benefit corporate profits and eliminate any inmate attempts of being considered employees or receiving fair wages for their work. You might wonder who is behind an Association such as this – well many of the same ones behind the NCIA:
• AMERICAN JAIL ASSOCIATION /JAIL INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION,
• CORRECTIONAL INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION /BUREAU OF JUSTICE ASSISTANCE PIE CLEARINGHOUSE,
• NATIONAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFERENCE SERVICE,
• NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE,
• BUREAU OF JUSTICE ASSISTANCE (BJA),
• INSTITUTE FOR LAW AND JUSTICE,
• NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CORRECTIONS INFORMATION CENTER,
• CO OFFICE OF CORRECTIONAL JOB TRAINING AND PLACEMENT,
• BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS,
• JAIL INDUSTRIES CENTER (BJA),
• NIC NATIONAL ACADEMY OF CORRECTIONS,
• PIE COORDINATOR CORRECTIONAL INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION.
The only names missing from the foregoing list are ALEC and their members; Prison Fellowship Ministries and the American Bail Coalition to make the picture complete.
With the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s authority to operate and oversee PIECP and prison industry operations and their involvement with the CIA and NCIA that make every effort to avoid paying inmates prevailing wages as required by PIECP, corporations make more money. Incentive is provided for even more corporations to choose to join them and avoid paying private sector wages when they can use inmate labor and save as much as 80% of the typical private sector hourly wage. The situation is made worse by the fact the BJA outsourced all oversight and operational duties assigned to them by the DOJ, to the NCIA.
As demonstrated by this series, Insourcing, we have been made aware of the vast amount of public funding that is being paid to private corporations involved in every phase of our judicial system – state and federal. From arrest through release these corporate interests are represented and rewarded with your tax dollars. To increase profits, they also have worked out a system whereby inmate families and friends contribute to their bottom line by sending money to inmates that is used to pay for banking, phone calls, medical and dental treatments, purchase of personal items by the inmate and finally, bonding to assure state authorities that inmate will not reoffend (this has become law in two U.S. states) and is being introduced in as many as 32 others this year.
Religious groups have discovered the tax dollars available for programs related to incarceration and have found ways to profit from incarceration (Prison Fellowship Ministries) and now want to further profit by establishing Christian prisons in Texas and again in Oklahoma and again in Oklahoma, staffed by Christians only and with inmates who “volunteer” to be housed there and ministered to daily in Evangelical theories and matters. These Christian facilities will also have prison industries upon the grounds where the Christian inmates will work for federal minimum wage. Of course these Christian prisons will be funded with our tax dollars and because the facilities will be operated by a Church organization, their income will be tax exempt – as are existing operations like those operated by Prison Fellowship. If/when these Evangelical Christian groups manage to establish and build these prison facilities, the first side effect will be an immediate drop in private sector jobs that will then be given to the inmates for minimum wage scale.
If you think this kind of Christian involvement in prison operation is not possible, you have only to look back to 2001 when one of the first Presidential Executive Orders issued by President Bush in January, 2001 was the establishment of the “White House Offices Of Faith-Based Community Initiatives” (WHOFBCI) in U.S. Government agencies and departments with instructions that staffers of each agency were to assist faith-based groups to cut through red tape and get access to federal tax dollars for community projects – especially ones related to prison incarceration and reentry. There are sites out there now providing instructions to faith-based groups on how to get the most federal tax money for their projects.
All of the acts committed and issues presented by this series have been initiated and helped along by our lawmakers. Without them corporate interests and manipulations of our state and federal laws would not be possible. We would still have many of our private sector jobs, our mortgage “industry” would not have been able to manipulate markets that would eventually collapse from those manipulations. Safeguards and regulations would not have been eliminated or watered down to allow for more profits and less government “interference” in many corporate interests such as banking, investments and insurance rates. All of these contributed to the economic picture we face today and were accomplished by our representatives succumbing to the large contributions provided by the corporations who now own most of them.
The way forward to stop the loss of jobs and more corporate influence in our life and government is to de-elect corporate enablers now in office. Those who vote against the will of their constituents to side with corporate interests have to be voted out of office. In selecting those who would replace the enablers, we must start asking important questions and firmly inform candidates that we are willing to risk one term of office on them and if they also fall under the spell of powerful corporations and special interest organizations such as ALEC, one term is all they’ll get. We all have to ignore the disinformation and mudslinging that accompanies every election cycle now. We must push for truth in campaign runs on the issues important to us and not fall into the trap of arguing about inconsequential issues devised to distract us from genuine positions of the candidates. Nothing will change unless we initiate the changes ourselves.
Political party or affiliations doesn’t matter; if your elected representative demonstrates support for corporate interests over the community’s with his/her voting, replace them until you elect one who votes for your community. Only in this way are we going to bring about reform to replace corporate control with public interests and put our country back in order.
Another action we can take is to force a change in existing prison industry legislation at the state and federal levels that will bring jobs back to our communities and neighbors. PIECP is the current controlling federal law but is being so mismanaged by the Department of Justice that all regulation has disappeared, transferred to the private sector through the NCIA. Letters have to be written to the DOJ demanding that PIECP Guidelines be enforced. Legislative intent of creating a level playing field for private sector and prison industry competition has been circumvented through deregulation and outsourcing of the program to corporate interests. The majority of citizens have been totally unaware of PIECP until recently. They had no idea the program existed and was contributing to their job losses over the past several years. We all have to make others aware of the program and how it is contributing to our lost jobs and income. In this way more pressure can be exerted by the public to reform this program so it no longer represents a cash cow to corporations and ALEC members and lawmakers who profit from it.
If PIECP is run as intended, the advantages now available to corporations would cease. They would have to pay prevailing wages to inmate workers; pay workers comp insurance premiums and would be unable to sell their products on the open markets in the state of manufacture without paying inmate workers even minimum wages. Additionally state prison facilities are funded with your dollars – even if privately operated. The prison industries operated from those prisons are offering their corporate partners cheap leases of as little as a dollar a year for entire manufacturing facilities. These are your facilities, bought and paid for with tax dollars. Every dollar saved by a corporation on these leases are a dollar paid for in subsidy by you and I.
If these modifications to the program are removed, there will be much less incentive for corporations to partner with prison industries and private sector job losses will diminish and some that have been taken will return.
This won’t affect outsourcing, but stopping insourcing is a good first step.
On the first day of assigned work at the prison industry, the inmate is presented documents to sign. One of the documents is a “voluntary participation document” for PIECP. When asked what this program is, our inmate is informed that if they want to earn as much as minimum wage on some of the products they make, they have to volunteer for this program. That is usually all the information provided to new hires and they sign it.
During the course of employment within the prison industry the inmate works diligently at his assigned tasks, making a myriad assortment of products for a corporation partnered with the prison industry; Boeing, Microsoft, Victoria’s Secret, Starbucks or any one of the hundreds of other corporations operating under the PIECP program.
During the prison term the inmate visits the infirmary on several occasions and his/her account is debited with a $4.00 fee for each visit. Actual medical care and treatment was paid for with tax dollars due under the contract. Medication is provided to the inmate for ailments. The private prison physician orders pills in for the inmate in a dosage that are less than that manufactured by the pharmaceutical provider, so the pills are split under a separate private contract issued by the DOC to another company – such as TYA - to cut the pills in half. This contract is worth about $12 million annually, and paid for with tax dollars.
Successfully completing 85% of the imposed sentence, the inmate prepares to leave prison and return to the community. At this time he is introduced to Prison Fellowship Ministries (PFM). PFM is the largest prisoner reentry program provider in the U.S. They are the recipients of numerous state and federal tax payer grants for reentry assistance and are privately funded through donations. Our inmate is moved to a pre-release dormitory where he will meet with PFM representatives and be “counseled” through a program that is designed to indoctrinate inmates into the Evangelical Christian belief system. In addition the inmate is instructed to secure a surety bond guaranteeing the state that he/she will not violate the terms of post-release supervision he/she will be on until the 15% remainder of sentence (gain time) is finished. The bond will be issued through the American Bail Coalition (mentioned in the previous segment) or one of their agents who will receive from $2,500.00 to $5,000.00 up front from the inmate or his/her family for issuing the bond.
If our inmate is able to provide the money for the bond he/she will be released back to the community. If not, the gain time earned can be revoked and the inmate stay in prison until the sentence is completed in full – day for day.
In the foregoing scenario, our inmate has made thousands of dollars for all of the various corporations involved directly or indirectly with criminal justice. Private U.S. corporations providing food, housing, medical, banking, phone services, commissary, prison industry, bonding - pre-trial and post-release and reentry assistance have all profited from this one inmate’s term of incarceration. In addition other corporations profited; chemical spray manufacturers, construction companies building new prisons, prison staff unions made money from dues paid by the guards, taser manufacturers profited from sales.
The numbers of private corporate hands in the prison industrial complex are staggering. What is more alarming is the fact that many of those corporations and individuals involved are all affiliated with the American Legislative Exchange Council. They sit upon the board of ALEC’s nine Task Forces and “assist our lawmakers” in developing new laws and to increase the penalties for existing criminal violations. They work diligently to increase privatization of anything governmental – especially those duties involving incarceration.
One side effect of all this is the impact upon private sector jobs displaced by more and more manufacturing moving into prison industries. State correctional authorities that operate prison industries openly advertise the benefits of partnerships between private companies and prison industries by advising prospective partners that using prison labor allows them to label their products as “Made In The U.S.A.” and provides a workforce that requires no payment of benefits, are always on time and do not miss work due to family problems.
ALEC and their corporate benefactors and members receive invaluable assistance in their efforts of taking jobs from the private sector and replacing those positions with prisoners. One of the tools that assist them is the Correctional Industries Association. This Association is similar to the National Correctional Industries Association. A brief look at their Resolution on the Fair Labor Standards Act demonstrates their goal of reducing prison labor wages to benefit corporate profits and eliminate any inmate attempts of being considered employees or receiving fair wages for their work. You might wonder who is behind an Association such as this – well many of the same ones behind the NCIA:
• AMERICAN JAIL ASSOCIATION /JAIL INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION,
• CORRECTIONAL INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION /BUREAU OF JUSTICE ASSISTANCE PIE CLEARINGHOUSE,
• NATIONAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFERENCE SERVICE,
• NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE,
• BUREAU OF JUSTICE ASSISTANCE (BJA),
• INSTITUTE FOR LAW AND JUSTICE,
• NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CORRECTIONS INFORMATION CENTER,
• CO OFFICE OF CORRECTIONAL JOB TRAINING AND PLACEMENT,
• BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS,
• JAIL INDUSTRIES CENTER (BJA),
• NIC NATIONAL ACADEMY OF CORRECTIONS,
• PIE COORDINATOR CORRECTIONAL INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION.
The only names missing from the foregoing list are ALEC and their members; Prison Fellowship Ministries and the American Bail Coalition to make the picture complete.
With the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s authority to operate and oversee PIECP and prison industry operations and their involvement with the CIA and NCIA that make every effort to avoid paying inmates prevailing wages as required by PIECP, corporations make more money. Incentive is provided for even more corporations to choose to join them and avoid paying private sector wages when they can use inmate labor and save as much as 80% of the typical private sector hourly wage. The situation is made worse by the fact the BJA outsourced all oversight and operational duties assigned to them by the DOJ, to the NCIA.
As demonstrated by this series, Insourcing, we have been made aware of the vast amount of public funding that is being paid to private corporations involved in every phase of our judicial system – state and federal. From arrest through release these corporate interests are represented and rewarded with your tax dollars. To increase profits, they also have worked out a system whereby inmate families and friends contribute to their bottom line by sending money to inmates that is used to pay for banking, phone calls, medical and dental treatments, purchase of personal items by the inmate and finally, bonding to assure state authorities that inmate will not reoffend (this has become law in two U.S. states) and is being introduced in as many as 32 others this year.
Religious groups have discovered the tax dollars available for programs related to incarceration and have found ways to profit from incarceration (Prison Fellowship Ministries) and now want to further profit by establishing Christian prisons in Texas and again in Oklahoma and again in Oklahoma, staffed by Christians only and with inmates who “volunteer” to be housed there and ministered to daily in Evangelical theories and matters. These Christian facilities will also have prison industries upon the grounds where the Christian inmates will work for federal minimum wage. Of course these Christian prisons will be funded with our tax dollars and because the facilities will be operated by a Church organization, their income will be tax exempt – as are existing operations like those operated by Prison Fellowship. If/when these Evangelical Christian groups manage to establish and build these prison facilities, the first side effect will be an immediate drop in private sector jobs that will then be given to the inmates for minimum wage scale.
If you think this kind of Christian involvement in prison operation is not possible, you have only to look back to 2001 when one of the first Presidential Executive Orders issued by President Bush in January, 2001 was the establishment of the “White House Offices Of Faith-Based Community Initiatives” (WHOFBCI) in U.S. Government agencies and departments with instructions that staffers of each agency were to assist faith-based groups to cut through red tape and get access to federal tax dollars for community projects – especially ones related to prison incarceration and reentry. There are sites out there now providing instructions to faith-based groups on how to get the most federal tax money for their projects.
All of the acts committed and issues presented by this series have been initiated and helped along by our lawmakers. Without them corporate interests and manipulations of our state and federal laws would not be possible. We would still have many of our private sector jobs, our mortgage “industry” would not have been able to manipulate markets that would eventually collapse from those manipulations. Safeguards and regulations would not have been eliminated or watered down to allow for more profits and less government “interference” in many corporate interests such as banking, investments and insurance rates. All of these contributed to the economic picture we face today and were accomplished by our representatives succumbing to the large contributions provided by the corporations who now own most of them.
The way forward to stop the loss of jobs and more corporate influence in our life and government is to de-elect corporate enablers now in office. Those who vote against the will of their constituents to side with corporate interests have to be voted out of office. In selecting those who would replace the enablers, we must start asking important questions and firmly inform candidates that we are willing to risk one term of office on them and if they also fall under the spell of powerful corporations and special interest organizations such as ALEC, one term is all they’ll get. We all have to ignore the disinformation and mudslinging that accompanies every election cycle now. We must push for truth in campaign runs on the issues important to us and not fall into the trap of arguing about inconsequential issues devised to distract us from genuine positions of the candidates. Nothing will change unless we initiate the changes ourselves.
Political party or affiliations doesn’t matter; if your elected representative demonstrates support for corporate interests over the community’s with his/her voting, replace them until you elect one who votes for your community. Only in this way are we going to bring about reform to replace corporate control with public interests and put our country back in order.
Another action we can take is to force a change in existing prison industry legislation at the state and federal levels that will bring jobs back to our communities and neighbors. PIECP is the current controlling federal law but is being so mismanaged by the Department of Justice that all regulation has disappeared, transferred to the private sector through the NCIA. Letters have to be written to the DOJ demanding that PIECP Guidelines be enforced. Legislative intent of creating a level playing field for private sector and prison industry competition has been circumvented through deregulation and outsourcing of the program to corporate interests. The majority of citizens have been totally unaware of PIECP until recently. They had no idea the program existed and was contributing to their job losses over the past several years. We all have to make others aware of the program and how it is contributing to our lost jobs and income. In this way more pressure can be exerted by the public to reform this program so it no longer represents a cash cow to corporations and ALEC members and lawmakers who profit from it.
If PIECP is run as intended, the advantages now available to corporations would cease. They would have to pay prevailing wages to inmate workers; pay workers comp insurance premiums and would be unable to sell their products on the open markets in the state of manufacture without paying inmate workers even minimum wages. Additionally state prison facilities are funded with your dollars – even if privately operated. The prison industries operated from those prisons are offering their corporate partners cheap leases of as little as a dollar a year for entire manufacturing facilities. These are your facilities, bought and paid for with tax dollars. Every dollar saved by a corporation on these leases are a dollar paid for in subsidy by you and I.
If these modifications to the program are removed, there will be much less incentive for corporations to partner with prison industries and private sector job losses will diminish and some that have been taken will return.
This won’t affect outsourcing, but stopping insourcing is a good first step.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
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.
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.
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.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Corporatocracy - Conclusion
"Merchants never have nor ever will honor boundries, they owe no aliegence to country. Profit is their ruler driven by out and out greed for power," is a recent quote from James "JD" Hall. JD has a dislike for government and politicians in particular, for what both have done to sell our rights and freedoms to the highest bidder. We disagree on some topics, but agree on the issue that most U.S. Corporations lack loyalty to the country that made them wealthy and have a lack of concern about what their greed is costing us as citizens.
The taking of one's freedom is an act America has always fought against in wars on other continents in every era - including the current one. Our neighbors are fighting and giving their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan as this is written, battling for populations of those country's freedom from tyranny and oppression. We have always expressed views that such battles are just, proper and necessary to protect human rights and promote our values and democratic principles on the world stage.
In World War II as the world fought for just such causes in the European theater, many corporations - U.S. and international - fought alongside the Allies. Some fought on both sides in the interest of amassing huge profits, either not caring who won or hedging their bets by supporting both sides. Some of these corporations include IBM, Coca-Cola, Standard Oil and even General Motors and Ford (See footnote). In spite of the atrocities committed against all classes by the likes of Hitler, these corporations were willing to provide their products and services to this horrible regime. Their willingness to do this assisted in the extermination of minorities and other people Hitler had decreed were sub-human and thus had no place in any society. Products made by these corporations helped the German people live comfortably while they waged war against the rest of the world.
This "assistance" by such corporations enabled Hitler's Regime to succeed far longer than it would have in their absence. German workers built Opel cars for GM and others for Ford that helped Germany's economy during the war years. IBM developed and leased the "punch card" system used by Hitler to organize and keep track of prisoners in concentration camps. Following the end of the Third Reich, most German owned and held companies and corporations were prosecuted for war crimes because they had assisted Germany throughout the war. Those U.S. and International corporations that participated and also assisted Hitler were never prosecuted - or their duplicity addressed or discussed.
In light of the foregoing the quote from JD Hall is corroborated - corporations don't honor any boundary and have no allegiance to citizens or governments. They exist and operate on one simple principal: satisfy the greed demanded by owners, CEO's and investors. If public harm is committed by those pursuits, it is simply considered collateral damage in a war for profits. When public harm occurs, individuals who made the decisions or committed the acts that caused death or injury, are allowed to hide behind the corporate veil to avoid prosecution; "it wasn't me that did it, it was the business...and businesses and corporations that own or operate them can't be put behind bars and are instead "fined". The human or humans responsible for any illegal acts committed by their corporations or companies are allowed to remain free to do it all over again.
U.S. Corporate evolution has only been controlled by government rules, regulations and federal laws over the years. More and more companies have been able to manipulate all three to the point that they now dictate their own rules, regulations and challenge any law that remains to restrict their actions through litigation against the very government that sanctions their existence. Authority and oversight has been transfered from government and it's agencies to corporations through such litigation. Think about the meltdown of our economy, the travails of Enron, the ponzi scheme by Madoff. All of these acts that harmed many of our investments, retirement accounts or 401(k)'s were supposed to have been prevented by government regulation or oversight. It didn't work because corporations involved and the lawmakers they bought along the way weakened all controls until there was virtually no regulation left in place. They knew there would be an eventual collapse or bankruptcy in the future that would impact our society's workers and individual investors and create housing and mortgage chaos, but again that would simply be collateral damage. As long as the participating lawmakers and corporate interests made money until then, they were satisfied.
Enron and the collapse of giant banks, investment and mortgage companies is the reason privatization of government duties and responsibilities should never have been allowed in the first place. We have to realize that with a dwindling consumer base - that is, we all have less money to spend on trivialities, comfort items, vacations, luxury items - corporate sales have decreased markedly. With an ever increasing number of jobs in prison or overseas more of us are without employment and less money to spend. Simple economics of supply and demand apply, and we have less demand for certain items. In response to this dilemma, corporations have looked around to find another source of income to offset the loss of sales. In the mid 90's they found that source: tax dollars. The way to get their hands on that endless supply of money was to promote privatization of government duties. They instituted a campaign - that continues today - of advertising corporate abilities to perform the duties of government in a more efficient and cost effective manner. We were/are informed they can do it better for less. Many were taken in by those promises and supported privatization across the nation.
Since then reports, studies and reviews have consistently shown that the promises made have not resulted in substantial savings to taxpayers. Privately run government has not lived up to the expectations of savings we were promised. This is true of prison operations, recidivism, prison food service, healthcare or banking. What did happen was the transfer of money paid into state coffers from taxpayers went to corporations. Prison staff wages declined as did the qualifications of those hired for those duties. Corporations cut corners where governments dared not make such cuts. Though those cuts would be prohibited by government run programs, the government allowed and condoned just that when done by corporations. Because prison privatization involves housing and care of those individuals guilty of the commission of crimes, the public simply shrug and wonder why others in society care. "I mean, Duh...they're criminals!" The result of this attitude and the attendant oversight because of it has serious side effects.
Florida is one of the leading states in privatization of government programs. This past week an example of how this attitude impacts upon another segment of our society: Juvenile detention, surfaced. Staff at the Thompson Academy were accused of brutalizing the children in their care. Thompson and other private corporations are funded by the state of Florida to the tune of $74 million a year for housing juvenile offenders. This story is literally horrific and beyond belief. It demonstrates exactly why privatization is dangerous and how profits are "earned" by cutting corners. The children affected will live the rest of their lives with terrible memories. When we consider that Florida incarcerates juveniles at nearly twice the rate of other states and 80% of those children are housed and cared for by private corporations, we begin to realize the impact upon our society from privatization. If nothing else you should read this story and understand the plight of both children and adults subjected to the will of private corporations in the name of the state.
Allowing corporations to partner with lawmakers to propose and enact legislation that makes the punishment for a harmful act more severe or to impose a longer sentence so that a profit can be made over the length of a sentence imposed by a government court, is in a word, wrong. Today private prison corporations like Corrections Corporation of America, Geo Group and Cornell Corrections have their hands in every phase of corrections - from proposing stiffer laws, longer sentences, reduction in paroles granted, to housing of state and federal prisoners. All for a profit. Other corporations, though not as powerful as CCA and Geo, operate on the prison operations periphery, capitalizing on providing food service, healthcare, commissary and transportation involving prisoners. None of these "services" are provided by a sense of civic duty or responsibility, rather they are provided to make money for the private interests of those companies or corporations.
One example of the manipulation of laws and legislation to benefit corporate interests related to imprisonment, is the subject of financial contracts; loans, credit card debt and mortgages. Currently there is a nationwide push by financial corporations to change long standing laws against debtor imprisonment. Before we became a country we were a collection of immigrants who came here to escape oppression of religion and imprisonment and forced labor for debts owed to influential land-owners and barons of Europe. Here in the U.S. debtor's prison continued until abolished in the 1800's.
Today thoughts of those terrible times and issues that brought our founding fathers here have been all but forgotten. With the financial melt down that is ongoing, corporations are proposing a return to imprisonment for unpaid debts. Debt collection agencies and corporations have pushed for laws allowing them to seek incarceration of indebted individuals to make them pay up. Most of us are struggling to keep up with our debt today. This means less and less money available to pay debts we owe that aren't directly related to keeping food in our mouths and a roof over our heads. Credit card, medical and in some instances mortgage payments. This results in more losses to corporations and they've begun reverting to the use of government courts to in effect resurrect debtor's prisons as a means of collecting. Again we see a correlation of prisons and profits sought by corporations and, government involvement in helping the corporations to recover lost profits. Bankruptcy replaced debtor's prison in the 19th Century but no longer suffices for corporations that want their money.
Governments should not shirk their responsibilities where prisons and prisoners are concerned. Those incarcerated are there because they broke laws imposed by the government that sent them to prison in the first place. Transferring state responsibility for housing, health, feeding and caring for those incarcerated to private interests is a way for a government to avoid liability. If/when problems arise involving healthcare, food illnesses, injury or death that may result from improper acts of others, the government can point to the contract they have with private corporations providing those services, and claim no public responsibility, putting the onus upon the corporations. In that way if a court case ensues, no "human" goes on trial, only the corporation involved. Liability falls upon the private entity and any adverse decision results in a fine rather than imprisonment of the perpetrator - regardless of the circumstances of the case.
Enter the private sector partnerships between prison industries and private corporations and the present landscape that allows private corporations to own prison and detention facilities across our country. The taking of a citizen's freedom for acts they have committed is the responsibility of the government that created and enforces the laws that were broken. Corporate interests of profit making should never be involved in determining, proposing or enacting laws that the government applies to it's citizenry. Laws are to be enacted and enforced to provide an acceptable course of behavior by the population to protect the well being and safety of the population from those who would cause them harm.
As I previously wrote, ALEC, CCA, Geo Group and others that share similar interests and goals have/are directly involved in manipulating our laws to increase profits while pursuing the parallel goal of usurping the authority of governments under which they operate. Witness SB 1070 in Arizona - as discussed in a previous segment. Corporate manipulations in that case impact upon our elections (campaign funding, funding of election ads by hidden corporations and willing participation by government paid staffers to lobby for special interests. These staffers receive government pay and increased personal wealth from those they lobby for simultaneously), prisoner housing, use of increased taxpayer funding for incarceration and detention. The unspoken issue underneath it all is the use of prison labor to also increase profits for those making the huge campaign contributions. As discussed previously, the use of prisoners to manufacture goods, products and provide services for private corporations results in the loss of private sector jobs, and we all know who that hurts.
The current situation within the U.S. mirrors a similar time in our history - the 1930's when we were experiencing the "great depression". Then President Roosevelt proposed the WPA to put men and women to work on government projects and to improve infrastructure in the U.S. Few people are aware that there was an attempt by the U.S. corporate elite involving corporations such as Goodyear Tire, J.P. Morgan and Dupont in 1934 to take over our government. These corporate conspirators sought out a former Marine Corp General that had been used by our own government to secure foreign markets for corporate interest - despotism in it's truest form - to assist in their fascist take over of the U.S. General Butler turned out not to be their "man" for the job. He refused and testified before a Congressional Committee about the conspiracy, putting an end to the attempt. Of course, these corporations paid no price for their attempt at corporate tyranny, all of them are still around and part of today's problems involving corporate greed.
Today we face problems similar to those faced by Roosevelt and our ancestors of the 1930's: we're experiencing a recession bordering on another depression, our President is proposing the funding of infrastructure improvements to put people to work, unemployment is at record highs, state and local governments across the country are having to make tough budget decisions and corporations are again looking for ways to keep their profits increasing annually. Instead of assisting President Obama's efforts, those of the conservative right are fighting those suggestions vigorously. They are holding up every measure to help those on unemployment and while arguing for jobs they hold up voting on any proposed legislation to create jobs. This alone exemplifies the crossroads we have come to in America. We are clearly divided on this and other important matters and issues, where we should all be unifying behind government efforts of recovery instead of infighting on each side of the issues. One side wants improvement and the other wants us distracted, so no improvement will be had and they can then "blame" the other side for such failures. In the simplest of terms it boils down to this: One segment of our government and we as citizens are now aligned against another segment of our government aligned with big corporations in a giant social tug-o-war. While this goes on, very little is being accomplished. In the meantime the rest of the world passes us by in education, healthcare, global warming and other technologies. This class battle has brought us to a stagnating standstill. Corporations have the benefit of being able to diversify and expand their operations overseas and keep business going, while here we're mired in BS created by them. ALEC joined suit and they now have many international members from England and other countries who share their conservative views. As citizens we nor our government have that option and remain here fighting the battle begun by corporations and their partnered lawmakers.
Instead of privately conspiring to take over our government, huge corporations such as Koch Industries with the assistance of PAC's such as ALEC are funding a "grass roots" attempt to convince all of us that we'd be better off with corporations running everything. They label their effort as a return to "conservative values" - since we Americans are big on labels.
These efforts on part of corporate interests fail to also inform us that the use of prison labor and outsourcing of our jobs to foreign countries were their ideas in the first place. That the unemployment rates of today are directly attributable to them. While we try and put ourselves and our neighbors back to work, these corporations are busy moving every job out of reach, while professing their concepts will put people back on payrolls. Most of what they profess and the ads they fund that inundate our advertising is nothing but disinformation designed to make us believe they have our best interests at heart while they reach into our pockets and extract more and more of what money we have left. I urge all of us to not be taken in by this hyperbole. Nothing these corporations and their affiliated conservative lawmakers do is in our best interests. It is in the interests of making the most money possible off the dwindling amount of funds left in our pockets. Sales are down everywhere, jobs are non-existent and corporate owners and investors are looking for ways to continue their past expensive lifestyles in those markets marked by dwindling sales. With the loss of sales and income, corporations see a genuine threat to their control of lawmakers through huge campaign and lobbying contributions. Less sales means less money to throw around at politicians to keep them under their umbrella of influence. They see an end to their control of Congress and state legislatures and are doing everything possible to forestall that loss of power.
Let none of us be taken in by the rhetoric about keeping tax breaks for the richest among us in place - deep down we all know who that benefits, and it definitely is not us as workers or consumers. These tax breaks have been in place for a decade now and no real jobs were created during that period. What makes any of us believe that if we leave these tax rates in place it'll be different this time around? Nothing. The middle class is disappearing, more quickly with every passing year and is a direct result of these corporate giants taking more and more from us and keeping it. The richest among us already have everything they want and spend less on personal, household and other merchandise now than the typical middle class household does. Unless that money the upper class has is used to increase manufacturing, production and thus sales, we will cease to be a competitive industrial country. This is already happening at an alarming rate. Businesses crying for money to expand and hire new workers are pleading with financial institutions owned by those I've listed throughout this series. Those that have the money refuse to loan it for such expansions because they fear it will be lost in these economic times. So we are at a standstill and giving these despots more of what we have left should be unthinkable.
So, in conclusion...we've learned that corporations have the will, desire and ability to take the place of government. They truly believe their need and pursuit of profits far outweighs the needs of society. That through fear we can be manipulated to sacrifice our comfort, money and representation to support their objectives and that those objectives can be accomplished through media manipulated disinformation. Through contributions to lawmakers susceptible to campaign "bribes", legislation and laws can be created that help to impoverish and control us.
We've also learned that those involved in assisting corporations to invoke "corporate law" to replace existing laws authorized by our government, are willing to suggest modifications to our Constitution to accomplish their will. Candidates who represent themselves as "conservative" now challenge the separation of church and state provision of the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Religion, especially that identified as the conservative right, have sought and gained much headway in participating in our electoral process. Many candidates are identified by this group as not qualified to hold elected office because of their religion or beliefs. Think those with these beliefs are somehow not related to corporations? You'd be wrong. Corporations are funding their challenges and encouraging them to ask similar questions and challenge other Constitutional Amendments, such as that which pertains to citizenship for all born in the U.S. Many conservatives - again supported by corporate contributions and funding - now suggest that the 14th Amendment also needs to be changed to disallow the children of illegal immigrants from being considered U.S. citizens if born here.
The same cabal and their corporate supporters want changes or Amendments to the Constitution regarding sexual preferences and marriage. I won't go into those arguments here, that would be too demeaning and serve no real purpose - similar to the arguments presented against gay marriage and gay rights.
We must understand that there is a force out there that is pushing for serious changes to our democracy, way of life and societal concepts. It is funded and supported entirely by corporate funding and contributions to those lawmakers sympathetic to the goals of the corporations. After all, if there's anything we've learned and most of us understand, corporations do not throw their money away. No, they are very frugal and spend their money in ways that it returns to them with little brothers and sisters in tow. They are not investing in America, they are investing in imposing their will upon us. The recent "Citizens United" U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing the funding of political ads, PAC's and other electoral machinations by corporations, without any transparency is a clear indicator of where we are heading as a nation. A clear representation of how this decision is used politically is before us in this election cycle. Ads against our current administration are prevalent on TV, radio and across the internet. They are paid for with corporate funds that are virtually untraceable (as they're meant to be by those placing them). Citizens United is responsible for the ongoing scandal involving the US Chamber of Commerce's use of foreign corporate funds in our election campaigning. Again, corporate funding, but from across the water this time and given by foreign interests to ensure our continued corporate outsourcing of U.S. jobs to their countries and corporations.
We're at an important crossroads in our history. If we continue along the path we've been taking over the past two or three decades, this series shows us where we will be heading. We have the choice of avoiding that by simply looking at the choices offered and making a genuine decision to avoid that choice offered by corporations and their political partners. To do otherwise may well turn us all into laborers for corporate profiteers. Free thinking and everything we believe in is on the line. We're suffering with lost jobs and less money to spend where needed and that makes us angry and provides us with a bleak outlook for the future. The answer is to not give in to the urgings of those who would take advantage of our current situation for their profit. The answer is to hunker down and deal with our problems as we've done in the past. It is also not an answer to turn to corporations with the expectation that they have our best interests at heart. They exist to make a profit and I truly believe we've given all the profit we can - only to have it used in efforts to try and take what we have left away from us.
(Note: link to "The Corporation" shareware version on YouTube, a 23 part documentary on corporations. All segments are available on YouTube by following the links provided above. some are provided below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pin8fbdGV9Y&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SuUzmqBewg&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkygXc9IM5U&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCGTD5Bn1m0&feature=channel)
The taking of one's freedom is an act America has always fought against in wars on other continents in every era - including the current one. Our neighbors are fighting and giving their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan as this is written, battling for populations of those country's freedom from tyranny and oppression. We have always expressed views that such battles are just, proper and necessary to protect human rights and promote our values and democratic principles on the world stage.
In World War II as the world fought for just such causes in the European theater, many corporations - U.S. and international - fought alongside the Allies. Some fought on both sides in the interest of amassing huge profits, either not caring who won or hedging their bets by supporting both sides. Some of these corporations include IBM, Coca-Cola, Standard Oil and even General Motors and Ford (See footnote). In spite of the atrocities committed against all classes by the likes of Hitler, these corporations were willing to provide their products and services to this horrible regime. Their willingness to do this assisted in the extermination of minorities and other people Hitler had decreed were sub-human and thus had no place in any society. Products made by these corporations helped the German people live comfortably while they waged war against the rest of the world.
This "assistance" by such corporations enabled Hitler's Regime to succeed far longer than it would have in their absence. German workers built Opel cars for GM and others for Ford that helped Germany's economy during the war years. IBM developed and leased the "punch card" system used by Hitler to organize and keep track of prisoners in concentration camps. Following the end of the Third Reich, most German owned and held companies and corporations were prosecuted for war crimes because they had assisted Germany throughout the war. Those U.S. and International corporations that participated and also assisted Hitler were never prosecuted - or their duplicity addressed or discussed.
In light of the foregoing the quote from JD Hall is corroborated - corporations don't honor any boundary and have no allegiance to citizens or governments. They exist and operate on one simple principal: satisfy the greed demanded by owners, CEO's and investors. If public harm is committed by those pursuits, it is simply considered collateral damage in a war for profits. When public harm occurs, individuals who made the decisions or committed the acts that caused death or injury, are allowed to hide behind the corporate veil to avoid prosecution; "it wasn't me that did it, it was the business...and businesses and corporations that own or operate them can't be put behind bars and are instead "fined". The human or humans responsible for any illegal acts committed by their corporations or companies are allowed to remain free to do it all over again.
U.S. Corporate evolution has only been controlled by government rules, regulations and federal laws over the years. More and more companies have been able to manipulate all three to the point that they now dictate their own rules, regulations and challenge any law that remains to restrict their actions through litigation against the very government that sanctions their existence. Authority and oversight has been transfered from government and it's agencies to corporations through such litigation. Think about the meltdown of our economy, the travails of Enron, the ponzi scheme by Madoff. All of these acts that harmed many of our investments, retirement accounts or 401(k)'s were supposed to have been prevented by government regulation or oversight. It didn't work because corporations involved and the lawmakers they bought along the way weakened all controls until there was virtually no regulation left in place. They knew there would be an eventual collapse or bankruptcy in the future that would impact our society's workers and individual investors and create housing and mortgage chaos, but again that would simply be collateral damage. As long as the participating lawmakers and corporate interests made money until then, they were satisfied.
Enron and the collapse of giant banks, investment and mortgage companies is the reason privatization of government duties and responsibilities should never have been allowed in the first place. We have to realize that with a dwindling consumer base - that is, we all have less money to spend on trivialities, comfort items, vacations, luxury items - corporate sales have decreased markedly. With an ever increasing number of jobs in prison or overseas more of us are without employment and less money to spend. Simple economics of supply and demand apply, and we have less demand for certain items. In response to this dilemma, corporations have looked around to find another source of income to offset the loss of sales. In the mid 90's they found that source: tax dollars. The way to get their hands on that endless supply of money was to promote privatization of government duties. They instituted a campaign - that continues today - of advertising corporate abilities to perform the duties of government in a more efficient and cost effective manner. We were/are informed they can do it better for less. Many were taken in by those promises and supported privatization across the nation.
Since then reports, studies and reviews have consistently shown that the promises made have not resulted in substantial savings to taxpayers. Privately run government has not lived up to the expectations of savings we were promised. This is true of prison operations, recidivism, prison food service, healthcare or banking. What did happen was the transfer of money paid into state coffers from taxpayers went to corporations. Prison staff wages declined as did the qualifications of those hired for those duties. Corporations cut corners where governments dared not make such cuts. Though those cuts would be prohibited by government run programs, the government allowed and condoned just that when done by corporations. Because prison privatization involves housing and care of those individuals guilty of the commission of crimes, the public simply shrug and wonder why others in society care. "I mean, Duh...they're criminals!" The result of this attitude and the attendant oversight because of it has serious side effects.
Florida is one of the leading states in privatization of government programs. This past week an example of how this attitude impacts upon another segment of our society: Juvenile detention, surfaced. Staff at the Thompson Academy were accused of brutalizing the children in their care. Thompson and other private corporations are funded by the state of Florida to the tune of $74 million a year for housing juvenile offenders. This story is literally horrific and beyond belief. It demonstrates exactly why privatization is dangerous and how profits are "earned" by cutting corners. The children affected will live the rest of their lives with terrible memories. When we consider that Florida incarcerates juveniles at nearly twice the rate of other states and 80% of those children are housed and cared for by private corporations, we begin to realize the impact upon our society from privatization. If nothing else you should read this story and understand the plight of both children and adults subjected to the will of private corporations in the name of the state.
Allowing corporations to partner with lawmakers to propose and enact legislation that makes the punishment for a harmful act more severe or to impose a longer sentence so that a profit can be made over the length of a sentence imposed by a government court, is in a word, wrong. Today private prison corporations like Corrections Corporation of America, Geo Group and Cornell Corrections have their hands in every phase of corrections - from proposing stiffer laws, longer sentences, reduction in paroles granted, to housing of state and federal prisoners. All for a profit. Other corporations, though not as powerful as CCA and Geo, operate on the prison operations periphery, capitalizing on providing food service, healthcare, commissary and transportation involving prisoners. None of these "services" are provided by a sense of civic duty or responsibility, rather they are provided to make money for the private interests of those companies or corporations.
One example of the manipulation of laws and legislation to benefit corporate interests related to imprisonment, is the subject of financial contracts; loans, credit card debt and mortgages. Currently there is a nationwide push by financial corporations to change long standing laws against debtor imprisonment. Before we became a country we were a collection of immigrants who came here to escape oppression of religion and imprisonment and forced labor for debts owed to influential land-owners and barons of Europe. Here in the U.S. debtor's prison continued until abolished in the 1800's.
Today thoughts of those terrible times and issues that brought our founding fathers here have been all but forgotten. With the financial melt down that is ongoing, corporations are proposing a return to imprisonment for unpaid debts. Debt collection agencies and corporations have pushed for laws allowing them to seek incarceration of indebted individuals to make them pay up. Most of us are struggling to keep up with our debt today. This means less and less money available to pay debts we owe that aren't directly related to keeping food in our mouths and a roof over our heads. Credit card, medical and in some instances mortgage payments. This results in more losses to corporations and they've begun reverting to the use of government courts to in effect resurrect debtor's prisons as a means of collecting. Again we see a correlation of prisons and profits sought by corporations and, government involvement in helping the corporations to recover lost profits. Bankruptcy replaced debtor's prison in the 19th Century but no longer suffices for corporations that want their money.
Governments should not shirk their responsibilities where prisons and prisoners are concerned. Those incarcerated are there because they broke laws imposed by the government that sent them to prison in the first place. Transferring state responsibility for housing, health, feeding and caring for those incarcerated to private interests is a way for a government to avoid liability. If/when problems arise involving healthcare, food illnesses, injury or death that may result from improper acts of others, the government can point to the contract they have with private corporations providing those services, and claim no public responsibility, putting the onus upon the corporations. In that way if a court case ensues, no "human" goes on trial, only the corporation involved. Liability falls upon the private entity and any adverse decision results in a fine rather than imprisonment of the perpetrator - regardless of the circumstances of the case.
Enter the private sector partnerships between prison industries and private corporations and the present landscape that allows private corporations to own prison and detention facilities across our country. The taking of a citizen's freedom for acts they have committed is the responsibility of the government that created and enforces the laws that were broken. Corporate interests of profit making should never be involved in determining, proposing or enacting laws that the government applies to it's citizenry. Laws are to be enacted and enforced to provide an acceptable course of behavior by the population to protect the well being and safety of the population from those who would cause them harm.
As I previously wrote, ALEC, CCA, Geo Group and others that share similar interests and goals have/are directly involved in manipulating our laws to increase profits while pursuing the parallel goal of usurping the authority of governments under which they operate. Witness SB 1070 in Arizona - as discussed in a previous segment. Corporate manipulations in that case impact upon our elections (campaign funding, funding of election ads by hidden corporations and willing participation by government paid staffers to lobby for special interests. These staffers receive government pay and increased personal wealth from those they lobby for simultaneously), prisoner housing, use of increased taxpayer funding for incarceration and detention. The unspoken issue underneath it all is the use of prison labor to also increase profits for those making the huge campaign contributions. As discussed previously, the use of prisoners to manufacture goods, products and provide services for private corporations results in the loss of private sector jobs, and we all know who that hurts.
The current situation within the U.S. mirrors a similar time in our history - the 1930's when we were experiencing the "great depression". Then President Roosevelt proposed the WPA to put men and women to work on government projects and to improve infrastructure in the U.S. Few people are aware that there was an attempt by the U.S. corporate elite involving corporations such as Goodyear Tire, J.P. Morgan and Dupont in 1934 to take over our government. These corporate conspirators sought out a former Marine Corp General that had been used by our own government to secure foreign markets for corporate interest - despotism in it's truest form - to assist in their fascist take over of the U.S. General Butler turned out not to be their "man" for the job. He refused and testified before a Congressional Committee about the conspiracy, putting an end to the attempt. Of course, these corporations paid no price for their attempt at corporate tyranny, all of them are still around and part of today's problems involving corporate greed.
Today we face problems similar to those faced by Roosevelt and our ancestors of the 1930's: we're experiencing a recession bordering on another depression, our President is proposing the funding of infrastructure improvements to put people to work, unemployment is at record highs, state and local governments across the country are having to make tough budget decisions and corporations are again looking for ways to keep their profits increasing annually. Instead of assisting President Obama's efforts, those of the conservative right are fighting those suggestions vigorously. They are holding up every measure to help those on unemployment and while arguing for jobs they hold up voting on any proposed legislation to create jobs. This alone exemplifies the crossroads we have come to in America. We are clearly divided on this and other important matters and issues, where we should all be unifying behind government efforts of recovery instead of infighting on each side of the issues. One side wants improvement and the other wants us distracted, so no improvement will be had and they can then "blame" the other side for such failures. In the simplest of terms it boils down to this: One segment of our government and we as citizens are now aligned against another segment of our government aligned with big corporations in a giant social tug-o-war. While this goes on, very little is being accomplished. In the meantime the rest of the world passes us by in education, healthcare, global warming and other technologies. This class battle has brought us to a stagnating standstill. Corporations have the benefit of being able to diversify and expand their operations overseas and keep business going, while here we're mired in BS created by them. ALEC joined suit and they now have many international members from England and other countries who share their conservative views. As citizens we nor our government have that option and remain here fighting the battle begun by corporations and their partnered lawmakers.
Instead of privately conspiring to take over our government, huge corporations such as Koch Industries with the assistance of PAC's such as ALEC are funding a "grass roots" attempt to convince all of us that we'd be better off with corporations running everything. They label their effort as a return to "conservative values" - since we Americans are big on labels.
These efforts on part of corporate interests fail to also inform us that the use of prison labor and outsourcing of our jobs to foreign countries were their ideas in the first place. That the unemployment rates of today are directly attributable to them. While we try and put ourselves and our neighbors back to work, these corporations are busy moving every job out of reach, while professing their concepts will put people back on payrolls. Most of what they profess and the ads they fund that inundate our advertising is nothing but disinformation designed to make us believe they have our best interests at heart while they reach into our pockets and extract more and more of what money we have left. I urge all of us to not be taken in by this hyperbole. Nothing these corporations and their affiliated conservative lawmakers do is in our best interests. It is in the interests of making the most money possible off the dwindling amount of funds left in our pockets. Sales are down everywhere, jobs are non-existent and corporate owners and investors are looking for ways to continue their past expensive lifestyles in those markets marked by dwindling sales. With the loss of sales and income, corporations see a genuine threat to their control of lawmakers through huge campaign and lobbying contributions. Less sales means less money to throw around at politicians to keep them under their umbrella of influence. They see an end to their control of Congress and state legislatures and are doing everything possible to forestall that loss of power.
Let none of us be taken in by the rhetoric about keeping tax breaks for the richest among us in place - deep down we all know who that benefits, and it definitely is not us as workers or consumers. These tax breaks have been in place for a decade now and no real jobs were created during that period. What makes any of us believe that if we leave these tax rates in place it'll be different this time around? Nothing. The middle class is disappearing, more quickly with every passing year and is a direct result of these corporate giants taking more and more from us and keeping it. The richest among us already have everything they want and spend less on personal, household and other merchandise now than the typical middle class household does. Unless that money the upper class has is used to increase manufacturing, production and thus sales, we will cease to be a competitive industrial country. This is already happening at an alarming rate. Businesses crying for money to expand and hire new workers are pleading with financial institutions owned by those I've listed throughout this series. Those that have the money refuse to loan it for such expansions because they fear it will be lost in these economic times. So we are at a standstill and giving these despots more of what we have left should be unthinkable.
So, in conclusion...we've learned that corporations have the will, desire and ability to take the place of government. They truly believe their need and pursuit of profits far outweighs the needs of society. That through fear we can be manipulated to sacrifice our comfort, money and representation to support their objectives and that those objectives can be accomplished through media manipulated disinformation. Through contributions to lawmakers susceptible to campaign "bribes", legislation and laws can be created that help to impoverish and control us.
We've also learned that those involved in assisting corporations to invoke "corporate law" to replace existing laws authorized by our government, are willing to suggest modifications to our Constitution to accomplish their will. Candidates who represent themselves as "conservative" now challenge the separation of church and state provision of the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Religion, especially that identified as the conservative right, have sought and gained much headway in participating in our electoral process. Many candidates are identified by this group as not qualified to hold elected office because of their religion or beliefs. Think those with these beliefs are somehow not related to corporations? You'd be wrong. Corporations are funding their challenges and encouraging them to ask similar questions and challenge other Constitutional Amendments, such as that which pertains to citizenship for all born in the U.S. Many conservatives - again supported by corporate contributions and funding - now suggest that the 14th Amendment also needs to be changed to disallow the children of illegal immigrants from being considered U.S. citizens if born here.
The same cabal and their corporate supporters want changes or Amendments to the Constitution regarding sexual preferences and marriage. I won't go into those arguments here, that would be too demeaning and serve no real purpose - similar to the arguments presented against gay marriage and gay rights.
We must understand that there is a force out there that is pushing for serious changes to our democracy, way of life and societal concepts. It is funded and supported entirely by corporate funding and contributions to those lawmakers sympathetic to the goals of the corporations. After all, if there's anything we've learned and most of us understand, corporations do not throw their money away. No, they are very frugal and spend their money in ways that it returns to them with little brothers and sisters in tow. They are not investing in America, they are investing in imposing their will upon us. The recent "Citizens United" U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing the funding of political ads, PAC's and other electoral machinations by corporations, without any transparency is a clear indicator of where we are heading as a nation. A clear representation of how this decision is used politically is before us in this election cycle. Ads against our current administration are prevalent on TV, radio and across the internet. They are paid for with corporate funds that are virtually untraceable (as they're meant to be by those placing them). Citizens United is responsible for the ongoing scandal involving the US Chamber of Commerce's use of foreign corporate funds in our election campaigning. Again, corporate funding, but from across the water this time and given by foreign interests to ensure our continued corporate outsourcing of U.S. jobs to their countries and corporations.
We're at an important crossroads in our history. If we continue along the path we've been taking over the past two or three decades, this series shows us where we will be heading. We have the choice of avoiding that by simply looking at the choices offered and making a genuine decision to avoid that choice offered by corporations and their political partners. To do otherwise may well turn us all into laborers for corporate profiteers. Free thinking and everything we believe in is on the line. We're suffering with lost jobs and less money to spend where needed and that makes us angry and provides us with a bleak outlook for the future. The answer is to not give in to the urgings of those who would take advantage of our current situation for their profit. The answer is to hunker down and deal with our problems as we've done in the past. It is also not an answer to turn to corporations with the expectation that they have our best interests at heart. They exist to make a profit and I truly believe we've given all the profit we can - only to have it used in efforts to try and take what we have left away from us.
(Note: link to "The Corporation" shareware version on YouTube, a 23 part documentary on corporations. All segments are available on YouTube by following the links provided above. some are provided below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pin8fbdGV9Y&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SuUzmqBewg&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkygXc9IM5U&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCGTD5Bn1m0&feature=channel)
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