Gus and CCA Are So Not OK
State Rep. Mike Turner has fired off a missive to Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner George Little about the spate of questionable practices and incidents that have landed Corrections Corporation of America in the news. CCA, as you'll recall, contracts with Tennessee (along with many other state and federal authorities) to run their prisons and jails.
In his April 16 letter, which Pith obtained this morning, Turner mentions the Time magazine story that alleges CCA counsel Gus Puryear allegedly whitewashed incident reports on escapes and unnatural deaths, so as not to alarm the company's clients. He also cites The Tennessean piece on an inmate at a Metro-controlled, CCA-run correctional facility who went nine months without a shower, as well as the recent Nashville Scene article that reported how guards at that same facility falsely claimed a jail-cell surveillance camera wasn't working—just one day after an inmate was found in her cell with a broken skull, according to the detective who wanted to review the footage.
In other words, it's just another day in the life of CCA and Gus Puryear—who, we should add, is called out in the upcoming issue of the National Law Journal for being one of Bush's most controversial judicial appointees.
Comments
I hadn't heard the one about the inmate going nine months without a shower.
In addition to showing why Gustavus Augustus IV (nothing elitist there!) doesn't belong on the bench, it's yet another indictment of privatized prisons. This whole privatization kick got off the ground with the Republicans took power and decided they wanted their corporate friends to do the things government used to do, so they could spend more time on the golf course. I'll be happy when the likes of CCA are out of business.
Like privatized armies, privatized prisons raise all sorts of moral red flags.
Posted 04/25/2008 at 12:00:43 PMHey, wait. Aren't Republicans for small gov't? LOL
Posted 04/25/2008 at 04:03:10 PMAs usual, for more information on this issue, please visit www.againstpuryear.org. This is just the tip of the iceberg, with more to come.
Posted 04/25/2008 at 06:58:40 PMThe inmate who hadn't taken a shower in nine months was severely mentally ill. He refused to come out of his cell. His cell must have looked and smelled like the Aegean stables, with Hercules nowhere in sight to clean up the mess. He obviously was not getting the services mandated by the Americans With Disabiltiies Act (ADA) for starters.
When the ugly truth about these dungeons for hire comes out, the stock price drops. That's a situation Puryear wants to avoid, at all costs.
Posted 04/25/2008 at 07:14:17 PM