"Injustice Anywhere Is A Threat To Justice Everywhere"

MARTIN LUTHER KING
...Letter From the Birmingham Jail, 1963

"Peep Game" The NPSCTAPP Video Channel

“Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.” HAILE SELASSIE

Vision Without Action Is A Daydream. Action Without Vision A Nightmare.

The National Public Service Council To Abolish Private Prisons made a concerted effort when choosing its name to erase any possibility of ambiguity regarding who we are and our mission statement. It is our unwavering organizational belief that as long as our government permits Private Prisons For Profit to operate as legal businesses, the American Criminal Justice System, in particular, will never have the capacity to develop -in theory or otherwise- a credibility that the people of this great nation can respect and feel morally comfortable with. This is not a complicated matter. In spite of the endless assortment of political debates and the countless number of discussions among independent committees appointed to research and examine the economic pros and cons of privatization, and in spite of all the "other" arguments created by design, to distract, divide, frighten and confuse the citizens of this country and prevent them from using humane common sense, one cannot ignore or pretend not to see the flashing red flag draped around the philosophical question standing at attention in the middle of the room. Arguably, the criminal justice system is not designed to be a "moral compass." However, it cannot ignore or deny the inherent components at the core of its foundation: equality, fairness, and the humane practice of justice. These are more than lofty concepts to be arbitrarily applied when convenience allows. Our justice system must offer unequivocal, resplendent and reliable standards of "right and wrong" ..."just and unjust" because the people cannot respect or pledge an allegiance to a justice system that fails to demonstrate the difference between "right and wrong" in its own application. The inherent and most fundamental responsibility of the criminal justice system cannot be shirked, avoided, taken lightly or "jobbed out." Like it or not, when an institution is the definitive symbol representing authority and judicial proceeding, your function must reflect a fundamental fairness, and above all else, it must be accountable to all of its citizens. If ever there was a reason for second guessing the process or the ability of the United States Government (Federal & State) to perform its duty when addressing the important task of corrections and rehabilitation in the criminal justice system, the cornerstone of that uncertainty sits squarely upon the shoulders that permit private prisons for profit to operate in the United States of America. Clearly, this immoral profit driven system is without parallel in its resemblance to the most heinous institution to ever exist upon American soil. Slavery.

Aristotle wrote, "It is the peculiarity of man, in comparison with the rest of the animal world that he alone possesses a perception of good and evil, of the just and the unjust"

INCARCERATING PEOPLE FOR PROFIT IS IN A WORD WRONG

All law emanates from the people, so that, when the laws thus enacted are not executed, the power returns to the people, and is theirs whenever they may choose to exercise it.

We are mindful that the Supreme Court is the final interpreter of the constitution...we are also mindful that the federal and state correctional facilities originate from government design and, therefore, must be regulated and maintained by the government.

We must restore the principles and the vacated promise of our judicial system. Our government cannot continue to "job-out" its obligation and neglect its duty to the individuals confined in the corrections and rehabilitation facilities throughout this nation, nor can it ignore the will of the people that it was designed to serve and protect.

There is urgent need for the good people of this country to emerge from the shadows of indifference, apathy, cynicism, fear, and those other dark places that we migrate to when we are overwhelmed by frustration and the loss of hope.

My hope is that you will support the NPSCTAPP with a show of solidarity by signing our petition to send one million signatures to congress expressing the will of the people to abolish the private prison for profit industry. Ahma Daeus

"The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in times of great moral crises maintain their neutrality"... DANTE

The Single Voice Project

"until all private prisons in America have been abolished and outlawed, “the promise” of fairness and justice at every level of this country’s judicial system will remain unattainable."
--Ahma Daeus

"Practicing Humanity Without A License"

My photo
"Kindness Is The Greatest Wisdom"

Man In The Mirror

No man can emancipate himself, except by emancipating with him all the men around him. My liberty is the liberty of everyone, for I am not truly free, free not only in thought but in deed, except when my liberty and my rights find their confirmation, their sanction in the liberty and the rights of all men, my equals. -BAKUNIN

Judges Plead Guilty in Scheme to Jail Youths for Profit

By IAN URBINA and SEAN D. HAMILL
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/us/13judge.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

For years, youth advocacy groups complained that Judge Ciavarella was unusually harsh. He sent a quarter of his juvenile defendants to detention centers from 2002 to 2006, compared with a state rate of 1 in 10. He also routinely ignored requests for leniency made by prosecutors and probation officers.

“The juvenile system, by design, is intended to be a less punitive system than the adult system, and yet here were scores of children with very minor infractions having their lives ruined,” said Marsha Levick, a lawyer with the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center.

“There was a culture of intimidation surrounding this judge and no one was willing to speak up about the sentences he was handing down.”



Showing posts with label GEO. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GEO. Show all posts

Private Prison Industry Had Heavy Hand in Drafting and Passing Arizona’s S.B. 1070

Peter Phillips
The Daily Censored: World News,
An investigative report released this month by In These Times details how Arizona’s anti-immigrant S.B. 1070 law not only promises dramatic financial benefits for the private prison industry, but that lobbyists and administrators working for private prison corporations such as Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and Geo Group, played substantial parts in drafting and ensuring the passage of the bill.

Private Prisons keep On Growing

By: Matt kelley
Change.Org /Criminal Justice
The GEO Group, America’s second-largest private prison operator, announced yesterday that it had acquired a smaller prison operator, Just Care Inc., and raised its expected profits for the year ahead. It’s good to see that at least somebody likes the way our criminal justice is going. GEO incarcerates 60,000 people around the world, and it's showing no signs of slowing. And GEO’s not the only one expanding as quickly as possible to profit off our crowded prisons. An analyst at Seeking Alpha recently looked at the stock of Corrections Corporation of America (the biggest in the U.S.), and found the company growing like gangbusters and its financial outlook extremely strong, writing (apparently with a straight face) that CCA is “uniquely positioned to offer governments an efficient incarceration solution.” I was glad to see some commentors on the site let the author have it. The comments come from both sides, however, and they’re worth a read for a glimpse at how both sides (at an investment website) view the morality of private prisons.

New Zealand: Call For Independent Report on Privatising Prisons

By Maggie Tait of NZPA
Prof Kelsey told the committee she was concerned that private prisons could hide from public scrutiny, citing commercial confidentiality and the lack of regulation.

She recommended the committee defer the legislation until an independent review was done.

Mr Hanlon said special responsibilities came when a person lost their liberty and they lay with the state.

He said the government operated prisons were run cheaper than Auckland Central Remand Prison (ACRP) which was run under private contractor GEO Ltd between 2000 and 2005.

Troubled prison firm's deal for new psychiatric hospital raises questions

By: Emily Ramshaw
The Dallas Morning News
AUSTIN – A private prison company's history of filthy conditions, sexual abuse, suicides and riots in some of its Texas lockups isn't stopping the state from paying it $7.5 million to run a new psychiatric hospital near Houston. Lawmakers inserted an earmark into the state budget to fund the future Montgomery County facility starting in 2011. But they said they didn't know until this week that the county had selected the GEO Group to operate it, although GEO lobbyists were pushing for it as early as February.

Sanctions Against The GEO Group Sought

By: Emma Perez-Trevino
The Brownsville Herald
An appellate court is weighing claims against The GEO Group, formerly known as Wackenhut Corrections Corp., to determine if the private prison business lied when it claimed to have been exonerated of any responsibility in the beating death of an inmate and if it should be sanctioned.

LOCKED IN

GEO Group, other private jailers use all-star lobbyists to beat back regulation
By: Matt Pullle
TEXAS WATCHDOG
In the 2009 legislative session, the GEO Group, a Florida-based private prison company, poured money into lobbying, selecting some of the priciest and best-connected hired guns in Austin. The reason was simple: The company had a lot of explaining to do before state lawmakers.

For at least three years now, the GEO Group has endured a rash of dangerous, embarrassing episodes that call into question the outfit’s ability to run prisons and jails. The state shut down one of its facilities, citing filthy conditions, while two riots broke out at its prison in West Texas. Then in April, a high court upheld a massive judgment against the GEO Group after an inmate was fatally beaten at another one of its prisons.

UNSTRUCTURED FINANCE "The Financing of Detention"

Posted By: Jessica Silver-Greenberg
Business Week
The private prison industry has moved its sights, from bread and butter incarceration, to the new gold rush: immigrant detention. You might have thought that a seemingly left-leaning Obama administration would shut off the spigot of government dollars flowing to private prison contractors, especially given the spotty track record many of these firms have. But Obama is actually upping the ante, by funding a newly minted project called “Secure Communities.” This immigration policy started in December is based around databases. It deputizes local law enforcement to run a federal back-ground check on any local arrests. The aim is to target immigrants with serious crimes on their record, and deport them.

Operator Of Private New Mexico Prison Sued By 7 Inmates

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) -- The American Civil Liberties Union is suing the operator of New Mexico's newest private prison on behalf of seven inmates. The inmates claim their constitutional rights were violated during a December incident at the prison in Clayton run by Boca Raton, Fla.-based GEO Group Inc.

Private Prison Companies Happy with Obama

by Matt Kelley
The nation's two biggest private prison management companies are pretty happy with the signs they're seeing from the new President.

A column in The American Prospect this week by Business of Detention co-authors Renee Feltz and Stokely Baksh reviews the massive expansion of immigrant detention under the Bush Administration and questions whether President Obama is committed to changing things.

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER RICHARDSON PAC SCANDAL

Steve Terrell
RoundHouse Roundup: The Blog
Last time I wrote about The GEO Group, in July, the company had contributed $43,750 to Richardson's 2006 reelection. Two other GEO lobbyists registered in the state contributed a total of $7,500 to Richardson's 2006 race. And while Richardson was chairman of the Democratic Governor's Association, GEO kicked in $30,000 to that organization (though it contributed more than $90,000 to the Republican Governor's Association during those years.) GEO and its board chairman George Zoley kicked in another $15,000 for Richardson's 2007 inauguration.

Private Prison Personnel Could Walk Off Job

Reported by: Aubrey Mika Chancellor
PEARSALL -- News 4 WOAI has learned guards could go on strike at a detention center in our area. Negotiations over a pay raise have stalled and it could end up costing you money. The South Texas Detention Complex in Pearsall is where illegal immigrants are held while waiting to be deported. But soon those detainees may have no one to guard them. The union’s chief negotiator Howard Johannssen says, “This employer refuses to give them a pay raise of any sort.”

Worst Companies in the World: US, Monsanto, Peabody and Barrick

By Brenda Norrell
The United States was voted the "Worst Company in the World," in a reader poll conducted by the Censored News blog that ended today. Readers, primarily Indigenous Peoples, voted Monsanto as the second Worst Company in the World. Peabody Energy Corp., recently granted a life of mine permit to expand coal mining on Navajo and Hopi lands, was voted the third Worst Company in the World.Barrick Gold Corp., which began the destruction of the Western Shoshone's Mount Tenabo region during Thanksgiving, was voted the fourth Worst Company in the World. Blackwater Worldwide, responsible for murders and brutality worldwide, was voted the fifth Worst Company in the World. GEO Group, Inc., formerly Wackenhut, profiteering from the misery of migrants and people of color in prisons, was voted the sixth Worst Company in the World.

Littlefield detention center to close

By Chris Van Wagenen
BUSINESS EDITOR
GEO Group Inc. says it has canceled its contract with the city of Littefield and plans to terminate 74 employees at the Bill Clayton Detention Center effective Jan. 5
The Boca Raton-based Fla. company gave official notice last month, filing a mass layoff Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act letter with the city in accordance with federal law. The letter was obtained by The Avalanche-Journal.

Locals Think Crime & Immigration Pays Big Time For GEO! Detention Facility May Expand; Corley Honored

By Lucretia Cardenas
GEO Group Inc., which has a two-year contract with the county, is running the facility, which houses inmates of the U.S. Marshal’s Office and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. On Tuesday, the jail had 1,062 inmates, warden Chris Strickland said.

Guerra Reveals Evidence

WILLACY COUNTY - District Attorney Juan Guerra says his investigation took him all the way to the top, to the Vice President of the United States. He showed NEWSCHANNEL 5 records that he says could be used to prove Dick Cheney is guilty of criminal activity.

Profits Soar for Private Prisons

by Matt Kelley
Private prison companies aren’t worried that the Democratic Party sweep will mean that fewer immigrants are sent their way because of party promises of enacting comprehensive immigration reform. GEO Group’s chairman George Zoley on Nov. 3 assured investors: “These federal initiatives to target, detain and deport criminal aliens throughout the country will continue to drive the need for immigration detention beds over the next several years and these initiatives have been fully funded by Congress on a bipartisan basis.”

The Case for Fraud: our “prison industry”

It's bad enough, concludes Ms Fitts, we have created a system whereby "a significant number of private interests – investment firms, banks, attorneys, auditors, architects, construction firms, real estate developers, bankers, academics, investors among them – . . . have a vested interest in increasing the prison population and keeping people behind bars." To make matters worse, there is also an interest "in passing laws regarding mandatory sentencing or other rules that will increase the needs for prison capacity [in anticipation, as it were, and regardless of whether those needs will be met or not, because] the passage – or anticipation of – a law that will increase the demand for private prisons is a 'stock play' in and of itself." It's a double whammy.

Indictments against GEO guard unsealed. Four Corrections Officers Face Obstruction Indictments

The QPCF is a prison owned and operated by The GEO Group, Inc. which houses federal inmates pursuant to a contract with the U.S. Marshals Service. As alleged in the indictment and other court filings, the charges stem from an assault committed by Wells, 46, against a pretrial detainee at the QPCF on April 17, 2007.

GEO Background Investigation Shows GEO Group Has History of Prisoner Abuse

WILLACY COUNTY - The GEO group, the prison corporation at the center of the indictments has a long history filled with allegations of prisoner abuse. The abuse has sometimes even turned deadly.

Four GEO Private Prison Guards Charged with Beating Inmate

By JONATHAN DIENST
U.S. Attorney Benton Campbell said, "This prosecution affirms our strong commitment to protecting the constitutional rights of individuals not to be subjected to unjustified and excessive force by officers whose duty it is to uphold the law."

The Dreamer

Just Seeds

Just Seeds
Prison Portfolio Project

Click The Cage To Read "Silja Tavi's" Compelling "Women Behind Bars"

Click  The Cage To Read "Silja Tavi's" Compelling "Women Behind Bars"
Never Forget We Are More Than This Situation

Women And Prison

Women And Prison
Writer's Block...The Voices of Women Inside

Strength To Love

Strength To Love
"Human Salvation Lies In The Hands Of The Creatively Maladjusted"... Martin Luther King Jr.

Ask Yourself

Ask Yourself
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Sign The Petition

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BOSTON LEGAL'S "GUARDIANS AND GATEKEEPERS"

http://www.abc.com/ This dramatic second episode of Boston Legal's 5TH season highlights the moving court case of a young girl allegedly raped in a private "for profit" prison by one of the prison guards. To view this compelling episode, go to abc.com and follow the prompts. Click on "full episodes"... then click on "Boston Legal" and continue to follow the prompts to the episode titled "Guardians And Gatekeepers" This really is a compelling and provacative "must see" episode

Ahma Daeus' Favorite Quotes

  • "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable" JOHN F. KENNEDY
  • "We must be the change we want to see in the world".........GANDHI
  • "We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies".... M.L. KING JR.
  • "Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty, the obedient must be slaves"
  • "The law will never make a man free; it is men who have got to make the law free"..... HENRY DAVID THOREAU
  • "The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear" ................AUNG SAN SUU KYI
  • "When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, it becomes less & less important whether I am afraid"................... AUDRE LORDE
  • "The function of freedom Is to free someone else".............TONI MORRISON