http://govtslaves.info/govt-guarantees-90-occupancy-rate-in-private-prisons/
Gov’t Guarantees 90% Occupancy Rate In Private Prisons
Breaking News | September 12, 2012 | 4 Comments

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(Kevin Johnson)  At a time when states are struggling to reduce bloated prison populations and tight budgets, a private prison management company is offering to buy prisons in exchange for various considerations, including a controversial guarantee that the governments maintain a 90% occupancy rate for at least 20 years.
Federal Bureau of Prisons director Harley Lappin speaks during a news conference at the Thomson Correctional Center in Thomson, Ill., in 2009.

The $250 million proposal, circulated by the Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America to prison officials in 48 states, has been blasted by some state officials who suggest such a program could pressure criminal justice officials to seek harsher sentences to maintain the contractually required occupancy rates.

“You don’t want a prison system operating with the goal of maximizing profits,” says Texas state Sen. John Whitmire, a Houston Democrat and advocate for reducing prison populations through less costly diversion programs. “The only thing worse is that this seeks to take advantage of some states’ troubled financial position.”

Corrections Corporation spokesman Steve Owendefended the company’s “investment initiative,” describing it as “an additional option” for cash-strapped states to consider.

The proposal seeks to build upon a deal reached last fall in which the company purchased the 1,798-bed Lake Erie Correctional Institution from the state of Ohio for $72.7 million. Ohio officials lauded the September transaction, saying that private management of the facility would save a projected $3 million annually.

Linda Janes, chief of staff for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, said the purchase came at time when the state was facing a $8 billion shortfall. The $72.7 million prison purchase was aimed at helping to fill a $188 million deficit within the corrections agency.

Ohio’s deal requires the state to maintain a 90% occupancy rate, but Janes said that provision remains in effect for 18 months — not 20 years — before it can be renegotiated. As part of the deal, Ohio pays the company a monthly fee, totaling $3.8 million per year.

Roger Werholtz, former Kansas secretary of corrections, said states may be tempted by the “quick infusion of cash,” but he would recommend against such a deal.

“My concern would be that our state would be obligated to maintain these (occupancy) rates and subtle pressure would be applied to make sentencing laws more severe with a clear intent to drive up the population,” Werholtz s

I dont think prisons should be privatized, I dont think they should be For Profit & I sure as HELL dont think you grasp the magnitude of a government PROMISING an occupancy rate,
Running a government LIKE a business, as in being Fiscally REsponsible, isnt the same as turning it into one.

justin_o_guy2 wrote on 09/17/12 at 08:36:19:



I know that - however Romney and the republicans do not. BTW I'd have excluded Romney from this, cos he always was a moderate ... However having the GOP nomination instead of returning to his moderate roots, he's taken a turn to the opposite, Ryan as VP is one, as is this gem - Any time you can move someting from the federal govt to the states, its the way to go, and if you can turn it into the private sector, even better. Sorry I think he's rapidly going in this direction. Privatize prisons, medicare, road construction etc etc etc ... sorry, Romney gets a F-.

Remember it is scary and also remember if funding gets cut states - not all, some of em will turn to that option, cos well states cannot print money, so it automatically means they will need to get it as cheap as possible and make as much $ as possible, so it is a business at that point.

In a way putting some of these big descisions @ the feet of the federal govt gets that cost picture out of the equation. Yea yea its horribly inefficient and there will be a huge expansion of this and that, however it does need to be done, and if you dump it onto entities that cant fund it, they will either turn hardenened criminials loose, or privatize them and squeeze the blood out of them, and find reasons to add to that list they can bleed ... you have a parking ticket, its 20 years to life for you cos we guaranteed the prison company 100,000 a year for the next 100 years.
Take your pick.

Cool.
Srinath.

... and Healthcare...

Yup... get rid of the for-profit, do nothin', middleman...
Save 1/3 right off the top... plus lower office admin costs...
Probably raise that savings to 50%...
Then, guaranteed payment for all patients, lowers costs even more...
...and everyone contributes...

Also,.. providers will be busy enough with legitimate care, they won't need to order so much unnecessary procedures to pad their bills...
...

If conservatives thought like you,.. I'd probably be voting for them...

Since we're on a random rant...

Oil prices are no longer supply/demand... speculators are manipulating the market, and taking a cut...  regulate/nationalize/federalize/socialize/ somethin'ize that market... oil is a national security issue...

... and,.. to me... the solution isn't "smaller government",... but, less wasteful government...  Cut the crap.  
I don't mind paying for results, and services,... and needed things like infrastructure...  
America should have the best transportation system in the world,.. same with healthcare,.. We're the biggest, richest, bestest....
All we have is most waste and corruption...
Reign in the lobbyist's somehow,..  and get corporate money out of elections...

Corporations are not people...
Lobbyists,.. aren't either... ...

Serowbot wrote on 09/17/12 at 13:45:27:



This is what I have to say on that topic - no such thing ... we cant get more efficient govt, we cant get smarter govt and we certainly cant get less wasteful govt by legislation.

No politician can get any better govt. Its like stopping time. Hell no.

Smaller govt is less efficient govt. Say you fire everyone in govt. Send em all home. Guess what, the buildings are still there, we have to pay for them (cos we do have payments on most of em, you can turn off everything ... that is $$$ flying out your pocket with 0 return.

Romney cant lay claim to "smarter govt" just like Obama cant lay claim to say stopping time. Bigger govt is usually more efficient. Too big = wasteful too, but you need all the engineering etc etc staff to complete the entire road in a reasonable stretch of time. You cant build one over 20 years like they did to 485 in charlotte. Want a road like that, survey and stake it say 3-6 months. Build the road through the open stretches, 2-3 years. Build exits and entry points 2-3 years. Done. By the time 485 is done in charlotte there are parts of 485 so congested it is time to expand it, and it cant be cos that segment is full of strip malls and subdivisions.

Smaller govt is possible, smarter, more efficient, better is not, atleast not by making it smaller.

Most of the recent expansion in govt as the TEA sees it is simply due to aging of the population and people collecting SS and medicaid/care, the 2 wars 1/2 way round the world, expansion of food stamp eligibility all of which were Bushies Idea, and Obama is just following on the obligations made by the govt. The TEA/Right want to re-neg on the obligations by the govt to people and blame Obama for it.

Cool.
Srinath.