The Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility is operated by CoreCivic, the corporate prison contractor formerly known as Corrections Corporation of America.
Vermont will pay CoreCivic $71 per day for each of the state’s roughly 200 inmates who are housed out of state, according to a Vermont DOC press release. There is room for up to 350 Vermont inmates in the 2,600-person facility in Tutwiler, Miss. The per diem amount will increase annually; the contract runs for a minimum of two years with an option for two more.
The inmates will begin moving this fall from the State Correctional Institution at Camp Hill, Pa. Because Camp Hill is a state-run facility, Vermont’s agreement with Pennsylvania DOC is different than with a private contractor like CoreCivic.
Under the Pennsylvania agreement, known as an interstate compact, Vermont’s inmates are treated according to the laws and policies of Pennsylvania. That has resulted in some of Vermont’s inmate protections — such as a ban on more than 30 consecutive days of solitary confinement — being ignored for the inmates housed out of state.
The two states began a six-month separation process in March, and Vermont DOC said in a press release that the search process for new inmate housing had “a focus on identifying prison operators that are able to apply the Vermont laws, rules and policies as if they are in Vermont facilities.”
Still, the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont has voiced concerns about CoreCivic, calling the company “among the very worst corporate actors” and pointing to national reports about poor conditions and inmate mistreatment.
Vermont’s out-of-state inmates lived in a Kentucky prison owned by Corrections Corporation of America from 2005 to 2015 before they were moved to a private prison operated by GEO Group in Michigan.
Defender General Matthew Valerio, whose office advocates for inmates, said the state’s past experience with Corrections Corporation of America was positive, and inmates appreciated what he called a “low-stress environment.”
The Pennsylvania agreement lasted barely a year. Vermont inmates moved into Camp Hill in June 2017. Since then, three inmates have died in the prison (another died last fall shortly after returning to Vermont) and multiple inmates have reported threats and a beating by guards.
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Buh Bye, y’all
The ACLU is right in opposing the move of prisoners’ to Mississippi; which will place the inmates even further away both in distance and from their families/lawyers/physicians. They deserve to serve their time for crimes committed however, not to be that far away from their families. It’s my opinion, where the crime was committed is where the time should be served.
Per the Centre Daily Times (9/19/2018): VT will pay $71.00 per inmate in October 2018; a total of 228 inmates to be moved for a grand total of $16,188.00. The contract fee for the 2nd year would increase to $72.00. In Mississippi, they have the capacity of 350 beds. For the Fiscal Year ending 2017 our Instate/Inhouse cost was $183.00.
How does the DOC plan move/relocate those already housed?
I would be curious to know how much this will cost to move them?
They supposedly will receive access to phones, attorneys and health care w/no copays.
For that price will they be getting free tablets? I have read some prisons in Mississippi have banned access to books, which is wrong. Vermonters’ don’t belong in Mississippi.
Shoulda thought things through before victimizing people, huh, you boys in the striped pajamas? While basking in that Mississippi heat you might want to work on your impulse control…
Genesis, I guess they should not have done the crime if they do not like the results.
Sorry but I feel they gave up niceties when they committed their crimes.
https://www.npr.org/2018/09/19/648748114/investigative-journalist-aims-to-expose-ills-of-privately-run-prisons
Great piece about a journalist who worked at a prison owned by this private corporation for months.
If a society is so eager to jail people it should shoulder the burden of the expenses to properly confine and rehabilitate them, not farm it off to some vulture company like GEO Group. This is just more cheapskate “patriotism” by the GOP.
Republicans want Endless War and “law and order” as long as they don’t have to fully pay for it. Deranged Righties’ loins grow moist by the thought of poor people being abused and corporations profiting from it. They are as bad as the Taliban and ISIS about these things.
Hope some of you guys never get to check out a for profit prison for yourselves. But all things come to those who wait, particularly those who cast stones.
New York Time: 4/3/2018 Analysis by the Sentencing Project since the year 2000; the number of people housed in private “profit” operated prisons in the Nation has increased by 45%.
Several States including Michigan & Utah have stopped using private “profit” prisons.
Forbes: American Criminal Justice System 8/17/2018
Forbes: The First Step in Prison Reform Should be Real Reform 5/28/2018
If we can afford to contract out fellow Vermonters’ to a “profit” facilities; it would be less expensive and
feasible to build a facility in state having adequate capacity for housing/rehabilitation. The winter months are approaching; it’s not too late to put a request out to construction companies for bids.
Innocent until proven otherwise; serve the time where the crime was committed.
How many Vermonters’ are currently serving time for felonies/crimes out of state in a “profit” facilities?
How many Vermonters’ are taking up beds for misdemeanors?
What has already been spent on contracts, including the labor involved w/the transportation costs?
Is this information not public knowledge?