Boycott CCA NYSE:CXW
Lawsuits are being filed throughout the United States against CCA, for inmate abuse/neglect, etc.

INJUSTICE? what do you know about it? i am an employee at CCA in Texas, and know FOR A FACT that offenders are in no way mistreated at our facility. INMATES FILE LAWSUITS.. that is their nature...try to get something without having to work for it.....they have lots of time on their hands to think up things to do.

John D. Ferguson, CEO of Corrections Corporation of America, the first and largest private corrections company in the country, so he profits when non-violent offenders are jailed, and the longer the sentances the more he makes.
- Corrections Corporation what's wrong #1

Since it opened the prison in 1997, CCA had repeatedly demonstrated the dangers of allowing businesses to operate prisons for profit. The company staffed the facility with guards who had little or no experience in corrections -- and then imported 1,700 of the most violent inmates from Washington, D.C., to fill what was supposed to be a medium- security prison. CCA left metal equipment everywhere, which the prisoners quickly stripped and fashioned into weapons. During the first year alone, 20 prisoners were stabbed and two were
- Corrections CXW Corporation of America negligence responsible for murder

Reports yesterday confirmed House Majority Leader Tom DeLay [a criminal as bad as any] took $100,000 from the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA).
- Corrections Corporation of America CXW Kickback Bribes

In a compelling movie called The Corporation, we learn that courts in capitalist countries have given corporations "human rights," but they don't require corporate "citizens" to honor moral or legal obligations.

Instead, corporations are chartered to make as much money as possible as quickly as possible. If a corporation goes wrong in pursuit of money, it cannot be thrown in jail; some of its employees might go to jail, or The Corporation might pay a tax-deductible fine, but The Corporation lives on, no matter what crimes it commits, unless it is dissolved by its owners or by losing customer support.

The movie cites the example of American-based Bechtel Corporation, which attempted to take over the public water system in Cocachamba, Bolivia in 1999, after the World Bank pressured the country to privatize the system. In cahoots with corrupt, fascistic Bolivian officials and the military, the engineering company locked down the water supply - even making it a criminal offense to gather rainwater!

Private prison companies figure prominently in the Iraq Abu Ghraib torture scandals. Worldwide, they operate without adequate scrutiny. A federal grand jury found that the largest US prison company, Corrections Corporations of America, had routinely used brutality against teenagers at its South Carolina facilities.
- CXW Corrections Corporation of America Uses Brutality against Teens

Most inmates are probably not afforded the opportunity to file lawsuits, and the fact that some have is a surefire indication of just how wrong things are, Margaret

I am a proud employee of CCA and a 20 year Army veteran and I can tell you without hesitation that CCA is a very heavily scrutinized, highly proffesional and ethical company that does not abuse inmates in any way. CCA is inspected every three years by the non-profit, independent ACA and passes with the highest scores in the industry. Our correctional officers are hand picked, well paid and well trained, almost all have prior corrections experience and/or are Military veterans of the highest character. We treat inmates with dignity and respect and are held accountable for our actions. We are proud of the job we do, and contribute to public safety by keeping secure those that the judicial branch of our government have deemed unfit to live freely in our society.

The (Iraqi) Abu Ghraib prison scandal was the work of reserve and national Guard military police and elements of the CIA and had nothing to do with "private prisons".

Any inmate with an attorney can file a lawsuit on any person or corporation that they want. However it is much harder to sue the local and federal government, so private prisons get more lawsuits. That in itself doesn't mean they are doing anything wrong, in fact statistically, they run prisons cheaper and better than the government can.

Better and cheaper. hmm. I wonder if there are hidden costs then? Or how is the money saved.

Corporate efficiency vrs. government waste:
Just like Walmart can sell toothpaste cheaper than the mom and pop store on the corner. They save money in a number of ways, for example since it is a national company they buy prison uniforms in mass contract for all the CCA prisons in the nation. Each little state and county prison has to design and purchase it's own uniforms seperately. The CCA employees also get a bonus if the prison saves money on utilities, so they are constantly repairing water leaks and turning off un-needed lights.

Think of it like this, would you rather buy a "government issued" car or one from Mercedes?

What a load of shit to compare a for profit prison corp. to Mercedes.

BTW, do these for profit corporations save money by employing less guards than an equivalent governmental prison?

Also, money is not a finite commodity, but a means for barter. If the government can not afford to jail its citizens then it is time for them to change monetary policy or the laws which are causing them to jail more people than they can afford to.

Just so everyone reading this page realizes the deceit and/or affiliation of some of the comments on this site...

I believe that Jason, Andre, and Robert are actually all one person. They are all publishing their comments from the same IP address. So they are all either the same person or are all posting at the same time from the same location. Robert mentioned working for CCA. I would not bet against Jason and Andre doing the same as well.

OK you caught me, but really the point is that people shouldn't be down on CCA, we do a good job running prisons, we don't employ less guards or take shortcuts. It's not that the government can't afford to jail it's citizens, the government is still jailing it's citizens, it is just saving taxpayers money by doing it more efficiently. You guys are reading to much into this, the government has been contracting most of it's services for many years.

So if they don't cut corners by hiring less people do they just higher dumber employees that are willing to work for far less? Or where do the savings come from?

I have already explained it to you, it is the same theory how Walmart can sell pencils cheaper than the corner drug store. We don't "work for far less" in fact we pay better than the state run prison that is nearby. The corporate mentality breeds efficiency by holding us accountable for waste. The bottom line, there is less waste than at a state run institution and we have strict guidlines written into all of our contracts and we are constantly inspected and audited to make sure we are doing things to standard. Just like almost all state and federaly ran institutons, there is very little accountability. I am sure you have heard of the military buying $200 toilet seats? that could never happen at CCA.

Walmart is subsidized by underpaying employees who are stuck on welfare. So the taxpayer pays the welfare that leads to their corporate profits.

That is a load of crap, almost all entry level retail jobs are right around minimum wage. Walmart makes most of it's profit because it buys products in huge quantities so it's able to sell things cheaper. Let's not let this turn into a debate about Walmart.

CCA runs prisons cost effective in a number of ways. Here are a few more specific ways that they save taxpayers money:

1. They build modern, energy efficient prisons, for example: they install sophisticated sensors on the perimeter and use roving patrols where as some older state run prisons have multiple manned guard towers.

2. They buy products in large quantities using competetive bids, (like uniforms, toothpaste), similar to Walmart thusly paying less for over head.

3. They (CCA)have a bonus system in place where as if the specific facilty saves money on energy costs and reducing waste the emplyees get a bonus.

4. They have an extensive training program in place ensuring all corrections officers are fully trained and supervised, almost everything they do is documented and/or video taped which ultimately reduces costly litigation.

5. They bring outside agencies in like the ACA (American Correctional Accosiation) and DOJ (department of Justice) to inspect give them arears in which to improve. They give us a score and every few months they re-inspect and we are expected to have a better score.

I am not going to keep arguing with you even after you admitted that you lied up above.

Just note that I personally don't buy what you are selling, and I hope others are smart enough not to as well.

I didn't lie, everything I have said is true, I admitted to using more than one alias. I am not arguing with you, I am trying to educate you on a topic that you obviously know nothing about. I am not selling anything, just trying to let people see both sides of the coin and yes I hope people are smart enough to look at both sides with an open mind.

News flash: using multiple aliases with the intent to deceive readers might not be considered lying where you come from, but it is here. Why would anybody trust anything you said after you did that?

You are just trying to take the debate away from the actual topic because you don't have anything credibe/tangible to add to the topic. Whether I call myself, Robert or Andre it is not really important, for all you know my real name could be Rumplestiltskin. I didn't lie, my middle name is Andre and Jason is a friend of mine that posted from the same computer. aaron Wall and someone else asked how CCA could run prisons cheaper than the government and I was trying to answer them to the best of my ability.

I am not trying to take the debate away from the topic. More to the point is that I am really happy right now and have no need for your lies and manipulation in my life.

Don't take it so personal Aaron, there is nothing I have said that should reduce your happiness. I am realy not trying to manipulate anyone, I am simply trying to provide a counterpoint to the subject. Look I fully understand the concern over the privatization of prisons, and it is a hotly debated topic right now, in fact the Government of california just recently signed a private contract to start confining there inmates in other states. Their(California)prisons are simply over crowded. I think the topic should be debated and I am in a unique position to provide valuable insight into the debate due to the fact that I have worked for 2 decades with the government and have seen first hand, state, federal and private prisons in operation.

If the prisons are overpopulated (which they are) and wealth stratification is accelerating (it is) then perhaps the solution to the problem is not looking for ways to reduce the cost of jailing people, but instead to change the laws to better reflect the actions of society.

We have millions of citizens in jail. Sorta sick for "the land of the free."

"change the laws to better reflect the actions of society" You have got to be kidding, that is what is sick. So you are saying since raping little kids, murder and robberies, Fraud, car jacking are more prevalent in todays society we should make them legal. No? So what crimes do you want to allow? No that is the last thing we need to do. There are no easy answers, but it must be a multi-facted approach We must continue to fight dangerous drug use, no I am not talking about Granpa Joe smokoing a joint in his basement, but dangerous addictive drugs like Herion and Meth.If we can somehow make a dent into drug use and reducing poverty we might be able to keep more people out of prisons.

I agree with you whole-heartedly that keeping people out of prison is by far more important than reducing the cost of incarcinating them. But relaxing laws that are already pretty lax is the last thing we should be doing. Yes you can reduce the murder rate by making murder legal, but I don't think anyone wants to live in a anarchistic country with no law and order.

Your murder example is the dumbest straw man argument I have ever seen in blog comments anywhere. Congratulations.

Is your blind support for the current set of laws largely dependant on the fact that your income comes from people going to jail?

Many people would not use the illegal drugs if they were legalized (look to Amsterdam...most of the people at the coffeeshops there were not locals), and if they were legal they would be:

• of higher quality
  
• a tax source instead of a tax burden on society

A large % of the people in jail are in jail for non-violent drug related offenses. And there is nothing saying anarchists believe in murder. And the typical anarchist likely believes in murder far less than people like Bush. The Iraq collateral damage murder numbers speak volumes...because actions speak louder than words.

And one wonders why CCA gave Tom Delay $100,000.

I don't have blind support of our current set of laws, I see the law breakers every day so my eyes are wide open. There are some good people in prison that just made some bad decisions. I am in favor of reduced sentencing for certain non-violent drug offenders, which is what I think you are trying to say, but that would only reduce the volume by a small percentage. Look my source of income is illrelevent, I have income from multiple sources and I am retired military and have only been in corrections for a short time so I can look at this fairly from the inside and outside. Have you ever been to Amsterdam? I have, the coffee shops are a mixture of locals and foriegner and they are mostly smoking hash. Have you ever been to one of the shooting gallery parks over there? It's disgusting, a bunch of herion addicts shooting up, used needles laying all over the place. Would you want your kids playing in that park? Would you want to live nearby? So you didn't answer my question: What laws would you abolish? Legalize marijuana? Maybe that would be one option, but that would have a negligible effect on over all crime. I have seen literaly thousands of inmates and I can only remember 1 that was in prison for marijuana.In other words marijuan is not the culprit to prison over crowding.

One of the reasons for over crowding in prisons is illegal immigration. Illigel immigrants are clogging up our judicial system. They are smuggiling huge amounts of cocain, meth and herion accross the border, getting caught, getting deported and then turning right around and doing it again.

>I have worked for 2 decades with the government and have seen first hand, state, federal and private prisons in operation

>Look my source of income is illrelevent, I have income from multiple sources and I am retired military and have only been in corrections for a short time so I can look at this fairly from the inside and outside.

Some people are good at lying. Others are not.

You have no credibility on any level. Please stop wasting everyone's time by lying.