Allen L Roland

While the nation flounders economically a for-profit prison firm, The GEO Group Inc, rakes in millions from the US Government detaining undocumented immigrants and other federal inmates amid increasing charges of negligence, civil rights violations, abuse and even death:

As I have recently pointed out ~ America has less than 5% of the world's people but almost 25% of its prisoners. We imprison 756 people per 100,000 residents, a rate nearly five times the world average. About one in every 31 adults is either in prison or on parole. Black men have a one in three chance of being imprisoned at some point in theirs lives. http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13415267

Driven by fear and bolstered by greed ~ the Prison / Industrial complex continues to thrive in much the same manner as the Military / Industrial complex while being fully supported by the U.S. Government and American tax payers ~ despite many allegations of negligence and abuse.

Erin Rosa writes, in a Special to CorpWatch, that detaining immigrants has become a profitable business, and the niche industry is showing no signs of slowing down ~ " The number of undocumented immigrants the U.S. federal government jails has grown by at least 65 percent in the last six years. In 2002, the average daily population of immigration detainees was 20,838 people, according to ICE records. By 2008, the average daily population had grown to 31,345."

Rosa goes on to report GEO operates four of the seven for-profit contracted detention facilities ~ which are part of a network of at least 300 local, state and federal lockups. She also sites the numerous investigations and documented problems at GEO’s immigration detention facilities.

GEO Group, Inc.: Despite a Crashing Economy, Private Prison Firm Turns a Handsome Profit

by Erin Rosa, Special to CorpWatch
March 1st, 2009 http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=15308&printsafe=1

Excerpts: " At the company’s Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, federal prosecutors charged a GEO prison administrator in September 2008 with “knowingly and willfully making materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statements to senior special agents” with ICE, according to court filings. A February 2008 audit found that over a period of more than two years ending in November 2005, GEO hired nearly 100 guards without performing the required criminal background checks. The GEO employee responsible, Sylvia Wong, pleaded guilty. In the plea agreement the federal government stated that Wong falsified documents “because of the pressure she felt” while working at the GEO lockup to get security personnel hired at the detention center “as quickly as possible.”

Two months before the fraud charges, a study by the Seattle University School of Law and the nonprofit group OneAmerica reported that conditions at the Tacoma facility violated both international and domestic laws that grant detained immigrants the right to food, due process and humane treatment.

Federal immigration officials have the authority to incarcerate undocumented immigrants, asylum-seekers, and even lawful permanent residents while they await hearings with immigration judges or appeal decisions. ICE reports the average length of stay is 30 days, but detentions can last years, according to a November 2008 ICE fact sheet."

Rosa concludes that " GEO has accrued contracts worth more than $588 million in federal tax dollars since 1997, according to available federal procurement data. And as long as federal officials continue to remand a growing number of inmates and immigrants over to private businesses, without imposing strict oversight, GEO will likely remain profitable."

Multi million dollar contracts without oversight ~ and then add the moral implications. Sounds familiar ~ does it not.

Allen L Roland http://blogs.salon.com/0002255/2009/05/08.html

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Freelance Alternative Press Online columnist and psychotherapist Allen L Roland is available for comments, interviews, speaking engagements and private consultations (allen@allenroland.com)
Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his weblog and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net ONLY THE TRUTH IS REVOLUTIONARY