Why was I born into an evil country like the U. S. A.? Shame at what we do to people is my main emotion these days. Oh to be somewhere else!
2
Pennies for human dignity....
We are worse than our ancestors.
Although human right violations were rampant back then, they had the excuse of being ignorant.
We know far better, and we treat fellow human beings, prisoners or not, black or not, like trash. Worth less than a dollar bill.
We are worse than our ancestors.
Although human right violations were rampant back then, they had the excuse of being ignorant.
We know far better, and we treat fellow human beings, prisoners or not, black or not, like trash. Worth less than a dollar bill.
8
Would members of the NY correctional officer's union have done a better job?
1
Corporate rule.
5
Whenever you allow profit to enter the provision of services that include the health and well being of people, cutting corners becomes the first goal. This means hiring the least expensive...aka the least qualified....employees you can find. We see it over and over again in the for profit prison industry. There are rules for the transportation of animals to slaughter but not for the transportation of humans. We are going backwards to become a first world country with a plutocracy in charge.
5
This treatment is appalling and needs to be changed by passing and enforcing appropriate regulation of the industry. Until that time, however, there are things individuals can do to avoid the problem.
First, obey the law. This will not eliminate the chance of false arrest, but will drastically reduce it. Second, if a warrant is issued for your arrest, turn yourself in to the body issuing the warrant. THe odds are that you will be found at some point and returned to the arresting jurisdiction, and that trip is one you do not want to take.
First, obey the law. This will not eliminate the chance of false arrest, but will drastically reduce it. Second, if a warrant is issued for your arrest, turn yourself in to the body issuing the warrant. THe odds are that you will be found at some point and returned to the arresting jurisdiction, and that trip is one you do not want to take.
3
Thanks for reporting this. It's hard to believe that our officials aren't aware of this. How can this happen in America? It's really frightening.
7
This has to stop... that is my tax money paying for these private companies to do government work and they commit indignity all the way to murder on these people.. not on my dollar....the Greed Over People group all need to be voted out ....
5
Does Walter Scott sound familiar? Mr. Galack is arrested for missing child support payments and ends up dead in the back of a private prisoner transport. At the end of the day, we have to look at the reason these men were pursued and killed. Should we really be waisting law enforcement resources on this? Fathers who financially struggle to pay child support find themselves going to jail, losing their jobs, and repeating the process over and over again (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/20/us/skip-child-support-go-to-jail-lose-.... Now fathers, miss child support, head to jail, die on the way, no need to repeat. We can blame it on the violent action of a police officer and the violent action of guards. But we have to look at the circumstances the lead up to these deaths.
3
This is the very dark side of privatization of public responsibility. All at the feet of Republicans and Democrat Reformers . The oversight of Public Employees is the responsibility of State Attorney Generals, State Inspector Generals and Commissioners that oversee those Departments and Branches of Government. So the specious argument that there is no vehicle for reprimanding and accountability because of Public Union Contracts is patently false. Criminal behavior is criminal behavior and not protected by union contracts. We cannot cut our way to excellence and safeguard individuals rights when we are driven by the false narrative that it is those public employees that are raiding State and local taxpayer dollars.
2
The issues is complex to say the least. Too many people arrested for minor offenses; too many folks held because they can't up up bond money; too little money to pay to incarceration costs. We lock up more people in this country than anywhere else, but taxpayers often balk at paying the costs of providing humane treatment to human beings who have committed crimes, even minor offenses.
The story is appalling. Even the criminals who have been convicted of the most heinous crimes should be treated humanely. Some of the folks being transported have not even been convicted of anything! We do need better regulation, but without better funding and fewer folks held for minor crimes the situation will not improve.
The story is appalling. Even the criminals who have been convicted of the most heinous crimes should be treated humanely. Some of the folks being transported have not even been convicted of anything! We do need better regulation, but without better funding and fewer folks held for minor crimes the situation will not improve.
9
The fact that a private transportation company had to pay a public Sheriffs Department for the cost of recovering an escaped (public) prisoner, is a HOWL! Of course, this is no more insane than the privatization of what should be public services, generally, which is now all too common, and should be stopped immediately, regardless of cost. Thanks for articles like this, to Hell with "entrepreneurial" contracting efforts by public entities too fearful to increase taxes to enable the proper public functions. The "Libertarian Police Department" is next, the protection you get is the protection level the citizen can pay for; no pay, no protection.
14
Whenever you have a situation where people have physical and brute power over other people, there is bound to be abuse. This has been true throughout human history. And one has only to look at today's fiasco of Riker's Island, to see that this is still all too tragically true, especially in the USA, where there is insufficient oversight in many prisons, and where the prevailing attitude is that people who have been convicted of crimes, justly or unjustly, are not regular citizens, and therefore, not entitled to any rights.
This society divides itself into the black and the white, and the right and the wrong, and most significantly, the good and the bad, thereby setting itself up for mistreatment of anyone considered to be on the "opposite side of the fence." Combine this attitude with the profit motive, and brute force all too often becomes brutal force when humans with the means over power are allowed to physically dominate those who have no means of defense.
This society divides itself into the black and the white, and the right and the wrong, and most significantly, the good and the bad, thereby setting itself up for mistreatment of anyone considered to be on the "opposite side of the fence." Combine this attitude with the profit motive, and brute force all too often becomes brutal force when humans with the means over power are allowed to physically dominate those who have no means of defense.
10
It seems pretty obvious that when a person is in custody, even if they are convicted of the most heinous crime, they need to be provided the same security, food, shelter, rest, and medical care as a reasonably prudent free person. And that the state, being in total control of every moment of that person's time, needs to provide it in a way that a prudent person would do so for themselves.
Or am I living in Utopia?
Or am I living in Utopia?
4
Thank you so much for this excellent story. This "industry" needs to be brought into the light and regulated. Keep it up. We need to know this story...and others involving the privatization of criminal justice.
3
I've heard over and over that government is the problem and privatization is the answer for many of the ills facing our society.
I think the people transported in these inhumane conditions, would argue that market competition isn't helping, but actually making things much worse, as the need to cover costs and make a profit supersede normal common sense. It seems obvious that the incentive to cut costs to the point of recklessness, in an effort to maximize the profit kept by private contractors, is reaching criminal levels.
Greed wins again.
To be picked up on seemingly minor warrants (returning a rental car late!), and having no recourse to object, as responsibility for their lives are transferred from the state police to a poorly equipped and barely trained "private contractor", has to feel like a nightmare that won't end.
Talk about cruel and unusual punishment.
I think the people transported in these inhumane conditions, would argue that market competition isn't helping, but actually making things much worse, as the need to cover costs and make a profit supersede normal common sense. It seems obvious that the incentive to cut costs to the point of recklessness, in an effort to maximize the profit kept by private contractors, is reaching criminal levels.
Greed wins again.
To be picked up on seemingly minor warrants (returning a rental car late!), and having no recourse to object, as responsibility for their lives are transferred from the state police to a poorly equipped and barely trained "private contractor", has to feel like a nightmare that won't end.
Talk about cruel and unusual punishment.
12
Yeah, private industry and for profit companies are always a better choice than government and non-profit? How long will people keep pushing those lies?
9
I guess as long as people believe them. If it starts happening to people who have been physics teachers in college on a regular basis, probebly the tolerance will drop faster.
I do not understand the inhumane treatment of prisoners on these transports. These are American citizens, incarcerated in American jails and transported on American highways and they are being treated worse than POW's in some cases. Just because someone broke the law does not give authorities the permission to treat them like cattle and, it certainly does not give the TBI or any other agency the right to slough off serious inquiries because of administrative laziness. Frankly, this company should have been out of business years ago.
15
I dislike your use of the word "confirmed" when one prisoner backs up another's story. "Corroborate" might be a good word, but possibly just "backed up" would be best.
2
I'd guess that police officers and/or corrections officers are at least as likely to lie in each others' defense as prisoners. Their interests are more often in common.
4
Beyond sad. Given today's technology, couldn't
many of these individuals had their day in court
via Skype or other means instead of being herded
around the country like animals?
many of these individuals had their day in court
via Skype or other means instead of being herded
around the country like animals?
15
Appalling to note that this is 21st Century America! Our zeal to punish is far more aligned with sadism and revenge than rehabilitation. Many if not most of the kinds of people drawn to these minimum wage or low paying jobs related to the American jail and prison industry are uneducated, unskilled, unqualified, and in many cases unmitigated sadists.
What has happened to our nation that we are more invested in inhumanity and brutality than integrity and professionalism. Despite hundreds of years passing since America embraced the deviant puritanical standards of our Christian ancestors, we still crave the use of medieval tactics when dealing with those accused of or convicted of crimes. I'm surprised we haven't brought back the stocks!
Our criminal justice system (touted as the world's best by those holding all the power) is a hot mess! We need accountability by those who mistreat prisoners and that's not happening. As the article points out, local law enforcement couldn't even be bothered to properly investigate the suspicious deaths of prisoners being transported.
We have really lost our way when we think a "for profit" corporation is going to do a humane job of transporting or guarding prisoners. Corporate America can't even deliver consumer products without injuring and killing end users, so it's really rather ludicrous to think they could succeed with something as complex as incarcerating human beings. Profits always come before safety, professionalism, and integrity.
What has happened to our nation that we are more invested in inhumanity and brutality than integrity and professionalism. Despite hundreds of years passing since America embraced the deviant puritanical standards of our Christian ancestors, we still crave the use of medieval tactics when dealing with those accused of or convicted of crimes. I'm surprised we haven't brought back the stocks!
Our criminal justice system (touted as the world's best by those holding all the power) is a hot mess! We need accountability by those who mistreat prisoners and that's not happening. As the article points out, local law enforcement couldn't even be bothered to properly investigate the suspicious deaths of prisoners being transported.
We have really lost our way when we think a "for profit" corporation is going to do a humane job of transporting or guarding prisoners. Corporate America can't even deliver consumer products without injuring and killing end users, so it's really rather ludicrous to think they could succeed with something as complex as incarcerating human beings. Profits always come before safety, professionalism, and integrity.
19
Yet another horror story resulting from the privatizing of a public service that nobody ever had any business outsourcing in the first place. When will we learn?
22
Maybe we are learning. Each of these horrible incidents are an undeniable record of the inherent problems with trying to mix profit with public service.
3
"They sat tightly packed on seats inside a cage, with no way to lie down to sleep. The air conditioning faltered amid 90-degree heat. "
We treat animals more humanely than this.
We treat animals more humanely than this.
27
I feel like my country has more in common with North Korea and Russia than the Europeans. This is torture.
15
How many still believe in the cheerful Gipper's dictum, that in such crises: "government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem."
5
This is what you will get each and every time you combine the profit motive with legislatures and local councils that pride themselves on doing everything as cheaply as possible. It is not a matter of privatizing wisely. Such outcomes as these are as certain as day follows night. And policy makers will gladly visit such oppressive conditions on anyone without a political voice simply because they will be rewarded for doing so in the next election cycle. Pathetic.
13
Its sad, that as citizens we have to be subjected to the fallout from business and bureaucracies( state and local governments) that are allowed to operate outside oversight and sensible regulations and rules, that put the the general public at risk, and individuals directly in harms way. The fact that this 'transport' injustice exists at all is unconscionable. Everybody is affected by the poor economics that municipalities are suffering with, leading to the reduction of quality services and lack of for oversight.
Prisoner advocacy is sorrily needed, but so is competency in Flint water, Baltimore Police and civil rights and please fill in the blanks__________________________. Prisoners are at the bottom of the totem pole and their 'dept to society' is never paid. Their stigma is endless in this cultural climate.
Prisoner advocacy is sorrily needed, but so is competency in Flint water, Baltimore Police and civil rights and please fill in the blanks__________________________. Prisoners are at the bottom of the totem pole and their 'dept to society' is never paid. Their stigma is endless in this cultural climate.
9
Generally, if a warrant is issued for your arrest, you can arrange bond, turn yourself in to be booked and never even have to be handcuffied. When I learn my clients have had warrants issued for them while they are out of state, this transportation system is my greatest fear. When this happens I immediately advise my clients to drive (not fly) and get home as quickly as possible.
For example, you are on vacation in Florida and while you are gone, Texas issues a warrant for your arrest. If you are arrested in Florida, you generally can NOT post bond to be returned because you are a fugitive from justice-even though you did not know a warrant existed; Even though if you were at home, you could have driven to the jail, turned yourself in and be released on bond. You are now a prisoner of this extradition, for profit, system.
This happened to several of my clients. However, one client of mine got arrested in Oregon for a Texas charge and did not heed my advice to get home. She mistakenly wanted to give her boss "more time" and, instead, it costs her over three weeks in a van with other men. Of course, she had her period and suffered the same humility described in the article. But that wasn't even the worst of it because every time they, finally, stopped the van and checked into a jail, she was cavity searched. Multiple times during this hostage event, she was fingered anally & vaginally by a different person at every jail.
She still suffers from that ordeal.
For example, you are on vacation in Florida and while you are gone, Texas issues a warrant for your arrest. If you are arrested in Florida, you generally can NOT post bond to be returned because you are a fugitive from justice-even though you did not know a warrant existed; Even though if you were at home, you could have driven to the jail, turned yourself in and be released on bond. You are now a prisoner of this extradition, for profit, system.
This happened to several of my clients. However, one client of mine got arrested in Oregon for a Texas charge and did not heed my advice to get home. She mistakenly wanted to give her boss "more time" and, instead, it costs her over three weeks in a van with other men. Of course, she had her period and suffered the same humility described in the article. But that wasn't even the worst of it because every time they, finally, stopped the van and checked into a jail, she was cavity searched. Multiple times during this hostage event, she was fingered anally & vaginally by a different person at every jail.
She still suffers from that ordeal.
30
Transporting citizens in such demeaning, horrific prisoner vans is an abuse of their humanity; those prisoners who are taken on the basis of a warrant alone, without the benefit of a trial, are presumed innocent and yet are severely and inhumanely mistreated, in a fashion that is historically reminiscent of the sealed cattle cars employed by Nazi Germany to transport their innocent prisoners in the shameful days of the 1940s in Europe.
What is happening to the moral conscience of this country? Do citizens have so little value that their freedom and human integrity can be so readily violated? If we do not reclaim our humanity, we may well soon find that our country will have become a fascist nightmare, a collective bad dream from which Americans will not be able to awaken.
What is happening to the moral conscience of this country? Do citizens have so little value that their freedom and human integrity can be so readily violated? If we do not reclaim our humanity, we may well soon find that our country will have become a fascist nightmare, a collective bad dream from which Americans will not be able to awaken.
25
To those who object to the images, I say you have to look at them. In a democracy those people are working for us. We elect officials to do our bidding, and we cannot escape some real responsibility for their actions. It is the "Predicament of Democratic Man."
24
Privatization isn't necessarily a bad thing, but this article goes to show that if you notice, and fail to punish bad behavior, it will only become worse. If these companies and their employees were punished appropriately after the first instance of trouble w/ guards, they would discourage that behavior. But when they are not punished, it reinforces in them the belief that they can get away with it. It's human nature really. Given little supervision, many more people w/ power over other individuals deemed less worthy would act the same. Remember Abu Ghraib? Same thing. If misbehavior is tolerated it will grow. Unfortunately, you'll always find people who are interested in abusing others placing themselves into position to do so. There needs to be a better way to weed them out and hold the guards and companies accountable for when things do take place.
18
The main problem is the way the contract is structured, which doesn't pay enough unless the company games the system in the way it does.
The better way is to keep the prisoner transport service in public ownership, hire and pay guards and drivers appropriately, have the right policies in place and maintain proper oversight, which would include the power to fire employees who fail to follow policy.
The better way is to keep the prisoner transport service in public ownership, hire and pay guards and drivers appropriately, have the right policies in place and maintain proper oversight, which would include the power to fire employees who fail to follow policy.
6
Joan: do you think that it's possible, as a practical matter, to fire unionized prison employees for anything but the most transparent gross offenses? Check out what's happened with the employees at Dannemora prison, site of this well known prison escape. At worst, they were pushed into retirement with all pension rights intact.
Here is another reason to turn veterans medical care over to the private sector to save money.They may make the lack at Phoenix or Walter Reed look good.
2
Since a private business exists to make a profit for its owners, why would anyone think they will be more concerned about service to citizens than would a dedicated government agency? It's ridiculous, and kind of a scam.
8
There are such things as "pride in work", ethics, duty, and also wanting repeat business. What motivates government employees?
If there is a set budget for a given government service, any businesses providing that service with those funds must save enough money out of that amount to make a profit. That will always mean less personnel or equipment to do the same job a government agency can do using all of its budget, as directed.
As for "pride of work, ethics and duty," they are not limited to people in the private sector, except in right wing mythology.
As for "pride of work, ethics and duty," they are not limited to people in the private sector, except in right wing mythology.
Thank you NYT, for continuing to turn over rocks and expose what crawls beneath them.
20
Anytime profits come before humanity, money (as the bible clearly says: the root of all evil) wins. A few make profit, some get lousy jobs, the rest are treated like slaves. Only in America?
8
Actually, the Bible states not that money, but the love of money, is the root of all evil. Not that you give a hoot what the Bible says, as long as you can feed a rant.
It's disturbing that there is no accountability for not taking a dying prisoner to an Emergency Department. Why is this any different from the Baltimore PD letting Freddy Gray die? A woman who can no longer walk or get back in the van, that's a lay person definition of a medical emergency. There has to be accountability for letting someone die in the back of a van like a dog.
16
Horrifying.
15
As a nation, we are not in the business of Justice - we are in the business of warrants and fines.
I find it ironic that this article appeared shortly after the Supreme Court vacated the conviction on federal corruption charges against the former governor of Virginia, Robert McDonnell. It certainly proves the point, that we have two kinds of justice in this country.
I would be interested in seeing a list of the political contributions that the owners these companies have made. Perhaps the Times could publish that?
I find it ironic that this article appeared shortly after the Supreme Court vacated the conviction on federal corruption charges against the former governor of Virginia, Robert McDonnell. It certainly proves the point, that we have two kinds of justice in this country.
I would be interested in seeing a list of the political contributions that the owners these companies have made. Perhaps the Times could publish that?
32
Another symptom of a deteriorating country.
Two government functions that should never be privatized:
Justice system;
Military.
But Americans have adopted the mindset that anything is justified in the pursuit of profits.
Say good-bye to America.
Two government functions that should never be privatized:
Justice system;
Military.
But Americans have adopted the mindset that anything is justified in the pursuit of profits.
Say good-bye to America.
10
I don't understand the reference to many of this industry's guards being military veterans. Unless you're implying that many of the industry's guards may be former gang members. At some point the public is going to have to examine the nature of military service today, and its members. This is not your father's Armed Forces, and inferring or presuming that somehow these prisoners are somehow better off in the hands of those whose previous employment was military is, I'm afraid, borne of ignorance.
3
This type of treatment is reserved for the poor--its been around for years and never noticed. No presidential candidate will speak to it --really these "criminals" have no constituency. In the interest of free enterprise, they are collateral damage.
5
Great article NYT. Soon there will be no difference between America and third world countries. At least they have public judgement and they don't hire war veterans with low moral.
3
how touching to see Kristin Galack's sympathy, after she hounded the guy to death.
6
It's a shame that people can be so cruel and treat people this way. I understand the profit motive, and these are prisoners, but still they are people and deserve to be treated better.
To me, these are beasts that they don't care at all if someone just dies under their watch, especially when it can be for a minor offense. Horrible and sad.
To me, these are beasts that they don't care at all if someone just dies under their watch, especially when it can be for a minor offense. Horrible and sad.
6
This is great reporting on an absolutely shameful subject. These courier services should be carefully regulated and charges need to be filed for even minor violations that affect the safety of prisoners entrusted to correctional facilities by the justice system.
3
This article is one reason why I believe the judge in the Stanford rape case got it right, and why sentencing requirements for lighter crimes must change. The prison system is so overburdened and underfunded that instances of cruel and unusual punishment, such as that described in these prison transport vans, is commonplace. If the likelihood of a convicted person's rehabilitation appears high without a prison sentence, then for everyone's safety and to save the taxpayer money, we should not sentence the person to prison.
3
Excellent article and it brings up three very important issues and hopefully we can all agree:
Privitization of law enforcement and correctional functions (as well as other important government functions) must end.
Our penal system must find a better way to deal with low-level offenders than open warrants for an arrest. If someone owes money for returning a rental car too late, their wages can be garnished as payment etc.
Mental health care has to be taken seriously.
Privitization of law enforcement and correctional functions (as well as other important government functions) must end.
Our penal system must find a better way to deal with low-level offenders than open warrants for an arrest. If someone owes money for returning a rental car too late, their wages can be garnished as payment etc.
Mental health care has to be taken seriously.
16
Folks being smuggled across the Mexican border get treated better than the prisoners transported by for-profit enterprises. I cannot imagine anything more frightening than being at the mercy of the criminal 'justice' system in the United States. The guards are likely a small step away from being inside those cages themselves. Unqualified workers in an unregulated industry is what jobs in America are becoming, and is all I can imagine when I hear Trump tweet. More service workers for his casinos and resorts. This story presents a horrifying microcosm of life for the marginalized minorities in America. What really separates the folks on either side of that cage? Can you imagine ending up shacked in a overheated van for a multistate hell ride for using someone else's gift card?
11
The privatization of anything having to do with any segment of the Department of Corrections in any state, inevitably leads to abuse. When you are warehousing human beings, then transporting them from one warehouse to another, always comes down to the bottom line, dollars and cents. This should be a good testament against privatization of any such facility.
One thing not mentioned in the article is that prisons often use what they call "bus therapy" to transport uncooperative inmates, whereby they transport prisoners indiscriminately form one facility to the other as a type of punishment for infractions. This article makes clear why "bus therapy" is, indeed a punishment, one which can sometimes result in death, and almost always be considered a kind of torture.
It makes me wonder how many of those being transported paid with their lives as a disciplinary action, one precipitated by the caprice and whim of whatever officer was in charge of the inmate, maybe one whose sexual advances were rejected, or one who feared being exposed for bring drugs into a particular institution.
When there is a little oversight into illegal activities of the staff, as is prevalent in virtually all privatized situations, and in a culture where whistle-blowing is severely discouraged, anything is possible.
One thing not mentioned in the article is that prisons often use what they call "bus therapy" to transport uncooperative inmates, whereby they transport prisoners indiscriminately form one facility to the other as a type of punishment for infractions. This article makes clear why "bus therapy" is, indeed a punishment, one which can sometimes result in death, and almost always be considered a kind of torture.
It makes me wonder how many of those being transported paid with their lives as a disciplinary action, one precipitated by the caprice and whim of whatever officer was in charge of the inmate, maybe one whose sexual advances were rejected, or one who feared being exposed for bring drugs into a particular institution.
When there is a little oversight into illegal activities of the staff, as is prevalent in virtually all privatized situations, and in a culture where whistle-blowing is severely discouraged, anything is possible.
10
What a messed up story, very sad. I don't understand how if someone is pleading for help and in pain for hours they can be ignored. Greed really makes people do things beyond the pale. This problem needs serious oversight.
3
This "problem" needs to be ELIMINATED.
10
This is not a failure of capitalism or the concept of deregulation. This is a failure of government to adequately perform its sworn duties. In libertarian thought, the state or government has a distinct role in protecting people and their property as well as maintaining a justice system with clear rules as to what the government can and cannot do. A "night watchman" state or minimal government would not allow a company to profit on the backs of taxpayers, much less a company that profits from stripping citizens of their legal rights. Furthermore, even if this did occur, the court system would act swiftly as it would be one of the government's few functions. A government that has less responsibilities would be more accountable than one worrying about everything from abortions to the war on drugs.
5
Now here we have a fine example of something that somebody found a way to make a profit on. Prisoners R US.
11
does th van company also own mortuaries ?
6
orange is the new death.
18
Thank you for this article. I was thinking about visiting friends in the USA, but on reflection I will not risk falling into the hands of a private torture squad and being killed for their amusement. Institutional violence is out of control in the USA, violence being Americans' go-to solution for everything. Why tempt fate by entering territory populated by savage madmen?
38
I am appalled that a photograph of this individual's corpse is on the front page of the NYT. What a violation of his dignity and right to privacy.
2
Yes, but...
The photo really drives home that there are actual human beings who suffer at the hands of these vile mercenaries.
The photo really drives home that there are actual human beings who suffer at the hands of these vile mercenaries.
5
I think it depends on the situation, if the family has allowed it. When Emmett Till's mother allowed newspapers to show his battered corpse, for example, it galvanized public opinion and helped usher in societal change on a grand scale. If the family hasn't allowed it than I agree that is is a violation.
5
That may have been the LEAST appalling aspect of the article, at least for those of us who read it.
2
Some of the events and circumstances described in this article are truly horrifying, but are we supposed to be appalled by the 360 degree view of the transportation van? I've ridden in worse. It seems perfectly acceptable for prisoner transportation.
"I've ridden in worse."
Were you a prisoner in shackles? Did your "worse" van have seatbelts?
Were you a prisoner in shackles? Did your "worse" van have seatbelts?
5
"Perfectly acceptable" for short rides.
I think the point of the 360 view is you are supposed to imagine yourself in this van crammed with other prisoners, no food, no toilet break, hours and hours on the road in the Florida heat.
I think the point of the 360 view is you are supposed to imagine yourself in this van crammed with other prisoners, no food, no toilet break, hours and hours on the road in the Florida heat.
5
Americans need to wake up and push back against the privatization movement and be made aware of how it has infused every aspect of our society and interaction with local, state and federal entities for 30+ years.
Most cities and states sub contract just about every government service out--from education and charter schools, to ambulance and fire services, to garbage pick up and on and on. And the federal government has contracted out our national defense for 40 plus years.
We need to ask ourselves- how have tax payers benefitted? How have the 'employees" of these nefarious private contractors benefitted? Is this really better than having accountable government workers on the payroll?
And its largely thanks to the Right's push to control every state house in the country and state budgets with neoliberal collaboration at commodifying every single human experience.
Enough. Citizens need to take back our society and allow people to be human again.
Most cities and states sub contract just about every government service out--from education and charter schools, to ambulance and fire services, to garbage pick up and on and on. And the federal government has contracted out our national defense for 40 plus years.
We need to ask ourselves- how have tax payers benefitted? How have the 'employees" of these nefarious private contractors benefitted? Is this really better than having accountable government workers on the payroll?
And its largely thanks to the Right's push to control every state house in the country and state budgets with neoliberal collaboration at commodifying every single human experience.
Enough. Citizens need to take back our society and allow people to be human again.
34
This is why they call it the "Prison Industrial Complex". An entire industry built on the backs of (largely) poor who don't vote.
Articles like this are a service to humanity.
Articles like this are a service to humanity.
40
no, theyre not
bc humanity, aka th american public, does nothing about it
so wheres th service ?
bc humanity, aka th american public, does nothing about it
so wheres th service ?
2
I can never get my brain around the privatization of law enforcement; it seems reminiscent of the wild west of bounty hunting. The stories described are outrageous. I hope federal regulators will get going on forcing these companies to comply with regulations that one assumes exist, and if they don't, hopefully congress with enact legislation.
26
Man, I didn't know such industry existed..Guys carrying around prisoners in a van.
Should definitely be regulated heavily.
Should definitely be regulated heavily.
10
We might as well auction off "prisioners to the lowest bidder, no accountability, no questions asked". Wait that's slavery, then what is it now. We have the same rules governing us then and now. We have laws in all combinations to incaceerate anyone and at a whim. Lack of progress and economic oppertunities long prision sentences for petty crime they might as well be given a choice "die or prision" guess what they will choose. "Freedom the only lie"
8
I don't remember where I first read this but it's worth repeating, "humans are the only animal that's capable of inhumane behavior". Some of us are pretty disgusting.
19
"What a piece of work is man, how noble in reason etc. " What a joke.
2
What is the matter with us? How can we be so insensitive to the suffering and pain of others. We are repulsively greedy, neglecting the needs of others for a dollar or a dime.
I get that these are prisoners and could be violent. So, in an humane society, certainly not in a christian society, provisions would be made that would enable these people to be transported in an humane way.
What is the matter with us? Through our indifference, carelessness and vindictiveness, we only beget violence.
I get that these are prisoners and could be violent. So, in an humane society, certainly not in a christian society, provisions would be made that would enable these people to be transported in an humane way.
What is the matter with us? Through our indifference, carelessness and vindictiveness, we only beget violence.
8
I find the statement from Kristin Galack rather distracting from the general tone of the article.
At the time of his death, Galack was innocent of all wrongdoings. True, he was arrested on a warrant, but, judging from the article, he didn't even have a chance of fighting it. Same can be said of most of the people listed in the article - they were arrested on a warrant, but they didn't really have a chance to do anything about it, not even facing the judge about parole and the like.
The way I read article, some random local sheriff from Middle of Nowhere, OK, where I drove through, can issue a warrant for my arrest for unpaid fine that they could have sent to a wrong address to begin with, and then the local police elsewhere can stuck me in this hellhole van only to send me to that town at a higher price and over a longer period of time that I can get my butt there otherwise - and I can do nothing about it.
Isn't this a cruel and unusual punishment in itself without any trial, for that matter?
At the time of his death, Galack was innocent of all wrongdoings. True, he was arrested on a warrant, but, judging from the article, he didn't even have a chance of fighting it. Same can be said of most of the people listed in the article - they were arrested on a warrant, but they didn't really have a chance to do anything about it, not even facing the judge about parole and the like.
The way I read article, some random local sheriff from Middle of Nowhere, OK, where I drove through, can issue a warrant for my arrest for unpaid fine that they could have sent to a wrong address to begin with, and then the local police elsewhere can stuck me in this hellhole van only to send me to that town at a higher price and over a longer period of time that I can get my butt there otherwise - and I can do nothing about it.
Isn't this a cruel and unusual punishment in itself without any trial, for that matter?
31
Underlying all of this, and not really addressed head-on in the article, is the question of why we are incarcerating and forcibly transporting people charged with quite minor crimes? In a civilized society, I suspect many of these issues could be worked out without the state reacting so violently toward its own people. It seems our fundamental civil rights and our dignity as human beings are constantly under threat these days, this being just the latest instance.
67
I listened to Mike Malloy for many years. I can't help but agree with his mantra: When you put profit before people, the only possible outcome is death.
11
Be forewarned, America. This is the kind of place the Republican Party wants to create with its mantra of less regulation and lower taxes.
15
today : oh, how terrible, we must stop this, we will never forget this outrage ...
next week : what are you on about ?
next week : what are you on about ?
4
How is this worse than Freddie Gray from Baltimore dying in an official police car. The problem throughout the country is when in power mistreat the weak.
17
It is Shameful that this picture was used by the NYT! We did not need to see this picture of his body with his pants pulled down. It's an undignified and tragic picture that can only cause further pain to this poor man's family and friends. Do not demean him further!
Show what matters up front... pictures of the people who did this to him!
Show what matters up front... pictures of the people who did this to him!
2
...now I'm just waiting for the revelation that Hedge Funds own majority interest in private prisoner vans...and that for-profit extradition company contracts contain forced arbitration clauses. This is our America !
13
This is a fine piece of investigative reporting. Kudos!
14
These prisoner transport companies sound and seem to be run like terrorists organizations. The kill / injury rate would put them up into the ranks of the recognizable terrorist groups. But it's a for profit motive so maybe they're like the mob or other criminal network. RICO could come into play here. Then again maybe they're just another politically connected under regulated for profit capitalist company. They all fit really.
11
Since "profit" is simply the excess of income over costs, there is no bottom under the treatment of anyone under subcontracted custody of any level of government in the US.
5
How is it even possible that the state can hire private mercenaries to carry prisoners from one place to another, for the perverse pay for each individual they carry, without the basic services attendant to those being transported? A clear abuse of power, in the name of greed, and with impunity when somebody suffers and even dies in their hands. Unregulated, unsupervised, hell-on-Earth adventurism, in these United States? You are kidding, right?
21
I have only one word for all those who believe that a capitalist system that relies heavily on private enterprises is the best - SUCKERS. The private enterprise with shareholder stake has only one interest - profits. Other countries have realized this and the private sector is kept out of sectors that the Government should be managing - healthcare, mass-transportation, jails, inmate transportation and others
30
Besides the questionable 'crimes,' why do we think that privatization works for local, state or government services? From charter schools, to ambulance and transport services, to prisons, to restoration services in NYC funded by taxpayer money (see the FRONTLINE piece on the business of disaster), we think that 'hiring' companies that do not have accountability built in but profit lines in mind, will serve these functions. True that we have issues with policing as noted below that are serious and must be restructured, but for-profit industries are beholden to their shareholders. The series that the New York Times and others have displayed over this past year, but in stark relief the nefarious of many of these companies. Let's see who goes to prison now. And, can we backtrack in some cases, up to political/financial favors for these 'services?
35
Well said and very true. I do think that America is far too advanced down the road of corporatization to ever go back now to completely state-run prisons. Essentially, we are in the business of incarcerating people just like we are in the business of educating at state universities now underfunded and adopting business models by streamlining and hiring cheap labor to teach most courses. Unless we figure out a way out of global capitalism, we're going to see less and less government involvement in public services. And, truthfully, our so-called "golden" years of government support for public services in the 1950s and 60s was funded by our post-war boom, now long past.
6
I appreciate the reply below and apologize for my grammatical errors made while multi-tasking (that is, put/but and nefarious practices)! I think that despite the period of immense financial globalization, we are recalibrating as public awareness of the problem -- through social media, for example -- brings these issues into our lives. And, this year's election may mark a turning point in the social activism that will return larger social issues into the purview of monitored agencies (not private businesses that are unaccountable). Let's hope for stronger educational intervention to reduces abuse and meritocracy for performance and delivery of quality services. I know a long and difficult process but the current activist movements in play, must like the era Mr. Macdonald refers to, may help us with that inexorable shift.
Would it surprise you if I said the authorities just don't care?
15
Are we surprised? Anything the "for profit" sector does seems to be a shambles or questionable. What does this tell us. Keep the prison system government run and profiteers out.
17
This is one of many ways that private companies are making money off of prisoners. When I call my brother in jail, it costs me $21 for a 30 minute phone call. When you bail someone out, they charge a 50 to 75 dollar "processing fee" in addition to the bail amount. Come to think of it, he was exploited long before he was a prisoner--my brother was also in foster care from the age of 6 to 16 and his various foster parents and juvie prison guards were paid regardless of where he ended up, which in this case was homeless or in jail.
24
"... it costs me $21 for a 30 minute phone call."
When was the last time you paid that much? The FCC supposedly clamped down on exploitative telephone charges:
F.C.C. Makes Telephone Calls for Inmates Cheaper
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
OCT. 26, 2015
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/26/opinion/fcc-makes-telephone-calls-for-...
When was the last time you paid that much? The FCC supposedly clamped down on exploitative telephone charges:
F.C.C. Makes Telephone Calls for Inmates Cheaper
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
OCT. 26, 2015
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/26/opinion/fcc-makes-telephone-calls-for-...
I agree with Kate and MCF. I was incarcerated in the federal prison system for 12 yrs and I always wondered how prior to being jailed I could buy a phone card at any grocery store that would work on any pay or home phone in the united states with 1000 minutes for a couple of dollars but when I was in prison I had to pay $80 for 300 minutes and in county jail or a private holding facilities it would cost me from $10 -$20 for each 15 min call. Not to mention the inflated cost for commissary and hygiene costs.
I also wondered about the prices of stamps. Who uses stamps anymore? Inmates, thats who. The price of stamps almost doubled within those 12 yrs.
When I was released I was surprised to learn that email addresses were free and so are emails. I was surprised because I, as all Federal prisoners who have any money in their account (whether it is theirs or sent in by their family) were being charged $.05 cents a minute for composing and sending an email message. Now I understand that as a prisoner of the United States Government I was not promised any of these things and they were priveledges. But I also understand that I was still a citizen of the United States and did not know that because I was a prisoner I would be exempt from the protections against monopolies and what I believe to be price gouging. To me it seemes like someone saw a great oportunity to prey on the weak to make a dollar. In this case millions of dollars.
I also wondered about the prices of stamps. Who uses stamps anymore? Inmates, thats who. The price of stamps almost doubled within those 12 yrs.
When I was released I was surprised to learn that email addresses were free and so are emails. I was surprised because I, as all Federal prisoners who have any money in their account (whether it is theirs or sent in by their family) were being charged $.05 cents a minute for composing and sending an email message. Now I understand that as a prisoner of the United States Government I was not promised any of these things and they were priveledges. But I also understand that I was still a citizen of the United States and did not know that because I was a prisoner I would be exempt from the protections against monopolies and what I believe to be price gouging. To me it seemes like someone saw a great oportunity to prey on the weak to make a dollar. In this case millions of dollars.
5
Iowa's governor is hurrying to privatize all the government services he can, always arguing that private industry can do it all more cheaply. It's his idea of "fiscal responsibility," although it sometimes turns out to cost taxpayers more. When privatized services are found to be inadequate, fraudulent, or otherwise harmful to citizens, the governor and his administration deny responsibility. They have a vested interest in looking the other way when privately contracted businesses misbehave, since it was the governor and his team who pushed for privatization in the first place. There is no accountability and those hurt have little recourse.
18
As a formerly incarcerated citizen in the federal system due to a federal case out of Iowa. I know firsthand the flaws of the privatized transportation system specifically TRANSCOR. I have ridden on TRANSCOR shuttles many times from state to state one for over 14 hrs.
I have two reasons to be concerned: 1. as a former prisoner who has been subjected to the awful and inhumane treatment of the private shuttle system and 2. as a taxpayer and U.S. citizen.
1. I will attest to the fact that most of the examples in this article are commonplace with death being the most rare. With the things that I have been subjected to and or witnessed that have been permitted by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and TRANSCOR I am lucky to be alive and well today not to mention surviving the federal prison system which is another story I will not get into. I am glad I nor anyone I personally rode with died.
This article says nothing about the "one size fits all orange paper suit that we were outfitted with to ride for sometimes 24 hrs. The 360 view already did enough to my psyche today.
2. As a taxpayer and a U.S. citizen i can also inform you of another oversight not mentioned. Public Safety. As a prisoner in actual Federal custody there are strict security guidelines enforced and adhered to. I have been in TRANSCOR custody where I saw ample opportunities to attempt an escape if I chose to do so because the same parameters and rules were not followed whatsoever.
I have two reasons to be concerned: 1. as a former prisoner who has been subjected to the awful and inhumane treatment of the private shuttle system and 2. as a taxpayer and U.S. citizen.
1. I will attest to the fact that most of the examples in this article are commonplace with death being the most rare. With the things that I have been subjected to and or witnessed that have been permitted by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and TRANSCOR I am lucky to be alive and well today not to mention surviving the federal prison system which is another story I will not get into. I am glad I nor anyone I personally rode with died.
This article says nothing about the "one size fits all orange paper suit that we were outfitted with to ride for sometimes 24 hrs. The 360 view already did enough to my psyche today.
2. As a taxpayer and a U.S. citizen i can also inform you of another oversight not mentioned. Public Safety. As a prisoner in actual Federal custody there are strict security guidelines enforced and adhered to. I have been in TRANSCOR custody where I saw ample opportunities to attempt an escape if I chose to do so because the same parameters and rules were not followed whatsoever.
These are human beings--our brothers and sisters--being shuttled around like chickens in coops, on the road to slaughter.
Much of what is described in this informative article shows utter disregard for the dignity of the human "cargo." Even worse is the insult to those who have not yet been tried in a court by a jury of peers--real people who are presumed innocent until the jury has spoken.
This is yet another activity/industry/attitude that shames us all.
"Do unto others what you would have them do unto you." Not practiced in any significant measure of our "civilized" society, is it?
Much of what is described in this informative article shows utter disregard for the dignity of the human "cargo." Even worse is the insult to those who have not yet been tried in a court by a jury of peers--real people who are presumed innocent until the jury has spoken.
This is yet another activity/industry/attitude that shames us all.
"Do unto others what you would have them do unto you." Not practiced in any significant measure of our "civilized" society, is it?
26
Reading Hager & Santo's chilling account of the private prisoner van industry, fueled my concern that the U.S. continues its march backwards towards the Middle Ages. As a skeptical retired professor, I followed the first caustion of epidemiology: upon encountering an extreme outcome such as the bizzare death of the late professor Weintraub, I asked "is it real?" viz., is the story plausible? Lacking the resources of the NYT, I simply used a search engine to find a remarkable, relevant legal document at https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2288301/weintraub-v-ach.pdf
The document includes 34 page motion filed with UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA ATLANTA DIVISION in April, 2014, providing a detailed account of the fate of Dr. Weintraub.
I hope the NYT follows up by adding this url to its story, and and extends this story by investigating the full cost of the privitization frenzy?
Kudus to Hager, Santo and NYT but don't stop now,
Tom Nagy
p.s. In the course of short forey into beltway banditry, I discovered one powerful way for keep outrageous practices undiscovered is to underfund the investigative arms of the affected agencies. Cool? No, sad and ofter tragic in my humble opinion.
The document includes 34 page motion filed with UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA ATLANTA DIVISION in April, 2014, providing a detailed account of the fate of Dr. Weintraub.
I hope the NYT follows up by adding this url to its story, and and extends this story by investigating the full cost of the privitization frenzy?
Kudus to Hager, Santo and NYT but don't stop now,
Tom Nagy
p.s. In the course of short forey into beltway banditry, I discovered one powerful way for keep outrageous practices undiscovered is to underfund the investigative arms of the affected agencies. Cool? No, sad and ofter tragic in my humble opinion.
25
The US applies the most grease to the lowest rungs of its ladder of success.
Physics is not a very generous provider to financial security.
Physics is not a very generous provider to financial security.
4
Thanks for the link Dr. Nagy. It is terrible to read that a bright scientist, a PhD in nuclear physics can be so cavalierly killed by the prison-industrial complex.
5
Dogs are treated better at the dog pound.
14
Those in power like dogs. They don't like criminals. This is what happens when you let profit drive absolutely everything.
2
This stuff happens in United States of America?
But what about "We hold these truths to be self evident" and "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" endowed by their Creator and "We the People"??
You mean this article isn't about East Germany, Havana or Saddam Hussein's Iraq or ISIS in Mosul?
You mean this really happens in the God Bless America USA in 2016?
But what about "We hold these truths to be self evident" and "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" endowed by their Creator and "We the People"??
You mean this article isn't about East Germany, Havana or Saddam Hussein's Iraq or ISIS in Mosul?
You mean this really happens in the God Bless America USA in 2016?
17
Same story for in-state prisoner transport per a lawyer. Doubtful most of these prisoners had a personal lawyer to consult on alternative transportation means, or even the choice to not attend a hearing in person. It appears that many of these instances are in fact murder, and people that we count on to know better do not see these people as human beings worthy of the truth.
7
By coincidence, the July-August 2016 edition of Mother Jones has a scathing and eye-opening piece by Shane Bauer about his working as a guard in a privately run prison.
For quite a long while we have been fed the mantra that government is the problem and that it should be run more like private industry, that private business is efficient and innovative and government is not, and that we need more people from the private sector in government. We've even turned part of our military operations over to private entities and contractors. And in November we'll have the opportunity to choose as president someone who is the epitome of all of that. Let's see what we've learned from the past.
For quite a long while we have been fed the mantra that government is the problem and that it should be run more like private industry, that private business is efficient and innovative and government is not, and that we need more people from the private sector in government. We've even turned part of our military operations over to private entities and contractors. And in November we'll have the opportunity to choose as president someone who is the epitome of all of that. Let's see what we've learned from the past.
37
Cruel and unusual punishment, meted out without due process. You can't get more unconstitutional than that. The outsourcing of law enforcement and "corrections" to unaccountable private entities should itself be banned by constitutional amendment.
25
This is truly awful. There is simply no justification for allowing a private company to perform this service.
27
What truly disturbed me in this article were the flimsy pretenses in which people were arrested, extradited and subject to physical or sexual abuse and even death. Using someone else's gift card? Not returning a rental car on time? Not paying child support because they had no job? Our prison population has quintupled over the past 40 years while our population has gone up by one a third. Are we living in the United States, or are we living in a gulag state driven not by Communist ideology but corporate greed?
67
It mostly depends on A: what you look like and B: how much money you have. If you fail both those tests, you live in the gulag and have been there all your life.
It's why I don't understand what a certain demographic is talking about when they opine that "Racism is getting worse". No, it just wasn't covered in media they consumed, before. There was no "better past".
It's why I don't understand what a certain demographic is talking about when they opine that "Racism is getting worse". No, it just wasn't covered in media they consumed, before. There was no "better past".
3
Who says we don't need newspapers.
25
We need more investigative reporting in newspapers to uncover atrocities like this.
6
Common to both our penal and medical systems are layers of intermediaries motivated by greed. Why any of this should be in the hands of private business is beyond belief. Since we've chosen to incarcerate everyone we can for whatever reason we need to accept the cost. Because the rewards are based on miles per passenger or number of MRIs the motivations have become perverted to serve the provider rather than the accused or sick.
18
So true. And it does not have to be like that.
This is the logical destination of "free market", "capitalistic", "the private sector does it better than the government", "government is the problem not the solution" etc. way of thinking that prevails in our "big government scares me" baloney that the right wing always uses to rip off, abuse, harass, and control the population that they believe exists to serve their interests. It's Laissez-Faire economics run amok. Government exists to protect society from money grubbing, bottom line, venture capitalists like the "private contractors" that fight our military excursions, guard and transport prisoners, etc. etc. If the municipal, county, state and federal authorities can't use government employees to do these jobs, but prefer to hire unskilled, uncaring, sadistic thugs to perform these tasks as a means of cutting costs, well, I have a great idea. Let's privatize THEIR jobs. Let us the people, the sons and daughters of this country's founding liberators from oppressive government abuse remove them from the jobs they refuse to perform on our behalf. The system IS rigged! Only a political REVOLUTION will fix it! Every American is at risk for a Kafkaesque experience. Terminate these politicians with extreme prejudice NOW!
7
These prison transport vans are totally filthy, horrendous, unsafe & unlawful for any human being to be transported across states at a time. I myself experienced the horrid conditions when I was on a van for 18 hours without being strapped into a seat belt, shackled & handcuffs so tight that my wrists & hands were swollen for two days after I was transported from Union County, New Jersey to Forest County, Pennsylvania on a parole warrant. Security Transport Services was the company & the transport guards were so incompetent that detainees were giving them instructions & directions to where they were supposed to be dropped off or were supposed to be going. Also the guards were driving erratically & arguing among one another for lack of sleep & over all crankiness that they've been on the road for two to three weeks & couldn't wait to go back to Topeka, Kansas to see a Royals game. They need an independent watchdog to overall investigate & supervise theses companies that are racking up millions & cashing in on the biggest business in the United States, which is corrections. If your going to make money, you need to safeguard your merchandise & the merchandise are the detainees that are being transported in these unlawful & inexplicable conditions. The department of justice needs to step in & overall monitor theses private prison transport companies & hold accountable any company that are not following the mandated guidelines to ensure safety for detainees & guards as well.
22
After the collapse of the USSR, when information about the Gulag became available, I read about the mistreatment of prisoners in the trains transporting them to prison and prison camps. What I read was terrible - but no worse than the conditions described in this article. The Gulag, which functioned until the last days of the USSR, remains the shame and the historical burden of Russia which had never reckoned properly with its Communist past. The prisoner vans will be the shame and the burden of this country unless something is done immediately to stop what, in my view, amounts to torture under the international standards. Privatization is not solely to blame. The government ran the Gulag trains and there was no profit motive involved. Rather, if ordinary, uneducated, low-class people are given the license to abuse others, abuse they will - just to show that they have this power. Unless guards are carefully trained and constantly supervised, they will develop into recreational sadists. This supervision is one of the major functions of the legal system, and I hope lawsuits will do their jobs and send companies into bankruptcy and guards and drivers to jail.
7
Elana: I agree that what is relayed in this article is horrible and inexcusable, but let's try and keep things in perspective. Robert Conquest in his brilliant work on the Soviet terror state, estimated that of the 20 million of it's own citizens killed between the civil war and Stalin's death, some 7 to 10 million were worked to death in the vast complex of camps we now collectively term the Gulag. That is a great many orders of magnitude beyond what is described here.
3
I'd like to see some numbers behind how many people have been killed while in custody for the entire US prison system over the past decade. I don't know that the analogy to the gulag is as unfit as you think.
1
badphairy: I worked at a major prisoners' rights law firm in San Francisco for many years, and I assure you, the analogy is completely inapt.
2
The only thing worse than for-profit prisoner transportation is for-profit prisons. The two businesses invite abuse by shaving nickels and placing the bottom line above people.
21
This is almost unbelievable, but as usual it's all about the money. When it comes to too many US Corporations these days, the only value of a human life is how much they can make from it. Just like others on this thread have said, I feel terrorized by my own government, which all rights provided by the Constitution available only to the very rich.
One question, why don't the corporate heads and judges ever get held to account?
One question, why don't the corporate heads and judges ever get held to account?
7
Horrifying, aboslutely horrifying. "I am confident that we will be vindicated," said Randy Cagle Jr., after Michael Dykes had his legs amputated for lack of health care for his diabetes. But I'm sure Dykes's doctors amputated his legs frivolously and now Dykes is suing frivolously, right, Mr. Cagle? Absolutely horrifying.
19
America the beautiful....
11
The treatment of these people is unconscionable. Why aren't the counties who are contracting the companies to do prisoner transport held accountable by local/state/federal laws? Or better yet, why don't they stipulate, as part of the contract that all individuals being transported must be treated with humane standards.
Honestly, this mistreatment of criminals should never happen in America; I would have expected this from a country that had hardly any rule of law, and not the USA. We we believe in basic human rights of all. We historically use prisons to punish, and also rehabilitate.
I want to know what our presidential candidates, and candidates running for office at state and local levels, think about this heartless treatment of people. And more importantly, how this can be stopped. Fixing tuition, immigration, social security/medicare, defense, etc., issues will take a bit of time. But something like this -- preventing inhumane treatment of criminals -- could easily be stopped quickly, with conscientious leadership.
Honestly, this mistreatment of criminals should never happen in America; I would have expected this from a country that had hardly any rule of law, and not the USA. We we believe in basic human rights of all. We historically use prisons to punish, and also rehabilitate.
I want to know what our presidential candidates, and candidates running for office at state and local levels, think about this heartless treatment of people. And more importantly, how this can be stopped. Fixing tuition, immigration, social security/medicare, defense, etc., issues will take a bit of time. But something like this -- preventing inhumane treatment of criminals -- could easily be stopped quickly, with conscientious leadership.
15
For profit!...... It's clear that in this case nobody cares how people are shuffled around. Shackled on arms, waist and legs, nice. How said this famous Jewish entertainer : What a country!
4
What is good businesses isn’t good for America. I hope the Americans will learn before everything is outsourced and privatized.
48
We have created a society in which its members are feeding on each other...unless you're rich. This story is as much about morally corrupt privatization under the banner, like it or not, of unfettered capitalism as it is about inequality.
Story after story in the New York Times is associated, in some way, with our chosen economic model and clear evidence it is failing us. It compels people to compromise moral and ethical decency for profit and not only do we accept this faustian bargain. We promote it at the expense of our humanity and few seem to care.
Do we really desire to nurture a country where Ayn Rand would survey the political, economic, and sociological landscape with great pride? On the surface the answer would be a reflexive & resounding 'No!' But, I've long since dispensed with the requisite optimism and denial that requires such a response.
We're ruining this country, prisoners in our own metaphorical vans, if we continue to think it okay to inflict pain and suffering for profit. Whether it privatized prisons, van transportation, health care, education, our judicial system...whatever the 'niche' is - it's clear we're wasting away. Republicans and Democrats as proletariat increasingly living on rainbows, unicorns, and the promise of change. HRC and DJT will do nothing, perhaps can do nothing, to shift the prevailing winds that promote deepening inequality if we accept what we have become.
I love my country and I am sick of what it has become.
Story after story in the New York Times is associated, in some way, with our chosen economic model and clear evidence it is failing us. It compels people to compromise moral and ethical decency for profit and not only do we accept this faustian bargain. We promote it at the expense of our humanity and few seem to care.
Do we really desire to nurture a country where Ayn Rand would survey the political, economic, and sociological landscape with great pride? On the surface the answer would be a reflexive & resounding 'No!' But, I've long since dispensed with the requisite optimism and denial that requires such a response.
We're ruining this country, prisoners in our own metaphorical vans, if we continue to think it okay to inflict pain and suffering for profit. Whether it privatized prisons, van transportation, health care, education, our judicial system...whatever the 'niche' is - it's clear we're wasting away. Republicans and Democrats as proletariat increasingly living on rainbows, unicorns, and the promise of change. HRC and DJT will do nothing, perhaps can do nothing, to shift the prevailing winds that promote deepening inequality if we accept what we have become.
I love my country and I am sick of what it has become.
76
To American Plutocracy,
Well said, especially your opening sentence.
History teaches us that as more and more of a society's power and wealth become concentrated in fewer and fewer people, those people maintain their power and wealth by turning everyone else against one another.
Well said, especially your opening sentence.
History teaches us that as more and more of a society's power and wealth become concentrated in fewer and fewer people, those people maintain their power and wealth by turning everyone else against one another.
5
As I watch the outcomes of trials in Baltimore I fully expect that when all are duly tried Freddy Gray will be alive.
This is the nation we have become.
This is the nation we have become.
5
A woman mistakenly charged with using a Bed Bath and Beyond card is housed like a violent felon and transported? Are you kidding me?
When I read articles like this I can't believe I'm reading about the United States.
This feels like what would happen in a dictatorship or very poor country.
What does this say about us?
I always say, the US is a great country, if it weren't for the hypocrisy
When I read articles like this I can't believe I'm reading about the United States.
This feels like what would happen in a dictatorship or very poor country.
What does this say about us?
I always say, the US is a great country, if it weren't for the hypocrisy
38
As bad as the treatment of that lady was, worse happened with the unfortunate soul whose body is on the cover, a nuclear physicist was mocked and literally tortured to death for confronting a newspaper which defamed him.
5
Man's inhumanity to man, American style. We are a country that was born of violence. Look what we did to the Native Americans. What is happening today is nothing new. So very sad and shameful, but not surprising.
7
Can't believe how many retired people I know own private correction company stocks . All GOP voters I might add .
6
Most are Black, but not mentioned in article
3
Where is the Justice in the "Criminal Justice System"? Just when I've thought I have heard it all, now this. This is sick but the beat goes on, and on, and on.....what a terrible way to make money!
6
This transportation by these companies (and police debts. in general) and treatment of those either convicted or alleged of crimes is criminal and those drivers involved in this behavior should be charged with crimes committed. What has our country come to locking up people for life for petty crimes, mistreatment of inmates etc. we should be ashamed as a country.
12
I literally feel nauseous after reading that article. Could our prison system be anymore of a circle jerk? Strained jails and budgets? You don't say? Gee, I wonder why. Seriously, if these people worked in different industries doing the terrible jobs they do, they would've been unceremoniously fired. The problem isn't taxpayer funded deputy vacations, Mr. Baldwin. Far from it. This is an untenable, immoral and unacceptable system we have.
10
The drivers of these vans, and the company owners, belong in jail. If these were children or elderly patients being transported we all know they would be there now, but the lives of someone in handcuffs apparently are with nothing.
92
Medical transport for the elderly isn't much better, either.
2
Privatization=Globalization. You asked for it, be careful what you wish for. And then everyone criticizes Brexit because the supporters want the freedom to make their own choices.
4
Stunned and thoroughly disgusted by this excellent piece of investigative journalism. So what is going to be done to remedy this longstanding issue? We can't just say Nothing.
8
Prisoners should not be transported in vans owned and run by for profit companies. This is a core government function and should be carried out by the government. We are not saving money; we are turning our government and our lives to corporations who view their only obligation as making money. Their commitment to service and safe transport is non existent!
15
Justice Holmes, unfortunately no one wants to pay taxes, so how can government do it. You know, hire people to do it, pay them not only slaries as union workers, pensions, sick pay etc. Where is the money going to come from?
1
These private companies do not do this transporting for free!! I would love to see a comparison of above the line & below the line costs of the private company & the government transporting these human beings. Then what is the price on humanity.?
2
This is nothing but a modern day slave trade. Shackles, no room to change position, filth, sickness, crew who are paid not to care, the dead tossed overboard. We have a deep soul sickness in the United States, going all the way back to the unacknowledged and unatoned sins in our history. We still have a very long way to go to be a decent nation, much less a great one.
25
It is simply despicable how we treat prisoners in this country. We know that crime is in large part a systemic issue and yet we do nothing to alleviate those conditions that lead to criminal activities. Instead, we incarcerate at some of the highest rates in the world, treat prisoners like chattel, and do nothing to rehabilitate them or prepare them for the outside world. We further hamstring those who have served their time by limiting their rights to vote and their opportunity for employment. And we wonder why recidivism is high and crime keeps occurring. To top it off, we privatize the functions of the state to corporations that care far more about profits than people. Anybody remember the idea that we shall be judged on how we treat the least among us?
14
All this time I thought prison brutality was the worst thing to fear- now I know it's the ride getting there.
6
Who owns these private prison corporations? I googled for one private prison company name, Corrections Corporation of America or U.S. Corrections and found this page about its owner, Doctor R. Crants. Thanks to Google and the Internet!
http://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=134....
http://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=134....
10
and he is a Native American.
1
What kind of society have we become?
11
Increasingly it seems the kind of society that Lady Liberty used to offer refuge from.
7
People are making money on the deaths of prisoners...how is this legal? Why has no one been held responsible?
18
What a nightmare. For some time now, I've been fearing my own country.
14
Inviolate legal principles are the foundation of our country's very being. Outsourcing any portion of the justice system is patently wrong. The foundation is crumbling.
26
And our illustrious State Department and DOD spend MILLIONS of tax payer dollars per year on private security contractors who escort our government officials around the world. Same glove- different finger.
3
I am so saddened by these pictures. It's hard to not get infuriated at the national discourse that has elevated the lesser creed of profits over humanity. When we have all these damning issues, the populace are given bread and circus ("Monica-gate", Benghazi, e-mails, etc...) Here's something for Republicans - I want an investigation on Iraq's WMD's; an investigation on the false economic reports that allowed them to squander billions in surpluses at the end of the 1990s to a massive debt crisis. Let's bring back IranContra. In the meantime, corporations will find more ways to dehumanize people for the sake of profits.
11
"“Some agencies take huge advantage of the taxpayers’ money by sending deputies ‘on vacation’ to extradite an inmate,” said Mr. Baldwin of U.S. Corrections, and pay them “a considerable amount of overtime” for doing so. They also have to cover fuel costs or plane tickets and, often, hotel rooms.""
There's your answer to all this! Police Unions are the real criminals !!!
There's your answer to all this! Police Unions are the real criminals !!!
2
The commodification of people for profit. Those profiteers should be strung up from the highest rafters.
14
But "privatization" is exactly what the God-forsaken GOP wants. What the GOP wants, it gets, no matter how inhumane, as long as it benefits their wealthy patrons.
When people are allowed to get away with bad behavior without any consequences whatsoever, of course the rest of us will suffer. The GOP gets away with murder quite literally.
When people are allowed to get away with bad behavior without any consequences whatsoever, of course the rest of us will suffer. The GOP gets away with murder quite literally.
18
Privativation is an invitation for abuse. What an awful way to die.
20
Just add a "D" to the end to P.T.S. and there you have it... PTSD for all concerned.
7
Our country is better than this, and Kudos to the Times for shining a light on the extradition business. The Justice Department should be providing proper oversight.
As your piece illustrate, it's too easy for complacent employees to treat offenders like packages. But, when someone can earn an arrest warrant based on returning a rental car late...there must be a the regulations to ensure humane treatment regardless. The fault lies in the inadequate enforcement of basic rights.
As your piece illustrate, it's too easy for complacent employees to treat offenders like packages. But, when someone can earn an arrest warrant based on returning a rental car late...there must be a the regulations to ensure humane treatment regardless. The fault lies in the inadequate enforcement of basic rights.
9
"our country is better than this"...
Except when it isn't.
Except when it isn't.
2
Anytime the government privatizes anything this is the result. Private prisons, private prison vans, mercenaries in Iraq killing at will.
The people these companies hire are always sub human brutes who should be riding in the back of the van instead of the front, these are the people charged with making sure that the prisoners get their medication.
Don't forget that many of these passengers are just charged with a crime and will not be convicted. The horror, the horror.
Ain't America Great?
The people these companies hire are always sub human brutes who should be riding in the back of the van instead of the front, these are the people charged with making sure that the prisoners get their medication.
Don't forget that many of these passengers are just charged with a crime and will not be convicted. The horror, the horror.
Ain't America Great?
18
Well, outsourcing is the king now. We are outsourcing everything because we are made to believe that outsourcing can save money and is more efficient. I won't be surprised that most functions of our government at both fed and local levels are outsourced. The Citizens United ruling is also a form of outsourcing. Let money do the talking and work. Forget about the people and what matters.
11
As one of many who will read this and be both nauseated and outraged, I implore The Times to keep readers appraised of further developments in the oversight of this "industry". The current conditions have developed due to a combination of an allegiance to a political experiment, privatization, which proves a disaster wherever its applied in the correctional field and the fact that the victims are largely powerless and have no constituency of their own. While some are accued of abhorent deeds, many others have committed acts which would make them otherwise candidates for immediate release on bail. Either way, this is a barbaric punishment and has no place in our criminal justice system.
Please continue to shed light on this dark corner of corrections.
Please continue to shed light on this dark corner of corrections.
24
I know this sounds strange to some people but I really believe that there is no constitutional basis for giving custody of a prisoner to a private organization. On what grounds does a privately employed individual employ force to restrain a prisoner? He doesn't represent the state: he represents shareholders. Some enlightened judge some day will raise the question. The public does not have a constitutional, accountable relationship with shareholders.
86
"He doesn't represent the state: he represents shareholders."
As the article makes very clear, the prisoner transport companies have CONTRACTS with government agencies.
As the article makes very clear, the prisoner transport companies have CONTRACTS with government agencies.
3
Private prisoner vans, private jails and prisons, private healthcare services inside jails and prisons, private corrections officers and wardens, and private telephone services for prisoners. States and municipalities have outsourced a whole range of penal activities to for-profit entities whose ultimate responsibility is to investors, including an array of private equity firms.
"Freed" from the responsibility of providing these public services, state and municipal governments feel little need to oversee these companies, and the results can be tragic for anyone caught up in the criminal justice system, as detention by private companies has led to the death of detainees, even those held for minor, non-violent offenses. And so long as these entities can afford paid lobbyist and make campaign contributions, little is likely to change without the intervention of the U.S. Supreme Court finding aspects of the treatment of prisoners has violated their constitutional rights.
"Freed" from the responsibility of providing these public services, state and municipal governments feel little need to oversee these companies, and the results can be tragic for anyone caught up in the criminal justice system, as detention by private companies has led to the death of detainees, even those held for minor, non-violent offenses. And so long as these entities can afford paid lobbyist and make campaign contributions, little is likely to change without the intervention of the U.S. Supreme Court finding aspects of the treatment of prisoners has violated their constitutional rights.
52
We also have a form of private corporate slavery in private prisons where prisoners work for private companies for pennies on the dollar.
We are turning into a Fascist state little by little, bit by bit.
We are turning into a Fascist state little by little, bit by bit.
40
not so little by little
and not so bit by bit
faster than you think
faster than you want it to be
and not so bit by bit
faster than you think
faster than you want it to be
6
This is where you need the lawyers. Sue the pants off of these companies and put them out of business. Another question is why on earth are we extraditing people who have seemed to have been initially arrested for petty crimes. I bet another article lurks there.
28
The Clintons of the world running the prison system with the sole goal of maximizing profits?
The Clinton Administration was the mastermind of this program.
The invisible wall not called "Wall Street for "nothing'''
Build that wall around wall street profiteers !
What could possibly go wrong?
The Clinton Administration was the mastermind of this program.
The invisible wall not called "Wall Street for "nothing'''
Build that wall around wall street profiteers !
What could possibly go wrong?
5
Many comments point to the privatized nature of the companies as the source of these terrible problems. But NYT has exposed many abuses overseen by the NYC (and other) Department of Correction, as well. Neglect for human dignity can happen in a private or in a government-run setting. Enforceable (and regularly enforced!) regulations and a major culture change are necessary before we see improvement, no matter who handles the business.
13
I agree. Additionally, the city could have ensured that protocols were in place for the safety of the arrested and the guards by making those protocols part of the vetting process when they took bids. Often times the decision of what vendor to pick is left in the hands of procurement officers who lack experience in the regular workflow, for example prisoner transportation, and base their decisions solely on price. That is fundamentally a mistake of public policy that led to picking poor vendors.
2
Agreed. But in this case, I still think that if the police were handling it, they would have far more to lose by making a mistake, and thus be substantially more careful.
2
Oh, you mean the people who are gunning down black men like it's a turkey shoot are going to be more careful? Pull the other leg, it has bells on.
We call it privatization, but how about it's real title, Unregulated Capitalism. Sure, it's privatization, and the feeling is that we all have the right to make money any way possible....as long as it's...well... maybe... meets the standards of society, whatever they are? Which society are we talking about? This one is going toward anarchy, where anything goes and give me a gun and I'll show you why I'm right, where the regulator can be bought, or the industry's lobby can show us why we're wrong to demand controls. Other systems weren't born out of vacuums, they were created to care for the 99%. The poor were/are exploited and few can risk livelihood, even life, to fight the system. We're all a part of it. The Republicans call controls, instruments of the nanny state, and mock anything that smacks of a humanitarian approach, but use abortion as their hook, and welfare as their unifying force to make the poor and uneducated feel better about themselves. Someone's poorer than them, and eating their taxes. Can't have any of that. The rest of the ugliness doesn't matter as long as you vote against yourself and in favor of the antiabortionist. Doesn't matter what happens to the fetus after birth, but at least, republicans have the vote, to do away with more controls, and maybe start a war somewhere else. After all, doesn't war fuel this economy?
13
The purpose of capitalism is to provide a return on investment for shareholders. Period. The system that benefits labor is communism and that has never worked out.
2
How to provide that return on investments? Is it anyway a corporation can? So...I'm attacking unregulated capitalism and I'm asking you to look at countries in Europe such as Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, and on and on. They're considered socialist, and the yes, the worker comes first. High taxes but a safer world, where the citizen is protected, education doesn't mean mortgaging your future, and health is a right for all citizens at a reasonable cost. It's also a safer world, which I don't think anyone would deny. And, don't tell me to go live there, that doesn't solve our problems.
4
These companies should be shut down immediately. The pattern of neglect and indifference is crystal clear: those running them are criminals themselves. Of course, transportation will still be needed, I suggest that the assets of these companies be seized and the vans operated with a Federal marshal in every vehicle to supervise personnel and enforce Federal laws.
12
And let's also hope that a few of these companies remain in business just long enough to haul their leaders and indifferent guards across several state lines to face trial.
2
Let's not quibble. This is a sickening failure of morality and decency. This is what we have become. Captive vulnerable human beings, some ill, some violent. No oversight, for-profit private purveyors of what is a public function (we outsource it, we pay for it). We can debate all we want about whether such functions belong with private companies, but in the end this depravity belongs to us, the people who let it happen. How do we change that?
19
Thank you NYT for this well researched article.
It seems to me that the states that are using these contractors - i.e. the state that issues the arrest warrant - should be held accountable, and civilly liable - for the mistreatment of these prisoners. Where personnel hired by these private contractors commit assaults on prisoners, those persons should be criminally charged. Maybe that will curtail these abuses.
It seems to me that the states that are using these contractors - i.e. the state that issues the arrest warrant - should be held accountable, and civilly liable - for the mistreatment of these prisoners. Where personnel hired by these private contractors commit assaults on prisoners, those persons should be criminally charged. Maybe that will curtail these abuses.
9
Impunity.
That one word sums it up about what's going on here. Yet you cannot find it in this article. Yes, great reporting, other than "What took so long?" and the lack of the one word which describes the sort of official corruption that sustains this ongoing abuse of human rights - impunity.
"Justice" is a sham for so many reasons in the US. "Justice" focuses on designating some who do as the please (or are simply accused of that) as violators and others as those with the sordid liberty of impunity to do as they please to the accused. Then the famed "rule of law" crumbles into a screen for further crime in the name of the state.
I'd bet that those whose negligence and wanton acts lead to these tragedies might think twice if they faced the prospect of taking a ride like that, but expanding such despicable abuse of government authority is not the point. Rather it is time that American face up to the fact that what passes for justice here is pretty much the same as what goes on in the banana republics we long sponsored overseas - only we mass produce it through the lack of concern for basic human rights that every American should expect from our government, those who work for it, and those it contracts with.
Given these outfits cross state lines, they should be strictly regulated by the federal government - or outlawed in favor of returning this government function to strictly supervised government employees who face loss of job and pension in the face of such abuse.
That one word sums it up about what's going on here. Yet you cannot find it in this article. Yes, great reporting, other than "What took so long?" and the lack of the one word which describes the sort of official corruption that sustains this ongoing abuse of human rights - impunity.
"Justice" is a sham for so many reasons in the US. "Justice" focuses on designating some who do as the please (or are simply accused of that) as violators and others as those with the sordid liberty of impunity to do as they please to the accused. Then the famed "rule of law" crumbles into a screen for further crime in the name of the state.
I'd bet that those whose negligence and wanton acts lead to these tragedies might think twice if they faced the prospect of taking a ride like that, but expanding such despicable abuse of government authority is not the point. Rather it is time that American face up to the fact that what passes for justice here is pretty much the same as what goes on in the banana republics we long sponsored overseas - only we mass produce it through the lack of concern for basic human rights that every American should expect from our government, those who work for it, and those it contracts with.
Given these outfits cross state lines, they should be strictly regulated by the federal government - or outlawed in favor of returning this government function to strictly supervised government employees who face loss of job and pension in the face of such abuse.
19
This is the new normal, gifted to us by Reaganism and the conservative movement ever since then ... the consequence of union-busting, crony capitalism, and starving budgets for public services. Don't say we didn't see it coming. Tell me again about this "exceptional" country we live in.
103
It is noted that many of these prisoners have not been convicted of anything. While that fact might serve to enhance public concern, it should not matter. The point is that we, the Leader of the Free World, are subjecting people to conditions unfit for animals.
On another note, I recall reading an old Chinese story involving a prisoner being sent to a frontier prison camp. He made the arduous journey on foot, escorted by two guards who abused him because he did not have family to bribe them for decent treatment. This may be where we are headed next- the more affluent will have the option of upgrading, at considerable cost, to a better appointed coach bus.
On another note, I recall reading an old Chinese story involving a prisoner being sent to a frontier prison camp. He made the arduous journey on foot, escorted by two guards who abused him because he did not have family to bribe them for decent treatment. This may be where we are headed next- the more affluent will have the option of upgrading, at considerable cost, to a better appointed coach bus.
70
Another example of the free market doing such a good job.
24
The "free market" is not the problem. The problem is that government agencies are the customers. The prisoners are just "packages":
'“You route the prisoner like a package, but miss a single deadline, and you lose money,” said Kent Bradford ...'
'“You route the prisoner like a package, but miss a single deadline, and you lose money,” said Kent Bradford ...'
3
And the GOP wants to privatize Social Security - among other things!
22
The creeping privatizatioon of the criminal justice system is a national disgrace. It is societies responsiblility to deal with its criminals. Farming them out to private, profit making companies is immoral. Even the Netfix show Orange is the New Black is addressing that issue. It serves the for profits to have more criminals not fewer. Just the opposite of what we wish for for our socieity. They should be eiiminated immediately. Praise to the Marshall Plan and NY Times for shedding light on this disgraceful situation.
25
The Donald Trumps of the world running the prison system with the sole goal of maximizing profits?
What could possibly go wrong?
What could possibly go wrong?
32
Profit margins must be maintained at all "costs!" One wonders given the economic industriousness of the booming private prison industry whether at some time the prison population will exceed those "free." Jefferson roll over....(again).
8
There is more government supervision and regulation of my accounting business than there is of a business dealing with LIVING HUMAN BEINGS. While my errors may cause loss of money, errors in the prisoner transportation industry may cost people their lives.
While this is no mitigating factor, I think the exponential growth of the prison industry has substantially outpaced regulation of the prison industry. People are dying while we are awaiting legislation to catch up. And thinking the rate of imprisonment will slow down any time in the foreseeable future is incredibly naive.
Justice for all? Right...
While this is no mitigating factor, I think the exponential growth of the prison industry has substantially outpaced regulation of the prison industry. People are dying while we are awaiting legislation to catch up. And thinking the rate of imprisonment will slow down any time in the foreseeable future is incredibly naive.
Justice for all? Right...
61
PRIVATIZED JUSTICE? Barbaric! This is not how a civilized nation treats people.
80
Clearly you mistake the USA for a civilized country. We are not. No nation that cannot provide basic services to its citizens - universal health care, free education, fair and humane justice system, a financial safety net and a safe infrustructure - is not worthy of the term.
8
As Republicans rush to privatize government services, stories like this become more and more commonplace. At what point will we admit that certain functions in our society--police, fire, education--are best served by government? The profit motive presents an immediate conflict of interest when it comes to government services.
Placing people's lives in jeopardy in the pursuit of profits is a common cause for lawsuits--except in the case when those lives belong to the poor, the outcast or those at the margins of society. We shirk our responsibility and wash our hands of the consequences.
Placing people's lives in jeopardy in the pursuit of profits is a common cause for lawsuits--except in the case when those lives belong to the poor, the outcast or those at the margins of society. We shirk our responsibility and wash our hands of the consequences.
16
This is what happens under neoliberalism whether it is Republicans or Democrats like Bill Clinton and his "Third Way" policies. This is just business as usual in our country these days and I doubt HRC will do anything to change it should she be elected. The NY Times publishes these articles and wrings it hands and pushes more neoliberalism by supporting Hillary. Funny.
3
Well put, Izolatrov! Keep on writing including writing a check to Sen. Sanders' campaign -- he's the one human candidate who's triumphed in primaries from "Sea to Shiny Sea" despite (because of his humanity?)! And once you help Uncle Bernie overcome media opposition, distortion and indiference tell your friends with every tool from snail mail to social media.
Tom
Tom
Private vans, private prisons, private employees says it all. No oversight. Driving for hours, days, lack of food, water, sleep. Prisoners dying or becoming permanently disabled is deplorable. Sounds like something in Russia or in South Korea, not the USA. Thanks for a great article. Now, let's see if it promotes any kind of action. The government likes privatizing everything, using our tax dollars to pay for it. Investigating them doesn't happen to much.
21
Lack of accountability is rampant in these so-called public-private partnerships, otherwise called privatization of public responsibilities. We all interact with similar businesses every day. We are used and abused by them with little recourse. Why are we shocked when we see examples like this? It happened in Iraq, too.
Take back government functions. End privatization.
Take back government functions. End privatization.
5
There should be no profit to be made in society's heaviest labors. We are already struggling to preserve integrity in public sector activities such as law enforcement and corrections. How can the private sector possibly do any better, incentivized by money and operated without community oversight?
5
I thought Obama was president the last 8 years? He seems more like Bush every day as a presdent of a country that allows these kinds of practices. America has become a horrible place.... I won't be going back there again anymore, probably safer to be kidnapped by a politcal group in bunga-bunga.
Just imagine if a tourist you bring back a rental car late, like the lady in this story, or use a gift card the wrong way, and then you might get picked up, just like that, and dumped in such a transport? The land of the free? What a laugh!
Just imagine if a tourist you bring back a rental car late, like the lady in this story, or use a gift card the wrong way, and then you might get picked up, just like that, and dumped in such a transport? The land of the free? What a laugh!
9
Stop blaming President Obama; if you need to blame anyone, start with a dysfunctional Congress, currently run by Republicans who have obstructed everything he and the Democrats have tried to achieve for years...
8
This is a story of the contempt for human life that still pervades the South. Every service provided by the 'Conservative' states of the Old South, AKA The Confederate States, is inferior to the services provided in the 'Progressive' states of the North. Nothing has changed since Paul Muni starred in a film called, "I am a Fugitive from a chain gang," in the 1930's. Nothing will ever change for them until their citizens wake up to the reality that you have to treat people like human beings and must spend money on them if you place them in jail. This is especially true with regard to people arrested and imprisoned for failing to support their children. If you put them in jail you prevent them from ever supporting their children.
33
Given so many Northerners and Midwesterners cheering for Mr. Trump's ideas, for example, I'm not convinced that 'contempt for human life' is found only in the South.
8
This is what you get when you privatize what should be a state function. The state is responsible for the incarceration of these people and should take responsibility for their safety and the safety of people they encounter. What kind of abuses must occur before we wake up to the reality that outsourcing services to the private sector is a bad, bad idea. Atrocities certainly happen at state run agencies of all sorts, but at least they do not quite so easily dodge responsibility for their actions and while state agencies are cost conscious the bottom line is not the only factor as it appears to be here.
16
I've had the misfortune to witness the big business of incarceration as the family member of an inmate the past few years. The "machine" is fed by money at every turn. One pays for phone calls, basic supplies such as paper or postage to write home to loved ones. On a recent transport to a hearing, my family member asked for portable urinal to relieve himself and was scoffed at and ignored by the guard. Upon finally reaching the destination and being let out of the van, he was desperate to find a restroom. When asked what the problem was, he said "a 40 year old man should not have to urinate on himself". Yet another unnecessary indignity. For those of you who believe that the basic human rights of convicted criminals, don't matter, this kind of treatment says more about us than them. This post-Independence Day article reveals some of the true colors of the justice system we live with today. "Justice for all?" Not even close.
233
"On a recent transport ..."
Do you know the name of the company?
Do you know the name of the company?
The privatization of law enforcement is a scary thing that always seems to lead to accidents and abuse in the name of profit.
However, the scariest thing in this article is the total lack of accountability and serious inquires in all the death that happened there. Once more, police forces show that all crimes are not equal and they are only willing to investigate the ones they see fit.
However, the scariest thing in this article is the total lack of accountability and serious inquires in all the death that happened there. Once more, police forces show that all crimes are not equal and they are only willing to investigate the ones they see fit.
149
Why oversight? This is a free country, anybody can do whatever. Free enterprise.
Anarchy. The Republican way.
Anarchy. The Republican way.
4
Just remember, 'there but for the grace of God go I'. This can happen to any of us.
9
How different is that from Abu Graib?
2
The Abu Ghraib abuses were carried out by US military personnel, who are in a chain of command that extends to the US President.
The only thing that would make these companies clean up their act are million-dollar lawsuits for every death and injury. Some of the victims here committed offences so trivial it is a shame they were arrested in the first place (using someone else's gift card? really?).
9
"...An out of state warrant for back child support..."?
"...charges (later dropped) of using someone else's Bed Bath and Beyond gift card"??
How non-violent offenders are dealt with needs to be seriously re-examined.
"...charges (later dropped) of using someone else's Bed Bath and Beyond gift card"??
How non-violent offenders are dealt with needs to be seriously re-examined.
24
It simply doesn't matter if any human being is violent or not. This is no way to treat any human being. Privatization of anything connected to crime-related conduct is wrong!
Years ago as a prosecutor in Los Angeles County, I went to a privately run jail (with several Los Angeles County Sheriff's investigators) to interview a potential witness to a major crime. I've never been so scared; the few guards I saw were in their 20's, were simply roaming around, were not at their stations, were eating snacks and just passing away the time. I couldn't get out of there fast enough.
Although I went to my senator's office in person to complain, his aide said he was busy but would get back to me immediately. Four phone calls later, I finally gave up...
Years ago as a prosecutor in Los Angeles County, I went to a privately run jail (with several Los Angeles County Sheriff's investigators) to interview a potential witness to a major crime. I've never been so scared; the few guards I saw were in their 20's, were simply roaming around, were not at their stations, were eating snacks and just passing away the time. I couldn't get out of there fast enough.
Although I went to my senator's office in person to complain, his aide said he was busy but would get back to me immediately. Four phone calls later, I finally gave up...
2
Is anyone ever held accountable in this country?
5
I was in one of those vans once - it's not a pretty sight. The world of incarceration is one which we never see or hear about. It's a very violent world - even before you get to prison. Mr. Galack's death was a tragedy; it appears it could have been prevented. While I understand it was a private company which was responsible, abuse takes place both in the private and public sectors of incarceration. States and the Federal Government should have tighter regulations governing the procedures used by private companies transporting prisoners. They should have an oversight process set up to insure those regulations are being followed. I applaud the Times for bringing this story to the public; hopefully, with awareness, change will happen.
10
"I was in one of those vans once ..."
Were you shackled or abused by the guards?
Were you shackled or abused by the guards?
Incarceration and law enforcement in America are not that much different than some brutal Third World countries, it may even be worse. It is in need of very serious reform or totally scrapped and reinvented from scratch. We should study what other civilized countries are doing. None of these services should be outsourced to private companies. The outcome is always predictable, squeeze as much as they can to make a buck. It is disheartening to read.
I am not proud to be an American when I read stories like these. Violence in America has become a numbing experience and accepted way of life. I truly don't want to get use to it. Indifference will come to bite us .
I am not proud to be an American when I read stories like these. Violence in America has become a numbing experience and accepted way of life. I truly don't want to get use to it. Indifference will come to bite us .
20
It's a vicious cycle. Brutishness begets brutishness begets brutishness begets....
2
Justice is an inherently governmental function akin to diplomacy and national security. How can anyone justify outsourcing our justice system?
9
Privatization of Prisons
How soon we forget, a Clinton Machine plan against blacks
and minorities.
Just another Wall Street connection.
Building a Wall has been a plan a long time.
One ''Huge Wall Around the Rich''
How soon we forget, a Clinton Machine plan against blacks
and minorities.
Just another Wall Street connection.
Building a Wall has been a plan a long time.
One ''Huge Wall Around the Rich''
4
Bring ALL of these services back to the government domain, where it can be accountable, and not for profit. NO MORE PRIVATIZATION! Put cameras on EVERYTHING. And, shun the dregs of society who commit these crimes against citizens.
6
And vote for the tax levies to cover the costs.
1
Thanks I will, in order to safeguard safety and justice for every citizen, even you.
1
There seems to be this theme - that when we privatize services - particularly those associated with law enforcement - there is a lot of neglect. No one ever seems accountable in these scenarios. Clearly, this trend is not working (see NY TIMES companion piece: "When You Dial 911 and Wall Street Answers"). Yet another thing I wish the candidates would talk about it............but don't.
27
How's that privatizing thing working for you America?
When Liberty dies, it will not come in one big crash; it will happen in operating rooms and in prison vans and in schools where accountability has been replaced by pursuit of profit and justification of abuse and incompetence.
When Liberty dies, it will not come in one big crash; it will happen in operating rooms and in prison vans and in schools where accountability has been replaced by pursuit of profit and justification of abuse and incompetence.
33
The courts may be the last hope here. Everyone in authority in the highlighted cases should have to explain themselves to a judge and jury in federal court. Butler County, OH--and every other place that chooses to treat its warrantees like cattle--should be made to pay so steeply that it has no financial incentives to use these shady transportation services in the first place.
4
A fantastic country, the USA!
3
Where is the ACLU or other civil rights people? Those who have not been before a judge yet should have rights. I have no words to describe my outrage. These people are treated worse than animals.
11
https://www.aclu.org/feature/meet-prison-profiteers
https://www.aclu.org/issues/mass-incarceration/privatization-criminal-ju...
https://www.aclu.org/banking-bondage-private-prisons-and-mass-incarceration
https://www.aclu.org/video/private-prison-problem
and much more (try google: aclu private prison )
https://www.aclu.org/issues/mass-incarceration/privatization-criminal-ju...
https://www.aclu.org/banking-bondage-private-prisons-and-mass-incarceration
https://www.aclu.org/video/private-prison-problem
and much more (try google: aclu private prison )
5
Everyone has a constitutional right to freedom and due process. A private, for profit company should NEVER have the authority to interfere with people's constitutional rights. This industry doesn't only need to be regulated, it needs to be completely abolished and these activities need to go back to being performed only by government agencies that have to answer to the people they serve.
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Raj wrote: "Everyone has a constitutional right to freedom and due process. A private, for profit company should NEVER have the authority to interfere with people's constitutional rights. This industry doesn't only need to be regulated, it needs to be completely abolished and these activities need to go back to being performed only by government agencies that have to answer to the people they serve."
Seconded. Abolish these companies.
Seconded. Abolish these companies.
A number of state and federal agencies have passed the buck and failed to do due diligence in these instances, to the point of gross negligence. The law governing these "businesses" isn't enforced, local law enforcement washes it's hands, and these prisoners are denied due process wholesale, because there is no mechanism nor funding for enforcement. I doubt there are any standards for employment as a guard, and will wager many in those positions would fail a basic background check. Like the private corrections industry, this is a rats nest of potential for corruption and graft. It's as if we as a country have decided that due process is too expensive, and these folks are guilty of something anyways, right? Since there seems to be no accountability nor a schedule to be followed, I'd advise these companies to rent out their charges as prison labor en route, maybe for chain gangs and such, to fatten up their bottom line. Maybe these cash strapped, beleaguered jurisdictions could just use Uber or Lyft instead?
As comprehensive as Hager and Santo have been, I'd further wager this is just the tip of the iceberg. In as much as there's no regulation or reporting requirements and enforcement is essentially nil, I'm certain there are many more injuries and deaths that have been written off for the sake of convenience and profit, to say nothing of denials or violations of basic constitutional rights. It's essentially extraordinary extradition without waterboarding (that we know of).
As comprehensive as Hager and Santo have been, I'd further wager this is just the tip of the iceberg. In as much as there's no regulation or reporting requirements and enforcement is essentially nil, I'm certain there are many more injuries and deaths that have been written off for the sake of convenience and profit, to say nothing of denials or violations of basic constitutional rights. It's essentially extraordinary extradition without waterboarding (that we know of).
10
This poor man's body on the front page of the Times. Sensationalistic, sad, disrespectful, unnecessary.
1
I was really shocked to see bodies in two of the pictures in this article. This is a horrible situation, but the Times has traditionally not shown pictures like these. Seems rather unnecessary, except for clickbait.
If you look closely at the photo you will see that the man's ankles are shackled. That detail alone is newsworthy.
Other details you apparently missed:
* No padding on the front wall and doors.
* Loose shackles in a box on the left door.
* Yellow "sheriff line" tape between the doors.
Other details you apparently missed:
* No padding on the front wall and doors.
* Loose shackles in a box on the left door.
* Yellow "sheriff line" tape between the doors.
9
Photos of the dead on the front page are incredibly disrespectful. This is a person. Objectifying a person for profit is what the system does the prisoners by treating them like objects. The NYT did the same thing on the front page by objectifying this human being.
This photo violates the personhood of this prisoner and unwittingly demonstrates one of the article's points: that it is wrong to treat people as objects.
The photo is another violent assault topping off the violence in the back of that van.
As a reader, it's disturbing. What's seen cannot be unseen. I don't know this man but now I have seen him in his vulnerability.
Also: He didn't consent to the photo. Why is it ok to spread an image of a vulnerable person around the globe? This also happened last week with an incident overseas on the front.
I refuse to disengage with the news by turning away from reality, but it is disturbing to see that this level of thoughtlessness is mainstream.
This photo violates the personhood of this prisoner and unwittingly demonstrates one of the article's points: that it is wrong to treat people as objects.
The photo is another violent assault topping off the violence in the back of that van.
As a reader, it's disturbing. What's seen cannot be unseen. I don't know this man but now I have seen him in his vulnerability.
Also: He didn't consent to the photo. Why is it ok to spread an image of a vulnerable person around the globe? This also happened last week with an incident overseas on the front.
I refuse to disengage with the news by turning away from reality, but it is disturbing to see that this level of thoughtlessness is mainstream.
1
Privatization of the justice system often means no justice, or even simple humanity, at all. Capitalism is going berserk and will eventually destroy civilization.
29
This is absolutely horrific
9
Total disgrace. Another fatally flawed facet of the incarceration-industrial complex. Another indelible black mark on the fate of America.
11
Shows the inhumanity of the prison industry this country has reached in the name of money. The photo goes a step further showing the body just laying there as if it was a piece of cattle.
14
This is worthy of some African country with a dictator, or maybe ISIS. I can't believe my country has come to this.
Privatization of health and prisons must stop. Profit should not be involved.
Privatization of health and prisons must stop. Profit should not be involved.
23
Let's remember this the next time our taxes are increased.
Did you know that these private jails and prisons are only placed in communities if the community can promise that they will supply the private prison or jail with a certain capacity over a certain amount of years? In other words the community has to promise that they will lock up so many people in the future to keep the jail or prison open which in turn will give the community X amount of jobs. Where is the capacity going to come from? More than likely the poor. Not black or white but the poor no matter the color because they are the least represented by the deal makers of the community. Ask yourself, logical person, how can any one person or group of people guarantee that a specific amount of people will be locked up over a specific time in the future without having a very specific plan in place to make it a reality?
We cannot afford the legal system we have. The only solution is to radically reduce the number of things that are treated as criminal acts. Decriminalize all drugs, reduce the legal system to managing violent or highly damaging white collar crime and let everything else go. We cannot afford to transport petty criminals or spend 100,000 dollars a year housing petty criminals. Our schools are in ruin, our medical system is in taters, and our infrastructure is falling apart and we spend a fortune on playing cops and robbers.
9
Where does "failing to pay child support" fit into your proposal?
1
I'm sickened by this story. Human beings treating other humans like disposable trash. How angry I feel over this. I'm fairly conservative when it comes to crime and how people who break the law should be held responsible. But, this is nothing more than torture and unwarranted treatment of a man who is suffering from an illness despite breaking the law. He wasn't violent, didn't harm anyone. The deep south and the midwest wonders why m,any people in the Northeast harbor such stereotypes over ignorant and primitive behavior. Stereotypes have a kernel of truth to them and in this case it is proof. The company, guards and all law enforcement who okays this, should be indicted. How can they sleep at night I wonder? May Mr. Galack rest in peace. I hope he has found a way to forgive what other human beings did to him while he was amongst us.
30
People in the Northeast who live near constant abuse of prisoners at Rykers by renegade guards shouldn't be so quick to throw stones. Capice?
This is what happens when Republicans control the Congress, especially the House of Representatives. They outsource everything, and half the time their buddies get the lucrative contracts.
Since this crosses state lines, shouldn't this be a Federal function?
Since this crosses state lines, shouldn't this be a Federal function?
20
You may not have noticed the dates referenced in the article - this has occurred over a long period of time. Not just when one party or the other was in control of Congress.
4
Margo - You make a valid point, but it is the GOP whose big mantra is "smaller government"....so to make it smaller so much stuff is outsourced.
3
Can one imagine the outrage that people would feel if the Times had published a story about people's pets, dogs, for example, being transported under such conditions? Yet this happens to human beings and is allowed to continue. It reminds me of the atrocious conditions in the cattle cars that took people to the concentration camps during W.W. II.
And this goes on now, and in our country! Thank you for researching and writing this article. The private companies that make money out of prisoners' suffering should be put out of business.
And this goes on now, and in our country! Thank you for researching and writing this article. The private companies that make money out of prisoners' suffering should be put out of business.
89
for profit ????? we , the us and a have made 'profit making' the ultimate achievement
7
I'll bet that I'm not the only person who had no idea this sort of "business" existed in the U.S. An I'll bet that nothing will be done about it.
30
I suppose there are people out there who think this only happens in third world countries.
17
Another example of why no human service to vulnerable people - prisons and health care come to mind - should not be subject to the pressure to make a profit. Time to end the disastrous push toward privitization and corporatization of everything.
40
And, how much taxpayer money is being saved by outsourcing prisoner transportation? My guess is little to none. But outsourcing is always presented as a cost cutting measure. So this is what taxpayers get for saving a few bucks, if they are really saving at all. How many legislature even bother to compare costs after they do the initial outsourcing?
23
Based on what we hear about life inside prisons, turning these trips over to corrections union members wouldn't make much of a difference in terms of quality.
2
Wait, did I read that right? That someone was shackled, transported in conditions that would be illegal for animals going to the slaughter house, and then repeatedly sexually assaulted because she was accused of using someone else's gift card?
But apparently murder (or death by negligence) en route isn't worth investigating?
But apparently murder (or death by negligence) en route isn't worth investigating?
114
Extrajudicial executions of both unarmed people on the street as well as detainee sis now so common in the U.S. that...yawn...no one thinks much about it. In fact, I'm surprised that Donald Trump isn't campaigning on a promise to increase death squad activity on our streets.
4
Why not just do away with the Constitution, all our rights except the right to own guns to kill people we don't like, and privatize the entire country? It's what the GOP wants and, by extension, those who vote for them. Therefore if you vote for the GOP remember not to complain when the main street in your area is privatized, turned into an expensive toll road to pay for repair work that is done poorly (to make more money for the private sector), has potholes big enough to eat a car (helps the private tow truck operators), and your medical care is a bargain at two small band aids for the price of one but the cost of using the ambulance is $100K, courtesy of the private ambulance service your town uses.
47
In America everything is a business. There are privately run jails, privately run extradition services, and so on. After all, that's what it says on the money "In God we trust", all others pay cash.
30
I am not shocked this is occurring in various southern states, where individual rights of citizens -- via the practices local governments and law enforcement -- are vaporizing before our eyes. I do wonder what will become of these states in another 20 years time.
"Where not to live" should be made into a T-shirt with Alabama, Kentucky, and Georgia emblazoned on it.
"Where not to live" should be made into a T-shirt with Alabama, Kentucky, and Georgia emblazoned on it.
60
For a look of prisoner brutality elsewhere - please see almost any story in the NY Times about Rikers Island (eg. "Even as Many Eyes Watch, Brutality at Rikers Island Persists") or about any other prison in NY State (eg. What's Going On in Our Prisons?").
8
Having just recently escaped from several years enduring having to live in Kentucky, I couldn't agree more.
Rufus I hear you but I am addressing the broader issue of individual (non prisoner) citizen rights as trampled on in the southern courts and officers and local govts -- not just prisoner rights (which are important but not really my point here)
Sadly, nothing is going to be investigated by an inquiry panel!
28
If a federal agency had done this, especially one the GOP dislikes, Congressional hearings would already be scheduled. For this, crickets and approve the next contract, no questions asked.
2
"... he was fully in shackles and ended up dead?"
Everyone knows that doesn't just happen. The abusive, negligent, and irresponsible people behind these incidents are the total dregs of society.
Everyone knows that doesn't just happen. The abusive, negligent, and irresponsible people behind these incidents are the total dregs of society.
92
Thank you, Eli Hager and Alysia Santo for your reporting on this tragic aspect of our society.
107
There seems to be a typo in the title. The word "torture" does not begin with "neglect".
89
The people who run these companies are the ones who should be in jail. All in the name of saving money, basic human rights are violated. Where is the accountability?
145
With top-to-bottom disregard for laws and rules, things can only become worse. When people do things simply because they can, everything will go down the drain eventually.
1
Just a reminder to those who shut their eyes to the person behind the term, but in these stories "Prisoner" means a person and U.S. Citizen. This is yet more barbaric treatment that the accused are put through in a country that prides it self on "Truth and Justice".
114
It seems that the moral of these stories is that, when left to their own devices, companies to which we privatize services will relentlessly cut quality of service and safety to the bone and beyond in order to maximize profit. This is why private companies cannot be trusted to oversee themselves. They must be tightly regulated to make sure that the public interest comes before their shareholders.
256
Right- so what you're describing is not so much a failure of the private companies, who are acting as private companies might be expected to, but a failure of overseers. How ironic how the ones calling for this prisoner transport work to be placed into the public sector somehow instill the pubic sector with the competence to run such an enterprise efficiently while the evidence clearly shows oversight failure by public officials? Again, I ask those complaining about private-vs-public - what evidence do you possibly have that the government would do a better job of running fleets of vans than the private sector, properly regulated, would?
19
"By comparison, the prison systems of California, Florida and Texas — which together transport more than 800,000 inmates every year, most of them in-state — have each had just one prisoner escape from transport vehicles over the same period."
It's a start.
It's fascinating that you state "...private companies, who are acting as private companies might be expected to", and in the same paragraph suggest that the fault is really with the public sector for not regulating the private sector better. Really? Are human rights abuses and a failure to allow for due process -- in the interest of profit margin-- what's to be expected of the private sector? The lack of oversight is problematic, but the problem of having privatized the prison industrial complex can't be minimized.
It's a start.
It's fascinating that you state "...private companies, who are acting as private companies might be expected to", and in the same paragraph suggest that the fault is really with the public sector for not regulating the private sector better. Really? Are human rights abuses and a failure to allow for due process -- in the interest of profit margin-- what's to be expected of the private sector? The lack of oversight is problematic, but the problem of having privatized the prison industrial complex can't be minimized.
5
The evidence was in the article itself... "By comparison, the prison systems of California, Florida and Texas — which together transport more than 800,000 inmates every year, most of them in-state — have each had just one prisoner escape from transport vehicles over the same period." The incentive of profit when combined with a lack of oversight, encourages abuse, or at least negligence. When the guards are trained and get paid and the vans are repaired and monitored independent of the quantity of prisoners or the distance traveled, there is no incentive to do the job badly. I know this is shocking to some, but humans by and large aren't a bad lot. Treat them well and pay them well, and they do their jobs well.
4
These people are treated as if they are disposable, not worthy of any respect or attention. I know this article is true from personal experience. I have a brother who was transported by this company in Georgia. He told me a story that was hard to believe. Of days spent in a hot van, having to void in an old coke bottle, no water for hours, the "guards" just mocking them when they asked for food or water or to use the bathroom. Now I see that his experience was better than most. At least he lived through it.
Just because you have committed a crime, be it a serious offense or a minor one, does not make you an animal nor does it warrant taking anyway all of your civil rights as a human and an American.
Mr Galack was murdered on that van, and apparently the Georgia Criminal Justice system did not care enough to do an investigation. This is shameful, as is the deaths from medical neglect. Thank you NYT for a light shined on this practice.
Recently NPR did a piece on how poor people in this country are put in prison for not being able to pay fines. What have we become in this country? Debtors prison was supposedly a thing of the past.
Just because you have committed a crime, be it a serious offense or a minor one, does not make you an animal nor does it warrant taking anyway all of your civil rights as a human and an American.
Mr Galack was murdered on that van, and apparently the Georgia Criminal Justice system did not care enough to do an investigation. This is shameful, as is the deaths from medical neglect. Thank you NYT for a light shined on this practice.
Recently NPR did a piece on how poor people in this country are put in prison for not being able to pay fines. What have we become in this country? Debtors prison was supposedly a thing of the past.
284
To be clear, many of these people have just been accused of a crime, but not convicted, and have had it thrown out. So for everyone who smugly argues that if you don't want to be in the criminal justice system, don't commit a crime, watch out, you only have to be suspected of one minor one, apparently, to get a death sentence.
If you think you are somehow immune to being falsely accused, then think again. It's happened to several people I know, all of whom are white and upper middle class. I can't IMAGINE what it must be like for the poor and/or minorities dealing with this mess every day.
If you think you are somehow immune to being falsely accused, then think again. It's happened to several people I know, all of whom are white and upper middle class. I can't IMAGINE what it must be like for the poor and/or minorities dealing with this mess every day.
45
When I look at some of these crimes these people were in jail for, I understand why so many people are angry at the "elites" who get away with much worse. Clearly if you get arrested, the justice system turn you into a commodity where many get a piece of the pie.
167
A guy falls behind on child support and a woman doesn't turn in her rental car on time, and they end up dead.
Attack Iraq and needlessly kill 10's of thousands in Iraq and you get to retire on a full pension and benefits for the rest of your life.
Something wrong here?
Attack Iraq and needlessly kill 10's of thousands in Iraq and you get to retire on a full pension and benefits for the rest of your life.
Something wrong here?
11
Remember two things, privatization of public services is a GOP and conservative promoted nightmare and under the GOP this will get worse.
280
So, communism now and forever then? Is that what you're saying? Yes to more big government? You might want to think hard about what you are asking for. It's not hard to find problems in any status quo; but you've not provided anything other than partisan ideology to suggest why you think that a centralized bureaucracy would do this particular job in a more humane, more efficient, or more cost effective way given that the real issue is not likely to be private vs public but rather the warped voter-driven "tough on crime" policies which effectively call for dehumanizing and asocializing offenders.
Privatization has worked in many aspects of government in many countries, including the US. There are times and places where it makes sense, and prisoner transport, an industry as straightforward as any, should be privatizable if we had competent regulators, buyers, and lawmakers in government managing it. But what politician will waste his political capital on what will inevitably be dubbed "limousines for felons" or some other nonsense by his next political rival?
Privatization has worked in many aspects of government in many countries, including the US. There are times and places where it makes sense, and prisoner transport, an industry as straightforward as any, should be privatizable if we had competent regulators, buyers, and lawmakers in government managing it. But what politician will waste his political capital on what will inevitably be dubbed "limousines for felons" or some other nonsense by his next political rival?
Reagan lied. Government is not always the problem as this and many other stories demonstrate.
12
Sorry, but so not true. That's the point of Bernie Sander's campaign. The neoliberals, starting in particular under Bill Clinton, pushed privatization of everything--including our armed services. Please, stop blaming the Republicans for everything, they are awful, but the neoliberal Democrats are right behind them.
3
Take a public function, privatize it. Watch profit motive lead to abuses. Read NY Times exposé of same. Wait for action to address abuses. Wait and wait and wait and wait ... Privatizing public functions has been a disaster in this country by every measure.
366
And in a year or so, I can pretty much guarantee we will be reading in the Times about abuses under the third pilot program in recent years to privatize federal tax collection.
Privatizing inherently governmental tasks always leads to disaster.
Privatizing inherently governmental tasks always leads to disaster.
6