To me, allowing private companies to make a profit on the transportation and imprisonment of people is a form of legal human trafficking. This story is particularly maddening. The idea that Johnny Smith was extradited from Kentucky to Florida on a charge of possessing one oxycodone pill is just another example of how insane our criminal justice system is. Too many minor crimes become death sentences and rarely is anyone called to account. Today's America is lacking in mercy and shame.
5
They treat the poor like animals and the government doesn’t regulate. And he poor vote for Trump.
2
My relative, a non-violent repeat offender who is serving 50 YEARS, is subjected to numerous transfer transports. He dreads these, probably has some PTSD from these transports, says these are the scariest thing. He said robbery and assault are common- pretty much guaranteed.
1
Typical Republican way of taking care of business. Trump just adds to their miserable legacy.
4
It's not just the prisoner transport business that's at fault here - it's also the police, judges and bureaucrats who allow this tragedy to continue.
I would be much more impressed than I am now with the US Justice Department if they actually pursued and brought to justice all these criminals, including the negligent and lazy cops, judges and bureaucrats who turned their collective backs on this scandal.
How do people sleep at night knowing that they turned their backs on slimeballs who jeopardize the lives of criminals being transported in the name of justice? All of them are criminals - maybe they should all be put into the back of their crummy vans and driven cross country for a few days...
6
Never mind the lawsuit. Why isn’t it a crime to ignore a medical emergency and allow a person in your custody to die? Over and over there are these stories and only rarely is anyone held accountable.
2
The Deutsche Reichsbahn didn't pay pay death benefits to those sent to POW or murder factories either.
I wonder who gets paid off to get these contracts?
Some men will steal a dollar with a gun, others will steal $1 million dollars with a pen. You can be that those who steal with a pen never get treated like this. The extraordinary inequity of our "justice" system is being exposed and thoroughly undermining our faith in the fairness of that system.
5
A man gets treated like this over possession of one pill? Then the transport company screws the family on the fines only to get rewarded with more contracts?
Once again, it bears mentioning that the US has the highest incarceration rate in the world. Its big business with a big lobby. Also, the Drug War was cooked up as a way for the Party of Law and Order to disenfranchise radicals and people of color. And lets not forget we have a president who encourages police to be rough with prisoners. Maybe if he becomes a prisoner, things will finally change.
5
A small group of cops in Baltimore put a low level drug dealer in the back of a van. His hands and feet were cuffed. They did not secure him. The plan was to take him for a rough ride in which he would be bounced around as he would not be able to grace himself. The ride ended up to be rougher as one of the bounces broke his neck. Not one of the cops was deemed responsible as none were convicted by a jury of their peers! Justice is not always served!
6
what else in the way of corporate malfeasance and inhumanity could be expected of the trump...say what? 2011!? oops...if not trump, then who? maybe someone in the city room, (once they're back from the cafeteria), could look it up.
1
Incarcerating people is a government responsibility that should never be delegated to private companies.
Articles like this one make me happy to pay my subscription fee.
5
The government agencies that hired these substandard prisoner transport companies should be liable for the abuses committed by their contractors. These pirates perpetrate their irresponsible conduct only because they are not adequately supervised or regulated. Shame on the various departments of corrections who empower these jackals!
4
American gangster capitalism is run by gangsters, and more and more it is becoming the norm in many segments of America's expanding corrupt economy. The American people don't care, the American system of justice is enabling this greed driven, morally repugnant culture. We are becoming a shameless, heartless nation.
1
I'll bet there is more to this story than the NYT is reporting. Transporting dangerous people is not a easy business and I would imagine the prisoners are not that cooperative. Certainly there needs to be humane treatment but this story is so one sided it is biased.
1
Our Justice system has become an industry with a web of vested financial interests. Conservatives, ever out to make a buck, have pushed privatization of many of the functions that used to be carried out by government agencies. Now Public Defenders, Transportation, and even entire prisons are run by private companies.
In every case, there is a financial impetus to cut corners on staffing, safety, and training.
Suffering, abuse, and death are the result.
Defendants and inmates are the victims in this scenario--as well as their families who love them.
43
Thanks for this important story. A society is ultimately judged by how it treats the very least, not how it rewards those who have the most.
8
I will never understand how a human being can ignore another who is begging and pleading for their life. How does one person simply let another die?
This happens in the transport vehicles, in the jails, and in the prisons. This happens when a police officer shoots an unarmed person who is running away, or tazes someone until their heart gives out. This happens when an insurance company denies coverage for necessary medical intervention.
Humans have become so cold, so hateful, so... indifferent to the suffering of others. It's overwhelmingly sad.
72
There is a well established body of law on the subject of successor entity liability. A debtor company cannot simply shift its operations (and Rolodex) to another company to escape liability. This case seems like a perfect opportunity for the application of this legal theory.
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@Julian Karpoff
Yes, it's called "piercing the corporate veil" and imposing liability on corporate principals individually. But, ultimately, what assets does anyone in the chain own? The Jacques operated a bunch of poorly-maintained vehicles, transporting prisoners over crazy routes, presumably to maximize profits. Do you think the Jacques have $650,000 laying around to pay the Smith judgment? I doubt it. So, even if you could obtain judgments against them personally, what good would it do?
2
The Jacques brothers must have had insurance to operate a business - remember they DROVE across state lines - with people. Why isn't their insurance paying?
26
Let’s be honest here, America has always been a Country that differentiates between those who belong and those who don’t. Indians didn’t “belong” and were transported away from their homes and/or slaughtered. Immigrants from many different Countries didn’t, and, for some Countries still don’t, “belong”. Blacks didn’t, and for many still don’t, “belong”. Jews and those of other religions didn’t, and for many still don’t, “belong”. For many Americans now, those with differing political views don’t belong.
And here we have yet another example, prisoners don’t really “belong”.
Welcome to an all too often ignored part of the real America.
27
Sounds like government regulation of this industry would be a good thing. All you Republicans, tell your elected officials that you want MORE government regulation of prisoner transport companies. While you are at it, tell them that you think that the budget of the FAA should also be increased because letting Boeing do its own certification of airplanes appears not to be working, and we need more regulation and bigger government there as well.
24
Indeed. The very idea of a private prison system is undemocratic. Capitalism is not democracy.
22
I was grabbed off the street in Washington D.C. in 1991, 11 p.m. on a freezing cold night, falsely arrested in a case that was dropped before I got to court.
My hands were bound behind my back with plastic ties and I was tossed in the back of a transport where I was driven around in what seemed like a drunken speed relay for what seemed like hours but was probably about 30 - 40 minutes.
I still remember trying to brace my feet wide apart - almost impossible to do because I was wearing a tight skirt - and struggling to remain upright, nearly falling forward innumerable times as the van whiplashed around corners at high speed. I was terrified and kept trying to lean back, worried I would fall forward at high speed and break my face or be knocked unconscious.
There appears to be zero accountability in these cases and I know first hand the recklessness on the part of not only the drivers but the police officers who toss people with hands bound behind their backs into these cold dark vehicles without any regard for their safety - and possibly their survival.
I feel such cold disgust reading this.
72
I fail to understand the point of extraditing someone who is so ill that he can die enroute. I further fail to understand why, when there are regulations regarding the transportation of prisoners or fugitives, they are not enforced. The Jacques family ought to be in prison themselves for murder and negligence. Being extradited should not be a death sentence but clearly it has been. No matter what crime a person has committed or is accused of, there is no justification for what is happening here.
In truth, the Jacques family needs to be put out of business permanently. They are not an asset. They are breaking the law and they are killing people.
44
This is insane. If these things were happening in another country, we'd pontificate about how "uncivilized" they are. The US has become the uncivilized one, with absolutely zero basis to look down on any other country and their abuses.
This is also why it's dangerous to keep up this fantasy of privatization being better than having things under government control. Sure, it's nice to think of business as being run like a tight ship, efficient, orderly. They're also all about the bottom line, C-level salaries, profit at all costs. Hence, our problems with the healthcare system. Prison transport, of COURSE they'll cram as many people into a van as possible and make zero stops to check on anyone. Healthcare, of COURSE they'll deny paying for treatments that might save people's lives, if they're the slightest bit experimental.
I'll never understand people who'll do anything for a buck. And for whom no amount of money is ever enough.
33
Under the current administration there isn't a prayer of a chance of having DOJ take action itself or recommend other action by Congress, to tighten up rules.
I wonder if the IRS could discover some problems in reporting?
7
Most state motor vehicle departments enforce laws about transporting people, requiring that drivers have a license above the standard driver's license, and that vehicles meet specific safety requirements. Think buses, limos, shuttles. These laws would apply to prisoner transport as well, since there is no distinction between who is being transported.
I don't know Florida's motor vehicle laws, but I would assume it has requirements for transportation of people that go above a typical private car. Then again, given Florida's past disenfranchisement of convicts, I wouldn't be surprised if it carves out an exception in transport as well.
11
Private prison industry is a disgrace. If a jurisdiction wants to deprive you of your freedom, the jurisdiction should do the job, not farm it out. The whole industry traffics in human misery and preys on the poor.
52
Wow, I am appalled. It sounds like the actual criminals in this story were the ones driving the van, and even the inadequate civil suits have failed to render any sort of compensation for their callous negligence. Moreover, Johnny Smith should never have been jailed for such a charge, and whoever made the call to send him on a road trip instead of to a hospital should face similar repercussions. Instead—nothing! This article makes me more angry than anything I have read in quite some time. Thanks to the Marshall Project for covering these overlooked tragedies. Justice doesn't exist for the invisible.
48
This is the modern capitalist and corporate system of the chain gang and convict labor.
35
I know a old man (81) that made a fortune in the private prison industry. He lives a stress free life, he’s on his second airplane that he is throwing money at, and won’t work on it as a hobby on Sunday because he’s such a devout christian.
He supports Israel strongly not because he loves the Jews, quite the opposite. His love comes from the belief that Israel is where the “end times” will occur.
Of course he’s a trump supporter.
These are the people that are corrupting America.
57
The Israel supporter you know may have profited despicably from the prison industrial complex, but your maligning him in your comment for supporting Israel is totally irrelevant to this article, completely gratuitous and very offensive.
2
@Paulie Your location sums up my feeling on the matter perfectly. This article exemplifies why political ideologies will always fail us. How does the market correct a problem like this, particularly when most people don't even know the problem exists? Conservatives will say that people should just stop breaking the law, even as many of them justify their own criminal behavior. Meanwhile, the Internet's landfill of misinformation grows larger every day, but who cares about truth when there's convenient memes to tell us what to believe?
6
@Buster Bronx
He’s free to express his opinion.
5
They helped Make America Geat Again, especially for the investors of bottom feeders. These guys and their ilk are why police and prison corporations and bail bondsmen don't want to end their incredibly lucrative businesses.
It keeps a few in golden toilet seats.
7
The courts should seize their property, jail the guilty and investigate whether bribes have been paid to sheriffs, police court officials who recommend and approve these crooks.
19
Privatization at its finest.
I weep for the United States. No WAY we can become great again with horrors like this. SHAMEFUL.
I am so sorry for the family...they should have one 15 million and gotten it. The government should be sued for negligence.
34
Halfway through the article I didn't have to read another word nor could I stomach it. My condolences to Mr. Smith's family. Perhaps another lawyer would take this up and make someone pay. The company is awful , just awful.
30
Captain Jacques had better hope his superiors in the Marine Corps do not read the New York Times.
21
The private prison system needs to abolished. All of it, from the smaller companies like this one, all the way to the top. If you are running a business that relies on a steady stream of criminals, then “criminals” will sometimes need to be “manufactured” in order to keep the profits flowing. This is a business model that rewards taking away people’s FREEDOM! How is this allowed to happen? I recognize my country less and less, everyday. Land of the Free... yeah right.
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@Joe Hundertmark
These are the real criminals, and this corrupt system is the most egregious crime. Our nation has been overtaken by organized criminals with the power to write their crimes into law.
23
Despicable treatment, and the only way to get this changed is by getting to the government entities responsible for the contracting. Which is what using contractors thwarts.
Obviously it is not all that hard to track this particular team of leeches; is the lesson just that no one cares if there is justice?
34
@Cheryl: I think you’re right about people not caring. Whenever I bring up examples such as this to anyone I know, I seldom get a response other than indifference. The reasoning basically goes like this: if you get in trouble with the law/police, that’s on you. Keep your nose clean and you will have nothing to worry about. In their view, the brutality of prison transport is not the problem. The prisoner is the problem.
7
America the great.
7
Jailed for possession of one stupid pill? That’s the real problem!
54
I was pulled over once years ago with a single Valium pill in my pocket. It was my emergency pill and I had a prescription for it at home.
With the properly dated bottle and a letter from the prescribing doctor that Dallas prosecutor was so reluctant to drop a drug charge until my lawyer, a former prosecutor, told him he would make him the laughingstock of the office and tear him to shreds in court.
One pill on a disabled guy. What a disgusting country.
47
@Paulie
Your story is also about how much hands-on power is left to some individual cop's understanding and state of mind.
12
There also has to be some sanity in what these judgments pay out, the money should be commensurate to what the person could reasonably make during the balance of a normal lifetime. This will take into account past earnings history, education etc.
If this person live to be 90, he would never accrue $650,000, it’s unreasonable for the court to award it
@Doesitmatter--There are compensatory damages, which compensate for economic loss or injury and punitive damages, which are awarded only for the purpose of punishing the defendant for his conduct. Many times, punitive damages are larger than economic damages, particularly when a judge or jury finds the injury caused was especially egregious. It could be that the amount in this case was meant to punish the company for allowing Mr. Smith to die, and not to merely compensate his family for his lost earnings.
37
Your way of valuing a human life is sick and amoral.
Hey. How about we just put a “remaining lifetime earnings” tag on everyone, and that’s how much you have to pay if you want to kill them?
42
@Doesitmatter
What about the pain and suffering due to the abusive treatment he received? Apparently, that doesn't matter to you. I think there should be criminal liability as well as civil liability. And for civil liability, there should be punitive damages as well as compensatory damages. Even then, nothing can make the victim of this abuse and injustice whole.
33
Even if there had never been a single instance of abuse of prisoners, I feel strongly that keeping prisoners should exclusively be done only by the government directly, not through the use of private contractors.
Keeping people imprisoned is a despicable activity. Keeping people imprisoned, treating them disrespectfully and worse has been something that governments have always done and are very expert at doing. Decent persons assuage their consciences about government imprisoning people by telling themselves that sometimes it is necessary to protect the public from the imprisoned person harming innocent people, or they tell themselves that punishment of such persons is necessary for obtaining justice. But that does not make the activity of keeping people imprisoned less despicable an activity. No person or company should be keeping people imprisoned for a profit.
As for prisoner abuses, the only solution that might ever work is to impose personal liability, both criminal and civil, on the individuals who abuses prisoners. That is so whether the individuals are employees of private companies or are government employees. And there should be no double standard (like cops enjoy) that absolves them criminal or civil responsibility. The same should be applied to cops as well because only personal criminal and civil liability will reduce police abuse of civilians.
94
Privatize the benefits, socialize the losses - what could go wrong?
74
How dismal but unsurprising. The scandal is that there is not a greater public outcry but society does not care about "those" people (i.e. an inmate). What a commentary that a person possessing ONE opiod tablet could and would be treated to such horrific custody. But the right wing drum beat to privatize everything has it's dark underside and this is it. Exploit the vulnerable and no one will care because it's just one of "those."
Compare the stark difference in the Paul Manafort case. Would this have happened to him? Doubtful. He would have had his $750/hour attorney's arrange a LearJet to transport him. The two tracks of justice are alive and well.
57
@david dahbura
In all probability, the one opioid tablet charge was either to make proof easier for the prosecutor.....or else the whole thing was a police frame-up and an arresting cop planted the tablet on the accused.
10
This is so sad and frustrating, there has to be some way to hold these shady people accountable! It's insane to think how many things these brothers (transportation company) did to clearly hide the change of business (p.o. boxes, switching lawyers, putting different people in charge, etc.). You'd think a judge could at least put a judgment or lien against the brothers individually to get these settlements paid. I understand that every company has problems but if your responsibility is transporting human beings (regardless of the reason) they need to be treated as such and since these brothers have shown time and time again they can't safely do that then they are the ones who belong behind bars!
66
Evil evil people that exemplify the new American norm. Lie, cheat, steal, and kill. The Jaques family should be driven around the country in their own vans. If they don't survive the experience, oh welll......
74
The US prison system is a free-for-all for corporations. Unfortunately, it seems that we're headed toward more and more privatization and away from desperately needed regulations. Inmates lose many of their rights and corporations take advantage of both the lawlessness they can operate within, as well as the fact that protecting the rights of prisoners is not a high priority on anyone's list.
35
Same old far right garbage. Let capitalism destroy our government. Sigh. When will we ever learn? Never.
40