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COVER STORY page 18
Terry Terrell is warden of Allen Correctional Center in Kinder, one of two state prisons under private management.
Gambit > bestofneworleans.com > may 8 > 2012
“We know already what it costs at Allen and Winn, so anything we give in at Avoyelles ought to be comparable,” he says. Operators, he said, are also more comfortable with running a newer facility, like AVC, than older, oddly designed and ultimately more expensive one. “Know this … If approved, if we do the [request for proposals], it’s going to have to show us that we can save and that they can live by our department regulations.”
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House Bill 850 — sponsored by Rep. Henry Burns, R-Haughton, and backed by Jindal — is the governor’s second attempt to privatize AVC. A similar bill failed last year. It would have sold that prison, along with the Allen and Winn facilities which are owned by the state but are under private management) to private operators. As originally written, this year’s bill authorizes the sale and private takeover of AVC. Selling the prison ostensibly would net $35 million for the state’s reserve fund. The bill was amended during the House floor debate on April 18, however. Now the sale is off the table. Privatization is still in. The bill, which was returned to the calendar after the vote to amend, can be called up for debate at any time. “I think they know it will not pass with the sale because representatives and senators know we should not sell state assets,” says Avoyelles Parish District Attorney Charles Riddle III. Along with Wilson and Rep. Robert Johnson, D-Marksville, Riddle has been among the bill’s most vocal opponents. “They’re going to vote for it now because it’s just privatization.” Budget documents show that during the 2010-2011 fiscal year, the state paid nearly $42 per day for each offender at AVC and $53 at the J. Levy Dabadie Correctional Center in nearby Pineville. At privately operated Allen and Winn, the per diem was only $32.44. Private management, according to the fiscal note attached to the bill, would save the state $40 million over the next five years. Wilson, Johnson and Riddle say that whatever money is saved, it’s not worth the price. They agree that privatization will save money. They just worry about
what Louisiana will have to give up in return for private management and fiscal savings. “I think private prisons as a policy is antiquated, not modern. It’s not on the cusp,” Riddle says. Louisiana already has the highest rate of incarceration in the country, one that state officials claim they are trying to reduce. Current state contracts with GEO and CCA, however, guarantee minimum occupancy rates of 95 percent. During the last push for privatization in 2011, the state released a request for information — seeking statements of qualifications from prospective operators — based on a guaranteed 96 percent occupancy rate. Meanwhile, HB 1, the 2013 fiscal year budget bill, calls for closing the Dabadie facility and moving its 330 minimum-security inmates to medium-security AVC, which is at capacity already. Opponents of the plan say this would require double-bunking minimumsecurity offenders from Dabadie with AVC’s more serious offenders, but LeBlanc says an operator would house offenders together based on classification and vulnerability. Then there’s the workforce at AVC. The 2001 U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)sponsored study “Emerging Issues on Privatized Prisons,” which questioned the purported savings private operators offer state governments, found that average government savings nationwide were only about 1 percent. In Louisiana, at least, savings appear to have the possibility of being much higher. Last year’s general fund allocation to AVC was more than $24 million. Allen and Winn each received about $17 million, approximately 28 percent less. The study concluded that most of the savings are achieved by reducing salaries and benefits for employees. Dramatic salary and benefit cuts at AVC won’t be good for the surrounding community, Johnson says. “I can tell you it means a lot,” he says. “You talk to bankers and they’ll tell you: You cut 80 employees … you cut that rate of pay in half, which was the plan when it was originally proposed a year ago … and those people have car notes and house notes. That’s going to affect their ability to make those payments,” he says. “The local businesses, the grocery stores, the gas station. Some of these people commute … $38,000 is a good job in Avoyelles Parish. A good job. You cut their salaries in half. You take that kind of money out of the economy. That’s a big deal.” Beyond that, opponents fear that pay cuts will attract a less experienced workforce. “You and I both know — and any businessman knows — that if you’re paying someone $15 an hour versus $9 an hour, the chances of hiring a qualified person at $15 increase dramatically,” Riddle says. He adds that putting under-qualified people into a dangerous, sensitive environment such as a prison endangers AVC staff, inmates and the public. Johnson points to DPSC statistics regarding contraband inside the three nearly identical prisons. The stats show that between July 2011 and February 2012, staff found 132 illegal cellphones at privately operated Winn. During the same period, staff found two at AVC and none at Allen. Johnson says that inside a prison, a cellphone is a bigger problem than a weapon because it allows offenders to connect with the outside world: Drug dealers can speak to other drug dealers. Sex criminals can terrorize their victims. According to state budget documents, AVC had 35 inmate-on-staff assaults between 2006 and 2011. Winn reported 88, and Allen reported 191 in the same period. Although sex crimes were trending downward at Allen and Winn while going up at AVC during that period, AVC’s largest number of sex crimes in one year was 100 in 2010-2011, followed by 77 in 2009-2010. Allen and Winn
consistently report more than 200 sex crimes per year. All have populations of similar sizes. DPSC spokeswoman Pam Laborde says those statistics are deceptive because they don’t indicate the seriousness of the offenses. A minor fight or even a temper flare-up — anything that’s reported — could be categorized as an assault. A sex crime could be something as minor as an inmate exposing himself to a guard, Laborde says. “You cannot assume that those are serious incidents,” she says. Spokesmen for GEO and CCA declined Gambit’s request for interviews, instead offering the following statements. From Pablo Paez, vice president in charge of corporate relations for GEO: “We are proud of our long-standing public-private partnership with the State of Louisiana, where we have operated the Allen Correctional Facility since 1990. Our company has always adhered to strict contractual requirements and has operated its facilities, including the Allen Correctional Center, pursuant to the highest standards in our industry including those set by the American Correctional Association.” And from Steve Owen, CCA director of public affairs: “Safety and security for our employees, the inmates entrusted to our care and the communities where we operate is our top priority [sic]. We meet and often exceed the high standards set forth by the independent American Correctional Association (ACA) — the gold standard for professional correctional management services. We take all allegations of wrongdoing seriously and act swiftly if our standards have not been met. “CCA is committed to providing solid, lasting career opportunities with competitive compensation and benefits to all of our 17,000 employees. I personally started in an entry-level position in Texas and can attest to the opportunities that are available at CCA. One of the things we’re most proud of is how we help veterans find fulfilling careers after leaving active duty. Our company is consistently ranked by G.I. Jobs magazine as one of the top 100 military-friendly employers in America, and we’re the only corrections company to earn this distinction.” Neither CCA’s nor GEO’s corporate offices responded to Gambit’s queries about average salaries at those facilities. But privatization supporter Rep. Jim Fannin, DJonesboro, the powerful chair of the House Appropriations Committee, admitted that costs would be reduced via labor cuts. “There’s no question no matter who you ask,” Riddle says. “The reason why private prisons operate cheaper is not because they’re more efficient. It’s because they pay cheaper labor. Food costs are the same. Utilities are the same. Maintenance — they probably save on maintenance. You go to Avoyelles and Allen and you tell me.” On April 27, Gambit toured Allen and AVC, accompanied by Johnson and DPSC spokeswoman Pam Laborde. Despite Riddle’s claims, there were few easily noticeable differences. Both have four dormitory units with open sleeping and living areas, and one cellblock for inmates with disciplinary problems. Both were clean and generally well-maintained. The floors were more polished and less cracked in AVC’s Hope dorm than at Allen’s Saturn dorm, but the windows between the guard center and the corridor in Saturn were better maintained than Hope’s. AVC has a better library. Allen has more computers in its classrooms. AVC has cattle and a vegetable garden. Allen has a factory where inmates build and repair office furniture for state and local governments. AVC has an inmate newspaper — The Cajun Pride — and a donated page 22