PRISONERS OF PROFIT
as an issue in Florida’s oversight process, according to a review of hundreds of pages of state contracting documents. The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice looks at past performance when choosing contractors, but evaluators rely on companies to self-report their contracting
HUFFINGTON 11.03.13
aware of past problems. “This is a close-knit industry with a very high volume of reporting and connectivity,” he said. Over the last decade, Slattery’s company has secured 13 contracts in Florida collectively worth more than $175 million. In 2005, Slattery sold Correc-
“ We’re dealing with human beings. We’re not dealing with an automobile that can wait to be repaired.” history. In some of the most egregious instances of negligence and failure to report serious incidents, however, Slattery’s companies pulled out of their contracts early, rather than wait for the government to take action. In other cases, the contract’s end date worked in the company’s favor. Executives could then technically say they had never had a contract canceled. Moreover, state officials don’t examine a potential contractor’s record in other states if the company already has contracts in Florida. Jesse Williams, the spokesman for Slattery’s current company, asserted that the state is well
tional Services Corp. to a rival private prison company, the GEO Group Inc. The deal netted him more than $6.7 million in severance and stock proceeds, according to securities filings. In a complex arrangement, Slattery gave up a portfolio of 14 immigration detention facilities and adult prisons across the country as part of a $62 million sale, while buying back one division for $3.75 million: Youth Services International. As this new Slattery venture continued to grow in Florida, the old problems surfaced again. At one of its largest facilities, a program for boys near Fort Lauderdale called Thompson Academy, staff members were quitting in droves,