The Houston prison is one of six INS jails run by such companies, out of a total of 15 across the country. In all, there are 158 privately operated jails in the United States. Texas, with 42, has the largest number.

CCA runs 61 jails in 21 states and the District of Columbia, holding some 53,000 individuals. According to the latest figures available from the U.S. Department of Justice, 91,828 people were held in privately operated jails by the end of 2001.

The CCA web site presents private jails as a warm and fuzzy alternative to overcrowded government prisons. The site is replete with pictures of inmates being trained in job skills, chatting in relaxed settings with prison personnel, and being tended by the medical staff. It fails to mention, however, that in December 2000, $3.1 million was awarded to a teenage inmate who had been manhandled by CCA guards. The jury ruled that the abuse, far from being the action of a few bad employees, was the result of "corporate policy" of using excessive force to control teenage inmates.

Wackenhut--another of the large owners of privately operated jails --was forced to close one of its juvenile facilities after the Justice Department termed it "life-threatening."

In 1995 some 300 immigrants rebelled against the conditions in an INS detention center run by Esmor, another private company, seizing and holding it for six hours. Detainees and their lawyers said that they had been beaten, that medical care was poor and that they were denied access to telephones and attorneys. In turn the company pointed its finger at the INS, saying it had failed to quickly process the detainees, some of whom had been held up to six months. Esmor received a daily sum of $75 to $100 per detainee.

The growth of the prison population in private jails--unique to this country--is fueled by the astronomical numbers of people being incarcerated. The total prison population now stands at a shade over 2 million, up from just over a million at the end of 1990. The huge numbers have added to the already overcrowded conditions in jails across the country. Justice Department figures show that state jails were overcrowded by between 1 percent and 16 percent. Federal prisons were overcrowded as much as 31 percent.

This often-described "explosion" in the prison population is a result of the "get tough on crime" policies accelerated by the US rulers over the last decade as part of a broader offensive against workers’ rights and legal protections.

Following the lead of the federal government, many states instituted various "three-strikes" rules which require judges to impose the maximum sentence on the accused if he or she has two previous felony convictions. Another measure that has increased prison numbers is the wider use of "mandatory sentencing," imposing a set number of years for various offenses, no matter what the mitigating circumstances.

Meanwhile, both government- and corporate-run jails are offering up cheap inmate labor to manufacturers looking to cut labor costs. In Lockhart, Texas, Wackenhut successfully convinced LTI Technologies to join with it in building and running an assembly plant for electronic circuit boards. Apart from providing a captive labor force, Wackenhut arranged tax incentives. Two months before the plant opened, LTI closed its home office in Austin, laying off 150 workers.

Among the scandals that have revolved around these jails was one involving the Pricor/N Group. Promising prisoners and profits, the Houston-based group convinced six Texas counties to issue $74 million in bonds to build a jail. They greased the palms of several government officials to get the funding. N-Group’s owners collected $2.2 million in bond proceeds for the project. No prisoners ever showed, however, and the counties were left in the lurch.
 
 
Related article:
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Inside an INS jail: the U.S. ‘justice’ system at work
Houston daily reports on INS detention of ‘Militant’ writer
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Calero case is latest fight for Political Rights Defense Fund
Young Socialists join fight against the deportation of Róger Calero
Stop deportation of Róger Calero  
 
 
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