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Why - Not Privatize?
Here's why not!
RECENT ESCAPES
FROM PRIVATE PRISONS
1995-2000
(Source: http://www.crosswinds.net/~capp/recentescapes.htm
)
March, 2000
Chula Vista, California (Extradition International)
A convicted murderer and a convicted
robber overpowered a private guard, stole his gun and then stole a gun from the other guard who was sleeping in the transport
van. The murderer was serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. The Nevada inmates were being transported
to other states.
{San Diego Union-Tribune, 3/ 27/00}
January, 2000
Acton, California (Extradition
International)
Three inmates escaped from a private transport company when the private guards stopped at a mini-mart
and left the keys in the ignition. When the guards werent looking, the inmates jumped in the front seat and the CA Highway
Patrol on a high-speed chase that ended in a crash. {Los Angeles Times, 1/24/00}
November, 1999
McKinley
County Detention Center, New Mexico (Correctional Services Corp/CSC)
On Friday, November 26, five inmates escaped
from the county jail operated by Correctional Services Corp. This brings the total to 9 the number of inmates who have escaped
from the prison in the last 3 months. CSCs vice president blamed the escapes on the facility claiming it is structurally unsound.
The inmates climbed through a skylight. CSC recently lost the contract to run this prison. {Albuquerque Journal, 11/26/99}
November, 1999
Pamlico Corrections Facility, North Carolina (Corrections Corp. of America/CCA)
A
convicted murderer escaped from the custody of Corrections Corporation of America staff while undergoing medical tests. The
inmate has a history of escape. CCA officials say that the state of North Carolina will pay for the cost associated with the
search.
{New Bern Sun Journal (NC) 11/18/99}
October, 1999
Metro Davidson County Detention Facility,
Tennessee (CCA)
An inmate convicted of aggravated burglary escaped from custody at the CCA-operated facility by slipping
out of his handcuffs and running away. There was only one guard watching the inmates and he decided to stay with the other
15 inmates rather than pursue the escapee. {The Tennessean, 10/19/99}
October, 1999
Santa Rosa, New
Mexico (TransCor/CCA)
A convicted murderer from North Dakota en route to Oregon used a handcuff key smuggled in his
shoe to unlock his handcuffs, climb through a air vent and escape from a secure transport van operated by TransCor, a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Corrections Corp. of America. Although the escaped occurred around 4:00 am, it wasnt reported to police until
3:00 pm 11 hours after the fact. {Albuquerque Journal, 10/14/99}
September, 1999
McKinley County Adult
Facility, New Mexico (CSC)
Four inmates escaped from the private jail in New Mexico operated by Correctional Services
Corp. The sheriffs office was not notified of the escape until an hour and 15 minutes has passed. They crawled through an
air vent. Two were jailed on parole violation and burglary charges. The other two escapees were in jail awaiting trial on
murder, aggravated battery and kidnapping charges. {Albuquerque Journal, 9/6-8/99}
August, 1999
Liberty
County Jail, Texas (CCA)
Two inmates escaped from the CCA-operated jail by climbing through an air vent in a bathroom.
One was caught later that day, but the other, a charged with auto theft and burglary had a previous escape charge and was
found 5 days later. {Houston Chronicle, 9-4-99}
August, 1999
Frio County Detention Center, Texas (CSC)
Two inmates escaped by digging a hole behind the toilet in their prison cell continue to elude authorities. They crawled
from the hole onto an unguarded walkway and then slipped out of the building through an unsecured back door.
{San
Antonio Express-News, August 30, 1999}
August, 1999
Hardeman County Correctional Facility, Tennessee (CCA)
While at a nearby hospital, after the guard took off his handcuffs and leg irons, a 5-foot, 4-inch inmate, weighing
130 pounds, overpowered the guard, stole his gun, took a woman hostage, stole her car and fled down the interstate. He was
serving a 25-year sentence for robbery. {The Commercial Appeal, August 17, 1999}
August, 1999
South Bay
Correctional Facility, Florida (Wackenhut)
Authorities were searching for an inmate who escaped from the medium-security
to close-custody prison around 10:00 p.m. [Palm Beach Post, August 12, 1999}
July, 1999
Bent County Correctional
Facility, Colorado (CCA)
A 24-year-old inmate escaped from the private prison. Officials believe he may have stowed
away on a trash truck. He is still at large. Earlier in the month, another inmate who was working at the regional recycling
center escaped after hot-wiring a prison van.
{The Denver Post, August 1, 1999}
July, 1999
Washington,
District of Columbia (CCA)
Two maximum-security DC inmates who were serving time for murder escaped from two guards
who were driving them back to a Virginia prison. The guards left the door to the van unlocked and the inmates were somehow
able to remove their leg irons and flee.
{Washington Post, July 29, 1999}
July, 1999
Union City
Center, Oklahoma (Avalon Correctional Services)
There have been six escapees since the center opened in February
of this year. The latest escapee, being held on drug and auto theft convictions was caught minutes after scaling the centers
fence. The escape ignited a 45-minute rampage by three other inmates who attacked guards, damaged the building before they
too, tried to escape. They were caught in the exercise yard. {The Daily Oklahoman, July 20-21, 1999}
June, 1999
Frederick County Juvenile Detention Facility, Maryland (CSC)
Three inmates escaped yesterday from the facility
in the second security breach at a Baltimore-area CSC facility in 48 hours. They pried open the security screens and escaped
in a stolen facility car. The escape follows a rape last week of a female employee. {The Baltimore Sun, June 28, 1999}
May, 1999
West Tennessee Detention Facility, Mason, Tennessee (CCA)
Two inmates escaped from CCAs Mason
facility in broad daylight on Thursday afternoon at 3:00. One of the inmates was serving 220 years for deliberate homicide
and attempted homicide. The other was serving 50 years for robbery, use of a weapon and theft. They climbed over the fence.
Two other inmates were caught on the fence.
{The Associated Press, May 21, 1999}
April, 1999
Promontory
Prison, Draper, UT (Management & Training Co./MTC)
Three inmates used a file to cut through a section of the
chain link fence and escaped from the private prison. They walked to a nearby auto mall, broke into a lock box and stole a
car. {Salt Lake Tribune, April 6, 1999}
March, 1999
Correctional Treatment Facility, Washington, DC (CCA)
A convicted killer, confined to a wheelchair cut through the bars on the window of his eighth-floor cell, tied bedsheets
into a rope and climbed out of the prison undetected. The sheets unraveled and he plunged to the pavement below. An unidentified
woman picked him up and took him to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead an hour later.
{The Washington
Post, March 16, 1999}
March, 1999
INS Detention Facility, Houston, Texas (CCA)
A Cuban national
overpowered a guard and fled out of the facility into a waiting van. The escapee was convicted of "burglary of a habitation
with intent to commit aggravated rape with a deadly weapon." {Houston Chronicle, March 2, 1999}
January, 1999
South Central Correctional Facility, Tennessee (CCA)
Confessed murderer David Britt escaped from CCAs prison
in Wayne County by dressing as a guard and getting a female private prison guard to escort him out during a shift change.
{The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) February 1, 1999}
December, 1998
Polk Correctional Institution, Florida
(CSC)
Two juvenile inmates successfully escaped from CSCs facility. Both had prior escape attempts on record and
remain at large. {The Ledger (Lakeland, FL) December 14, 1998}
December, 1998
Great Plains Correctional
Facility, Hinton, Oklahoma (Cornell)
A convicted child molester with a history of escape climbed over the fence and
out of Cornells private prison. He was captured five days later in San Bernadino, CA. Cornell reported that the escape occurred
a full day after it happened. {Tulsa World, December 13, 1999}
October, 1998
Bexar County Secure Juvenile
Correctional Treatment Center, Texas
(Childrens Comprehensive Services/CCS)
On October 21, three male inmates
kicked open a rear gate and escaped. Less than a week later, another inmate escaped through an unlocked front gate.
{San
Antonio Express-News, November 11, 1998}
October, 1998
South Central Correctional Facility, Nashville, Tennessee
(CCA)
Four inmates (murderers and rapists) cut their way to freedom. Three were recaptured within days, but the last,
serving a life sentence for aggravated rape and robbery was recaptured a month later in the Los Angeles suburb of San Fernando.
The guards did not learn of the escape until they discovered the hole in the fence.
[The Commercial Appeal (Memphis,
TN) October 30, 1998}
September, 1998
West Tennessee Detention Facility, Mason, Tennessee (CCA)
An
inmate serving 34 years for aggravated rape escaped from this CCA facility and made it to New Mexico before capture. A traffic
cop pulled him over for a routine stop, and then learned that he was the escapee. When the local tv station in Tennessee first
inquired of CCA if there had been an escape, CCA said that there had not been an escape.
{The Commercial Appeal (Memphis,
TN) September 7, 1998}
August, 1998
Teller County Jail, Colorado (Civigenics)
Andre Ingold slipped
out a door at the jails gymnasium about 6:30 p.m., climbed a fence and fled across a field. He is charged with beating a man
to death with a shovel in May.
{The Denver Post, August 8, 1998}
August, 1998
Auburn, California
(TransCor/CCA)
One of 11 inmates in a van operated by TransCor, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CCA, escaped in Placer
County. The inmate, picked up in Texarkana, TX was being delivered to an Arizona prison. A search team comprised of 30 officers
from various agencies began a massive manhunt. TransCor was making a loop through northern CA.
{Sacramento Bee, August
14, 1998}
July, 1998
Newton County Correctional Center, Texas (CSC)
A convicted rapist from Hawaii
cut his way out of a maximum-security private prison and hitchhiked his way out of town. He was serving seven life terms for
stabbing and torturing a blind man and raping the mans girlfriend. {Austin American-Statesman, July 21, 1998}
July,
1998
Northeast Ohio Correctional Center, Youngstown, Ohio (CCA)
Six inmates, in broad daylight, cut through
the fence with wirecutters and escaped. Four were convicted murders. Five were caught within days, but the sixth was on the
run for over a month, finally captured in New York. The inmates got past the motion detectors, the fence sensors, the video
cameras, the guards inside the perimeter and the guards outside the perimeter. It was the other inmates who first notified
law enforcement. They called from inside the prison and told the county sheriff of the escape. When the sheriff called CCA
back, the sheriff was told that there was no escape. The sheriff found CCA guards combing the nearby woods, claiming they
were conducting a practice drill.
{Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 2, 1998; Columbus Dispatch, July 27, 1998}
May, 1998
Broward County Jail, Florida (Wackenhut)
Two inmates escaped from Wackenhuts Broward County
facility.
{The Sun-Sentinel (Ft. Lauderdale, FL), May 26, 1998}
May, 1998
Hardeman County Correctional
Facility, Tennessee (CCA)
Convicted rapist Reginald Ivory was released by CCA two years before his release date.
Ivory remains at large. {CCAs Hardeman County Correctional Facility Incident Report, May 7, 1998}
March, 1998
Taft Correctional Facility, California (Wackenhut)
An inmate escaped from the maximum-security area from this
privately-operated Federal Bureau of Prisons facility. [The Bakersfield Californian, December 9, 1998]
March,
1998
Florida County Jail (Wackenhut)
Unbeknownst to the Wackenhut guards monitoring the minimum-security
facility, two convicts escaped through a window. While Wackenhut officials said they think their staff followed procedures,
it was later learned that a Wackenhut guard had befriended the inmates and purposefully left a door open so the two could
escape.
[The Sun-Sentinel (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) March 25, 1998 & April 2, 1998]
January, 1998
Santa
Rosa Facility, New Mexico (Wackenhut)
A federal inmate escaped from Wackenhuts Santa Rosa facility after cutting
a hole in the fence and jumping to the pavement. A guard discovered the hole, and after a head count learned of the escape.
(Motion detectors, fence sensors, cameras and guards failed to notice the escape in progress.) {San Antonio Express-News,
January 25, 1998}
December, 1997
Illinois, TransCor, (CCA)
Three convicts removed their shackles,
kicked the private guard out of the van and sped away while the other guard was buying Whoppers inside the Burger King. One
of the escapees, Homer Land, convicted of aggravated battery, kidnapped a nearby couple for 12 hours before they were able
to escape. Homer had been picked up in Minnesota and was en route to Florida at the time of his escape. {Chicago Tribune,
12/7/97}
December, 1997
Indiana, TransCor (CCA)
A convicted pedophile was among several convicts
who escaped from a CCA-TransCor van. They kicked the guard out of the van and made their getaway.
{Indianapolis News,
December 12, 1997}
October, 1997
Toledo, Ohio (Federal Extradition Agency, Inc)
Four inmates escaped
in a private prisoner company van with a shotgun and four rounds of ammunition in it. The two guards had left the inmates
alone in the van with the engine still running. They were later re-captured by the Ohio Highway Patrol.
{United Press
International, 10/24/97}
September, 1997
Basile Detention Center, Louisiana (LCS, Inc.)
Five Idaho
inmates escaped from a private prison in southwestern Louisiana. Of the two remaining at large, one is a convicted murderer,
the other a convicted child sexual abuser.
{Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA) October 9, 1997}
August, 1997
Eagle Mountain Community Correctional Facility, California (MTC)
On August 12, 1997, one inmate escaped
from the Eagle Mountain Community Correctional Facility in Desert Center, which is operated by MTC of Odgen, Utah.
{Offender
Information Services Branch. CA Dept. of Corrections, 1999}
July, 1997
Pueblo County, Colorado (Federal
Extradition Agency, Inc.)
An Arkansas convict, serving two life terms for two kidnappings, six rapes and an assortment
of other crimes, escaped from a private prisoner transport company. He was on his way to Arkansas from Utah when he disarmed
the lone guard in the van while the other guard was delivering a California prisoner inside a Colorado county jail. The escapee
then used the gun he stole from the guard to commandeer a pickup truck.
{Denver Post, 8/4/97}
July, 1997
Baker Community Correctional Facility, California (Cornell Corrections)
Two inmates escaped from Cornell
Corrections Baker facility for men on July 15. The facility houses approximately 270 inmates.
{Offender Information
Services Branch. CA Dept. of Corrections, 1999}
July, 1997
Hardeman County Correctional Facility, Tennessee
(CCA)
A convicted rapist escaped from CCAs Hardeman County Correctional Facility. He climbed over a back fence about
9:00 pm, Saturday night. He was serving a 10-year sentence for two counts of rape and aggravated burglary.
{The Commercial
Appeal (Memphis, TN) July 28, 1997}
In the eight county jail facilities operated by CCA, there have been 26 escapes
{The Ledger (Lakeland, FL) June 9, 1997}
June, 1997
Marion County, Florida (Federal Extradition
Agency, Inc.)
A convicted felon being taken to Broward County left alone to urinate behind a gas station escaped
from the private guards. Authorities believe he may have hitchhiked a ride with a trucker and left the county. {Palm Beach
Post, 6/22/97}
May, 1997
Aurora Detention Center, Colorado (Wackenhut)
At least two guards were
fired and another one quit after investigation into an escape by three inmates from the Aurora center that holds undocumented
aliens.
{The Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO), November 30, 1998}
April, 1997
North Harris County
Facility, Texas (CCA)
A 35-yr old Cuban national escaped from CCAs North Harris County Facility on April 30, 1997.
He had been convicted for aggravated assault on a police officer. He left the facility sometime between 8:30 pm and 11:00
pm. {Houston Chronicle, May 2, 1997}
February, 1997
Columbia Training Center, South Carolina (CCA)
A mass escape of eight youths from CCAs private prison for juveniles has prompted the Governor to call for an investigation.
Officials with the prison say they were following established procedures. (The Governor cancelled the contract with CCA later
that year.)
{State News Briefs, South Carolina, February 12, 1997}
January, 1997
Karnes County
Correctional Center, Texas (Bobby Ross Group/BRG)
A Colorado inmate, Agustin Bravo, who was serving a 24-year sentence
for murder escaped from the private prison in Texas. {San Antonio New-Express, January 14, 1997}
January, 1997
Lockhart Correctional Facility, Texas (Wackenhut)
State prison officials captured an escapee from Wackenhuts
Lockhart facility in Texas. He climbed over a back fence in heavy fog. A patrol guard responded to the fence alarm shortly
after 7:30 am and didnt see anything suspicious. Several inmates noticed him missing, but he wasnt reported missing until
1:00 pm.
{Austin American-Statesman, January 25 & 27, 1997}
November, 1996
Frio County Detention
Center, Texas (Dove Dev. Corp.)
The escaped-plagued, privately run detention center is scheduled to change hands
later this month. Eight inmates have escaped from the facility during the past year, with the latest two escapees still at
large. {San Antonio News-Express, November 1, 1996}
October, 1996
Central Arizona Detention Center, Florence,
Arizona (CCA)
Six inmates from Alaska escaped, including a murderer (beat his wife to death) and a rapist (repeat
sex-offender who raped his girlfriends 9 year old son) from CCAs prison in Arizona. CCAs VP of Communications, Susan Hart,
said its too early to tell if CCA did anything wrong! The inmates cut a three-foot hole in the fence, the alarms sounded,
but the guards found nothing wrong. One of the escapees had previously escaped from a jail in Alaska. {Anchorage Daily News,
October 22, 1996}
September, 1996
Karnes County Correctional Facility, Texas (BRG)
Two Colorado
inmates escaped from the private prison in Karnes County Texas. The escapees were serving time for aggravated robbery and
attempted first-degree murder.
{San Antonio Express-News; October 1, 1996}
September, 1996
Central
Arizona Detention Center, Florence, Arizona (CCA)
Kelly Chavez, an inmate from Oregon, scaled the razor wire at CCAs
Florence Arizona prison and escaped. Oregon Dept. of Corrections spokesman Perrin Damon said hes still confident in CCA and
that "Its a very secure facility."
{The Bulletin (Bend, Oregon), September 9, 1996}
August, 1996
INS Detention Center, Houston, Texas (CCA)
Two Oregon sex offenders escaped from the facility. However,
nobody in Texas knew CCA was housing violent out-of-state criminals in the minimum-security detention center. The two were
caught about 10 days later on the outskirts of Dallas. The chairman of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice said that he fears
Texas is becoming a "dumping ground" for the worst kinds of prisoners from other states. The inmates cannot be prosecuted
for escape in Texas (not a crime to escape from private company) nor can they be prosecuted for escape in Oregon (they committed
no crime in Oregon).
{Houston Chronicle, September 3, 1996; The Bulletin (Bend, Oregon, August 28, 1996}
Relatedly,
CCA issued a statement saying, "The company is not obligated to notify local authorities or state corrections officials
of out-of-state inmates being housed there. However, considering the interest of those officials, the company believes that
notification in the future is appropriate." Susan Hart, CCAs VP of Communications said, "It is not our function
to capture them." This was the fourth escape since CCA opened the facility. {Houston Chronicle, August 18, 1996}
August, 1996
Columbia Training Center, South Carolina (CCA)
Three youths escaped from the states newest
juvenile prison which had opened just last month. The facility is operated by CCA.
{The Post Courier (Charleston,
SC), August 13, 1996}
August, 1996
San Antonio Corrections Center, Texas (Wackenhut)
A double-murderer
escaped from Wackenhuts San Antonio Corrections Center in August. He was serving a life sentence without parole for the 1992
killing of two people in Oklahoma. {San Antonio Express-News, October 6, 1996}
August, 1996
Karnes County
Correctional Facility, Texas (BRG)
Two men convicted of burglary escaped from the privately-operated prison in August.
{San Antonio News-Express, January 14, 1997}
April, 1996
Liberty County Jail, Texas (CCA)
A child molester and armed robber escaped from the CCA-operated county jail in Liberty, TX. They hit one guard over the
head with a hand tool and then locked up two guards in a cell before they escaped. Authorities believe that the two may be
armed with a .410-guage shotgun. {The Houston Chronicle, April 10, 1996]}
April, 1996
Limestone County Detention
Center, Texas
(Capital Correctional Resources Inc./CCRI)
Two Oklahoma inmates cut a hole in a fence and
escaped. {Saturday Oklahoman, April 6, 1996}
March, 1996
Shelby Training Center, Memphis, Tennessee (CCA)
Three inmates escaped from the Shelby Training Center. They were sitting in a stolen car when they were captured
by US Marshals. {The Chattanooga Free Press, September 19, 1996}
February, 1996
Wyatt Detention Facility,
Central Falls, Rhode Island (Cornell)
Four prisoners cut through a fence and climbed over razor wire to escape from
a privately operated federal detention facility. One was considered extremely dangerous. Over the course of several weeks,
the detainees cut through a chain-link fence with a hacksaw they had smuggled in. They were undetected by the video cameras
and the passing security guards. {The Providence Journal-Bulletin (Rhode Island) April 20, 1996}
January, 1996
Odessa Detention Center, Odessa, Texas (GRW Corp.)
Two medium-security inmates, one a convicted murderer and
the other who was convicted of possession of a weapon in jail climbed through the wire fence at the privately-operated prison.
{Tulsa World, January 17, 1996}
1995
Tennessee Prison (CCA)
Inmate escaped from a Tennessee CCA
prison in 1995 was captured in 1997 in California and sentenced to 15 years for weapons possession. {Chattanooga Free Press,
April 6, 1998}
December, 1995
Mesa Verde Correctional Facility, Bakersfield, CA (Alternative Programs, Inc.)
On December 18, one inmate escaped from a private community correctional facility (CCF) in Bakersfield operated by
Alternative Programs, Inc.
{Offender Information Services Branch. CA Dept. of Corrections, 1999}
November,
1995
Baker Community Correctional Facility, Baker, California (Cornell)
One inmate escaped from the Cornell
Corrections operated facility in Baker, California on November 22, 1995. Offender Information Services Branch. CA Dept. of
Corrections, 1999}
November, 1995
Metro Detention Facility, Nashville, Tennessee (CCA)
The nine
juveniles who walked away from the CCA facility had a 30 minute head start before authorities started looking for them. Several
teens jumped a pair of guards and then fled. Although police were there immediately, they was forced to wait outside for 15
minutes until a CCA representative came out and told them that an escape had occurred. The security system had been broken
for days. One of the escapees was awaiting trial for murder. {The Nashville Banner, November 8, 1995}
November,
1995
Metro Detention Facility, Nashville, Tennessee (CCA)
A four-time escapee, convicted of assault, stalking
and burglary, escaped once again from a CCA facility. He scaled the razor-wire fence. This is the fourth escape at the same
facility in the last three years. {The Tennessean, November 28, 1995}
September, 1995
Metro Detention Facility,
Nashville, Tennessee (CCA)
Two inmates, convicted of aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery, escaped from the
CCA facility armed with a screwdriver. {The Tennessean, September 25, 1995}
August, 1995
Baker Community
Correctional Facility, California (Cornell)
On August 14, one inmate escaped from Cornells Baker CCF.
{Offender
Information Services Branch, CA Dept. of Corrections, 1999}
July, 1995
Florida (TransCor/CCA)
Three
juvenile inmates escaped in the TransCor car when the guard got out and left the keys in the ignition. They stole the car,
burglarized a home and stole another car before the last of them was recaptured two days later. {The Tampa Tribune, August
1, 1995}
July, 1995
Silverdale Workhouse, Tennessee (CCA)
An inmate placed a blanket and mattress
on top of the razor wire, climbed over the fence and escaped. CCA said he escaped sometime between 9:30 and 11:15 pm.
{The Chattanooga Free Press, July 3, 1995}
CCA, commenting on its potential legal liability stated, "There
can be no assurance, however, that the Companys insurance will be adequate to cover potential third-party claims." {CCA
Prospectus; Summary, May 31, 1996}
http://www.oregonafscme.com/corrections/private/aprivatearticlesholding.htm
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