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Articles by Alex Friedmann

Texas Prisoners Bake to Death

More than one hundred people have died during a searing heat wave in Texas this past summer, including at least three prisoners. Dozens of convicts have been treated for heat-related health problems. "I've been with the system 13 years and this has been the most extreme heat we've ever experienced," ...

The Buck Stops Where?

When Georgia prisoner Stanley Reed filed a federal habeas petition in January 1997 he probably didn't expect the response he received: The warden refused to answer the petition, raising the possibility that Reed might be released by default. The reason? Reed, although a state prisoner, was doing time at a ...

Georgia DOC Turns to Private Prisons

According to a report by the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, by July 2003 the state will have just 42,000 prison beds for a projected 55,000 state prisoners. This imbalance is primarily due to a "two strikes" law that took effect on January 1, 1995 and a new parole ...

Tennessee Prison Privatization Bill Fails to Pass

Adramatic confrontation between the private corrections industry and opponents of prison privatization played out in Tennessee earlier this year, ending in an embarrassing defeat for the prison profiteers. Similar struggles can be expected in other states as privatization continues to expand across the nation's corrections systems -- and the Tennessee ...

Prisons Promoting Tourism

As states spend an increasing amount of their budgets to expand their prison systems they increasingly seek ways to replenish impoverished state coffers. One major source of revenue is tourism, and some states are well-known for their tourist attractions -- such as Disneyworld and Epcot Center in Orlando, Florida; the ...

Juvenile Crime Pays

According to a study by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), from 1991 to 1995 the population of youthful offenders held in privately-operated facilities grew 10% to an estimated 35,600. The juvenile justice system has become enormously profitable as youths are channeled from the schoolhouse to the ...

Private Transportation Firms Take Prisoners for a Ride

by Alex Friedmann

Many of the hundred-thousand-plus prisoners of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) are familiar with the BOP's buses that shuttle convicts around the country. The federal government also maintains a fleet of a dozen planes designated for transporting prisoners, known as ConAir, which was brought to the ...

Strange Bedfellows; CCA's Political Connections

CCA's connection with local politics began when the Nashville-based company was formed during Governor Lamar Alexander's administration. When CCA made a bid to operate Tennessee's entire prison system in 1985, the governor's wife, Honey Alexander, was criticized for owning $5,000 of CCA stock. She realized a substantial profit ($100,000) when ...