Priorities, People!
On Friday, I commented on Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to balance the budget by cutting funding to education by $5.5 billion rather than raise taxes. Lest he be thought consistent, the governator has a few items that he intends to raise funding on, among them the contracts for private prison operators. Yes, that's right: he's adding to the budget to cover the companies that run some of our prisons. From today's Sacramento Bee:
Although California has been contracting with private correctional facilities for 22 years to cope with overcrowding, saving money in the process, costs are about to go up.
This year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's state corrections agency is proposing a five-year, $67 million increase to one company, GEO Group Inc. The proposal would bump up the daily rate the state pays per inmate by 50 percent, which the company says it needs to increase the minimum pay of its officers from $10 an hour to $14.70. ...
Corrections officials say private prisons are crucial to finding more space to house inmates, while critics in the public employee unions castigate them for lower pay scales that they say attract a less-than-professional work force.
Private prisons generally house lower-risk, healthier inmates in the final 18 months of their terms. It's a class of prisoner that costs less to incarcerate than the dangerous, the sick and the long-term who require added expenses for things such as security and medical care.
So, the companies that run the prisons for the healthier, less dangerous inmates get a raise so that they can pay their employees something slightly better than minimum wage. Now, that would be acceptable, in a weird sort of way, if the companies involved were smaller, and trying to make it, but that certainly doesn't seem to be the case.
GEO is the second-largest private prison company in the United States, behind Correctional Corp. of America. It contributed $68,000 to Schwarzenegger's campaign committees in 2003 and 2005. Its chief executive officer, George C. Zoley, made $3.7 million last year, not counting stock options, according to Salary.com. GEO's profits jumped 25 percent last year to $41 million on revenue of $1 billion, according to its 2007 annual report.
Well, that certainly explains a lot, doesn't it? Kids get crammed into ever more crowded classrooms with inadequate textbooks and supplies, but there's money available for a loyal campaign contributor. There always is.
Although California has been contracting with private correctional facilities for 22 years to cope with overcrowding, saving money in the process, costs are about to go up.
This year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's state corrections agency is proposing a five-year, $67 million increase to one company, GEO Group Inc. The proposal would bump up the daily rate the state pays per inmate by 50 percent, which the company says it needs to increase the minimum pay of its officers from $10 an hour to $14.70. ...
Corrections officials say private prisons are crucial to finding more space to house inmates, while critics in the public employee unions castigate them for lower pay scales that they say attract a less-than-professional work force.
Private prisons generally house lower-risk, healthier inmates in the final 18 months of their terms. It's a class of prisoner that costs less to incarcerate than the dangerous, the sick and the long-term who require added expenses for things such as security and medical care.
So, the companies that run the prisons for the healthier, less dangerous inmates get a raise so that they can pay their employees something slightly better than minimum wage. Now, that would be acceptable, in a weird sort of way, if the companies involved were smaller, and trying to make it, but that certainly doesn't seem to be the case.
GEO is the second-largest private prison company in the United States, behind Correctional Corp. of America. It contributed $68,000 to Schwarzenegger's campaign committees in 2003 and 2005. Its chief executive officer, George C. Zoley, made $3.7 million last year, not counting stock options, according to Salary.com. GEO's profits jumped 25 percent last year to $41 million on revenue of $1 billion, according to its 2007 annual report.
Well, that certainly explains a lot, doesn't it? Kids get crammed into ever more crowded classrooms with inadequate textbooks and supplies, but there's money available for a loyal campaign contributor. There always is.
Labels: California, Prison Reform
posted by Diane at 12:53 PM
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