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NEWS & LETTERS, March-April 2005Jail privatizing threat
Memphis, Tenn.--Approximately 70 people gathered outside
the Shelby County building on Feb. 14 to protest the County Commission’s
efforts to privatize the Shelby County prison system. We chanted and heard talks
by unionized prison workers and community activists. At least 35 people stayed
afterward to participate in the County Commission meeting. The prison issue was supposed to be discussed at length,
but the commissioners deferred the issue at the last minute. We were not
permitted to speak until the end of the meeting, contrary to the commission’s
own policy, because of an "unfortunate oversight" by chairman Michael
Hooks. County Commissioner Bruce Thompson, chair of the
subcommittee on matters of "criminal justice," is leading the effort
to turn Shelby County’s public prison facilities into the largest private
county prison system in America. The Shelby County facilities (the city jail and
the county prison) can house fewer than 2,000 inmates, and are occupied at
roughly 70% of capacity. Commissioner Thompson and his cohorts made a request for
proposals from private prison companies late last year, with promises of
"possibly" expanding the facilities to 5,000 beds. We worry that the
only way to fill those beds would be by cracking down on immigrants in a way not
done here before. The Shelby County Commission made this offer in spite of
the fact that the private prison industry has had massive scandals involving
financial impropriety and prisoner abuse in
recent years. One municipality even reclaimed its prison as a public prison. The private prison industry has been notoriously hostile
to its employees. Wages, benefits, and training of prison personnel are always
slashed in their efforts to maximize profits. The corrections officers who work
in the Shelby County prison system now are unionized. This would surely be
nullified by a private corporation in this right-to-work state. The
Mid-South Peace and Justice Center, the Mid-South Interfaith Network, the
Women’s Action Coalition, the Memphis local of News and Letters Committees,
Memphis-based AFSCME Local 1736, and other community and faith-based
organizations are demanding the Shelby County Commissioners reject any proposal
for privatization. --Amy |
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