Despite several problems, drastic changes unlikely
For the first time in recent legislative history, state Republicans and Democrats joined in a procedural and rhetorical thrashing of private prison operations in Tennessee.
Earlier this month, lawmakers refused to immediately reauthorize the Tennessee Department of Correction, instead blasting private prison operator CoreCivic for a litany of issues revealed through a state audit and ongoing media reports.
Those elected officials went further, publicly questioning whether the state should contract out the constitutional authority to keep people behind bars.
“I think the message that we’re hearing today is regardless of how you feel politically about for-profit prisons, we overwhelmingly can see as a state, whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, there’s major problems with for-profit prisons, and we really need to re-look at it,” Rep. Jeremy Faison, R-Cosby, said after the Nov. 15 legislative hearing.
“And I hope coming in to the General Assembly this year, in 2018, that Tennessee will take a look at it and say listen, we see major problems. It’s not OK to have a
for-profit prison, and we can prove it time and time again.”
After the hearing. Tennessee’s prison chief did not summarily dismiss the idea of moving away from private prisons.
“I think every day that we carry out our business, we should be looking at how we’re operating across the board, not just private facilities but everything,” said Department of Correction Commissioner Tony Parker.
“I try to be fair, I try to be upright, and I would never accept second-rate service. That’s what we have to focus on going forward, is that we keep our service level where it’s at.”
Private prisons have always been controversial. But a new focus on criminal justice reform in some states, including several controlled by Republicans, is reducing the need and desire for private operators.
While Gov. Bill Haslam has called justice reform a key legislative focus in recent years, roughly one-third of Tennessee’s 30,000 inmates are housed in private prisons run by CoreCivic, a Nashville-based company previously known as Corrections Corporation of America.
Despite the recent fiery language and rare legislative slap on the wrist, the historical, economic and political entrenchment of the private prison industry in Tennessee makes that ratio unlikely to change any time soon.
CURRENT ISSUES COMPLICATED BY COMPANY’S PAST
Critical positions left vacant and increasing violence by gang members are the most recent problems plaguing Trousdale Turner Correctional Center.
The state’s largest prison, run by CoreCivic, bore the brunt of the comptroller’s ire. Since the 2,500-bed facility began accepting inmates in 2016, inmates, officers and their families have called the prison one of the most dangerous in the state.
“I felt like I was in more danger when I was in the prison. And I didn’t even have to think about that,” former prison teacher and military veteran James Kelley told The Tennessean in 2016, comparing whether he felt safer in Desert Storm or at the prison.
State prison officials forced the facility to stop taking inmates in May 2016, citing “serious issues” with facility leadership, along with concerns about haphazard use of solitary confinement, inadequate staffing and allegations of excessive force.
CoreCivic CEO Damon Hininger told The Tennessean in December 2016 “we’ve got work to do” at the facility, sentiments repeated this month by other company officials.
BIG DONOR
CoreCivic got its start in Hamilton County, landing a contract with county government in 1984 to operate the Silverdale Workhouse that has been continually renewed. In September, county commissioners voted to transfer control of Silverdale to the sheriff’s office and revise the agreement with CoreCivic as part of plans to move all county jail inmates to the Silverdale site.
Trousdale is the newest of CoreCivic’s prisons in Tennessee, operating under a five-year, $276 million contract. During the company’s 25 years of operating state prisons in Tennessee it has often faced criticism.
The Tennessee company — founded in part by a former chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party and staffed by ex-state officials — frequently found allies in state government.
In 1985, then-Gov. Lamar Alexander proposed negotiating with CoreCivic in order to privatize the entire state prison system, according to The New York Times.
Although that proposal never materialized, the company took over operations at its first prison in 1992, the South Central Correctional Center in Clifton.
Legislators passed a law that allows for the state to have a contract for only one private prison. But for years, state officials have skirted the law by contracting with counties, which then use the money to pay CoreCivic.
When asked during the hearing specifically about passing the money through to counties to skirt state law, department officials said they didn’t think they were violating the spirit of the law.
Any change to the law would require a GOPbacked legislative effort. CoreCivic employs eight state lobbyists and has contributed nearly a quarter-million dollars to state lawmakers, their political action committees and one Nashville politician — Sheriff Daron Hall — since 2014.
That includes a $50,000 donation in July 2014 to a PAC associated with Haslam’s re-election bid. The term-limited governor declined to comment for this story.
CoreCivic has donated $51,500 to the current and former heads of the state House and Senate, their PACs and the PACs for Senate and House Republicans since 2014.
House Minority Leader Mike Stewart, D-Nashville, and other legislative Democrats have blasted private prisons. But the Senate and House Democratic caucus PACs also have each received $2,000 from CoreCivic since 2014.
Faison, who calls himself a longtime critic of private prisons, received $1,000 from CoreCivic in 2016 and $500 in 2014.
Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, an Oak Ridge Republican who’s received $4,500 in contributions to his campaign and PAC, commended the work of his legislative colleagues.
“While I would not say private prisons should never be used, I think it is clear strict oversight is needed. The Legislature is providing that oversight, and I look forward to the process continuing.”
House Speaker Beth Harwell, R-Nashville, has received $12,500 from CoreCivic since 2014. She said she is disturbed by the comptroller’s findings and thinks “further examination is warranted to determine the path forward.”
“Prisons are a core function of government, and we owe it to Tennesseans to ensure they are run properly,” said Harwell, adding she looks forward to the next legislative hearing where private prisons are discussed.
Like Harwell, no other Republican gubernatorial candidate called for ending private prisons. Neither did either Democratic gubernatorial candidate.
ROLLER-COASTER YEAR
At least five states stopped using private prisons between 2000 and 2015, including several controlled by Republicans, according to the Sentencing Project, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy organization that opposes private prisons.
Those changes typically were spurred by criminal justice reform movements that lowered penalties for minor parole or probation violations, changes that eventually reduced state prison populations, said Nicole D. Porter, director of advocacy for the Sentencing Project.
“The politics are complicated, and will be in Tennessee, given the influence of CoreCivic,” Porter said.
“Tennessee lawmakers should be motivated or encouraged by the fact that there are similar sentiments in other states around the country.”
In Washington, D.C., the city took control earlier this year of the Central Treatment Facility, a treatment-focused jail operated by CoreCivic for the previous 20 years.
And in Montana, lawmakers are discussing taking control of a 564-inmate prison operated by CoreCivic when the current contract expires in 2019, reported the Great Falls Tribune.
However, other states are looking at possibly renewing their use of private prisons, thanks in part to Donald Trump’s election.
During 2016 the U.S. Department of Justice announced it would phase out the use of private detention facilities and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton vowed to end the use of private prisons. That sent stocks plummeting for CoreCivic and other similar companies.
But Trump’s victory signaled a change. The DOJ reversed course, and the prospects of Trump-enacted immigration policy aimed at arresting more immigrants spurred discussion of possibly building more private detention facilities.
Kentucky had phased out private prisons, but Gov. Matt Bevin’s administration announced a contract with CoreCivic last week to run a private prison set to open early next year, according to the Louisville CourierJournal.
In Tennessee, the inmate population has remained around 30,000 since the 2011-12 fiscal year. It’s still unclear whether Haslam’s Public Safety Act of 2016 will send those numbers down, and what impact it may have on private prison contracts that require the state to keep private prisons at or near full capacity.
Contact Dave Boucher at dboucher @tennessean.com or 615259-8892 and on Twitter @Dave_Boucher1.