County Jailhouse Blues

Council still waiting on report as clock ticks down on prison deal still waiting on Phoenix study on prison as decision on private pact looms

Public or private? That’s the question that continues to stew surrounding operation of the George W. Hill Correctional Facility in Concord Township.

Delaware County Council has a decision to make on the future of the county prison - and they don’t have much more time to make it. The current contract with the private firm that has been operating the facility expires at the end of the year.

Complicating the matter is the fact that a report comparing private to publicly run facilities that was supposed to be due in the summer has been delayed until March.

“Phoenix (Management Services) thought they could provide a report within two months,” attorney Ronald G. Henry told the Delaware County Board of Prison Inspectors at their Wednesday meeting. “In all honesty, information gathering has been a challenge.”

In May, the prison board contracted with the Chadds Ford-based firm to assess the factors of possibly bringing operation of the 1,883-inmate facility back under direct county control.

Right now the county prison is being operated by The Geo Group, based in Boca Raton, Fla. They are overseen by the Delaware County Prison Board of Inspectors. The contract with GEO expires Dec. 31 and with that in mind, the prison board paid Phoenix Management $100,000 for a private versus public analysis. Some, including members of the Delaware County Coalition for Prison Reform, want the prison to revert to public control.

Under the current contract, the county is paying Geo Group $50 million a year to run the facility.

At the same time, the board is progressing with the RFP process, mulling proposals from firms to operate the facility.

Henry is one of the three legal sources the prison board is using in this process. The others include their solicitor, Robert DiOrio of DiOrio & Sereni LLP, and Blank, Rome, Cominsky & McCauley.

At the prison board meeting, Henry explained that Phoenix representatives wanted their report to in-

clude information from county officials who are responsible for the transitioning of the prison, other counties and their jails, the current contract and other costs and information from the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.

The attorney said Philadelphia and Allegheny counties refused to participate and that Montgomery and Chester counties provided some information but not all that was desired.

In addition, he explained that Phoenix had hoped to use information the county had when they ran the former prison, the former Broadmeadows facility across from the current prison on the same property. However, Henry said, the age of the data and the years that have passed since the county relied on a private contractor made what they collected for this process not especially useful. The county has not operated the prison for decades.

Also, GEO has not provided information as they cited the ongoing procurement process, Henry said.

“The study was never

meant to be part of the procurement process,” the attorney said. “The study results would inform the board with respect to selecting a longterm model.”

He noted that the current request for proposal gives the prison board flexibility to change to public operation at a relatively short notice.

“While that positive result does not lessen the importance of the study, it does eliminate the need to complete this study before the board makes a decision on a contract,” Henry said. “There is enough time to get it right ... An incomplete and uninformed decision will make things worse.”

With that in mind, he said Phoenix anticipates to complete the study in the next 120 days.

“The goal is to establish a base case of the prison’s current management model on operational, qualitative and financial grounds,” Henry said.

By zero-based, he meant making a determination almost as if it were new. For instance, the study would include costs of procuring uniforms, food service, payroll, health insurance and prescription drugs.

Currently, all of these costs, including liability and insurance, inmate health

care, security maintenance, laundry and transportation, are GEO’s obligation.

“In the current model, the contractor is responsible for all prison operations,” Henry said. “The current arrangement makes the contractor fully responsible financially and otherwise for all prison operations including its major and unpredictable elements. It concentrates responsibility by minimizing the finger pointing that often accompanies using multiple subcontractors.”

When this report is completed, prison board officials said they expect to have the results presented in a public forum with County Council in attendance.

In addition, DiOrio said prison board officials, some of their attorneys and County Council would meet prior to the board’s December meeting to discuss the results of the request for proposals.

County Councilman Kevin Madden has been requesting a public meeting for months.

“I’m extraordinarily displeased by what I’ve seen with how this whole thing is run,” he said at Wednesday’s County Council meeting regarding the prison. “We’ve asked for a public hearing. It’s mid-November. No public

hearing is on the calendar as far as I know. I’m really left with just a very, very bad taste in my mouth about how this whole thing has been run.”

Delco CPR advocates said more could be done and called for a short-term contract in the absence of the Phoenix report.

“Delco CPR believes that the public should have an opportunity to engage with the prison board and County Council prior to any contract renewal or decision about prison management,” a statement released by Kabeera Weissman read. “We held our own public hearing in September, in part to discuss the Phoenix Report, which was supposed to be available by then but has been delayed.”

The group said no action should be taken until the public is heard.

“Why would they spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on an RFP process and on the Phoenix report without creating the opportunity for the public to weigh in?” they asked. A joint public hearing held on a weekday evening or weekend when people are not at work and a forum in which council and the prison board can finally discuss together, should be critical to the decision-making

process.

“If the Phoenix report will not be ready until March, we call for a short-term contract, limited to six months or one year, at most,” they contended.

In addition, they said the prison board has the evaluation wrong.

“Delco CPR believes the prison board is asking the wrong questions with the Phoenix report,” they said. “Instead of merely looking at economic costs of running the facility, they should also be looking at human costs and long-term effects of recidivism for individuals and communities. Cost isn’t everything and cheaper does not always mean better.

“Research has shown that private prisons often cut corners on areas like staffing and medical treatment,” they continued. “Without comparing actual programmatic offerings, recidivism rates, staffing practices and more, it is very difficult to know what we are getting for a specific amount of money.”

Delco CPR officials said GEO can reduce the costs for the county with wrongful death lawsuit costs because they can spread the cost of insurance across multiple insurance providers.

“However, wrongful death litigation happens in the context of mismanagement and abuse,” they said. “We reject the notion that savings costs on lawsuits is the best way to serve the people of Delaware County, instead of providing more human treatment.”

They questioned employee oversight and the impact of low pay in light of a correctional officer being arrested last week for smuggling drugs into the prison. GEO officials said their internal team worked with investigators and that the officer was immediately suspended, pending termination proceedings.

“We can’t just look at the economic cost of a privately managed prison vs. a countymanaged prison,” Delco CPR said. “We need to look at the human costs as well and understand what we are paying for and if any corners are being cut in providing rehabilitation and services to the human beings in our care.”