On Hillary and private prisons

[BernieforPres2016]

After taking money directly from the private prison industry, when it became a political liability Hillary announced that she would no longer take contributions from them and was giving what she had recently received to charity.

So did Hillary really stop taking money from this industry? Not according to this article from Politico, which says that only applies to DIRECT contributions, not to contributions that go to SuperPacs and through bundlers who support Hillary.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2016/02/clinton-campaign-gives-private-prison-lobbyist-cash-to-charity-218524

<Despite the refunds, Clinton campaign continues to benefit handsomely from the fundraising assistance of some closely connected to the private prison business. In another report filed Sunday night, the campaign disclosed that Richard Sullivan of Capitol Counsel—until recently, a Raleigh, N.C.-based federally registered lobbyist for the for-profit prison operator GEO Group—bundled $69,363 in donations for Clinton in the fourth quarter, bringing his total for the year to a whopping $274,891.

That makes Sullivan the second-most prolific lobbyist-bundler for the Clinton campaign, beaten out only by D.C. lobbyist Heather Podesta, who's tallied up $348,581 so far.

Sullivan's firm, Capitol Counsel, has been registered for years to represent GEO Group subsidiary BI Inc.—which focuses on electronic monitoring of inmates. While the firm continues to represent BI, Sullivan no longer intends to do so, according to a disclosure form filed with Congress on Nov. 9.

The figures and the policy rejecting donations from prison lobbyists includes only direct donations to Clinton's campaign, not supportive super PACs or state and federal Democratic committees. (bold is mine)>

Some background information on just how vile this industry is. One method for creating the false narrative that they're more cost efficient is to refuse to take prisoners with chronic medical conditions, because providing healthcare is a big cost factor for prisons. So they're like insurance companies who could disqualify people for "pre-existing conditions". Another way they can drive earnings is by tagging their prisoners with minor violations to extend their prison terms.

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2015/06/private-prisons-profit

<The for-profit prison industry sells itself as a cost-effective option for cash-strapped states, but according to a new study from the University of Wisconsin, privatized prisons are keeping inmates locked up longer in order to boost profits.

Researcher Anita Mukherjee studied eight years* of data from Mississippi, which has one of the highest incarceration rates in the country, and found that private prisons there doled out twice the amount of infractions against inmates, lengthening their sentences by an average of two or three months. The extra time, Mukherjee found, adds up to an increase of about $3,000 in additional costs per prisoner. Mukherjee also noted that inmates housed in private prisons were more likely to wind up back in the system after being released—despite industry claims of lower recidivism rates.>

<Looking specifically at California prisons, Petrella highlights how health expenditures are among the largest costs, second only to security, and account for 31 percent of the overall budget. But, private prisons set up contracts that say they only will house the youngest, healthiest—and cheapest—prisoners.

These details, Petrella writes, failed to make their way into a Temple University cost analysis often cited by the industry as proof that privatization produces cost savings. The economists behind the study were funded by three of the largest prison companies in the United States—a fact they failed to disclose when the study was first published. (bold mine)>


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/donald-cohen/private-prison-exec-we-ha_b_8939898.html

The industry doesn't want change. An executive with GEO Group, the second largest private prison operator in the U.S., recently boasted that the country would continue to "attract" crime. He shared the 'good news' to investors: "The reality is, we are a very affluent country, we have loose borders, and we have a bad education system.”

[99th_Monkey]

1. Hillary fans cannot hear you.

LA-LA-LA-LA-LA!!!!!!!!

[BernieforPres2016]

3. There's always an out with the Clintons

Even when you think they're finally doing the right thing on an issue, if you dig around a little you find the out clause.

[99th_Monkey]

7. Hillary's a master at weasel-wording an issue to death.

Like on the TPP,

As a presidential candidate Clinton has used more hedging language, for example saying she has "some concerns," and now she has said she outright doesn’t support the deal as it stands.

In her 2014 memoir Hard Choices, she wrote:"Because TPP negotiations are still ongoing, it makes sense to reserve judgment until we can evaluate the final proposed agreement.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/oct/13/hillary-clinton/what-hillary-clinton-really-said-about-tpp-and-gol/

[Hortensis]

17. Hillary Clinton: Will END PRIVATE PRISONS and

From Hillary Clinton directly, without spin:

Our criminal justice system is out of balance. Hillary will:
1. End the era of mass incarceration,
2. Reform mandatory minimum sentences, and
3. End private prisons.
4. Encourage the use of smart strategies—like police body cameras—and end racial profiling to rebuild trust between law enforcement and communities.
5. Help formerly incarcerated individuals successfully re-enter society.

“I will never stop working on issues of equality and opportunity, race, and justice. That is a promise. I’ve done it my entire adult life. I will always be in your corner.”

[questionseverything]

18. the money she takes says otherwise

<Despite the refunds, Clinton campaign continues to benefit handsomely from the fundraising assistance of some closely connected to the private prison business. In another report filed Sunday night, the campaign disclosed that Richard Sullivan of Capitol Counsel—until recently, a Raleigh, N.C.-based federally registered lobbyist for the for-profit prison operator GEO Group—bundled $69,363 in donations for Clinton in the fourth quarter, bringing his total for the year to a whopping $274,891.

That makes Sullivan the second-most prolific lobbyist-bundler for the Clinton campaign, beaten out only by D.C. lobbyist Heather Podesta, who's tallied up $348,581 so far.

Sullivan's firm, Capitol Counsel, has been registered for years to represent GEO Group subsidiary BI Inc.—which focuses on electronic monitoring of inmates. While the firm continues to represent BI, Sullivan no longer intends to do so, according to a disclosure form filed with Congress on Nov. 9.

The figures and the policy rejecting donations from prison lobbyists includes only direct donations to Clinton's campaign, not supportive super PACs or state and federal Democratic committees.

[Hortensis]

19. So, what are you going to believe? Flat statements

of purpose in black and white from Hillary Clinton on her website or the "interpretations" of an enemy?

You do realize that Politico has a very well recognized bias toward the right, and -- even more -- to the Washington DC inner circle, right? Politico depends for its existence on the DC inner circle.

In America the Washington DC destablishment is THE ESTABLISHMENT to top all other establishments. And the DC establishment is not and never has been a friend of Hillary Clinton's.

[questionseverything]

25. i believe she will protect those that fund her

that is the way of the 1%

campaign promises are easily broken

i look at how she has operated in the past and expect the same in the future

i expect the same of bernie,i like his history

[Hortensis]

26. She does not need the 1%. Good thing.

Their donations to her are strictly..."good will." If their donations actually elected her, they wouldn't be donating.

[amborin]

28. ICE and Geo and Clinton Lobbyists:

ICE Gives HUGe $$$ Contract to Inhumane Private Prisons That Donated to Hillary


ICE Awards Contract to Private Prison Company That Was Just Slammed in Federal Report

Illustration by Brian Stauffer

Last Thursday, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights issued a report admonishing government officials over the treatment of immigrants held at private prisons that contract with federal immigration authorities.

Detailed in the report were a litany of alleged abuses at those detention centers, many of which are in Texas, from denying immigrants proper medical care to retaliation from prison staff and possible constitutional rights violations.

Yet on that very same day, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced a new multimillion-dollar contract with one of the companies accused of holding immigrants in “inhumane” conditions that are “inconsistent with American values.”

Advocates and immigration attorneys say they fear the new contract, for a pilot program to test a probation-like system for immigrant families released from lockup, only further expands the private prison industry's reach in the U.S. immigration system.

On its face, ICE's $11 million-per-year contract with Geo Care LLC, a subsidiary of one of the largest private prison companies in the world, gives immigrant rights advocates exactly what they've been demanding for years. As immigration enforcement and detention have boomed in the past decade, groups like the ACLU, MALDEF, the American Bar Association and many others have argued that way too many immigrants are being detained in prison-like conditions and for long periods of time while they wait for their day in immigration court. ICE even resorted to putting asylum-seeking women and children, many of them refugees fleeing violence in Central America and Mexico, in multimillion-dollar "family detention centers" built by private prison companies Corrections Corporation of America and the Geo Group in the isolated South Texas towns of Dilley and Karnes.


http://www.houstonpress.com/news/ice-awards-contract-to-private-prison-company-that-was-just-slammed-in-federal-report-7785696


Lobbyists for two major prison companies—Corrections Corporation of America and the Geo Group—are serving as top fundraisers for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

The implication is that laws governing crime and incarceration will deliver more inmates and profits to private prison companies if Clinton is elected.

Lee Fang reports at The Intercept:

Last week, Clinton and other candidates revealed a number of lobbyists who are serving as “bundlers” for their campaigns. Bundlers collect contributions on behalf of a campaign, and are often rewarded with special favors, such as access to the candidate.

Richard Sullivan, of the lobbying firm Capitol Counsel, is a bundler for the Clinton campaign, bringing in $44,859 in contributions in a few short months. Sullivan is also a registered lobbyist for the Geo Group, a company that operates a number of jails, including immigrant detention centers, for profit.

As we reported yesterday, fully five Clinton bundlers work for the lobbying and law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. Corrections Corporation of America, the largest private prison company in America, paid Akin Gump $240,000 in lobbying fees last year. The firm also serves as a law firm for the prison giant, representing the company in court.

Hillary Clinton has a complicated history with incarceration. As first lady, she championed efforts to get tough on crime. “We need more police, we need more and tougher prison sentences for repeat offenders,” Clinton said in 1994. “The ‘three strikes and you’re out’ for violent offenders has to be part of the plan. We need more prisons to keep violent offenders for as long as it takes to keep them off the streets,” she added.


http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/private_prison_lobbyists_are_fundraising_for_hillary_clinton_20150724



Marco Rubio and Hillary Clinton Accepted Almost the Same Amount of Prison Lobbyist Donations

02/09/2016 09:17 am ET | Updated Feb 09, 2016

ASSOCIATED PRESS

One little-known fact this year is that Hillary Clinton and Marco Rubio have benefited from prison lobbyist money. In fact, they've taken almost the same amount of contributions from major prison lobbyists. Clinton's campaign has received $133,246 while Rubio's campaign accepted $133,450 from the prison lobby.

According to a Vice News piece titled How Private Prisons Are Profiting From Locking Up US Immigrants, Hillary Clinton and Marco Rubio have taken virtually the same amount of donations from the two most influential prison lobbyists in the U.S.:

VICE reviewed federal campaign disclosures and found that lobbying firms linked to GEO and CCA have already contributed more than $288,300 to three of the leading candidates.

Clinton's Ready for Hillary PAC received $133,246 from lobbying firms linked to GEO and CCA. Rubio's PACs and campaign have taken a total of $133,450 from private prison companies or groups that lobby on their behalf. Bush's campaign and his Right to Rise Super PAC have received $21,700 from lobbying groups affiliated with GEO and CCA.

"These companies are investing their money for a reason," said Bob Libal, the executive director of Grassroots Leadership, a group that fights to end for-profit incarceration. "That reason is to maintain policies that benefit them."

Rubio's home state of Florida has recently faced a crisis with its corrections system and has the 11th highest incarceration rate in the nation.

While Hillary Clinton expects to receive the majority of the African American vote among Democrats, mass incarceration has targeted African Americans at a higher rate than any other demographic. Thus, Clinton's willingness to accept money from the prison lobby runs contrary to the interests of a core constituency. According to the NAACP, national statistics show black citizens targeted at alarming rates by the prison system African Americans now constitute nearly 1 million of the total 2.3 million incarcerated population

snip

According to Unlocking America, if African American and Hispanics were incarcerated at the same rates of whites, today's prison and jail populations would decline by approximately 50%
One in six black men had been incarcerated as of 2001. If current trends continue, one in three black males born today can expect to spend time in prison during his lifetime in 100 African American women are in prison

Nationwide, African-Americans represent 26% of juvenile arrests, 44% of youth who are detained, 46% of the youth who are judicially waived to criminal court, and 58% of the youth admitted to state prisons (Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice). snip
African Americans represent 12% of the total population of drug users, but 38% of those arrested for drug offenses, and 59% of those in state prison for a drug offense.

snip

Lobbying firms that work for two major private prison giants, GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America, gave $133,246 to the Ready for Hillary PAC,according to Vice. Those companies operate a number of criminal and immigrant detention facilities, some of which have been plagued by allegations of abuse and poor treatment of detainees.

Immigrant and civil rights groups have urged Clinton to stop accepting contributions from donors with ties to GEO and CCA. Earlier Thursday, in announcing its co-founder Cesar Vargas was moving to the campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the advocacy group Dream Action Coalition singled out Clinton for accepting those contributions.

Sanders recently introduced a bill to ban government contracts for private prisons, including immigrant detention centers.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/h-a-goodman/marco-rubio-and-hillary-clinton-accepted_b_9191868.html

[Maedhros]

30. Sorry, but your candidate has no credibility on these issues.

One can't rake in cash from the private prison industry and appoint their lobbyists as campaign fundraising bundlers, then spin on one's heels and pretend they are bad.

Hillary is simply being dishonest on these issues to fool people into voting for her. Thankfully for her, there are lots of fools.

[Uncle Joe]

2. For profit prisons; are a growing cancer on our society they have no

logical, moral or economic justifications for existence in a democratic republic, only leading to executive, legislative and judicial corruption resulting in more draconian laws while further disenfranchising the people from their government, in particular the weakest and minorities.


Thanks for the thread, BernieforPres2016.

[BernieforPres2016]

5. I'm always skeptical about outsourcing government functions to private industry

How can they do it more cost effectively? When you think about it, it usually comes down to some combination of (a) they can pay workers less, (b) they can cut the level of service, (c) they can cherry pick the easy stuff and leave the harder stuff with the government or (d) they can charge the public more for the service.

In cases like for profit prisons and for profit education, add in perverse incentives that are against the interests of their customers and the general public but drive their profitability, and it is even worse.

[Dragonfli]

12. Not only that but they are now using it as an excuse for legal slavery, mostly POC as you say

http://www.prisonpolicy.org/prisonindex/prisonlabor.html
http://www.alternet.org/story/151732/21st-century_slaves%3A_how_corporations_exploit_prison_labor

The Clinton mass incarceration legacy and cash Hillary receives from private prisons is worse than you may even imagine in your wildest nightmares.

It is a form of slavery lying directly at the Clintons feet, they are not our friends. especially if like me you are not lily white and are more likely to end up as the new 21st century slaves.

[BernieforPres2016]

16. I hope people of color will demand answers on this

from the Congressional Black Caucus which has not just endorsed Hillary, but participated in smearing Bernie. There is a website called Breaking Brown that has many stories on the CBC that you won't get from the mainstream media which is scared to death of being labeled racist.

http://breakingbrown.com/

[amborin]

29. ICE and GEO:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12511415159

[appalachiablue]

31. Michelle Alexander, author of 'The New Jim Crow' calls for the CBC

to cut ties with corporations that harm black people including the private, for profit prison industry.
The extent of corruption in the 21st century US is a real horror.

> US Prison Deregulation began in 1979 according to AlterNet, '21st Century Slaves':

Prior to the 1970s, private corporations were prohibited from using prison labor as a result of the chain gang and convict leasing scandals. But in 1979, the US Department of Justice admits that congress began a process of deregulation to "restore private sector involvement in prison industries to its former status, provided certain conditions of the labor market were met.” Over the last 30 years, at least 37 states have enacted laws permitting the use of convict labor by private enterprise, with an average pay of $0.93 to $4.73 per day.
------
> Michelle Alexander: The Congressional Black Caucus PAC Must Cut Ties With Corporations--
--That Prey on the Black Community

WTF??? The will not even endorse one of their own members, Donna Edwards?????
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/35551-focus-the-congressional-black-caucus-pac-must-cut-ties-with-corporations-that-prey-on-the-black-community

This is a critically important initiative demanding that the Congressional Black Caucus Political Action Committee (CBC PAC) cut ties with corporations that do harm to black communities and remake its membership to reflect CBC leadership. Although the CBC PAC bears the name of the Congressional Black Caucus, it's 21-member board only includes 8 of the 46 Black Caucus members. The majority of the board is made up of lobbyists representing various corporate interests, including private prisons.

Two weeks ago, the CBC PAC, with it's lobbyist-dominated board, made a high-profile endorsement of Hillary Clinton and quietly decided NOT to endorse fellow CBC member Rep. Donna Edwards' historic bid to become only the second Black woman to be elected to the Senate.
Read this petition to learn why Donna Edwards wasn't endorsed and get a small glimpse of how utterly corrupt our politics have become. The Congressional Black Caucus presents itself as the "moral conscience" of our government, yet its PAC exemplifies so much of what is wrong with our withering democracy.
For thousands of years it has been said that one cannot faithfully serve two masters, yet we're supposed to believe that our politicians can be supported and bankrolled by tobacco companies, private prison lobbyists, payday lenders, and pharmaceutical companies and still serve our communities well. Surely we know better than that.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027663082

[Kip Humphrey]

4. To relish that "we have loose borders, & we have a bad education system" for profit is an unabashed

atrocity and an unmitigated affront on our society and way of life.

[BernieforPres2016]

6. I agree

If being that cynical and amoral was what it took for me to make a living, I would put a bullet in my head.

[Dragonfli]

8. Hypocrisy and lying from Secretary Clinton, I am shocked, shocked I tells ya' /nt

[Mufaddal]

9. She opened the door wide for this last night

and Bernie just refused to walk through it. Very disappointing.

[BernieforPres2016]

10. Too many things to hit Hillary with

and only so much debate time. Nobody can keep all of Hillary's vulnerabilities on the top of their head.

But I hope this issue gets more play. Hillary supposedly turning away from the private prison industry is a farce. As people in the industry like to point out, they have contracts. They're not going to just disappear. It will take a determined effort to get rid of them. Based on her track record, Hillary will ignore them after the campaign and take the contributions through the back door after they're laundered through bundlers and SuperPacs.

[NWCorona]

20. That bugged the hell out of me but

As much as I want him to go after Hillary he just isn't wired like that. I believe that Bernie, win or lose, will go out like he came. A clean man. I can respect that now.

[Mufaddal]

21. It's a policy issue. It's following the money.

It's not any less of a clean attack than bringing up Wall St. If I thought he refrained out of principle on the prisons issue, I'd disagree but respect it. I don't think that was why. I think he just plain missed the opportunity.

Same thing about constantly hammering on the Waltons in his stump but not working in the fact last night that a major donor for Hillary 2016 is Alice Walton.

[NWCorona]

22. I know and agree

IMHO Bernie isn't use to doing those kind of debating tactics. I have watched his older debates and believe it or not this is the most aggressive he's been. Especially last night.

I mean he just recently started hammering her on the transcripts.

[BernieforPres2016]

23. I agree on Wal-Mart and Alice Walton, but an even bigger issue is Hillary on the Wal-Mart Board

I think Bernie should mention Hillary's tenure on the Wal-Mart Board every time he brings them up. She was alongside a notorious union buster and hater throughout her tenure and appears to have done nothing for Wal-Mart workers.

[Mufaddal]

24. ding ding ding

Yes. Union busting, starvation wages, use of sweatshops abroad, and btw the biggest gun seller in the country.

[AzDar]

11. She's so incredibly dishonest. Nixonian, really.

[WDIM]

13. For Profit Prisons Profit on Black Lives.

The institutional racism of our criminal justice system and criminal code keeps these prisons going.

[senz]

14. ^^^ This ^^^

[vintx]

15. So she directly profits from the prison industrial complex.

And yet she claims to be progressive. (Well, sometimes, depending on her audience at the moment)

[peacebird]

27. Place bets the only charity she donates to is the Clinton Foundation