Note: This post is part of our continuing coverage of the effort to re-open the Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton, a private prison owned by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). For earlier coverage, check out the links at the bottom of the post.
In a tweet on Monday, ISAIAH MN, a faith-based social justice group, documented its meeting with Goff Public about the public affairs and lobbying firm's contract with Swift County to promote reopening the the Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton.
Here's the tweet:
ISAIAH leaders gathered with @GoffPublic staff to call on them to stop supporting for-profit prisons. #NoMorePrisons pic.twitter.com/MaS9VSxZrz
— ISAIAHMN (@ISAIAHMN) September 14, 2015
We've contacted ISAIAH MN for a pdf copy of the letter to embed and will update this post as more information comes in.
Update: we've been sent a text copy of the letter:
Goff Public
255 E. Kellogg Boulevard
St. Paul MN 55101
VIA HAND DELIVERYSeptember 14, 2015
Dear Mr. Georgacas, Ms. Emerson, and Mr. Roznowski:
As people of faith, we are gravely concerned about the potential expansion of our current prison system that unjustly and disparately impacts people of color. Minnesota has the second lowest rate of incarceration in the nation, yet has the second highest growth in incarceration rate – up 42% since 2000. This is despite falling crime rates. African Americans are vastly over-represented in our prisons, making up 35% of prisoners despite being just 6% of the state’s population. Native Americans are locked up at 10 times their share of the state’s residence.
We are shocked that Goff Public is working to promote the opening of a private, for-profit prison in Minnesota. Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) is the largest and oldest private prison owner and operator in the US. Approximately 71,000 people are currently locked up in CCA facilities, which generated nearly $1 billion in profits over the past 5 years. In 2014, CCA profits amounted to $3,366 per individual man or woman incarcerated, while the top six executives collected nearly $12 million in total compensation.
As reported recently, CCA profits from the detention of toddlers and pregnant women. In addition, “the company’s prisons have been dogged by allegations of maltreatment, neglect, and abuse—as if the practice of detaining toddlers wasn’t controversial enough.”
Further, CCA has been found to operate prisons that were so substandard and unsafe for both prisoners and prison guards that in at least one case in Arizona the facility was deemed too unsafe for state auditors to visit.
This is abhorrent and unexcusable. Minnesota has no place for a company which employs these heinous practices. Even leasing property from this company is beyond the pale of moral acceptability.
We therefore call on you to cease and desist your efforts to promote the CCA facility in Appleton MN or any for-profit incarceration enterprise.
Sincerely,
ISAIAH
ISAIAH MN is no stranger to the western prairies, as members have been active lately in Willmar, advocating for restoring voting rights for people convicted of felonies who have served their terms.
For our earlier coverage of the plan to re-open the prison, check out the links below:
Swift Co hires Goff Public to work on reopening CCA private prison to solve state's inmate binge
Union's Director of Public Affairs & Public Policy says AFSCME opposes re-opening private prison
W. Central residents speak out for broadband, while guy who's not King of MN favors CCA.
Campaigned against it in 2014: in legislative update, Miller joins choir for rural broadband
MN17A lawmakers meet privately with Swift Co, CCA & lobbyists about private prison lease
Orange is the new green, regulatory capture edition: Hill Capitol bid on county CCA lobbying
Orange is the new green, task force ed: informal Prison Population Taskforce to be audiotaped
Photo: The shuttered private prison in Appleton.
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