$100 Million Worth of Abuse in Mississippi
Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility, a juvenile prison in Mississippi operated by the GEO Group, was the target of a lawsuit and a Department of Justice investigation regarding conditions alleged to be so horrific that a former resident reportedly calls the facility “the deepest depths of hell.” Another former prisoner indicates that violence is so pervasive that it has become “entertainment” for guards. The facility averaged as many as three injuries per day due to violence. Oversight at the facility was highly questionable, as the GEO Group provides reimbursement for the salary of the individual appointed by the state to monitor conditions. A lawsuit filed by the ACLU and the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2010 alleges a pattern of horrendous physical and sexual abuse by security staff, use of prolonged solitary confinement, abuse and neglect of mentally ill youth, and failure to provide basic mental health care. While juveniles allegedly suffer in atrocious conditions, private companies including the GEO Group have, according to one report, extracted more than $100 million in revenue from the facility’s operation.
Low Pay for Guards Leads to High Turnover, More Violence
Dangers in private prisons may reflect, at least in part, financial incentives to minimize costs and thereby maximize profits, according to an ACLU report. Indeed, according to one scholar, “there is a much stronger incentive for private [prison] companies to save costs, not for the public’s benefit, but for their own profit.” In particular, low pay for private prison staff may result in a higher level of staff turnover. As stated in one study, “private operators are running prisons with workers who are generally paid less than their public-sector counterparts,” and “privately operated prisons … had much higher separation rates for correctional officers.” Since such a high percentage of operating expenses are related to staffing, that is where private prison firms cut costs to generate profit. On average, they employ fewer staff members than comparable public prisons; they pay less than in the public sector; they offer fewer (or less costly) benefits; and they provide less training. According to the last self-reported data from the private prison industry, published in the 2000 Corrections Yearbook, the average turnover rate at privately operated facilities was 53 percent. The average rate in public prisons was 16 percent.
