STATE ARCHIVES OF FLORIDA/FLORIDA MEMORY
PRISONERS
OF PROFIT
laundry detergent, no underwear
or bras, it seems like somebody
would have raised a red flag.”
Annual quality assurance reviews play a major role in determining whether the state renews
a juvenile prison contract. Under
Florida guidelines, a private juvenile prison that fails this test
comes up for review again within
six months. A subsequent failure
can result in contract termination.
Yet these reviews often fail to
probe conditions inside facilities,
merely assessing whether required
HUFFINGTON
11.03.13
policies are in place, not necessarily
whether they are followed. When
the Department of Juvenile Justice
does examine actual conditions,
its reviews often rely on surveys of
staff and inmates, as opposed to
interviews and written testimony.
“They rely too much on what
the providers tell them, and not
enough on what the children tell
them,” said David Utter, the director of Florida policy at the Southern Poverty Law Center, who has
followed the rise of YSI and was
involved in a lawsuit alleging
abuse at Thompson Academy.
“Quality assurance is looking
at contract adherence, whether
Playground
and buildings
at the Arthur
G. Dozier
School for
Boys in
Marianna,
Fla., in 1968.