NEW JERSEY COPS ■ MARCH 2014
CORRECTIONS REPORT
21
Prison Privatization Constitutional Challenge
The American Correctional Officer is proud to
be a part of an historic lawsuit to stop private
prisons from being developed in the U.S. We
have been in contact with the law firm of Gammage and Burnham from Phoenix, Arizona and
have agreed to support this suit.
Attorney John Dacey will be heading up this
Henry J. case and has written an article about why private prisons are unconstitutional. Why hasn't
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this been challenged before? Read his article on
our website http://www.cointel.net/latestnews.html and get on board with this historic fight.
On Feb. 26-27, the American Correctional Officer hosted a
national "Prison Rape Elimination Act & Private Prison Constitutional Challenge Meeting" in Laurel, Md., which was attended by ACO Board of Directors and open to all professional
correctional officers to discuss this pending lawsuit.
We swear an oath to protect public safety. The sordid history of the Dungeons for Dollars industry and the threat it poses
to public safety are a direct assault on that oath. Take a stand,
and get on board.
Private prison guards vs. Correctional Officers
Prison guards are not Correctional Officers. That question
was settled when the U.S. Supreme Court made this determination in the Richardson vs. McKnight case ruled on in Tennessee in 1997. As the Supreme Court opinion rendered, they
are not officers and are not indemnified as such.
We do not begrudge anyone the opportunity to work and to
make a living, but you cannot compare a private security guard
to a trained professional Correctional Officer.
After nearly 30 years, the private prison experiment has
proven to be a complete failure. Security breaches, increased
assaults, multiple escapes, false reports, two sets of books, keeping inmates beyond their sentences, under-staffing, hidden
costs, falsified training and staffing records, hiring felons, paying off judges - that's the private prison history of the past three
decades.
If you want to get a job with a private prison - great, and good
luck, but you are not a Correctional Officer. You do not serve the
public. You serve your shareholders. As John Ferguson, the former head of Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), said:
“We are not in this business to do good, we are in this business
to do well.”
After 30 years, there is no doubt; private prisons endanger
public safety and drive professional standards down. We intend
to put an end to them. If you want to be a Correctional Officer
then apply; there are plenty of vacancies in the professional
public sector. d
For more information please contact ACO Executive Director
Brian Dawe at ACOIN1@aol.com or call 1-617-484-0085.