Indiana Prison Riot Shows Failures in Privatization. GOP Governor/ex-Bush Official sure got his $53 Million's Worth

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS

What happens when Arizona convicts are locked up in an Indiana prison managed by a Florida corrections company? A "full scale riot," that's what.

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels - Bush's first Office of Management and Budget director - signed a $53 million contract with Florida-based GEO Group to manage the prison, then a $6.1 million contract to house convicts from Arizona starting last March. These interstate inmates were kept separate from their Indiana counterparts and subjected to worse treatment than they had been accustomed to before being "shipped off to Indiana against their will and with little notice, including some who said they were roused from their beds in the middle of the night and told to pack."

It is almost a wonder they lasted as long as a month and a half before assaulting guards, breaking windows, and setting things on fire. Especially when two other recent uprisings have been caused in recent years by Arizona inmates alone.

"First and foremost, this is a tragedy, but it's also an absolute disgrace," said Indiana Democratic Party Chair Dan Parker, in a prepared statement. "Mitch Daniels has sold off everything he can, and this is a real-life example of the risks and consequences of privatization."

Gov. Daniels should really have known better. After all, he did time in jail himself after getting arrested in college.

GEO Group, who manages the prison, is also totally shameless. The company boasts on its website of being "a world leader in the privatized development and/or management of correctional facilities." Their FAQ page is a ridiculously defensive attempt to downplay the stigma against "privatization," which it calls a "misnomer." They also try to show how wonderful their prisons are by explaining that "Offenders are addressed by their last name" and that "the delivery of low-quality food would prove disastrous in a prison, where the maintenance of order is often dependent upon the quality and portions of daily meals." Oops.

And don’t accuse GEO of pushing the government for additional, longer incarcerations: "It is inconceivable that anyone could pick up a newspaper or watch a television today and believe that private prison operators need to work at increasing demand for their services," they say. Guess the $5,000 to Mitch Daniels' campaign was just generosity and it is just a coincidence that 88% of GEO's total donations go to Republicans.

From health care to the military, privatization of inherently governmental services has resulted in disaster time and time again. And conservatives like Daniels and his old boss President Bush can't get enough of it. That's why Daniels, known as "the Blade" for his spending cuts, was dubbed "My Man Mitch" by Bush.

It's just too bad Australia stopped importing convicts in 1868. After all, GEO Group manages six different prisons there too!

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS

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