One of the biggest changes in the American Prison Industrial Complex in the past 40 years has been the privatization of assorted functions related to the capture and caging of people. This has ranged from building and running prisons to performing discrete functions like providing medical care or telecommunications services. The theory, or big lie, has always been that somehow these private, for-profit companies would be able to perform these carceral functions better and more cheaply than the government does. Given how poorly the government does, this is a low bar indeed.

Over 40 years later we have an ample track record to determine how these promises of better and cheaper have panned out. While the companies may provide some services cheaper than the government does, mainly by using a nonunion work force and then understaffing their facilities, they do not seem to do anything better than the government does. That they may do it cheaper has not translated into any savings for taxpayers, as that merely becomes profit for the shareholders and private equity funds that own these companies.

A trademark of the private prison industry is the secrecy in which it operates. Government-run prisons and jails are little better and likely the most transparent of all American government institutions, so again we are comparing slightly different pieces of rotten fruit. For several decades now, Prison Legal News has investigated and reported on prisons and jails as well as their corporate collaborators and we have successfully broken many of their secrecy barriers.

This month’s cover story on litigation payouts by Centurion in New Mexico is the result of an almost four-year-long (and still ongoing) court battle to obtain their litigation payouts while they held the New Mexico prison system’s medical services contract. Centurion is a large company, and they are so committed to secrecy they have actually sued the Human Rights Defense Center, publisher of PLN, in Florida to prevent us from filing public records requests for how their company operates. We also just settled a public records lawsuit against Centurion in Vermont after a court ordered them to disclose records we had requested in that state.

The records released as a result of our New Mexico lawsuit reveal that the company agreed to pay over $8 million for killing 13 prisoners and injuring 34 others. These were just the lawsuits that were filed and litigated to settlement. None were taken to trial as far as we can determine. Killing prisoners is literally the cost of doing business for these companies and, as a practical matter, they are not paying out that much money. One take away is how little value a prisoner’s life has according to these companies. Whether juries in New Mexico would award more at trial remains to be seen.

While this is a first-of-its-kind story involving Centurion in New Mexico, the sad news is that New Mexico prisoners will not be able to read it because the prison system there has banned all books and magazines, as a purported result of their mail digitization. HRDC has filed suit and is challenging that ban so hopefully they will soon have access to PLN and other publications again.

We are doing our annual fund raiser. If you have not donated yet please do so, and if you cannot afford a donation of your own, please ask those who can to donate on your behalf. For almost 35 years now HRDC and PLN have been publishing the news that the police state does not want people to know about and fighting for the rights of prisoners and their families around the country. The cost of subscriptions and advertising does not cover everything that we do, which includes advocacy with regulatory agencies, testimony before legislatures, and much more.

We have always relied on donations and support from individuals like you to continue our work. This is the last issue of PLN for 2024. Everyone at HRDC would like to wish our readers and supporters a happy holiday season and best wishes for the new year.