by David Reutter            

Federal prosecutors used the testimony of a jailhouse snitch at a bond hearing to argue a doctor charged with tax evasion and fraud should be denied bond because he is too dangerous to release.

Dr. Erik Von Kiel was arrested in February 2004. In July, he had a hearing to request release on a $250,000 bond. Federal prosecutors presented the testimony of his cellmate, Matthew Althouse, to contest the release.

Althouse is serving a seven-year federal sentence for a 2009 bank robbery. He became Von Kiel’s cellmate after Von Kiel’s arrest. The charges contend Von Kiel claimed he was living as a minister under a vow of poverty to avoid paying $257,000 in taxes between 2008 and 2012 and $161,000 in student loans. Von Kiel’s paycheck from Primecare, a prison medical contractor, was deposited into an account controlled by Utah-based religious medical society International Academy of Lymphology. The academy would then transfer an identical amount into an account held by Von Kiel. A grand jury also charged Von Kiel with lying on application to obtain financial aide for his four oldest children and trying to claim social security disabilities benefits due ...

by David M. Reutter

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is auditing dozens of tax-exempt bond-financed jail deals. The audits are looking into whether the bonds are no longer tax-exempt and are taxable private-activity bonds.

In recent years, many local governments have made investments into the prison industry. Typically, such deals ...

by David Reutter

Alabama’s prison system has such an engrained culture of abusing prisoners that guards and administrators need not fear serious career consequences; in fact, they can expect to be promoted with abuse flags in their files.

That culture was highlighted in an investigative report by AL.com. The report was based upon “hundreds of personnel documents” obtained from the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC), whose overcrowded prison system is under scrutiny by federal officials. PLN has previously reported on a federal probe at ADOC’s Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women [See: PLN, Sept. 2003, p.31].

Al.com’s report contained reported incidents in current ADOC warden’s file. Amongst rose was Carter Davenport, the warden at St. Clair Correctional Facility, ADOC’s second-most-violent prison.

Carter, a 24 year veteran, rose up the ranks as a guard. He was a captain at Tutwiler and was Deputy Warden at Camden Community Based Facility before becoming Warden at Easterling and Fountain Correctional Facilities. He became warden at St. Clair in 2010.

That year, St. Clair reported 23 assaults. In 2013, there were 101 assaults reported at the prison. ADOC attributes the rise in assault reports to a 2009 policy change that includes all prisoner-on-prisoner and prisoner-on-guard ...

by David Reutter

Private medical contractors have become popular among corrections officials eager to reduce the cost of providing health care to prisoners. As PLN continues to chronicle this phenomenon, we continue to find substantial evidence that for-profit companies fail to provide adequate medical care – including in county jails ...

by David Reutter

As mass incarceration in the United States grew between 1990 and 2005, many lawmakers decided to ride the wave of “tough on crime” rhetoric by building new correctional facilities to house the increasing number of people being arrested, convicted and incarcerated. During that period, 544 detention centers ...

by David Reutter

A Michigan prison guard has been criminally charged following an investigation into her role in a prisoner’s suicide – an investigation that also resulted in a federal lawsuit and an admission of misconduct from the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC).

Janika Edmond, 25, was serving a sentence of 17 months to 4 years at the Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility near Ann Arbor. Her sentence was imposed after a probation violation for failing a drug test and an assault on a jail guard following her arrest.

While in prison, Edmond experienced a marked increase in disruptive behavior, ranging from insolence to fighting and creating disturbances. She had one high-level incident between May and September 2013; 11 between September 2013 and June 2014; and 28 from June 2014 to June 2015. Her probation violation report predicted that such behavior would occur.

“She does not feel incarceration is appropriate because it just makes her more hostile and therefore, more assaultive,” the report stated.

Prison medical staff treated Edmond’s mental health issues with Zoloft and Seroquel, medications used for major depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. She repeatedly tried to harm herself and was put on suicide watch multiple times. After ...

by David Reutter

An increasing prison population within the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC), combined with staff shortages, created a perfect storm that spawned high levels of violence in the state’s prison system.

The TDOC has maintained that its prisons are safe. But state legislative hearings uncovered a scheme to conceal high levels of violence by misclassifying violent incidents. Also, some TDOC guard cadets were found to be affiliated with gangs, while maximum-security prisoners were reclassified for placement in general population and a new work schedule led many employees to retire or quit, exacerbating staffing problems.

Yet then-TDOC Commissioner Derrick Schofield retained the full support of Governor Bill Haslam until Schofield left office at the end of June 2016 for a lucrative position with one of the nation’s largest private prison companies.

By July 2015 the TDOC had 20,242 prisoners, putting the system at 98.5 percent of operating capacity. Under state law that should have resulted in the TDOC asking Haslam to declare an overcrowding emergency. But no request was made, even as at least three prisons – the West Tennessee State Penitentiary (WTSP), Morgan County Correctional Complex (MCCX) and South Central Correctional Facility – were at or above their ...

By David Reutter

Mention prison and most people imagine dark thoughts.  The reasons for those thoughts vary from a fear of losing personal freedom to the images from Hollywood that portray prison as a gladiator school where violence reigns and only the mean or wily survive.

In recent decades, American courts developed a theory of “evolving standards of decency” that demands humane and safe environs prevail in our prisons.  Politicians have touted the need to punish, but of late they have been advocating “smart justice” that once again puts rehabilitation into the mix.

Rhetoric is one thing; reality is another. An expert who recently toured a privatized MDOC prison found “chaotic conditions of confinement” that present an “ongoing risk of serious harm” for prisoners and staff. Prison experts, civil rights advocates, and the media have repeatedly criticized conditions that have resulted in the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) having a higher mortality rate than Detroit.

MDOC Commissioner Christopher B. Epps urged citizens to take a “hard look” into depictions of violence, gang activity, and corruption in the state’s prisons.  He touted MDOC’s positives, which he proclaimed is “a nationally recognized leader in corrections reform.”

Among the positives, over 4,000 prisoners ...

by David Reutter

In 2015, Disability Rights of Florida obtained a settlement that requires the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) to more humanely care for mentally ill prisoners at Dade Correctional Institution (DCI), the same prison where prisoner Darren Rainey was scalded to death.

DCI has the largest mental health facility within FDOC. The lawsuit was brought following a series of articles by the Miami Herald that reported abuse of mentally ill prisoners in the Transitional Care Unit (TCU), the prison’s psychiatric ward.

The 15-page agreement is restricted to conditions at DCI, but it is hoped the agreement will impact conditions at other prisons with psychiatric units. The advocacy group investigation found guards targeted the mentally ill for abuse, and prison medical staff failed to report the abuse.

“Mr. Rainey was not the only victim of the shower treatment,” said Peter Sleasman of the Florida Institutional Legal Services Project, which brought the lawsuit for Disability Rights of Florida. “What we learned is that, to some extent, those same abuses were affecting others in the unit.”

The May 2015 agreement requires Crisis Intervention Training for all of the prison’s staff; new hires will also receive the training. Specialized training will provide ...

by David Reutter

With the advent of privatized prisoner health care in Florida, a spike in deaths has hit levels not seen in 10 years. Yet, privatization remains popular with Gov. Rick Scott, the former CEO of a healthcare conglomerate that bilked the government out of millions.

When campaigning to become governor, Scott promised to cut prison costs by privatizing the prison system. Despite opposition from guard unions, Scott won the election. He, however, lost a quest to privatize the entire prison system because such a move required legislative action. [See: PLN, Feb. 2012, p.1].

The court ruling ending prison privatization left open the option of privatizing the prison health care system. Scott too that option, and in 2012 the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) signed contracts with two companies totaling about $1.3 billion. Both companies are familiar to PLN readers for their history of putting profit before any semblance of real care [See: PLN, June 2013, p.24].

Corizon Health won a $1.2 billion, five year contract to care for prisoners in about 44 prisons. Wexford Health Services received a $240 million contract over the same period for overseeing care at nine south Florida prisons. FDOC and Corizon ...