Honorable Tim Holden (PA-17)
Testimony before the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security of the
House Committee on the Judiciary
November 8, 2007
Chairman Scott, Ranking Member Forbes and members of the Subcommittee, I want to thank
you for the opportunity to testify before you today in support of H.R. 1889, the Private Prison
Information Act.
H.R. 1889 simply seeks to require private prisons and other correctional facilities holding
federal prisoners under a contract with the federal government to make the same information
available that public institutions are required to by law under the Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA).
As the federal government increases its use of private, for-profit facilities for incarceration of
federal prisoners, it is imperative that we ensure that information about the operation of these
prisons is readily available. Roughly 25,000 federal criminal prisoners are jailed in private
facilities at any given time. Yet private prisons are not required to publicly disclose
information about daily operations of their correctional facilities. The veil of secrecy
surrounding private facilities needs to be lifted and H.R. 1889 will hold these institutions
accountable to the American public.
Earlier this year, an inmate at the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center (NOCC), a private
federal prison in Youngstown, Ohio, escaped by overpowering a prison guard. The Ohio
Correctional Institution Inspection Committee, comprised of members of the Ohio General
Assembly, held a surprise inspection at the prison less than a year prior and reported that 44
inmate-on-inmate assaults were recorded between June 2005 and May 2006. Inspectors
thought the number high, considering a total of 305 assaults were recorded in 2005 for Ohio's
32 correctional facilities; however lack of additional information and accountability to
lawmakers prevented further action.
The facility did not respond to the media when asked if any of the assaults were severe, how
they were handled or prosecuted and how many assaults occurred from May 2006 to the
present. NOCC, like many other private federal facilities, do not submit reports to the federal
government.
Mr. Chairman, the problem here is quite straightforward; there is a clear lack of accountability
on behalf of private prisons. Without accountability we have no knowledge of how taxpayer
money is being spent at the facility. We do not know how many correctional officers are
employed, at what levels they are staffed, and how much training they have received. We also
do not know if other staff members are being asked to perform the dual role of correctional
officers as well. Most daunting of all, private prisons are not required to provide incident
reports detailing healthcare oversight, rape or assault, weapons attacks, death, or escape at the
facility.

Prior to being elected to Congress, I served seven years as Sheriff of Schuylkill County,
Pennsylvania. In that capacity, I also served on the Schuylkill County Prison Board. Based on
my experiences as both sheriff and a member of the board, I strongly believe that running
correctional facilities is inherently governmental. Although that is not what I am hear to talk
about today, I also strongly believe that H.R. 1889 will put private prisons on the same playing
field with the rules and regulations by which federal prisons must abide.
Mr. Chairman, if we do not address this critical situation, we risk the safety and security of not
only the prison employees, but also that of our family and friends who live in our communities.
This legislation simply ensures the public's right to have access to information concerning the
conditions within private prisons. I thank the Subcommittee for considering this bill and urge
you to report it favorably.