Source: San Francisco Chronicle May 19 Contact: A, Page 3. (This wasn't in the Online Addition) PRIVATE PUNISHMENT When it comes to the business of running prisons, there are pros and cons By Kristin Bloomer Special to the Chronicle Lockhart, Texas miles south of Austin on Texas Highway 183, past dozens of dusty, hardscrabble towns that boomed and went bust with the petroleum industry, the little town of Lockhart is on the rebound. The source of the newfound prosperity, residents say, is the Lockhart Renaissance and Work Facility, the town's fourth largest employer. Located in an industrial park next to a cookie factory, the flatroofed, blueandwhite business looks a lot like an upscale WalMart. But Lockhart is no discount store. Far from it. Lockhart is a private, minimumsecurity prison run by Wackenhut Corrections Corp.part of a growing, multimilliondollar industry that profits from the nation's increasingly enormous inmate population. It is also part of a new national conviction about convicts. When the 1,000bed Lockhart lockup was proposed, locals didn't panic. They were pleased. "We were in the doldrums," says former City Manager Joe Michie. Michie says the prison hired about 160 residents and brought a number of new businesses to the town, population 9,205. "The late 80s were hard on a lot of Texas towns," he notes. "The prison sort of turned Lockhart around." The promise of employment has made private prisons popular nationwide, if not yet ubiquitous. So far, this country's 17 private prison companies have built about 100 facilities that incarcerate an estimated 50,000 inmates, a small fraction of the total population. California boasts only seven private adult prisons, incarcerating about 1,500 prisoners in Baker, Bakersfield, Live Oak, Seal Beach, Desert Center, McFarland and San Diego. But private prisons have grown at four times the rate of public prisons, and experts predict their numbers will triple by the year 2000, with revenues topping $1 billion. The two largest prison companies, Wackenhut and Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), together own about 75 percent of the market worldwide. Fans of the new growth industry say private prisons restore failing economies and relieve the overpopulation at public prisons. Competition is good for the prison ~ industry, they say, adding that companies like Wackenhut give better service and cut costs by 10 to 15 percent. Critics, meanwhile, say private prisons offer a poor and even dangeroussubstitute for already lacking public institutions. Private prisons employ fewer guards per inmate, operate beyond the reach of most public scrutiny and cannot easily be held to the minimal standards required of public prisons, critics add. Some also fear that private prisons, with the ready availability of cheap inmate labor, will steal jobs. At Lockhart, for example, about 150 convicts pocket 85 cents per hour making airconditioner valves and computer circuit boards, jobs once held by 150 workers in Austin. But while the controversy continues, the prison business is booming. The number of people behind bars in the United States has tripled to 1.63 million in the past 20 yearseven as crime rates have remained fairly steady, according to the Justice Department. The department attributes much of the increase to tougher penalties for drug offenses. The prison industry, eager to maintain this status quo, lobbies vigorously in support of stiff sentencing laws. The industry needs crimeand more importantly, punishmentto maintain profits. And for their part, towns that once might have sued to keep prisons out are scrambling to lure them in. In Texas, several towns last year stampeded for 12 new private and public lockups; some offered free countryclub memberships to any top prison official who visited. "The bottom line was we needed jobs. JOBS," says Karnes County Judge Alfred Pawelek, whose Texas community warmly welcomed a 480bed private prison that pays the county 25 cents per day per inmate. Here's how privatized prisons work: The governmentlocal, state or federaltakes competing bids from companies that will build and manage the new lockup. In return for the service of having its inmates housed, the government pays the company a daily fee for each inmate. The company, in return, often hires local people as prison staff. How things operate otherwise is a matter of contention. While most states require that private prisons be accredited by the American Correctional Association, critics say ACA standards are minimal at best and that, in any case, many private prisons fail to meet them A 1995 investigation by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, for example, found that immigrants at a private immigration detention center run by Esmor Correctional Services were beaten, robbed and preyed upon by poorly trained guards. The INS, which investigated the Elizabeth, N.J., facility after riots erupted there in June, 1995, found in one incident that female detainees were forced to wear men's underwear with a question mark drawn on the crotches. That same year brought allegations of rape and assault at the privately run High Plains Youth Center in Brush, Colo., which houses juveniles from more than twodozen states. Investigators of the Rebound Corp. facility documented "a consistent and disturbing pattern of violence, sexual abuse . . . and administrative incompetence at every level of the program." Critics, in addition, fear that private prisons which rely on full beds to make buckstake subtle measures to keep inmates as long as possible. At Lockhart, for example, Wackenhut officials decide when inmates should be disciplined or given "good time" both factors considered by parole boards. Inmates can appeal disciplinary actions to a public board, but the outcome is not guaranteed. But the critics' cries are not a big concern in places like Lockhart. Floyd Wilhelm Jr., a realtor and an owner of Chisolm Trail Restaurant, likes the lockup down the road. His barbecue rib joint is seeing lots more customers with Wackenhut in town. Likewise, he's happily watched prison workers fill oncevacant rentals. "It's been positive," says Wilhelm. Leaning on the counter in his apron and blue hat, he says he feels something one wouldn't expect from a man whose business stands less than a mile from a thousand criminals. He feels more secure.