Private Prison Co. Joins High School Drug Raids (thefix.com)

[Jabberwocky]

Not sure if this should go here or over in Current Events, so if a mod would move it if necessary I would appriciate it

See origial article, Corrections Corporation of America Used in Drug Sweeps of Public School Students, @ http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/11...erica-used-drug-sweeps-public-school-students (much better and longer article).

Private Prison Co. Joins High School Drug Raids

A private prison company conducting a high school raid in a search for the next generation of for-profit prison inmates may sound like an Orwellian nightmare—but that doesn't mean it's not true. The private prison business is booming in Arizona, where its growing influence and power saw a failed bid last year to privatize almost the entire state prison system. Now a disturbing PR Watch report lifts the lid on the industry’s latest unsavory practice: taking part in high school drug raids alongside local police, despite not having the training or the legal authority to do so. "To invite for-profit prison guards to conduct law enforcement actions in a high school is perhaps the most direct expression of the 'schools-to-prison pipeline' I've ever seen," says Caroline Isaacs, program director at the Tucson office of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a Quaker social justice organization.

The raid in question took place at 9 am on October 31, at Vista Grande High School in Casa Grande. Without warning, the school was “locked down”; students were confined to their classrooms and sniffer dogs were brought in. According to police, four agencies took part: the Casa Grande Police Department, Arizona Department of Public Safety, the Gila River Indian Community Police Department...and Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). Sadly, drug sweeps like this aren't unusual these days. But the presence of a private company like CCA—which has a vested interest in locking people up—is a disturbing new development.

The raid resulted in three marijuana arrests: two 15-year-olds and a 17-year-old. While charges have yet to be filed, the 17-year-old was in possession of enough marijuana to see her tried as an adult, if a smart prosecutor were to get a distribution charge to stick. So it's no surprise that the private prison industry ranks among the top special interest groups lobbying to keep pot illegal and drug sentences harsh (alongside police unions, pharmaceutical companies, alcohol companies and prison guard unions). Republic reporter Matt Stoller revealed last year how CCA’s regulatory filings show that keeping the War on Drugs going is actually part of their business model. To this end, they've spent millions bankrolling pro-drug war politicians, and routinely use front groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council to sponsor laws. No longer content with such efforts, they've now resorted to going into high schools and dragging out teenage drug "offenders” themselves. What better way to get these kids started on the path to for-profit recidivism?

 

[cj]

wow that is pretty messed up.

 

[Doctor_Ew420]

Yes it is messed up, but is this really anything new for Arizona, or the rest of the states?

I live in Canada and this was an expected weekly horror show (It was actually always fun for me)

We would often have a group of officers with K9's show up at random and lock our school down. It never happened to me, but, I have heard MANY stories of entire class rooms being lined up in the hallways and 1 by 1 being sniffed by the dog. One of the guys I used to buy from had 1/4lb. (and sold that amount every lunch break) of very stinky stuff in his pockets/waistband. He had 2 dogs walk right past him. I have heard of straight edge, A students complaining to the police that they dont use drugs and that this is a waste of their time for learning. Poor girl had her pencil case alert one of the dogs (she had nothing, they just fucked with her and left my dealer alone, dogs aren't a real good indicator to be honest)

In our school people (sober or not) would run around to different class rooms as things are getting shut down and telling kids to ditch. At this point there is little teachers can do to scare you, so you run out the door or throw your stuff into a radiator or out a window. I have seen kids get their asses kicked for simply running away from an unleashed drug dog. I have seen more than 100 arrests and more than 50 raids at my high school.

 

[freehugs]

Yes it is messed up, but is this really anything new for Arizona, or the rest of the states?

I live in Canada and this was an expected weekly horror show (It was actually always fun for me)

We would often have a group of officers with K9's show up at random and lock our school down. It never happened to me, but, I have heard MANY stories of entire class rooms being lined up in the hallways and 1 by 1 being sniffed by the dog. One of the guys I used to buy from had 1/4lb. (and sold that amount every lunch break) of very stinky stuff in his pockets/waistband. He had 2 dogs walk right past him. I have heard of straight edge, A students complaining to the police that they dont use drugs and that this is a waste of their time for learning. Poor girl had her pencil case alert one of the dogs (she had nothing, they just fucked with her and left my dealer alone, dogs aren't a real good indicator to be honest)

In our school people (sober or not) would run around to different class rooms as things are getting shut down and telling kids to ditch. At this point there is little teachers can do to scare you, so you run out the door or throw your stuff into a radiator or out a window. I have seen kids get their asses kicked for simply running away from an unleashed drug dog. I have seen more than 100 arrests and more than 50 raids at my high school.

You would think people would learn to not bring weed to school.

 

[Captain.Heroin]

You would think people would learn to not bring weed to school.

It's not about not bringing weed to school. The private prison industry has a monetary interest in increasing the prison population. I could easily see them planting drugs on a student; one person going to jail means a lot of money for them; and a bag of weed is really fairly inexpensive when it's all said and done.

It's also about disrupting actual learning in the classroom for such a waste of time. How much time were wasted for so many people, only to find pot on two fifteen year olds and one seventeen year old?!

 

[Jabberwocky]

The private prison industry has a monetary interest in increasing the prison population. I could easily see them planting drugs on a student; one person going to jail means a lot of money for them; and a bag of weed is really fairly inexpensive when it's all said and done.

This. There was a case in Penn a couple years ago where a judge in the juvi court system was in cahoots/conspiring with a local/state prison company. He'd get a cut to funnel young offenders into their private prison/incarceration system. He eventually got busted, like more than 1000 kids sentence arbitrarily and illegally later, as well as the owner of the private prison company (or someone there). I can't remember if the private prison company even got shut down though, and the judge's punishment was like a joke considering what he did, the number of tax dollars wasted (who paid for all this of course) and, most importantly, the hundreds upon hundreds of young lives ruined. Brings a whole new meaning to the whole "schools to prison pipeline" movement, at the time at least. Sadly this seems like it's still becoming a more routine miscarriage of "justice" here in the states... God Bless America, where a life sentence is taken literally

 

[Captain.Heroin]

This. There was a case in Penn a couple years ago where a judge in the juvi court system was in cahoots/conspiring with a local/state prison company. He'd get a cut to funnel young offenders into their private prison/incarceration system. He eventually got busted, like more than 1000 kids sentence arbitrarily and illegally later, as well as the owner of the private prison company (or someone there). I can't remember if the private prison company even got shut down though, and the judge's punishment was like a joke considering what he did, the number of tax dollars wasted (who paid for all this of course) and, most importantly, the hundreds upon hundreds of young lives ruined. Brings a whole new meaning to the whole "schools to prison pipeline" movement, at the time at least. Sadly this seems like it's still becoming a more routine miscarriage of "justice" here in the states... God Bless America, where a life sentence is taken literally

And people wonder why I don't believe in public schools.

 

[Doctor_Ew420]

You would think people would learn to not bring weed to school.

Yeah, and you would also expect people not to bring drugs into prisons, but, the markup is huge and the amount you can sell to bored prisoners (students) per day is astounding. Kids I knew sewed secret pockets into the inside of the crotch of their pants. Our school was the school that 2 other schools would take lunch and travel to, we sold to old women and men, TA's ... anyone who came around looking. I still brought pot to school everyday at the risk of getting caught because $800 a day for a 10th grader is incredible!

Also, what Captain.Heroin said about cops planting drugs. It is VERY likely (as is the case with the story I told about the straight edge A student who was detained because the dog signalled when smelling her stuff, they made the dog signal because she was giving the cops a hard time about their intrusion, she was standing within a few yards of someone holding a 1/4 lb.)

 

[Jabberwocky]

And people wonder why I don't believe in public schools.

Well, I love some public schools, one of which I had the pleasure of working at for a couple years. But that was in Connecticut. Anywho, that's more about their outstanding staff than anything else (as they more than often have nothing else, at best they have good teachers). I mean, when you spend significantly more on incarcerating non-violent offenders than you do on education, it sounds a little ridiculous that some people are so shocked by these articles - they should have been, to some degree - at least open to the idea - prepared by the obvious facts we so do little to empower our country's youth.

Woah... what was I talking about?