From MIM Notes 156
by a comrade
The recent "bailout" package for the District of Columbia, approved by Congress, included transferring control of all of D.C.'s prisoners to the federal Bureau of Prisons.(1) Two hundred and forty wimmin inmates will be transferred in January 1998, some as far away as Connecticut, Florida and Texas. The financial package mandates the shutting down of D.C.'s Lorton prison and transferring one-half of the District's 7,000 inmates to the federal system. Many of the D.C. prisoners will end up in private prisons.
1,700 male prisoners have already been transferred to the Northeastern Correctional Center in Youngstown, Ohio, which is run by the Tennessee-based Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). The Wackenhut Corporation, CCA's biggest competitor, is seeking a federal contract to build a $50 million prison, also in Ohio. If Wackenhut gets the contract it will build a 1,500 bed facility for D.C. prisoners. With the expected increase in inmates transferred to the existing Northeastern Correctional facility, the number of D.C. male prisoners locked down in Ohio will nearly double what it is now-up to 3,500.(1) The former D.C. prisoners are now suing the CCA and the District of Columbia for the excessive use of force by guards and recent inmate violence that has broken out in the prison. The attorneys representing the inmates blame the District, in part, for not "properly" classifying the transferred prisoners according to security level.(2) Maximum security prisoners from D.C. have been housed with medium security prisoners in Ohio.
There is also talk of D.C. inmates being transferred to a proposed prison complex in Terra Alta, West Virginia. A private company has asked the state for a contract to construct a $250 million facility to house up to 2,400 D.C. inmates.(3)
The D.C. wimmin prisoners are being transferred to Connecticut , West Virginia, Texas and Florida.(4) Families of these men and wimmin will rarely, if ever, be able to visits their mothers and fathers in prison when they are so far away. The Washington Post has rarely reported on the male prisoners being transferred, but recently did a large story in the metro section on the transfer of the wimmin prisoners, who are housed in the Correctional Treatment Facility (a separate facility from the main Lorton complex) (3). The story focused on the fact that the wimmin would no longer be able to see their children and other family members. Some of the wimmin featured in the Post article have children by men who are locked up at Lorton or have been transferred out of state.
MIM is not surprised that The Washington Post and other mainstream media have given only minimal coverage to these transfers, but MIM has found no community organization that is making noise about these transfers. For example, when MIM went to the Web site of Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) we did not see coverage of this issue. While the average citizen is happy to be rid of Lorton and its inmates, MIM believes that the families of the prisoners or progressive groups should be organizing against these transfers. MIM hopes that Jericho '98 will help to bring mass awareness to prison issues, including that all prisoners are political prisoners. Until all prisoners of imperialism are freed when imperialism comes crashing down, it is an especially egregious crime to move prisoners away from their families and lawyers and the court to which they can appeal their convictions.
Contact MIM to find out how to get involved with Jericho '98 and protest prisoner transfers!
Notes:
1. The Plain Dealer, 10 January 1998 p. 5B.
2. Idaho Falls Post Register, 16 January 1998 p. A1.
3. The Charleston Gazette, 10 December 1997 p. 7A.
4. The Washington Post, 7 January 1998 p. B1.