A Times Editorial

Facility needs state control

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 14, 2000

The place is out of control, said a just-released report about the Sago Palm Academy, the 350-bed juvenile offender facility in western Palm Beach County. Consultants hired by the state say guards abused the teen inmates, shackling one to a bed for 14 hours and using a choke hold on another. At other times, supervision was nearly completely lacking and young people were left idle for long periods without schooling.

What's the state going to do about it?

Florida Department of Juvenile Justice Secretary W. G. "Bill" Bankhead issued a press statement saying he's "very concerned" over the problems highlighted in the 24-page report and has given Securicor New Century, the private company that has run the facility since October 1999, 30 days to develop a corrective action plan. He also ordered an "immediate response in areas that could impact the health and safety of youth."

But this isn't the first time children at Sago Palm Academy have suffered at the hands of a private prison company. In 1999, the contract of Correctional Service Corp. to run the facility was canceled after allegations of use of excessive force and poor staff training. The institution also was found to have held at least eight young people past their release dates to get additional funds from the state.

While the reported failings of Securicor New Century are not quite as severe, they are serious enough. The July review co-authored by David Bachman, former deputy secretary of corrections, exposed significant shortcomings in management, suggesting no one in the company really knew who was in charge. Inadequately trained staff also had a difficult time asserting authority, frequently resorting to force as a way to impose order.

Some of Securicor New Century's problems seem to stem from the private company's pay scale, which is lower than the state's. Sago Palm Academy, formerly known as the Pahokee Youth Development Center, is located in a rural area without the population base necessary to provide a ready work force. Of course, if you pay people enough, they'll drive to work just about anywhere. But Securicor New Century, being a private company with a profit motive, hasn't been willing to pay more for qualified workers.

That's one of the pitfalls of privatization. Private entities running vital state institutions have multiple agendas -- including how well their stock is doing.

Contracting out prison services may sound fiscally responsible, but it's not socially acceptable. The job of incarcerating people is a core state function. Only the state has the singularity of purpose to work in the public interest to provide secure and humane conditions of confinement. And while there certainly have been plenty of horror stories from state-run prison facilities, at least the state can act directly to cure failures rather than waiting around for a third party to act.

While the Department of Juvenile Justice has the power to do so under the contract, a spokesperson says the department has no plans to return Sago Palm Academy to state control. Nor are there plans for the department to exercise its escape clause with Securicor New Century and find a new contractor. Instead, the department will continue to evaluate the institution for security and quality assurance, hoping it will come around.

The question is: How many more young people will have to suffer from abuse and mismanagement before the state takes the profit out of their imprisonment?

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