|
Hillary Clinton Must Resign
Cites false reports regarding Syria “massacre” to call for UN Chapter
7. Irresponsible warmongering leaves American credibility irrevocably
damaged.
Tony Cartalucci
Image: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has attempted on
numerous occasions to leverage fabricated atrocities to stampede UN
resolutions through the Security Council to allow the same destructive,
tragic military campaign against Syria that was waged against Libya. Her
latest outburst was so overtly fraudulent and patently false, her
continuation as Secretary of State risks a permanent and exponentially
accelerating decline in US legitimacy worldwide.
….
The unhinged state of US foreign policy is exemplified best by this week’s Tremseh, Syria “massacre.” Before any confirmations could be made, and based solely on “activist” accounts, Hillary Clinton penned a US State Department statement that read:
What US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attempted to do, was propose a UN Security Council resolution authorizing military intervention (and by consequence, long sought after regime change), then used fabricated reports to sell the resolution in the court of global public and diplomatic opinion. It constitutes an overt crime against peace, and conspiracy to wage aggressive war -both Nuremberg offenses.
Tremseh was a Battle, Not a Massacre
As the facts emerge as to what really happened in Tremseh, Syria, it becomes evidently clear the US State Department, along with its British, French, German, and Australian counterparts, has attempted to sell yet another NATO war of aggression based on a patently false pretext. The New York Times in their article, “New Details of a Battle Challenge Reports of a Syrian Massacre,”reported that “activists,” the so-called “Free Syria Army” (FSA), and the Western-backed “Syrian National Council” (SNC) all gave conflicting reports.
What could be verified by UN monitors who arrived at the scene, is that the vast majority of those “massacred” were men of fighting age, with some opposition figures conceding that they were indeed militant fighters. The number “200″ that Clinton cited, was actually the number of militants that had gathered in Tremseh to plot the next leg of their terrorist activities. Locals had passed the information on to the Syrian Army who surrounded the area and neutralized the fighters during a pitched battle the FSA ultimately lost.
Not only that, but the UN confirms that Syrian security operations targeted “specific” rebel locations rendering Clinton’s accusation that government forces “deliberately murdered innocent civilians” a bold-faced lie.
In other words, Hillary Clinton falsified her statement, given before the entire “international community,” claiming “200 men, women, and children” were deliberately massacred, when in reality it was the Syrian military restoring order in the face of armed terrorists. After the military secured the Tremseh area, they put on display a vast cache of weaponry found in the area, as well as captured FSA militants including both Turkish and Libyan fighters – meaning that those not killed in the fighting, were not “executed” as earlier reports falsely stated.
Hillary Clinton Must Resign
The generation preceding Hillary Clinton’s, those of World War II, swore “never again” to the tragedy of that global conflict. They also swore “never again” to the lies and manipulations that maneuvered millions of people across the globe into deadly conflict with one another. Hillary Clinton’s fabrications and attempts to foist yet another war constructed upon falsehoods betrays that promise made – and thus betrays and jeopardizes the very foundation of all the West stands for.
Hillary Clinton, to continue in her capacity, like the entire Bush Administration before her, compromises and forever stains the credibility and integrity of the United States. It is ironic that the very violence unfolding in Syria today, which Clinton would have the world believe is the work of the “Syrian regime,” was first blueprinted and orchestrated by the US during Bush’s term in office.
Indeed, according to Seymour Hersh’s 2007 New Yorker article, “The Redirection,” the US, Israel, and the Gulf State despots plotted to assemble and unleash a front of sectarian extremists to overthrow the government of Syria. It was during that time that the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood began receiving funding and support from the West while fighters and weapons were assembled in northern Lebanon under the watch of Saad Hariri.
Not only has the Barack Obama administration, with Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, inherited and perpetuated this violent conspiracy against the Syrian people, it has inherited and perpetuated the dishonor and straining of America’s remaining integrity and global good will. For America’s economy which cannot shoulder another military adventure, for America’s honor which cannot find space to fit another scar, Hillary Clinton must resign and those in Congress and throughout industry must remove support for those squandering the last of America’s once vast potential in pursuit of global hegemony.
Surely Clinton’s resignation would be more symbolic than a serious blow to a system that is in reality driven by corporate-financier interests from amongst their think-tanks, lobbying networks, and media empires, but it would the beginning of a new paradigm that signaled the days of impunity for these special interests drawing to a close.
For the people of America, who most likely will not witness their Secretary of State resign in the wake of the disgrace and irreparable damage she has brought upon her nation, now more than ever they must be resolved to identify, expose, boycott and replace the corporate financier interests for whom Hillary Clinton works. We as a people must begin creating our own, local institutions that serve our interests directly, and begin engaging in real “wrench-turning” activism in place of our current domesticated consumerist attitude towards politics and progress.
Tony Cartalucci
….
The unhinged state of US foreign policy is exemplified best by this week’s Tremseh, Syria “massacre.” Before any confirmations could be made, and based solely on “activist” accounts, Hillary Clinton penned a US State Department statement that read:
I was deeply saddened and outraged to
learn of reports of yet another massacre committed by the Syrian regime
that has claimed the lives of over 200 men, women, and children in the
village of Traymseh. Credible reports indicate that this unconscionable
act was carried out by artillery, tanks, and helicopters – indisputable
evidence that the regime deliberately murdered innocent civilians. Syria
cannot be peaceful, stable, or democratic until Assad goes and a
political transition begins. We call for an immediate ceasefire in and
around Hama to allow the UN observer mission to enter Traymseh. Those
who committed these atrocities will be identified and held accountable.
As long as the Assad regime continues to
wage war against the Syrian people, the international community must
keep increasing the pressure on the regime to halt the violence and
allow for a political solution to go forward. The Security Council
should put its full weight behind the Annan plan for an immediate
ceasefire and a political transition and make clear to the Syrian regime
that there will be consequences for non-compliance. History will judge
this Council. Its members must ask themselves whether continuing to
allow the Assad regime to commit unspeakable violence against its own
people is the legacy they want to leave.
The Security Council of course would be putting its “full weight”
behind Kofi Annan’s “peace plan” with Chapter 7 provisions in place –
meaning that sanctions and military intervention, as it was in Libya,
would be subsequently implemented.What US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attempted to do, was propose a UN Security Council resolution authorizing military intervention (and by consequence, long sought after regime change), then used fabricated reports to sell the resolution in the court of global public and diplomatic opinion. It constitutes an overt crime against peace, and conspiracy to wage aggressive war -both Nuremberg offenses.
Tremseh was a Battle, Not a Massacre
As the facts emerge as to what really happened in Tremseh, Syria, it becomes evidently clear the US State Department, along with its British, French, German, and Australian counterparts, has attempted to sell yet another NATO war of aggression based on a patently false pretext. The New York Times in their article, “New Details of a Battle Challenge Reports of a Syrian Massacre,”reported that “activists,” the so-called “Free Syria Army” (FSA), and the Western-backed “Syrian National Council” (SNC) all gave conflicting reports.
What could be verified by UN monitors who arrived at the scene, is that the vast majority of those “massacred” were men of fighting age, with some opposition figures conceding that they were indeed militant fighters. The number “200″ that Clinton cited, was actually the number of militants that had gathered in Tremseh to plot the next leg of their terrorist activities. Locals had passed the information on to the Syrian Army who surrounded the area and neutralized the fighters during a pitched battle the FSA ultimately lost.
Not only that, but the UN confirms that Syrian security operations targeted “specific” rebel locations rendering Clinton’s accusation that government forces “deliberately murdered innocent civilians” a bold-faced lie.
In other words, Hillary Clinton falsified her statement, given before the entire “international community,” claiming “200 men, women, and children” were deliberately massacred, when in reality it was the Syrian military restoring order in the face of armed terrorists. After the military secured the Tremseh area, they put on display a vast cache of weaponry found in the area, as well as captured FSA militants including both Turkish and Libyan fighters – meaning that those not killed in the fighting, were not “executed” as earlier reports falsely stated.
Hillary Clinton Must Resign
The generation preceding Hillary Clinton’s, those of World War II, swore “never again” to the tragedy of that global conflict. They also swore “never again” to the lies and manipulations that maneuvered millions of people across the globe into deadly conflict with one another. Hillary Clinton’s fabrications and attempts to foist yet another war constructed upon falsehoods betrays that promise made – and thus betrays and jeopardizes the very foundation of all the West stands for.
Hillary Clinton, to continue in her capacity, like the entire Bush Administration before her, compromises and forever stains the credibility and integrity of the United States. It is ironic that the very violence unfolding in Syria today, which Clinton would have the world believe is the work of the “Syrian regime,” was first blueprinted and orchestrated by the US during Bush’s term in office.
Indeed, according to Seymour Hersh’s 2007 New Yorker article, “The Redirection,” the US, Israel, and the Gulf State despots plotted to assemble and unleash a front of sectarian extremists to overthrow the government of Syria. It was during that time that the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood began receiving funding and support from the West while fighters and weapons were assembled in northern Lebanon under the watch of Saad Hariri.
Not only has the Barack Obama administration, with Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, inherited and perpetuated this violent conspiracy against the Syrian people, it has inherited and perpetuated the dishonor and straining of America’s remaining integrity and global good will. For America’s economy which cannot shoulder another military adventure, for America’s honor which cannot find space to fit another scar, Hillary Clinton must resign and those in Congress and throughout industry must remove support for those squandering the last of America’s once vast potential in pursuit of global hegemony.
Surely Clinton’s resignation would be more symbolic than a serious blow to a system that is in reality driven by corporate-financier interests from amongst their think-tanks, lobbying networks, and media empires, but it would the beginning of a new paradigm that signaled the days of impunity for these special interests drawing to a close.
For the people of America, who most likely will not witness their Secretary of State resign in the wake of the disgrace and irreparable damage she has brought upon her nation, now more than ever they must be resolved to identify, expose, boycott and replace the corporate financier interests for whom Hillary Clinton works. We as a people must begin creating our own, local institutions that serve our interests directly, and begin engaging in real “wrench-turning” activism in place of our current domesticated consumerist attitude towards politics and progress.
Originally appeared at Land Destroyer.
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Breaking News from Western Journalism
Jul 16, 2012 02:50 pm | Joel Valenzuela
Jul 16, 2012 02:45 pm | Doug Book
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Jul 16, 2012 02:35 pm | Kevin “Coach” Collins
We
are 15 TRILLION dollars in debt. Barack Obama is has added $1 TRILLION
dollars to our national debt and hasn’t signed a budget in three years
because the Democrats in the Senate will not vote one into law. Since… Continue to Post
Jul 16, 2012 02:30 pm | Gabor Zolna
Let
me try and get this straight: Obama and his Administration are
attacking Mitt Romney and claiming that, while CEO of Bain Capital, he
sent job’s overseas. Obama, as recently as yesterday, refused to
apologize for the attacks by his… Continue to Post
Jul 16, 2012 02:30 pm | John Moench
He
stood at a lectern on a bare stage overlooking a sea of mostly hostile
faces. The master of ceremonies had just finished a lukewarm
introduction, fulfilling a responsibility while hiding his distaste for
an assignment that he couldn’t avoid.… Continue to Post
Jul 16, 2012 02:20 pm | Joel Valenzuela
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Jul 16, 2012 02:05 pm | Joel Valenzuela
Jul 16, 2012 02:00 pm | Breaking News
President
Barack Obama addressed supporters in Roanoke, Virginia on Friday
afternoon and took a shot at the business community. President Obama
dismissed any credit business owners give themselves for their success:
There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who… Continue to Post
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change; this is a constant in life. Throughout my life I could always
count on my faith and my status as an American citizen to remain
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Jul 16, 2012 01:37 pm | Breaking News
Tim Geithner had evidence of a financial crime of epic proportion — so he wrote a memo.
That’s about the only way you can sum up the then-New York Fed boss’ actions several years ago, when he was confronted with… Continue to Post
Jul 16, 2012 01:26 pm | Joel Valenzuela
Jul 16, 2012 01:10 pm | Breaking News
Mitt
Romney on Monday accused President Barack Obama of running a “campaign
based on falsehood and dishonesty,” while brushing aside suggestions
from anxious conservatives to release more than two years of tax
returns.
“A campaign based on falsehood and dishonesty… Continue to Post
Jul 16, 2012 12:47 pm | Breaking News
What
would happen if thousands of Americans fleeing President Barack Obama’s
ravaged U.S. economy and its soaring unemployment rates flooded the
Canadian border post November 6, 2012?
Would Canada welcome Obama refugees with open arms?
Not according to the rules… Continue to Post
Jul 16, 2012 12:39 pm | Breaking News
Sen.
John Thune (R-S.D.) has reemerged as a viable vice presidential
candidate who would check many of the boxes Mitt Romney is looking for
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He’s an experienced legislator who has earned respect from both parties
in… Continue to Post
Jul 16, 2012 04:07 am | Cagle Cartoons
Last Chance to oppose S. 3369 – the “DISCLOSE” Act of 2012
If you haven’t yet contacted your senators and asked them to oppose S. 3369 – the “DISCLOSE” Act of 2012 – on every vote, including today’s cloture vote, I hope you’ll act right away.
The vote is expected to take place within hours.
Since cloture requires 60 votes to pass, you and I have an excellent chance to protect the First Amendment.
But our senators must hear from us right away.
So please contact them through the Capitol Hill switchboard at (202) 224-3121.
You can also find their direct contact information HERE.
In Liberty,
Tim Shoemaker
Director of Legislation
P.S. S. 3369, the “DISCLOSE” Act, is expected to come up for a cloture vote within hours.
Time is running out to call your senators in opposition to this First Amendment-shredding bill.
So please contact them through the Capitol Hill switchboard at (202) 224-3121.
You can also find their direct contact information HERE.
And as always, if you're able to give at this time, any amount you can donate toward our work to restore the Constitution would be greatly appreciated!
'Lock Them Up Forever And Let People Make Money Off Of It'
Private Prison Company May Take Over Virginia Sex Offender Center
Chris Kirkham
Virginia is in the final stages of reviewing proposals that would privatize a mental health treatment facility for sex offenders who can be held indefinitely under state law, according to state officials and a private prison company seeking a contract to operate the institution.
The GEO Group, the nation's second-largest private prison operator, and Liberty Healthcare Corp., which manages mental health institutions, are vying to manage the 300-bed state facility, known as the Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation. Both companies bring checkered histories in their experiences managing a similar facility in Florida, according to reports in that state.
The proposed contract in Virginia would give a private company authority over convicted sex offenders enrolled in a controversial program known as "civil commitment," through which the state designates some inmates sexually violent predators. That label gives the state the right to hold those inmates indefinitely while administering mental health treatment.
Twenty states and the District of Columbia employ the process, which the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld as constitutional in three separate cases. But critics contend that ceding control of the process to a profit-making corporation poses an enormous conflict of interest: The company would have a financial incentive to hold onto sex offenders for as long as possible while skimping on required mental health services.
"These people could be held forever," said Tracy Velazquez, executive director of the Justice Policy Institute, a non-profit group that is critical of the rise of private involvement in the nation's penal system. "There's a disincentive for the companies to provide treatment, because the inmates continue to be customers. There is no end of sentence."
A spokesman for the GEO Group said the company would administer the facility in the public interest.
"Under public-private partnerships, private operators provide high-quality management services of correctional, detention, and residential treatment facilities under strict and constant oversight and monitoring from state officials," said Pablo Paez, a GEO spokesman, in an emailed statement. "These services have absolutely no bearing on sentencing policies or decisions which are exclusively made by policymakers."
In a recent conference call with investors, a GEO Group executive, Jorge Dominicis, said he expects Virginia to decide on his company's contract proposal by July.
Liberty Healthcare, a privately owned company based in suburban Philadelphia, did not respond to requests for comment.
The Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, which oversees the sex offender facility, declined to comment on the deliberations, but confirmed that a formal review of the privatization proposal is in the later stages.
For the private prison industry, the prospect of overseeing the sex offender facility beckons as a lucrative opportunity. Virginia spent more than $24 million running its civil commitment program last year. The number of inmates landing in the program is projected to more than double over the next four years, as the state continues its intensified scrutiny of sex offenders.
Virginia began its civil commitment program nine years ago in what it portrayed as an effort to protect the public. Since then, about 300 sex offenders have been sent to the special facility, located in the town of Burkeville, about 60 miles southwest of Richmond. Only 35 people have been released, according to state officials.
As costs for the program have risen dramatically, the private prison industry has stepped forward with proposals to assume control, promising savings. Under a novel law, Virginia must review any proposal submitted by a private company seeking to take over many state functions. In Feb. 2011, the GEO Group bid to assume management of the facility. Liberty soon put in a competing proposal.
Should officials at the Department of Behavioral Health opt to accept one of the proposals, they would be required to forward them to a commission comprised of state legislators and cabinet members for additional review. The commission may comment, but is not empowered to alter the decision, which would remain with the department, according to state law.
Virginia's deliberations have advanced without official public input or legislative hearings. When The Huffington Post this week contacted Virginia Del. David Albo -- a Republican who chairs the state legislative committee that oversees criminal justice issues -- he said he was unaware of a proposal to privatize the Burkeville facility.
"Why would we allow this decision to be made without any legislative input whatsoever?" said Mary Devoy, executive director of Reform Sex Offender Laws of Virginia, an advocacy group that opposes the privatization proposal.
The GEO Group has in recent years injected significant contributions into Virginia political campaigns. In the state's gubernatorial campaign three years ago, the GEO Group was one of the largest single contributors to the Republican who won, Bob McDonnell, giving him a total of $28,000, according to state records. A spokesman for McDonnell declined to respond to questions about the GEO Group's donations and any influence on its privatization proposal, saying only that the governor was "playing no direct role in this process."
The GEO Group has made smaller contributions to Virginia legislative leaders. A GEO Group mental health subsidiary, GEO Care, has spent more than $13,000 on lobbying related to the sex offender facility during the past two years, according to state records.
Those who follow on the intersection of public policy and campaign finance say the process underway in Virginia appears to be a classic case of contributors gaining access to tilt policy in their favor.
"For them to come in and make an unsolicited offer after they gave a campaign donation does not really pass the smell test," said Edwin Bender, executive director of the National Institute on Money in State Politics, a nonpartisan group that tracks political influence at the state level. "That just stinks, because it's very obvious that there's a profit motive here. It's not doing something in the public interest."
A GEO Group spokesman did not directly respond to assertions that political contributions were part of an attempt to curry favor in Virginia, but argued that any decision by the state would be on the merits of the company's proposal.
"That contract is part of a competitive procurement in which GEO and other companies can participate," the company spokesman said. "The award of a contract to GEO or any other company who bids on it would be based solely on the proposals submitted under said competitive procurement process."
He added that GEO is not unique in contributing to political campaigns.
"We have participated in the political process in states across the country and nationally -- as do a variety of organizations, including private corporations and organized labor organizations –- through contributions to political candidates and parties who support different public policy viewpoints," the GEO Group spokesman said.
Both companies competing to take over Virginia's center for sex offenders tout their experience running a similar institution in Florida, which has the only fully privatized civil commitment system in the nation. The GEO Group currently holds the contract to operate the Florida Civil Commitment Center, located south of Tampa. Liberty held the contract before GEO, but the state opted not to renew the agreement in 2006, following a series of state inspector general's reports that detailed widespread mismanagement.
Residents at the facility regularly made and drank homemade alcohol, according to a 2005 inspector general's report from the Florida Department of Children and Families, which oversaw the contract with Liberty. Several inmates admitted to being intoxicated during the investigative interview with the department.
The report described an interview with a drunken inmate who said he had been in a "brutal" fight after drinking earlier in the day: "His eyes were bloodshot, he smelled of alcohol, and he admitted he was still drunk and could not talk at that time. He was badly beaten and sustained a broken nose."
State probes found that a top manager in the facility had been altering and falsifying reports of security incidents, withholding troubling details of inmate injuries that resulted from staff neglect.
The GEO Group took over the facility in 2006. Two years later, a convicted rapist escaped, eluding local police for more than a day, according to news reports. In 2010, a mental health counselor who worked for GEO at the facility was arrested by the local sheriff's office and accused of having a sexual relationship with an inmate.
The GEO Group spokesman said the company was proud of its "long-standing record of quality operations," including at the Florida center, which he said has provided "significantly improved outcomes, all while delivering significant savings for Florida taxpayers."
"While no correctional, detention, or residential treatment facility -– be it public or private -– is immune from operational challenges, our company has always strived to achieve the highest standards in the industry," he said.
Both GEO and Liberty have promised they can save Virginia substantial amounts of money -- a central concern for state lawmakers, who have seen the costs of the civil commitment program multiply nearly tenfold in less than a decade. The soaring costs are the result of a surge of new entrants to the sex offender program following the Virginia General Assembly's 2006 passage of laws that greatly expanded the pool of potential inmates.
One new law prescribed specific questions the state must use in assessing the likelihood that a given sex offender will commit a similar crime following release. Among them: "Have you ever lived with a lover for at least two years?" "Any male victims?" and "Any stranger victims?"
The state uses the answers to compute a score intended to serve as a snapshot of risk. The state is required to administer the test on all inmates convicted of any one of 28 different sexual-related crimes, including rape and aggravated sexual battery. Scores above a certain threshold trigger a mandatory state review that can result in referral to the Attorney General's Office and, eventually, civil commitment.
Since the General Assembly passed the law, the number of inmates referred to the sex offender facility has increased dramatically -- from about 10 per year from 2003 to 2006 to about 57 annually from 2007 to 2010, according to a state legislative audit report.
A report by the research arm of the Virginia legislature warns that any savings that result from corporate management of the facility could come at the expense of required mental health treatment.
"The incentive to make a profit tends to encourage efficiency and quick decision-making that often results in lower costs," the report asserts. "However, the same profit motive could supersede treatment and safety considerations."
The Florida facility that GEO operates has only one-third of the staff devoted to each patient than is standard in Virginia, according to the report.
The same report notes that staff at Virginia's treatment facility have concerns about inadequate security amid overcrowded conditions, quoting one employee: "I was in some situations where it was downright dangerous and it could have gotten out of hand very quickly."
Critics assert that Virginia is effectively compromising the well-being of one slice of its incarcerated population in order to hand a profit opportunity to an influential private interest.
"The idea here is, 'This is a problem. We can't afford this system, but politically we don't have the will to change the system, so let's just give it to a private company and wash our hands of it,'" said Velazquez, the Justice Policy Institute executive director. "Let's take the people who we care about the least in society, lock them up forever and let people make money off of it."
Virginia is in the final stages of reviewing proposals that would privatize a mental health treatment facility for sex offenders who can be held indefinitely under state law, according to state officials and a private prison company seeking a contract to operate the institution.
The GEO Group, the nation's second-largest private prison operator, and Liberty Healthcare Corp., which manages mental health institutions, are vying to manage the 300-bed state facility, known as the Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation. Both companies bring checkered histories in their experiences managing a similar facility in Florida, according to reports in that state.
The proposed contract in Virginia would give a private company authority over convicted sex offenders enrolled in a controversial program known as "civil commitment," through which the state designates some inmates sexually violent predators. That label gives the state the right to hold those inmates indefinitely while administering mental health treatment.
Twenty states and the District of Columbia employ the process, which the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld as constitutional in three separate cases. But critics contend that ceding control of the process to a profit-making corporation poses an enormous conflict of interest: The company would have a financial incentive to hold onto sex offenders for as long as possible while skimping on required mental health services.
"These people could be held forever," said Tracy Velazquez, executive director of the Justice Policy Institute, a non-profit group that is critical of the rise of private involvement in the nation's penal system. "There's a disincentive for the companies to provide treatment, because the inmates continue to be customers. There is no end of sentence."
A spokesman for the GEO Group said the company would administer the facility in the public interest.
"Under public-private partnerships, private operators provide high-quality management services of correctional, detention, and residential treatment facilities under strict and constant oversight and monitoring from state officials," said Pablo Paez, a GEO spokesman, in an emailed statement. "These services have absolutely no bearing on sentencing policies or decisions which are exclusively made by policymakers."
In a recent conference call with investors, a GEO Group executive, Jorge Dominicis, said he expects Virginia to decide on his company's contract proposal by July.
Liberty Healthcare, a privately owned company based in suburban Philadelphia, did not respond to requests for comment.
The Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, which oversees the sex offender facility, declined to comment on the deliberations, but confirmed that a formal review of the privatization proposal is in the later stages.
For the private prison industry, the prospect of overseeing the sex offender facility beckons as a lucrative opportunity. Virginia spent more than $24 million running its civil commitment program last year. The number of inmates landing in the program is projected to more than double over the next four years, as the state continues its intensified scrutiny of sex offenders.
Virginia began its civil commitment program nine years ago in what it portrayed as an effort to protect the public. Since then, about 300 sex offenders have been sent to the special facility, located in the town of Burkeville, about 60 miles southwest of Richmond. Only 35 people have been released, according to state officials.
As costs for the program have risen dramatically, the private prison industry has stepped forward with proposals to assume control, promising savings. Under a novel law, Virginia must review any proposal submitted by a private company seeking to take over many state functions. In Feb. 2011, the GEO Group bid to assume management of the facility. Liberty soon put in a competing proposal.
Should officials at the Department of Behavioral Health opt to accept one of the proposals, they would be required to forward them to a commission comprised of state legislators and cabinet members for additional review. The commission may comment, but is not empowered to alter the decision, which would remain with the department, according to state law.
Virginia's deliberations have advanced without official public input or legislative hearings. When The Huffington Post this week contacted Virginia Del. David Albo -- a Republican who chairs the state legislative committee that oversees criminal justice issues -- he said he was unaware of a proposal to privatize the Burkeville facility.
"Why would we allow this decision to be made without any legislative input whatsoever?" said Mary Devoy, executive director of Reform Sex Offender Laws of Virginia, an advocacy group that opposes the privatization proposal.
The GEO Group has in recent years injected significant contributions into Virginia political campaigns. In the state's gubernatorial campaign three years ago, the GEO Group was one of the largest single contributors to the Republican who won, Bob McDonnell, giving him a total of $28,000, according to state records. A spokesman for McDonnell declined to respond to questions about the GEO Group's donations and any influence on its privatization proposal, saying only that the governor was "playing no direct role in this process."
The GEO Group has made smaller contributions to Virginia legislative leaders. A GEO Group mental health subsidiary, GEO Care, has spent more than $13,000 on lobbying related to the sex offender facility during the past two years, according to state records.
Those who follow on the intersection of public policy and campaign finance say the process underway in Virginia appears to be a classic case of contributors gaining access to tilt policy in their favor.
"For them to come in and make an unsolicited offer after they gave a campaign donation does not really pass the smell test," said Edwin Bender, executive director of the National Institute on Money in State Politics, a nonpartisan group that tracks political influence at the state level. "That just stinks, because it's very obvious that there's a profit motive here. It's not doing something in the public interest."
A GEO Group spokesman did not directly respond to assertions that political contributions were part of an attempt to curry favor in Virginia, but argued that any decision by the state would be on the merits of the company's proposal.
"That contract is part of a competitive procurement in which GEO and other companies can participate," the company spokesman said. "The award of a contract to GEO or any other company who bids on it would be based solely on the proposals submitted under said competitive procurement process."
He added that GEO is not unique in contributing to political campaigns.
"We have participated in the political process in states across the country and nationally -- as do a variety of organizations, including private corporations and organized labor organizations –- through contributions to political candidates and parties who support different public policy viewpoints," the GEO Group spokesman said.
Both companies competing to take over Virginia's center for sex offenders tout their experience running a similar institution in Florida, which has the only fully privatized civil commitment system in the nation. The GEO Group currently holds the contract to operate the Florida Civil Commitment Center, located south of Tampa. Liberty held the contract before GEO, but the state opted not to renew the agreement in 2006, following a series of state inspector general's reports that detailed widespread mismanagement.
Residents at the facility regularly made and drank homemade alcohol, according to a 2005 inspector general's report from the Florida Department of Children and Families, which oversaw the contract with Liberty. Several inmates admitted to being intoxicated during the investigative interview with the department.
The report described an interview with a drunken inmate who said he had been in a "brutal" fight after drinking earlier in the day: "His eyes were bloodshot, he smelled of alcohol, and he admitted he was still drunk and could not talk at that time. He was badly beaten and sustained a broken nose."
State probes found that a top manager in the facility had been altering and falsifying reports of security incidents, withholding troubling details of inmate injuries that resulted from staff neglect.
The GEO Group took over the facility in 2006. Two years later, a convicted rapist escaped, eluding local police for more than a day, according to news reports. In 2010, a mental health counselor who worked for GEO at the facility was arrested by the local sheriff's office and accused of having a sexual relationship with an inmate.
The GEO Group spokesman said the company was proud of its "long-standing record of quality operations," including at the Florida center, which he said has provided "significantly improved outcomes, all while delivering significant savings for Florida taxpayers."
"While no correctional, detention, or residential treatment facility -– be it public or private -– is immune from operational challenges, our company has always strived to achieve the highest standards in the industry," he said.
Both GEO and Liberty have promised they can save Virginia substantial amounts of money -- a central concern for state lawmakers, who have seen the costs of the civil commitment program multiply nearly tenfold in less than a decade. The soaring costs are the result of a surge of new entrants to the sex offender program following the Virginia General Assembly's 2006 passage of laws that greatly expanded the pool of potential inmates.
One new law prescribed specific questions the state must use in assessing the likelihood that a given sex offender will commit a similar crime following release. Among them: "Have you ever lived with a lover for at least two years?" "Any male victims?" and "Any stranger victims?"
The state uses the answers to compute a score intended to serve as a snapshot of risk. The state is required to administer the test on all inmates convicted of any one of 28 different sexual-related crimes, including rape and aggravated sexual battery. Scores above a certain threshold trigger a mandatory state review that can result in referral to the Attorney General's Office and, eventually, civil commitment.
Since the General Assembly passed the law, the number of inmates referred to the sex offender facility has increased dramatically -- from about 10 per year from 2003 to 2006 to about 57 annually from 2007 to 2010, according to a state legislative audit report.
A report by the research arm of the Virginia legislature warns that any savings that result from corporate management of the facility could come at the expense of required mental health treatment.
"The incentive to make a profit tends to encourage efficiency and quick decision-making that often results in lower costs," the report asserts. "However, the same profit motive could supersede treatment and safety considerations."
The Florida facility that GEO operates has only one-third of the staff devoted to each patient than is standard in Virginia, according to the report.
The same report notes that staff at Virginia's treatment facility have concerns about inadequate security amid overcrowded conditions, quoting one employee: "I was in some situations where it was downright dangerous and it could have gotten out of hand very quickly."
Critics assert that Virginia is effectively compromising the well-being of one slice of its incarcerated population in order to hand a profit opportunity to an influential private interest.
"The idea here is, 'This is a problem. We can't afford this system, but politically we don't have the will to change the system, so let's just give it to a private company and wash our hands of it,'" said Velazquez, the Justice Policy Institute executive director. "Let's take the people who we care about the least in society, lock them up forever and let people make money off of it."
Patriot Update Daily News
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| Monday, July 16, 2012 |
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Senate is voting today on the DISCLOSE Act
The Senate is voting today on a dangerous bill, the DISCLOSE Act.
And unlike the other legislation the Homosexual Lobby is pushing, this one is not designed to give radical homosexuals special privileges...
The DISCLOSE Act will be used to attack Public Advocate directly.
That's why I need your help. Pro-Family voters must oppose this act.
The DISCLOSE Act is being disguised by the radical left as an attempt to level the playing field.
But in reality, it will force every non-profit lobby organization -- like Public Advocate -- to reveal their complete lists of donors!
My friend, the Homosexual Lobby will not hesitate to use this information to attack all the Public Advocate’s donors -- pro-Family Americans who have given generously to see the Homosexual Agenda stopped.
That’s why we have to join with millions of other conservative Americans in telling the Senate to vote no on the DISCLOSE Act.
If you have not already, please contact your senators as soon as possible. You can find them here.
Sincerely,
Eugene Delgaudio
President, Public Advocate of the United States
P.S. Please prayerfully consider chipping in with a donation of $10 or more to help Public Advocate fight for traditional values.
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