Eleven organizations are urging Virginia to reject proposals to privatize a facility that detains some sex offenders after they've served their sentence.
They say the problems of an overcrowded Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation could be worsened if operations are turned over to a company that puts profits ahead of programs. State officials are considering privatization as a way to control costs of the rapidly expanding civil commitment program for treatment of sexually violent offenders. Two companies have offered bids to take over the Burkeville psychiatric facility.
The coalition of civil rights, labor, criminal justice reform and religious organizations sent its letter of opposition to Gov. Bob McDonnell on Monday. However, the governor's office says the decision rests with the commissioner of the Department of Behavioral Health and Rehabilitative Services.
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Press Release from the Justice Policy Institute
Coalition Calls for Halt to Privatization of Virginia Civil Commitment Center
WASHINGTON, DC – A coalition of 11 national civil rights, criminal justice reform, faith, and labor organizations today, have sent a letter urging Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell to reject two unsolicited bids from private corporations to take over management of the state's civil commitment facility for sex offenders who are being held after the end of their sentence at the Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation (VCBR). A recommendation has been made by a committee convened by the Commissioner of the Department of Behavioral Health and Rehabilitative Services, and it is now awaiting a decision by Governor McDonnell.
"What is currently an overcrowded situation at VCBR could become dramatically worse if run by a company that increases its profits at the expense of programs and operations, including security, in the facility," the advocates wrote in the letter. "An underfunded and dangerous civil commitment facility could lead to expensive lawsuits for which the Commonwealth will be liable."
Along with a number of other states, Virginia has begun using a process called "civil commitment" to keep people convicted of sex offenses confined even after they have served all their sentenced time. While the practice has been challenged as unconstitutional because it is indefinite detainment without additional charges or sentencing, the courts have allowed civil commitment on the condition that people kept there are being treated, with the goal being released into the community when they are no longer considered a risk to reoffend. In reality, however, few people are ever released.
In recent years, Virginia has increased the number of offenses for which a person is eligible to be civilly committed from four to 28, and has legislatively mandated both the risk instrument and the risk score of that instrument that professionals must use to determine whether to detain someone at VCBR. The Virginia Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (VJLARC) has questioned these policies and noted that they have led to the VCBR census growing 1,374 percent between 2006 and 2011. The VJLARC has estimated that under current laws and practices, the number of people committed to VCBR could increase to over 600 by 2016.
"Virginia's exponential expansion of its civilly committed population should be addressed through examining the policies and practices that are leading to so many more people being kept locked up after serving their full sentences," said Tracy Velázquez, executive director of the Justice Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C. based organization that works for justice reform. "There are certainly better and less expensive ways to protect public safety than the questionable practice of civil commitment. Locking people up forever and letting people make money off of it is not a solution."
The two corporations that have offered unsolicited bids to operate the facility are GEO Group and Liberty Gilbane. Both have experienced significant problems in managing prisons and other secure facilities. According to a 2007 article in the New York Times, when run by Liberty ran the Florida civil confinement facility it "failed to meet a central purpose: treating sex offenders so they would be well enough to return to society... In Liberty's tenure, only one of the hundreds of men here progressed far enough in therapy to earn a recommendation from company clinicians that he be released."
GEO, one of the country's two largest for-profit prison corporations, has been sued many times for unsafe conditions and providing unacceptable care in its facilities. GEO contracts at three facilities were recently ended in Mississippi, including a youth facility that a federal judge described as having "allowed a cesspool of unconstitutional and inhuman acts and conditions to germinate." Last week, the Associated Press reported three gruesome deaths at GEO-run South Florida State Hospital, including a patient who died in a scalding bathtub. Earlier this week, a GEO mental hospital in Texas faced more than $50,000 in fines for providing unacceptable conditions including unauthorized restraint and segregation of patients and failure to report serious injuries to the state.
"Given these companies' records, it is simply mind-boggling that Virginia would even consider contracting the management of VCBR to a company like GEO or Liberty Gilbane," said Bob Libal, Executive Director of Grassroots Leadership. "Turning over control of a facility like VCBR to a private corporation will only make problems more serious, and isn't a real solution to shrinking the state's justice costs."
In addition to the Justice Policy Institute and Grassroots Leadership, other signatories to the letter include AFSCME, Communication Workers of America, Human Rights Defense Center, In The Public Interest, Justice Strategies, Private Corrections Institute, Progressive States Action, The Sentencing Project, and the United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society.
Letter from the Coalition Groups to Governor Bob McDonnell
Dear Governor McDonnell:
We understand that Virginia received two unsolicited bids from companies wishing to run the Commonwealth's civil commitment facility for sex offenders who are being held after the end of their sentence (the Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation, or VCBR). A state employee indicated that Mr. James W. Stewart, Commissioner of the Department of Behavioral Health and Rehabilitative Services, assembled a committee to evaluate these proposals and the committee has made a recommendation to you. While we don't know the committee's recommendation, we are writing to respectfully urge you to not privatize this facility; it will not benefit the Commonwealth and could lead to increased costs to taxpayers and decreased public safety.
The two corporations that have offered unsolicited bids, the GEO Group and Liberty Gilbane, have both experienced significant problems in managing both prison and detention facilities, including a private civil commitment facility in Florida, where problems ranged from violence in the facility to escapes. According to the New York Times, when run by Liberty the Florida facility "failed to meet a central purpose: treating sex offenders so they would be well enough to return to society... In Liberty's tenure, only one of the hundreds of men here progressed far enough in therapy to earn a recommendation from company clinicians that he be released." Also, "under GEO's watch, a resident said he was attacked by another in his bunk. His screaming, kicking and banging on his door went unanswered for almost 15 minutes before staff members responded." (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/05/us/05civil.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all)
GEO, one of the country's two largest for-profit prison corporations, has been sued many times for unsafe conditions and providing unacceptable care in its facilities. GEO contracts at three facilities were recently ended in Mississippi, including a youth facility that a federal judge described as having "allowed a cesspool of unconstitutional and inhuman acts and conditions to germinate." Last week, the Associated Press reported three gruesome deaths, including a patient who died in a scalding bathtub, at GEO's South Florida State Hospital.
What is currently an overcrowded situation at VCBR could become dramatically worse if run by a company that increases its profits at the expense of programs and operations, including security, in the facility. An underfunded and dangerous civil commitment facility could lead to expensive lawsuits for which the Commonwealth will be liable.
While the potential problems around privatization of a "regular" prison are large, civil commitment facilities pose an even greater potential for negative consequences. Unlike most people in prison, someone who has been civilly committed has no end-of-sentence: they only leave the facility if they are effectively treated. As a for-profit facility has a monetary incentive for keeping people there, and retains more profits the less they spend on programming, we believe privatization will reduce the already low rate of release from the VCBR. GEO employs half as many treatment professionals per person at their Florida facility as does Virginia at VCBR. Holding people for many years unnecessarily will lead to millions in extra costs.
Certainly, the burgeoning cost of civil commitment in Virginia should be of concern to you as policymakers and taxpayers. VCBR's 2011 budget was $24.5 million. The VCBR census grew 1,374 percent from 2006-2011, while appropriations for the facility increased about 320 percent. The current facility, opened in 2008, cost $62 million to build, and is already over designed capacity. The best way to substantially and permanently address these costs is for the Commonwealth to re-examine its policies and practices.
In recent years, Virginia has increased the number of offenses that can be used as the basis for a civil commitment from four to 28. In addition, rather than allowing state professionals to determine the best way to assess risk, the state has set the risk assessment guidelines in statute, which may be leading to overuse of civil commitment. The Virginia Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (VJLARC) has estimated that under current laws and practices, the number of people committed to VCBR could increase to over 600 by 2016. Virginia policymakers should be re-examining these laws and practices, so that civil commitment is used only when absolutely necessary, employing less costly and more effective options that still protect public safety.
Privatization of correctional facilities has not been shown to save taxpayers money, when all the costs associated with them are taken into account. Addressing the systemic issues that are leading to high rates of incarceration and confinement, on the other hand, has been shown to save states money. We strongly recommend you reject the unsolicited bids to turn over VCBR to a for-profit corporation, and instead pursue ways to safely reverse current trends in civil commitment. Please feel free to contact Bob Libal at Grassroots Leadership at 512-971-0487, blibal@grassrootsleadership.org, or Tracy Velázquez at 202-558-7974, x 311, tracy@justicepolicy.org, to discuss further our concerns around privatizing VCBR.
From Representatives of the undersigned organizations:
AFSCME
Communication Workers of America
Grassroots Leadership
Human Rights Defense Center
In The Public Interest
Justice Strategies
Justice Policy Institute
Private Corrections Institute
Progressive States Action
The Sentencing Project
United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society
