WHEREAS:

Because of the crisis in state budgets, governments are considering reductions in adult and juvenile correctional staffing, closing adult and juvenile correctional facilities and allowing private corporations to run, build or provide services for these correctional facilities; and

WHEREAS:

Appropriate staffing of correctional facilities assures a safer and healthier environment for both correctional staff and inmates; and

WHEREAS:

The closure of correctional facilities for budget reasons causes overcrowding and unsafe conditions; and

WHEREAS:

Profit-driven corporations, in pursuit of government funds, continue to pursue private contracts with federal and state governments to run their prison facilities. The use of private corporations to house, monitor or provide services for inmates has jeopardized the safety of those inside the facility as well as residents of neighboring communities; and

WHEREAS:

Prison privatization has also raised troubling constitutional and civil rights questions. Private corporations are now making quasi-judicial decisions that affect the well-being of inmates and staff. Private corporations and their employees now use deadly force against citizens of the United States ; and

WHEREAS:

Private prison corporations do not protect public safety or lower costs for the public. The Public Safety Act, which has been introduced in the Congress, would restore responsibility for public safety and security to federal, state and local governments. The Act would prohibit federal private prisons and would deny certain funds to states and localities that operate private correctional facilities.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

That the reduction in correctional staffing, privatization of inmate services, closure of correctional facilities to solve budget problems and the risky experiment of privatizing prisons must end; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That the issues of safety, liability and accountability be held paramount in the operation of correctional facilities. AFSCME will continue to seek through bargaining and legislation minimum staffing standards; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That AFSCME is fundamentally opposed to prison privatization. Punishment of U. S. citizens by incarceration, which requires federal, state and local governments to exercise their police powers over individuals, should not be delegated to a private party; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED:

That AFSCME will continue to support the Public Safety Act, which ensures that core correctional services related to the operation of a correctional facility and the incarceration of inmates are not provided by private contractors.

SUBMITTED BY:

Ronald C. Alexander, President and Delegate
Vanessa Tolliver, Secretary/Treasurer and Delegate
OCSEA/AFSCME Local 11
Ohio