Community Education Centers

Community Education Centers is a private for-profit prison company based in West Caldwell, New Jersey and active in seventeen American states and in Bermuda. ^[1][2][3]

In June, 2007 CEC acquired another operator of private prisons, CiviGenics.^[4]

In 2011, New Jersey and its counties spent about $105 million on halfway houses. Of that amount, about $71 million went to Community Education Centers.^[5]

The firm operates fourteen jails, mostly in Texas. Its largest “secure facility” is the George W. Hill Correctional Facility in Thornbury Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania with a capacity of 1,883.^[6] It also has contracts for twenty six “residential reentry” facilities, more commonly called “halfway houses.” The largest of these is Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey with a capacity of 1,196.^[6] It also offers a number of residential treatment programs funded by Native American tribes in six states.^[6]

In addition to contracts with cities, counties and states, the firm also provides "reentry services" in four states to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.^[7]

In June, 2012, the New York Times published the results of a 10-month-long investigation into the halfway houses operated by the firm in New Jersey. Almost three quarters of one group of inmates at a New Jersey facility tested positive for various drugs. Although government contracts required inmates be provided therapy and job training no such programs were offered.^[8]The company is described in the press as having close ties to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.^[8] At the time the company's senior vice president was William J. Palatucci, a close friend and advisor to Governor Christie. He and the governor's brother Todd Christie co-chaired the governor's inaugural committee.[16]

The firm is paid about seventy dollars a day to house each inmate, about half the cost of a prisoner held in a state-run facility. Some of the inmates in the facilities retain connections to gangs. The Delaney Hall facility, for example, includes inmates affiliated with the Bloods.^[3] Drugs are widely available at least at the New Jersey sites covered by the New York Times' report.^[8]

Misconduct

In December 2008, CEC guard Odessan Andrew Allen Zehr was charged with accepting bribes to smuggle contraband into the company's Ector County Correctional Center.^[9]

In May, 2009, CEC Amber Hinds was indicted on charges she attempted to smuggle drugs into the Texarkana, Texas facility. CEC/CiviGenics Texarkana guard indicted on drug charges, ^[10]

In September, 2009 McLennan County, Texas Sheriff Larry Lynch said he would no longer accept payments from CEC. Private prisons need the permission of the local sheriff to operate, so the payments presented the appearance of a conflict of interest. ^[11]

In March 2011, the Liberty County, Texas jail failed an inspection by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. Violations included key administrators who did not have state licenses, plumbing problems and inoperative communications systems. ^[12]

In October 2011, a CEC guard, James Allen Roach plead guilty to charges he had smuggled tobacco and marijuana to inmates at the Liberty County, Texas facility. ^[13]

In January, 2012, the Deputy Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Corrections, Lydell B Sherrer, plead guilty to federal extortion charges related to jobs at the facilities.^[8]

In July 2012, the New Jersey State Legislature held two days of hearings on halfway houses in the state. Shortly after the hearings, the state imposed a fine of $45,000 on contractors including Community Education Centers for not notifying state authorities promptly when inmates escaped. Six inmates escaped from facilities run by the firm.^[14]

In 2013, the New York Times reported that the firm was the largest provider of halfway house services in Pennsylvania with almost 1,300 beds. A study by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections that images who transitioned through halfway houses (run by the state or a contractor) were more likely to return to jail than those who were released directly from prison.^[15]

In May, 2013, a CEC guard, Latondra Natrell Brown, was arrested for allegedly smuggling contraband to inmates at the Liberty County, Texas facility. ^[16]

In June 2013, nine guards were convicted of smuggling contraband into the Ector County Correctional Center, and received sentences in federal prison. ^[17]

See also

• Prison-industrial complex
• Drug treatment
• Social Services

References