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The Town of Southwest Ranches, Corrections Corporation of American (CCA), and DHS / ICE want to build one of the largest immigration detention centers in the nation within walking distance of thousands of homes; thus, reducing the quality of our life and our community. We do not agree with the federal government privatizing our immigration detention centers throughout the nation when there is clear evidence that privatizing our prisons creates a clear public safety threat. For ICE to continue to privatize these institutions and bring this safety threat through their "secure communities Initiative" to our community is unacceptable. Depriving someone of their liberty is a non-delegable governmental function and privatizing of such a function is infecting our nation like a virus.

The Town of Southwest Ranches has now entered into it's THIRD Fire Contract within the last year now with the Town of Davie, costing taxpayers $120,000 in ramp up fees. They are now closing several roads in western Southwest Ranches charging the tax payers $80,000 for the gates. They have paid an unknown amount of money for lobbying with ICE regarding this prison. They have several lawsuits against the Town, 1- Involving Open Meeting Violations on a November 5th meeting concerning the ICE Detention Center, 2- Open Records Violations, and 3- The Town is putting together a lawsuit to sue Pembroke Pines for breach of contract because the City utilized their exit clause and cancelled for convenience their Fire/EMS contract which included water and sewer at the last minute for the CCA prison. In the contract it states that there should be no third party beneficiaries. CCA would be a third party in this instance.

CCA has also filed suit in Federal court against the City of Pembroke Pines saying they are denying them water however the City had never seen a water application. The City did file for a Declaratory Judgement in State Court but that has been put on hold until the Federal Court hears the suit from CCA.

Is ANYONE CONFUSED as to why the Pembroke Pines/Southwest Ranches Fire Agreement was cancelled? The Town Attorney Keith Poliakoff attempted to "slip" into the agreement a portion that guaranteed water for the prison at CCA's request. This is something that should have been brought up separately. CCA should have brought it forward on their own in a water application. This is sleight of hand that CCA and the Town attempted to do because they were so afraid of CCA being on the Pembroke Pines agenda.

As of June 2012, ICE put out a statement that the site selection was no longer needed due to the fact that the extra bedspace was no longer needed. READ UPDATE HERE!


Thursday, January 12, 2012

BROWARD "WOMEN'S" PRISON TO CLOSE

BREAKING NEWS... DATELINE JANUARY 12, 2012, SOUTHWEST RANCHES, BROWARD COUNTY, FLORIDA.

 EARLIER TODAY, CHANNEL 10 REPORTED THAT FLORIDA'S DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS ANNOUNCED THE CLOSURE OF THE "WOMEN'S" PRISON IN UNINCORPORATED BROWARD LAND ADJACENT SOUTHWEST RANCHES.




THIS FACILITY, LONG USED BY PRO PRISON ADVOCATES SUCH AS MAYOR JEFF NELSON, VICE MAYOR DOUG MCKAY AND FORMER COUNCILMAN ASTER KNIGHT AS A MAJOR RATIONALIZATION FOR SITING AN IMMIGRANT PRISON IN SOUTHWEST RANCHES, IS BEING ELIMINATED.

 IT WAS ANNOUNCED THAT THE SHERIDAN STREET BROWARD CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION (BCI)HOLDING 611 INMATES WILL CLOSE ON MAY 1ST DUE TO BUDGET PRESSURE.

THERE WILL BE A NEWS CONFERENCE THURSDAY WHICH WILL DISCUSS THIS AND OTHER PRISON CLOSURES.  IT IS UNFORTUNATE THAT THERE IS A JOB LOSS FOR THE GUARDS, BUT WE ARE HAPPY THAT THE STATE PLANS TO FILL CURRENT VACANCIES WITH THE SURPLUS EMPLOYEES TO MINIMIZE THE IMPACT ON THE GUARDS.

 LATE LAST YEAR, PEMBROKE PINES TOOK STEPS TO LOOK AT WAYS OF ELIMINATING THE 3RD SITE IN THAT IMMEDIATE AREA FROM PRISON USE.

 THIS IS NOT A TIME FOR SWR POLITICIANS AND CCA TO SCHEME A WAY TO OCCUPY THE BCI PRISON SITE, BUT IS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL TO REFLECT ON HOW TO RID OUR RURAL LIFESTYLE TOWN OF THE SCOURGE OF PRISONS ALL TOGETHER AND BEGIN TO RESTORE THIS SECTION OF THE EVERLGADES TO ITS NATURAL STATE.

 NEGOTIATIONS WITH ICE AND CCA BY SWR MUST BE CURTAILED.

 PLEASE LET TOWN COUNCIL KNOW HOW YOU FEEL TONIGHT AT THE TOWN COUNCIL MEETING WHICH WILL BE HELD AT THE NEW COUNCIL CHAMBERS AT 13400 GRIFFIN ROAD. 

 END TRANSMISSION...
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4 comments:

  1. gay chaplesJanuary 12, 2012 at 5:22 PM

    it makes no difference because the state under the guidelines of the govenor is going private. that is why they are closing it. my guess is that there will be a private prison for women that will take its place. newer ,bigger, and not run by the state or county. i hope you didn't think that they were closing the prison and just turning the inmates loose.

    ReplyDelete
  2. No CCA Immigrant Prison in Southwest RanchesJanuary 12, 2012 at 5:53 PM

    Apparently there are more than 12,000 beds empty, statewide. While the prison population is relatively flat, it has not seen the growth that was anticipated by planners a few years back.

    There is an excess of beds and a stable demand, which is probably the most logical reason why this is happening.

    In any event, this takes away a justification leaders in the town such as yourself have made in claiming that there is a prison there already, so another won't hurt.

    Please join us in ridding west Broward of these blights. Once these threats are eliminated, then we can focus on Bergeron intended uses which are incompatible with residential units in close proximity.

    Regards,
    Bill Di Scipio

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJanuary 12, 2012 at 6:35 PM

    The Governor does not have the power to privatize the prisons on his word alone. It has to be presented as a bill in Tallahassee. If he had the power it would have been done last year.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousJanuary 17, 2012 at 12:49 PM

    Private prisons are not something you want in our neighborhood. Private prisons cut corners to make their shareholders money. One of the first area cut is security, staffing and training. Facilities hire guards that aren't trained on the same level as police or sheriffs. Guards are paid about $10/hr and most aren't adequately certified. There isn't enough staffing in most facilities to quell riots and despite what CCA says, their facilities do have riots and escapes. Conditions inside promote abuse among inmates and employees.
    For profit prisons put the public at risk with their cost cutting measures. Yet this is what they want to put in our backyards near our children.

    ReplyDelete

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