Pages

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!


Saturday, April 21, 2012

ACLU sounds off on Southwest Ranches Prison Plans


Throughout this fight people have taken sides or decided not to depending on how vocal or politically involved they feel they should be.  Today, the American Civil Liberties Union has taken a side in the fight against this prison in the Town of Southwest Ranches. 

They published an Op Ed piece in the Sun Sentinel today (4/21/2012) calling on leaders to stop the project.  The ACLU argues that,
Privatized incarceration presents a grave threat to human rights.   
This part will continue to fall on the deaf ears of the town council and "leaders" in Southwest Ranches who seem to not care about the proliferation of private prisons and the violence that goes on inside them.  I think the more poignant statements that they may/may not actually listen to is when they combat CCA's claims that this will bring jobs and growth.
CCA claims that its prisons "can mean a real difference in the quality of life for local residents." But new prisons, whether public or private, deliver few benefits. A 2010 study by researchers at Washington State University and Ohio State University noted "the failure of prisons to spur growth."
Two weeks ago, the government announced the deal was off, only to backpedal hours later. What that dance means is anyone's guess, but this much is certain: the project should be stopped.
The town's ardent prison supporters keep claiming that this prison will create growth, jobs or even lower taxes...  I think that this argument can finally be put to rest.  What we see is a new town that has over committed to parks, museums and similar liabilities.  Combine this with much needed road and infrastructure improvements and you've got a hole in a budget so huge you're looking for anything to fill it.  Is this poor budget management on the Town Council's part?

Another reason why the Town should not be obligated to this prison scheme comes directly from CCA attorney Sam Poole. He said that the "Town is not obligated to enter into the IGSA with ICE" (public statement made at Country Estates HOA Meeting on April 2, 2012).   CCA is free to exercise it's property rights, however bringing the Town into a deal for them to exercise those property rights should never have been on the table and is in no way apart of CCA being able to exercise those rights. 

For what possible reason could there be now for the Town to sign the IGSA with ICE?  I will leave you with your own conclusions...

This article was written by Ryann Greenberg
Posted by at
Labels: , , ,

1 comment:

  1. AnonymousApril 24, 2012 at 5:00 PM

    that new town hall is very nice, too bad its tainted with CCA money made off imprisoning people for profit.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your comments. Your comment will be posted by the moderator. Any threats of people are discouraged and as such those comments will be removed. Thank you for contributing to our conversation on the Southwest Ranches ICE/CCA Detention Center

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)