Private Prison Profiteers and Policy Priorities
What we can learn from Tennessee's DCS crisis
The continued revelations about conditions for children held in the custody of Tennessee’s Department of Children’s Services (DCS) raise serious questions about the state’s policy priorities.
A recent piece in the Tennessee Lookout details some of the concerns:
Children in DCS custody who become too “disruptive” when forced to sleep in offices are being sent to hospitals – in some cases for up to 100 days – because the agency lacks appropriate places to care for them. DCS could not immediately say how many children were affected or which hospitals are housing them.
So, yes, some children are sleeping in DCS offices because there aren’t enough facilities to properly house them.
Quin is also seeking a pay hike for officers at Wilder Youth Development Center, which houses kids who have committed crimes. A recent report detailed numerous allegations of abuse of teens by staff. Starting salaries are $27,000; Quin is seeking a $1 million budget increase to bring salaries in line with Tennessee Department of Corrections officers, which begins at $45,000 annually.
Reading this story, I’m reminded that the State of Tennessee has a surplus in excess of $2 billion. In short, there’s really no excuse for not properly funding DCS so they can properly care for the kids in their custody. There’s no reason for the pitifully low salaries of DCS staffers except that policymakers have been turning a blind eye to the needs of children in DCS care.
I’m also reminded of the lobbying power of the private prison industry in our state.
While private prisons have a murder rate 4 times that of Tennessee’s public facilities, Tennessee-based CoreCivic continues to enjoy generous state contracts - paying nearly $200 million a year.
Of course, as Ian Round in the Daily Memphian notes:
CoreCivic gave $107,490 to Tennessee politicians and PACs from July to September, a campaign finance report filed Oct. 5 shows. In the past year, the company has spent $209,990 on lobbying.
Maybe if kids had hundreds of thousands of dollars to spend on lobbying and campaigns, lawmakers would take a look at the conditions in DCS and take action to correct them.