VSU student Kathryn Grant asked Gov. Nathan Deal about his Immigration Enforcement
Review Board appointee
Phil Kent.
The governor responded at length.
Here’s the video:
What about Phil Kent? — Kathryn Grant to Gov. Deal @ VSU 16 Sep 2011
Student protesters,
Press Conference, Gov. Nathan Deal (VSU),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 16 September 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
-jsq
South Georgia death penalty opponents took their protest to the governor while he was in Valdosta.Governor Deal was in Valdosta to tour VSU’s nursing college but death penalty opponents confronted him about the upcoming execution of cop killer Troy Davis.
A small group of demonstrators gathered a VSU to plead for clemency for Troy Davis.
“We hope he uses his influence to the pardons and parole board to get out get rid of this execution,” said Deandre Jones, the president of the VSU’s NAACP college chapter.
Protesters approached the governor as he left the university center.
“The committee has followed the legal process and has gone through the appellate court,” said Deal.
Davis’ execution is set for Wednesday for killing an off duty Savannah police officer in 1989.
Their main question was about the impending Sept. 21st execution of Troy Anthony Davis, about whom Amnesty International says there is too much doubt.
Student protesters greet Governor Nathan Deal at Valdosta State University, 16 Sep 2011.
Pictures by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
The press had already noticed: Continue reading
8 June 2010.
A Mr. Mulligan of Bemiss Road
wanted to know who does code enforcement.
Chairman Paulk responded:
You’re looking at him. Me.
This was shortly after he said: Continue reading“I was the sheriff sixteen years; I locked up some of my best friends; that’s the way I operate.”
Three prison work details, one will be assigned to
School board or runoff; the other two to road maintenance and public parks,
for $39,500 per detail.
Commissioner Powell wondered about the start date, total hours per year, etc., and those questions were clarified by staff (about 200 days per year depending on weather).
It seems like a great opportunity and a great deal for us. Is three crews enough to do what we need to accomplish, or is there an additional need for an additional crew.Answer by Chairman and staff: no more are available.
Nobody questioned whether using prisoners for cheap was a good idea when there are many people out of work around town.
Here’s the video:
8. For Consideration – 2011-2012 Prison Detail Contract @ LCC 12 Sep 2011
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 12 September 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
-jsq
Monday morning the County Commission considers and Tuesday evening
it decides three rezonings and an appointment, plus a
Prison Detail Contract.
The appointment is to the Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Addictive Diseases Regional Planning Board, and was previously considered a month ago. According to DBHDD:
The Region Four Planning Board represents 24 counties in the region. Members are appointed by their county commissioners; they are business and civic leaders with a strong interest in mental health, developmental disabilities and addictive diseases as well as consumers or family members of consumers.The role of the Regional Planning Board is to give a voice to consumers and their families and other citizens in the region in assessing needs and recommending priorities for DBHDD services. The planning board makes recommendations about services and works with the regional office to develop an annual plan. Regional planning board members stay informed about local needs and issues and serve as advocates with public officials. The main objective of the board is to identify community needs and gaps in the current DBHDD service system and to make recommendations based on their findings.
The Georgia Department of Corrections says about Valdosta State Prison work details:
The Annex protects the public by maintaining custody of medium and minimum security offenders while providing outside work details to the community.I don’t quite understand how prisoners are being paid pennies for doing jobs that a lot of local unemployed people might want.…
VSP and Annex Inside details: Orderlies, Grounds Maintenance, Laundry, Trash, and Maintenance. The Annex provides the following outside details: Correctional Industries, Department of Transportation, Georgia State Patrol, City of Valdosta (3 details), Lowndes County (2 details), Cook County, Valdosta State Prison (2 details), Department of Transportation (Weigh Station), Valdosta Police Department, Mobile Construction and Maintenance (Outside Institution).
Here’s the agenda: Continue reading
Dean Poling and Kay Harris wrote a long article about weapons in prisons for the VDT 28 August 2011, An eye for an eye: Life behind bars, concluding:
The VDT has been trying to find out more since at least 2009, when Malynda Fulton wrote 9 November 2009, Department of Corrections says records are ‘state secrets’ or destroyed, Continue readingInmates are intelligent. All they have is time. Why? Because there is no rehabilitation anymore. They are merely being housed. The prison programs don’t work, especially for lifers with nothing else to lose. So they have plenty of time to figure out ways to beat the system.
Well, I suppose there are several morals here, such as never set your camera down, never go into a public office alone, etc.Local Realtor Doug Gilford has gained notoriety as the blogger and videographer who filmed the unlawful removal of Desert Freedom Press Publisher Jennifer Jones, from a June 28th town council meeting. The video has been viewed almost two hundred thousand times on Gilford’s YouTube channel.
Yesterday afternoon, around 3:30 Gilford was at the counter in Town Hall, filing an open records request for town hall feed surveillance tape when Assistant Town Manager Al Johnson confronted Gilford. Apparently feeling threatened, Gilford set his camera on the counter but didn’t hit record, when suddenly Johnson snatched it from across the counter. When Gilford called for police assistance, he ended up being arrested instead of Johnson.
But that’s not what seems familiar. Oh, here it is: Continue reading
Not quite rolling his eyes when she mentions visiting communities, CCA’s video pair disparage community opposition to private prisons on their own web page, When Corrections Meets Communities:
Hm, you mean like some of the material on this blog?Question: There are Web sites and blogs that are adamantly opposed to your company and industry, and they provide negative information about you. Why?
Answer: CCA and all corrections companies recognize the ongoing efforts of local, loosely formed grassroots groups and national, well-funded associations that jointly oppose the establishment of partnership prisons, many for self-serving reasons. Such groups go to great lengths to attack, criticize and misrepresent the entire industry. They make false allegations and often rely on hearsay and unreliable sources. Regrettably, these biased groups often resort to misinformation and inflammatory rhetoric to turn isolated incidents into broad generalizations about the corrections industry as a whole.Well-funded? Har! OK, not this blog. That plus we provide evidence, like Continue reading
In CCA’s 2010 Annual Report to the SEC:
CCA doesn’t like community opposition, because it reduces CCA’s ability to site prisons, which adversely affects their bottom line. Funny how that happens because a private prison company’s main goal is profit, not rehabilitation, public safety, or justice.We may face community opposition to facility location, which may adversely affect our ability to obtain new contracts. Our success in obtaining new awards and contracts sometimes depends, in part, upon our ability to locate land that can be leased or acquired, on economically favorable terms, by us or other entities working with us in conjunction with our proposal to construct and/or manage a facility. Some locations may be in or near populous areas and, therefore, may generate legal action or other forms of opposition from residents in areas surrounding a proposed site. When we select the intended project site, we attempt to conduct business in communities where local leaders and residents generally support the establishment of a privatized correctional or detention facility. Future efforts to find suitable host communities may not be successful. We may incur substantial costs in evaluating the feasibility of the development of a correctional or detention facility. As a result, we may report significant charges if we decide to abandon efforts to develop a correctional or detention facility on a particular site. In many cases, the site selection is made by the contracting governmental entity. In such cases, site selection may be made for reasons related to political and/or economic development interests and may lead to the selection of sites that have less favorable environments.
We don’t have to accept a private prison in Lowndes County, Georgia. If we tell the Industrial Authority and CCA no, CCA will probably go away.
And the more communities that tell CCA no, the less profitable they will be.
-jsq