Management and Training Corporation

Management and Training Corporation
Headquarters Centerville, Utah, U.S.
Website mtctrains.com

Management & Training Corporation or MTC is a Centerville, Utah-based contractor that manages private prisons. MTC's core business is in Corrections, Education & Training, MTC Medical, and Economic & Social Development. MTC is the largest operator of the U.S. Department of Labor Job Corps program in the country . MTC operates or partners in operating 22 Job Corps centers across the country. MTC also operates 24 correctional facilities in eight states.[1]

Education & Training

As the nation's largest Job Corps operator , MTC contracts with the U.S. Department of Labor in operating or partnering in operating centers in Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Minnesota, California, Utah, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois, Hawaii, Texas, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Florida, and Mississippi.[2]

Corrections

MTC is the third largest U.S. operator of correctional facilities with a capacity to serve more than 31,000 offenders.[3] MTC's philosophy is 'rehabilitation through education' and offers inmates a wide variety of programming, including GED, adult basic education, substance abuse, life skills, and vocational training.[4] Twelve MTC correctional facilities have earned American Correctional Association accreditation ACA, meaning the facilities exceed national standards and implement state-of-the-art safety and security policies and procedures. Ten MTC correctional facilities exceed Correctional Education Association CEA, standards for educational programming. Various MTC facilities are also accredited by the Licensed Substance Abuse Treatment Facility organization, the National Commission on Correctional Health Care and The Joint Commission.[5]

On August 18, 2016, Deputy U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates announced that the Justice Department intended to end its contracts with for-profit prison operators, because it concluded "...the facilities are both less safe and less effective at providing correctional services..." than the Federal Bureau of Prisons. In response, MTC's spokesperson, Issa Arnita, said, it was “disappointed” to learn about the DOJ’s decision. “If the DOJ’s decision to end the use of contract prisons were based solely on declining inmate populations, there may be some justification, but to base this decision on cost, safety and security, and programming is wrong.”[6] In a memorandum, Yates continued, for-profit "...prisons served an important role during a difficult period, but time has shown that they compare poorly to our own Bureau facilities. They simply do not provide the same level of correctional services, programs, and resources; they do not save substantially on costs; and as noted in a recent report by the Department's Office of Inspector General, they do not maintain the same level of safety and security. The rehabilitative services that the Bureau provides, such as educational programs and job training, have proved difficult to replicate and outsource and these services are essential to reducing recidivism and improving public safety."[7] However; the findings of the report have been called into question and discredited in several articles including a Bloomberg report by Paul Barrett titled /The Justice Department used Shaky Statistics to Drop Private Prisons and a National Review report by Sasha Volokh titled "The DOJ's Misguided Withdrawal from Private Prisons". Contractors including MTC argue the Inspector General report was an apples to oranges comparison. Even the Inspector General report noted concerns with the comparison: "Moreover, we were unable to compare the overall costs of incarceration between BOP institutions and contract prisons in part because of the different nature of the inmate populations and programs offered in those facilities."[8] "We note that we were unable to evaluate all of the factors that contributed to the underlying data, including the effect of inmate demographics and facility locations."[9] Read MTC's full response to the Inspector General report here.[10]

MTC Medical

MTC Medical provides medical and dental care to prisoners at 14 facilities:[11]

Economic & Social Development

MTC created its Economic & Social Development division in 2004. MTC has provided technical assistance in multiple locations around the world. Work has included vocational assessments, small and medium enterprise development, training for marginalized populations including women and youth, executive training, national skill set development, technical vocational education and training system design and implementation, among many others. Projects have included work in China, Haiti, Iraq, Palestine, South Sudan, Mongolia, Jordan, and Tunisia.[12]

Background

MTC was founded in 1981 by Robert L. Marquardt, (1925-2012)[13] when Morton Thiokol decided to divest its Job Corps training division. Marquardt, who worked for Morton, and his partners, borrowed $3.5 million to purchase the spin-off.

Controversies

On October 25, 2003, a 90-minute prison race riot broke out at MTC's low-security Eagle Mountain Community Correctional Facility in Eagle Mountain, California Some 150 mostly Hispanic prisoners attacked black inmates with meat cleavers, kitchen knives, broom handles, rocks, pipes, crutches and fire extinguishers. The privately employed guards retreated, while state correctional officers were called in from distant state facilities.[14] Two inmates were stabbed to death, seven others were critically injured, some airlifted out, and dozens more hurt. Eight short-term inmates were ultimately charged with and convicted of murder.[15] The facility was closed by the end of the year.

In November 2007, four MTC employees at the Willacy Detention Center in Raymondville, Texas were charged in relation to their use of company vehicles to smuggle illegal immigrants through checkpoints. They were allegedly caught smuggling 28 illegal immigrants through the U.S. Border Patrol's Sarita checkpoint, situated approximately 100 miles north of Brownsville. The immigrants were from Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. Two of the men charged were wearing their uniforms and driving a company van, apparently overloaded with the immigrants.[16]

On 30 July 2010, three homicidal prisoners escaped from the Arizona State Prison – Kingman after MTC workers ignored alarms indicating a breached fence. They had cut through the fence with tools tossed to them by a getaway car driver.[17] Two MTC employees resigned in the wake of the escape, a unit warden and a unit security chief.[18] On September 20, the Arizona Department of Corrections released a report which stated that the escape went undetected for an unknown period of time because the security system between the perimeter fences, which should have detected the prisoners passing through, had been incorrectly installed and had not worked properly for the previous two and a half years.[19] One killer escapee, who absconded outside the fence with the getaway car, was captured 28 hours later after a shootout with law enforcement in Rifle, Colorado. He was eventually sentenced to 48 years in the Colorado prison system. Two truck drivers were robbed, hijacked and kidnapped by the other two killers and their accomplice. “This is the first major glitch we’ve had, and I pray they pick the two guys up and nobody gets hurt,” said Robert Marquardt.[20] Three days later, the ringleader hijacked, kidnapped, killed and incinerated two vacationers in New Mexico. He and his fellow escapee and their accomplice were captured within 20 days. Two are now serving life terms in federal prisons and their accomplice got a 40-year federal sentence.[21] Subsequently, corrections officials stopped sending new inmates to the facility, which they stated was "dysfunctional." MTC threatened to sue the state for breach of contract, which guaranteed the facility 97% occupancy, and for the loss of $10 million in revenue from empty beds. The state renegotiated the contract and paid MTC $3 million.[22]

On June 22, 2011, MTC Security Officer Edwin Rodriguez at the Willacy facility was arrested, and subsequently charged with the sexual abuse of a female detainee.[23][24][25][26][27][28]

In 2013, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the East Mississippi Correctional Facility (EMCF), operated by the MTC, which they described as an "extremely dangerous facility" where "basic human rights are violated daily." The lawsuit claimed that rats crawled over prisoners in their beds so often that sometimes they were captured, put on leashes and sold as pets to seriously mentally ill inmates.[29] Many prisoners had reportedly been unable to access appropriate medical care, even for life threatening conditions.[30][31]

In July 2014, a portion of an internal ceiling collapsed in a dayroom at the Diboll Correctional Center in Texas. A number of inmates were taken to the hospital. One was listed as being in critical condition.[32]

In November 2014, Mississippi Corrections Commissioner Christopher Epps was arraigned on charges of organizing a massive corruption scheme in which he received $1,900,000 in bribes in exchange for lucrative contracts to private prison and subcontractor firms including MTC, with ties to Cecil B. McCrory, a Republican former state legislator. According to the indictment, the bribes occurred when the MTC-operated EMCF was descending into "hellish chaos" with gang violence routine, medical care substandard and corruption rampant among corrections officers.[33] On February 25, 2015, Epps pleaded guilty to tax evasion and taking bribes. He took "about $2 million" in exchange for prison contracts.[34] After Epps was indicted, Governor Phil Bryant quickly ordered the $60 million MTC contract to operate three Mississippi prisons: Walnut Grove Correctional Facility, East Mississippi Correctional Facility and Marshall County Correctional Facility, which had been managed by GEO Group, and a fourth, Wilkinson County Correctional Facility, which had been managed by the Corrections Corporation of America, all of which involved McCrory and Epps, to be renegotiated.[35] MTC had been sued for mistreatment of inmates in two of those prisons.[36] McCrory plea bargained to lesser federal charges. He had begun working as a consultant to GEO Group, which had paid him $10,000 monthly. MTC subsequently won all four contracts and hired McCrory as a consultant. It fired him after the indictments were announced against Epps and McCrory, claiming they had known nothing of McCrory's criminal activities. Epps was scheduled to be sentenced on June 9, 2015, but on June 8 federal authorities first announced that the sentencing was indefinitely delayed.[37] Cecil McCrory, co-defendant in the Epps case, has moved to withdraw his guilty plea and have a trial scheduled. Consequently, the sentencing of Epps was again postponed.[38] The sentencing of Epps and Brandon businessman McCrory last scheduled for July 19, 2016, was again delayed by Judge Henry Travillion Wingate to give their defense lawyers additional time to review materials concerning how much money was gained by 15 corporations paying bribes to the pair. Prosecutors hope to use the evidence to increase the recommended prison sentences for Epps and McCrory. Epps faces a possible 23 years after his 2015 guilty plea to money laundering and filing false tax returns related to $1.47 million in bribes.[39] In mid-June 2016, in the face of declining prison populations and the removal of juveniles to more suitable facilities, the state announced it would close the Walnut Grove Correctional Facility. That was accomplished on September 16, 2016. It was anticpated to have a devastating effect on the local economy.[40][41]

On January 19, 2015, 23-year-old inmate Neil Early died in a hospital in Las Vegas after being sexually and fatally assaulted in MTC's Kingman, Arizona, Golden Valley State Prison. A search of the prison turned up numerous weapons, illegal cell phones and a quantity of heroin. A guard working a 16-hour shift had been supervising 200 inmates at the time of the attack on Early.[42] Early's parents filed suit for millions against the state, MTC and a prison medical provider alleging delayed medical intervention after he was found beaten and sexually assaulted.[43]

On February 21, 2015, inmates at the MTC-operated "tent" prison in Willacy County, Texas rioted over issues such as poor medical care. The prison was rendered "uninhabitable" according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which had contracted with MTC to manage 2,800 inmates.[44] About two thousand inmates participated in the riot, which required intervention by federal, state and local law enforcement, and all of the inmates were soon removed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.[45] MTC informed the state that all its employees would be laid off by March 9, 2015.[46] In March, 2015, the bonds that paid for the construction of the prison were lowered to "junk" status by Standard & Poors.[47]

On July 1st, 2nd and 4th, 2015, riots broke out once again at the Arizona State Prison-Kingman, at Golden Valley, which had "a long history of problems." Nine guards and seven inmates were injured, and the state brought in 96 members of its special tactical unit to quell the disturbances.[48][49] In August 2015, Arizona governor Doug Ducey terminated the contract with MTC after an Arizona Department of Corrections investigative report revealed the company had "a culture of disorganization, disengagement, and disregard" of DOC policies.[50] Five competitor for-profit prison corporations indicated an interest in operating the facilities upon MTC's departure. It was ultimately awarded to Florida's GEO Group, effective December 1, 2015. GEO had contributed $2,000 to Ducey's 2014 campaign for Governor, plus $50,000 more to an Independent expenditure Superpac that exclusively supported Ducey's candidacy.[51][52]

A July 2016 rally by 100 opponents of an MTC immigration prison proposal for Hopkins Park, Illinois followed local rejection of such proposals by larger competitors Corrections Corporation of America in Joliet and Crete, Illinois, and GEO Group in Hobart and Gary, Indiana due to similar protests. Protesters also cited the recent loss of MTC's Arizona State Prison – Kingman contract, a result of that state's negative characterization of MTC's prison operation.[53]

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.mtctrains.com/overview-mission, Management & Training Corporation
  2. ↑ http://www.mtctrains.com/locations/job-corp-centers, Management & Training Corporation
  3. ↑ Obituary Dr. Robert L. Marquardt, Salt Lake City Tribune, January 15, 2012. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  4. ↑ http://www.mtctrains.com/corrections/mtc-keys-to-success, Management & Training Corporation
  5. ↑ http://www.mtctrains.com/corrections/corrections-performance-results, Management & Training Corporation
  6. ↑ Justice Department says it will end use of private prisons, Washington Post, Matt Zapotosky & Chico Harlan, August 8, 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  7. ↑ Reducing Our Use of Private Prisons, United States Department of Justice, Sally Q. Yates, August 18, 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  8. ↑ https://oig.justice.gov/reports/2016/e1606.pdf, Page 11
  9. ↑ https://oig.justice.gov/reports/2016/e1606.pdf, Executive Summary ii
  10. ↑ http://www.mtctrains.com/corrections/DOJ-Announcement-to-End-Private-Prisons-is-Fundamentally-Flawed
  11. ↑ http://www.mtctrains.com/locations/mtc-medial-sites
  12. ↑ http://www.mtctrains.com/international-development/projects
  13. ↑ Obituary Dr. Robert L. Marquardt, Salt Lake City Tribune, January 15, 2012. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  14. ↑ Warren, Jenifer (2003-10-29). "Inmates Are Moved After Riot Kills 2: A melee at a privately run state prison in Riverside County prompts officials to transfer out more than 130 detainees". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2015-01-08.
  15. ↑ Sahagun, Louis; Lance Pugmire (2004-03-04). "8 Charged in '03 Prison Riot Killings: Inmates face murder counts over the slayings of two convicts in a melee at the privately run Eagle Mountain in Riverside County". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2015-01-08.
  16. ↑ "Detention center workers charged in scheme to smuggle immigrants (Houston Chronicle)". Detention Watch Network. 2007-11-13. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
  17. ↑ Arizona Prison Break, by Nate Carlisle The Salt Lake Tribune August 12, 2010
  18. ↑ "2 private prison officials resign after Arizona inmates escape". Kingman, AZ: Columbus Dispatch. August 16, 2010.
  19. ↑ "Arizona releases report on prison escapes". United Press International. September 21, 2010.
  20. ↑ Utah family business taking heat for Arizona prison escape, Salt Lake Tribune, Nate Carlisle, August 6, 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  21. ↑ Woman linked to prison break murders wasn't "brave enough" to stop it, Las Vegas Review Journal, Dave Hawkins, March 9, 2015. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  22. ↑ Chris Kirkham (19 September 2013). Prison Quotas Push Lawmakers To Fill Beds, Derail Reform. The Huffington Post. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
  23. ↑ "Texas Contract Security Officer Charged with Sexual Abuse". Justice.gov. 2011-06-23. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
  24. ↑ "Texas immigrant detention center guard charged | texas, guard, immigrant". Brownsville Herald. 2011-06-23. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
  25. ↑ "Former detention center guard pleads not guilty to abusing immigrant | Lubbock Online | Lubbock Avalanche-Journal". Lubbock Online. 2011-06-27. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
  26. ↑ "Former jailer charged with having sex with inmate in Willacy County : News". ValleyCentral.com. 2011-06-23. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
  27. ↑ "A south Texas contract security guard is charged with sexual abuse". Ice.gov. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
  28. ↑ "Texas immigrant detention center guard charged". Allvoices.com. 2011-06-23. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
  29. ↑ Filipovic, Jill (2013), "America's private prison system is a national disgrace", The Guardian, retrieved 13 June 2013
  30. ↑ Goode, Erica (2014-06-07). "Seeing Squalor and Unconcern in a Mississippi Jail". New York Times. Retrieved 2015-01-08.
  31. ↑ Southern Poverty Law Center (2014). "SPLC court filing details barbaric conditions at private prison in Mississippi". SPLC Report. 44 (4). Retrieved 2015-01-08.
  32. ↑ Suspended ceiling collapses at private prison in Diboll; inmates being transported, by Rhonda Oaks and Kelsey Samuels, 19 July 2014, The Lufkin News
  33. ↑ Timothy Williams (November 6, 2014). Christopher Epps, Former Chief of Prisons in Mississippi, Is Arraigned, The New York Times, November 7, 2014. Retrieved December 2, 2014.
  34. ↑ Chris Epps Cecil McCrory plead guilty to corruption, Clarion-Ledger, Jerry Mitchell and Jimmie E. Gates. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  35. ↑ Bryant orders rebidding of contracts in wake of Epps indictment, Mississippi Business Journal, November 7, 2014. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  36. ↑ "Bryant orders prison contracts rebid" (Archive). WAPT. November 7, 2014. Retrieved on 12 September 2016.
  37. ↑ Gates, Jimmie E. "Former MDOC Commissioner Chris Epps' sentencing delayed" (Archive). Clarion Ledger. June 8, 2015. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  38. ↑ Epps sentencing delayed; McCrory wants to withdraw plea, The Clarion Ledger, Jerry Mitchell, April 11, 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  39. ↑ Plans to sentence former Mississippi Corrections Commissioner Christopher Epps and Brandon businessman Cecil McCrory on July 19 are in peril after a judge delayed hearing sentencing-related evidence, Greenfield Reporter, Jeff Amy (AP), June 09, 2016. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
  40. ↑ pender, Geoff (13 June 2016). "Walnut Grove mayor: Prison closure could cripple MS town". Clarion-Ledger. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  41. ↑ Walnut Grove Prison is officially closed, Jackson Free Press, Arielle Dreher, September 15, 2016. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
  42. ↑ Inmate's death in Kingman prison was murder, officials say, Kingman Daily Miner, Doug McMurdo, February 16, 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
  43. ↑ Murdered inmate's family sues state, former Kingman prison operator, Kingman Daily Miner, Doug McMurdo, December 7, 2015. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
  44. ↑ Willacy County Prison Taken Over By Thousands Of Inmates, Associated Press, February 21, 2015. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  45. ↑ After riot, jailers remove 570 inmates from Willacy County tent prison, Valley Central, February 23, 2015. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  46. ↑ Prison company: Inmates in Willacy County may have planned riot, My SA, Aaron Nelsen. March 2, 1015. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  47. ↑ S&P Drops South Texas Private Prison to Junk, The Bond Buyer, Richard Williamson, March 25, 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  48. ↑ Hundreds of Arizona inmates to be moved following riots , Associated Press, July 3, 2015. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  49. ↑ State sends special forces to quell Kingman Prison Riot, Arizona Central, Craig Harris and Jerod MacDonald-Evoy, July 5, 2015. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  50. ↑ Craig Harris (August 27, 2015). Arizona cuts ties with private-prison operator over Kingman riot. The Arizona Republic. Retrieved August 28, 2015.
  51. ↑ Private prison company facing sex harassment suit wins state contract, The Arizona Republic, Craig Harris, October 27, 2015. Retrieved 29 October 2015.
  52. ↑ Five private prison companies interested in Kingman facility, KJZZ, Alexandra Olgin, September 8, 2015. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  53. ↑ Pembroke residents say detention center isn't welcome, Daily Journal (Illinois), Jeff Bonty, July 18, 2016. Retrieved 19 July 2016.

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