I work for the Geo Group and the some problems that plague the state system effect the privates. and the benifits are pretty good compared to other places. There is a double standard when it comes to comparing privates to publics that eventually you get used to. The state tends to send you the inmates they dont want to deal with and then compare you to the state facilities when your level of violence is higher then the state facilities. There is a strong message to stay within your budget and focus on wastefull practices that the state facilities dont have to worry about. The one thing that is better is that if you need something like equipment you dont have to wait as long as the state facilities do. You also can address issues like practices and procedures that dont work, you can also address staff problems alot quicker than the state can. I have worked on both sides and can tell you i wont work in state corrections again.

I work in Folkston, Georgia for Cornell Companies, at D. Ray James Prison. We currently house about 1860 inmates, and do not have nearly enough officers to adequately monitor the inmates or keep ourselves safe ( I believe we are somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 officers short). Unfortunately, it seems that the company could care less about anything but profit. They just opened a new U.S. Marshalls Detention Center and are set to break ground on yet another facility. When the U.S. Marshalls Detention Center was opened, it’s staff was drawn from the already short-handed D. Ray James state prison. I am currently responsible for trying to maintain order for 200 inmates by myself on a daily basis, as are many of my fellow officers. Too many of the officers there now are so overworked, and the management has yet to reduce the movement of the inmates to accomodate the staff we have to manage them, they just tell us to do our jobs and don’t want to heat complaints. There is no way to maintain our own safety or assure the safety of the inmates we monitor. All officers have to tolerate physical assaults, verbal threats of violence and death, being masturbated on and verbally disrespected on a daily basis, the whole while, the management states that we need to always maintain a professional demeanor when talking to inmates…even if they are threatening towards us. Most recently, inmates have assaulted a Captain, A Major, 2 Lieutenants and several Corrections Officers. The word through the inmate grapevine is “You have not seen anything yet, wait until this summer and Officers will be falling left and right in the facility, because some inmates are planning it right now”. I think private facilities are more concerned with lawsuits which could affect their bottom line then they are the safety of their officers or the inmates they house. We have problems with drugs and cell phones being brought in by “dirty officers” and it seems nothing can be done about it. While I agree that there is a fair amount of inmate dealings that has been presented in the form of the female officers who get tied up with inmates and have sexual relations with them, it seems that they are so preoccupied with “watching” the female officers that they let they male officers get away with anything they want to. I have seen male officers sit and watch movies with inmates, sit at tables and play games with inmates, take bribes, steal cornell property, and yet, if a female officer has an inmate speaking to her, she is soon advised that “they” are watching her because she was talking to an inmate. I have no idea who to turn to with my issues, any advice would be greatly appreciated!! I like my job very much and still believe in what I am supposed to be doing. Starting pay right now is $8.56 an hour. After training, you go to $9.15 an hour,and, after 6 months, you go up to $11.15 an hour, overtime is plentiful, your insurance benefits kick in on the first day of the month following the month you were hired with; company paid and employee paid optional life insurance, medical, dental, vision, limited health, 401K, short term and long term disability..while you do pay for those benefits, it is not unreasonable. The company matches your 401 k contribution, and provides a $50 reimbursement per pay period to off-set the cost of your limited medical plan (which is pretty much an emergency room plan, you have to be there a full year before the “good” BCBS medical plan kicks in).

We recently had a private prison in Ohio where the Officers successfully went union. Any other private facilities have any success in this?

cajungirl844: I currently work for CCA, like Keyman I have seen the C/O’s run for the hills when things hit the fan. When you go to work for a. “Private Prison Company” Remember you are working for a company. The company has only one legal obligation. It is not to the contracting jurisdictions or inmates. If the company does not proform per the contract, the sending jurisdiction can cancel the contract. It’s not to the uniformed Officers or staff. You can and will be replaced. If you have gotten any raises, you will be replaced by a lesser paid employee. The company only has a legal obligation to it’s stock holders. To be fiscally sound and make money. Just like any other business. If you are ok with that knowledge and you still want to work for any private corrections company. You will be just fine.

first of all i will say this i worked for CCA which is the largest of the private prisons but now i currently work for the BOP in the area i worked we had a fed contract and they were paying more than any law enforcement agency around in fact i took a small cut to come to work for the feds it is not a bad place to work i see alot of simialarities to the fed system and cca because it is run by ex feds it all depends on the contract that the facility has that you are thinking about working for as far as the pay goes and benifits i know i was not paying a dime for my insurance and my family was on it

Indiana here. They pay a lot less,have less benefits,and when the stuff hits the fan like it did here,the c/o’ s run like heck.The next day after we put down the riot alot of them quit.

first congrats on beating us, as for the topic, they do seem to make a little less than the state prisons, but there upper management is the same or a little more. I know that there deputies make more that ours. The biggest factor to me is that it is a job.

In Ohio, the private prisons make less money than the state prisons, and their benefits are horrible, and you have to pay for the majority of them yourself from what I hear.

I would like to hear from everyone there opinions of working for the private prisons. The pay, the benefits. I am thinking of going to work for one of the private prisons. 2 different companies have private prisons here. CCA and GEO Group Inc. Just want to see what you all have to say.