Costs of Daniels’ prison plan continue to add up

Riot costs add up for New Castle prison
By Joy Leiker
The Star Press

A riot one year ago at the New Castle Correctional Facility cost a private prison contractor more than $1.1 million in police protection, repairs and improvements.

And though that's a bullet dodged by taxpayers, they're not out of the woods yet.

What remains to be calculated is the cost of ongoing legal proceedings in Henry County, where 28 inmates are charged with dozens of felony and misdemeanor crimes. Seven of the men have pleaded guilty and their cases now are complete, but 21 others are pursuing jury trials, and they could rack up significant costs for taxpayers.

Already, taxpayers are paying for the defendants' attorneys, depositions, and in at least two cases, private investigators, according to court files.

The April 24, 2007, riot at New Castle quickly became national news as television helicopters flew above the prison recreation yard and showed images of the melee live. Inmates burned mattresses and threw beds and other furnishings out of the windows of the dormitory-style housing units. Police stormed the perimeter and used tear gas to secure the facility. Two prison employees were injured and treated at Henry County Memorial Hospital.

"I think you saw us [in] April at our worst," said Ernie Dixon, director of operations for The GEO Group, the Florida company hired in 2005 to manage the prison.

New Castle remains the state's only privatized prison. The riot occurred 15 months after GEO took over.

The riot was led by Arizona inmates, the first of whom were moved across the country a month earlier as the Arizona Department of Corrections tried to ease its overcrowded prisons by filling unused beds in Indiana. Gov. Mitch Daniels looked to the deal with Arizona as a cash cow, but it never fully developed, since Arizona called off all transfers days before the riot.

Arizona's exodus from New Castle now has begun. The first 120 inmates were flown back to their home state last week, and those transfers will continue over the next couple of months. What's left is for Arizona, Indiana, GEO and Henry County Prosecutor Kit Crane to work out an agreement on how, and where, to house Arizona offenders who still face riot-related charges.

Dixon said one of those Arizona inmates has since completed his time behind bars. But rather than being sent back to Arizona and released, he remains held here, at GEO's expense, pending his Indiana criminal case.