New Mexico Prison Closure to Impact 300 Workers

MILAN, N.M. — The upcoming closure of the Cibola County Correctional Center in Milan is set to relocate approximately 1,200 inmates to other facilities and leave some 300 employees without work. The facility, which is run by the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) of Nashville, Tenn., is scheduled to close in late September.

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Prison Ecology Project Addresses Environmental Issues in Prisons

LAKE WORTH, Fla. — The Prison Ecology Project was formed earlier this year in order to address the problems that arise when prisons negatively impact the environment. Not only can inmates face possible health and safety risks, but the land and surrounding communities can be impacted as well.

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Geo Group Announces New Contracts in Oklahoma, Pennsylvania

BOCA RATON, Fla. — The Geo Group of Boca Raton, Fla., announced on Dec. 30 that it has signed contracts with the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) for the continued management of both the Moshannon Valley Correctional Center in Phillipsburg, Pa., and for the reactivation of the Great Plains Correctional Facility in Hinton, Okla.

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Federal Government Reviewing Solitary Confinement Practices

WASHINGTON — The Federal Bureau of Prisons recently agreed to conduct a comprehensive review of solitary confinement practices in its correctional facilities to determine the monetary and public safety repercussions of the current policy. The federal agency will hire an independent auditor to review the practice. The federal prison system is larger than any of the individual state systems, holding 215,000 inmates.

Senator Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) spearheaded the review. Durbin believes the practice of solitary confinement has gone on for too long.

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Inmate-to-Inmate Phone Calls Found to Be a Significant Security Threat

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. — JLG Technologies and Inmate Calling Solutions (ICSolutions), a Keefe Group Company, recently developed new technology that can detect every time an inmate at a correctional facility communicates with another inmate — whether at another facility, within the same facility, different facilities under the same agency or inmates in different states, assuming both facilities have the technology.

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Recycling Efforts Recognized at FCI-McDowell

WELCH, W.Va. — All the Federal Bureau of Prisons are required to have a recycling program, but the program at FCI-McDowell in Welch, W.Va., is receiving praise for going above and beyond — and creating savings for the facility.

The program started back in 2010 and has been creating a buzz around the facility and in the correctional industry.

“In the first quarter of this year [2012] we’ve diverted 227,859 pounds of waste from the facility,” said M. Austin, recycling technician at McDowell.

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