Trump Administration Okays Continued Use of Privately Run Prisons

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team The Trump administration announced this week it will allow the federal Bureau of Prisons to continue contracting out prison services to private companies. Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memo rescinding an Obama administration memo that had directed the federal government to phase out and ultimately stop relying on private prisons. Sessions’ order says the earlier memo “changed long-standing policy and practice, and impaired...

Reforming Private Prisons from the Inside

The Tennessean publishes article by Constantine Cannon whistleblower lawyers Anne Hartman and Sarah Poppy Alexander (November 2, 2016).   Click here to read the article.

The New Federal Rules on Private Prisons Will Not End Private Prisons — But There May Be Another Answer

By Anne Hayes Hartman and Sarah Poppy Alexander As we recently argued in The Tennessean, the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) decision to end the use of private prisons for select federal facilities is a first step towards reforming the industry.  However, DOJ’s announcement will have only a limited impact.  Only 13 federal Bureau of Prisons facilities are affected, leaving the remaining privately run facilities, including other federal facilities for Immigration...

Reform conditions in prisons

Albany Times Union (April 1, 2015) Click here to read the article.

Prisons: In Jail, But Not Sentenced

 Americas Quarterly (Winter 2013). Click here to read the article.

Read the Essay Submitted by Inina Kachelmeier in the Second Annual Law School Scholarship Contest

The Constantine Cannon whistleblower team is pleased to share with you the Second Place Winner of the firm’s Second Annual Law School Whistleblower Essay Contest.  That award goes to Inina Kachelmeier, a first-year student at Northeastern University School of Law, Class of 2024. Inina received a Bachelor of Science in Biology, with minors in English and Economics, from the Robert D. Clark Honors College of the University of Oregon.  She has taught English in Korea and...

Can the False Claims Act Protect Immigration Detainees from Forced Labor?

By William Greenlaw A recent human rights case raises a novel question of False Claims Act applicability: when private immigration detention facilities defraud the government by forcing individuals into labor. The federal government has a vast regulatory and statutory scheme meant to stop federal contractors from using trafficked labor. But forced labor in detention facilities has historically been overlooked. After a recent Fifth Circuit decision, that may no longer be...

June 25, 2021

Alabama-based NaphCare Inc. has agreed to pay nearly $700,000 to settle allegations of violating the False Claims Act in connection with healthcare services provided to inmates housed in an Indiana-based Federal Bureau of Prisons facility.  Between 2014 and 2020, NaphCare allegedly defaulted to charging the government for higher-level services than were provided when physicians failed to indicate the level of service provided.  DOJ

Arizona Software Glitch Keeps Prisoners Incarcerated, Until the Whistleblowers Showed Up

In a story straight out of a dystopian novel, a faulty computer system has kept Arizona prisoners locked up beyond their release date.  A government contractor, Business & Decision, North America, built a system that is supposed to calculate each person’s release date.  In exchange, the contractor received $24 million from the state.  The system, however, didn’t work, leaving hundreds of people behind bars who should have been freed. Two...

Constantine Cannon continues its commitment to ending abuses in private detention facilities

This week, Constantine Cannon is proud to continue its representation as pro bono counsel to Immigrant Legal Resource Center, Human Rights Watch, and Freedom for Immigrants in supporting California’s efforts to end the use of private immigration detention facilities in the state.  Last spring, we filed a “friend of the court” brief for these same organizations in the district court in opposition to the Geo Group’s efforts to stop the...