MTC contracts with the U.S. Department of Labor in operating or partnering in operating Job Corps centers in Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Minnesota, Idaho, California, Utah, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois, Hawaii, Texas, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Florida, and Mississippi.
It offers inmates a wide variety of programming, including GED, adult basic education, substance abuse, life skills, and vocational training.
"[9] Yates said in a memorandum, ...[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 (O.I.G.
[10]A Bloomberg News journalist questioned the findings,[11] as did the National Review,[12] For-profit prison operators, including MTC, said that the DOJ report lacked objectivity.
's report noted some difficulties with its conclusions, to wit: "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.
"[13] "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.
Some 150 mostly Latino prisoners attacked black inmates with meat cleavers, kitchen knives, broom handles, dust pans, rocks, pipes, crutches and fire extinguishers.
In November 2007, four MTC employees at the Willacy Detention Center in Raymondville, Texas were charged for using 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, approximately 100 miles north of Brownsville.
[20] On June 22, 2011, MTC Security Officer Edwin Rodriguez was arrested, and subsequently charged with the sexual abuse of a female detainee.
[21][22][23] On February 21, 2015, nearly 2,000 inmates at the Willacy County Correctional Center "tent" prison rioted over issues such as poor medical care.
In a lawsuit filed in early December, the county claimed MTC failed to properly "oversee, manage, and repair" the facility and "turned a blind eye to the enormous problems that plagued the Prison from its inception."
Before obtaining the CAR contract, the tent prison was an immigrant detention center that was alleged to harbor chronic sexual assault, physical abuse, and medical neglect.
The Texas ACLU had long alleged that private prison contractors running institutions such as Willacy cut corners in order to boost shareholder profits.
[33] On September 20, the Arizona Department of Corrections reported 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 it had not worked properly for the previous two and a half years.
MTC threatened to sue the state for breach of contract, which had guaranteed the facility 97% occupancy, and for the loss of $10 million in revenue from empty beds.
[38] On January 19, 2015, 23-year-old inmate Neil Early died in a hospital in Las Vegas after being sexually and fatally assaulted in the MTC-operated prison located in Golden Valley, Arizona.
[50] In November 2014, MTC was named among numerous private firms in corruption charges during the arraignment of Mississippi Corrections Commissioner Christopher Epps; he was charged with receiving $1,900,000 in bribes in exchange for lucrative contracts to private prison and subcontractor firms, which had ties to Cecil McCrory, a Republican former state legislator.
[57] The sentencing was delayed by the judge to allow defense lawyers additional time to review materials concerning how much money was gained by 15 corporations paying bribes to the pair.
[63] The lawsuit claims the companies violated Mississippi public ethics, racketeering, and antitrust laws, and it was suing to recover costs and penalties of the corrupt contracts.
[67] On January 24, 2019, the Mississippi Attorney General's office announced [68] it had collected a total of $27 million in lawsuits filed against companies accused of funneling bribes and kickbacks to Epps.
Larger competitors had also been rejected: Corrections Corporation of America in Joliet and Crete, Illinois, and GEO Group in Hobart and Gary, Indiana due to similar protests.
[70] In a 24-month period ending in 2016, there were 175 incidents of violence requiring disciplinary action at the Correctional Alternative Placement Program (CAPP) in Kuna, a 430-bed facility.
[5][71] State Representative David Richardson, a legislative watchdog, made frequent surprise visits over a year and a half to the Gadsden Correctional Facility in Quincy, which holds over 1,500 women.
MTC spokesman Issa Arnita acknowledged that management a year earlier, became "...aware of hot water issues at the facility."
On February 23, 2017, Richardson returned for a scheduled visit accompanied by two other legislators and the director of the Florida Department of Management Services (DMS) which is responsible for overseeing the operations of, and conditions within, private prisons.
When Richardson returned with two investigators from the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC), as requested by the DMS Office of the Inspector General, other problems were revealed at the prison.
Although prisoners said they had been intimidated against complaining to inspectors and feared retaliation, one had sent Richardson a detailed list of 23 serious plumbing problems in just a single housing unit.
[73] In February 2017, Richardson requested Governor Rick Scott to direct state officials to take over management of the prison, warning that the health and safety of inmates was at risk.