Surprise! Lauren Book is STILL taking in GEO Group blood money

Lauren Book revels in human suffering. When Lauren and her POS father forced Registered Persons to live in squalor under the Julia Tuttle Causeway, she went there in person an smiled and laughed at the homeless that SHE put there. 

She claims to care about the children, but she collects money from GEO Group, the same group that ran a juvenile facility that was shut doewn due to rampant physical and sexual abuse in Louisiana. When confronted about this abuse from one of her bigest donors, she simply brushed off the news. 

I would not be surprised if it came out she has been to these immigration CONCENTRATION CAMPS and reveled in watching people suffer. I believe the Book Crime Family beyond being simply indifferent to human suffering. No. I believe that they ENJOY watching other people suffer. By promoting supporting the laws the drive people into homelessness and taking blood money from abusing private prison companies, they have forced thousands of people into homelessness and support locking up and abusing detainees. They are downright evil.

I propose the Book Crime Family be stripped of their ill-gotten wealth and deported to Israel. 

https://floridapolitics.com/archives/810712-lauren-book-dusts-gop-foes-with-1-3m-raised-so-far-for-sd-30/

Other contributions included $26,000 from private prison operator The GEO Group.... and $10,000 ... from ... CDR Enterprises, a Miami-based emergency management company.

CDR and The GEO Group have been the subject of some South Florida political food-fighting among Democratic candidates, as both companies have worked with state and federal agencies in arresting and detaining immigrants throughout Florida, including at the now-shuttered Alligator Alcatraz complex in the Everglades.

GEO Group (and Ron Book) to get massive profits from the tRUMP re-election

 More money for priate prisons means more money for DUI Daddy Ron Book. 

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/11/11/private-prison-stocks-jump-on-trump-appointment-of-immigration-hardliner-tom-homan.html

Private prison stocks jump on Trump appointment of immigration hard-liner Tom Homan

Published Mon, Nov 11 20249:22 AM ESTUpdated Mon, Nov 11 20244:04 PM EST

Spencer Kimball

Private prison stocks rose Monday after President-elect Donald Trump selected immigration hardliner Tom Homan as his “border czar.”

The Geo Group and CoreCivic jumped more than 4% and more than 6%, respectively. Homan served as the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement during Trump’s first term.

Trump said Sunday on Truth Social that Homan “will be in charge of all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their Country of Origin.” Homan will be responsible for the southern border, the northern border as well as all maritime and aviation security, Trump said.

Homan told a conservative conference in July that he “will run the biggest deportation operation this country has ever seen” when Trump returns to office.

“With Trump returning to the White House, there will be a far firmer embrace of Geo Group and CXW,” Isaac Boltansky, an analyst at BTIG, told clients in a Nov. 6 note. The second Trump administration would allow for contracting with the U.S. Marshals Services and the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Boltansky said.

“More importantly they would take a far more aggressive stance on border enforcement, which would impact the ICE business lines at these firms,” the analyst told clients.

(PS: As much as I'm loathe to see tRUMP back in office, seeing Lauren Book endorse a prosecutor when her whole family is full of criminals was sickening to see. Glad I vote Third Party.)

Senator Lauren Book is STILL accepting GEO Group blood money to fund her re-election campaign

Senator Book, seen here illustrating with her fingers how much she truly cares about helping others

I see Senator Rhymes-with-Crook is still taking GEO Group blood money even after they were sued in Mississippi for allowing physical and sexual abuse to take place in the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility. When confronted with the news of abuse years ago, Senator Book dismissed the news. 

Remember when the Florida Democrats banned Dems from accepting GEO Group blood money, then Lauren Book STILL collected money from them as they found ways to fund pols through PACs? Well, it seems that the Dems must've quietly repealed that rule since Book is now receiving direct payments to her :Leadership for Broward" PAC again. 

Senator Book cares more about cash than kids.

https://floridapolitics.com/archives/486493-billionaires-trust-helps-propel-lauren-books-six-figure-december-fundraising/

"Book’s committee collected $5,000 checks from The Haggard Law Firm of Coral Gables; CDR Maguire, a Miami logistics and engineering firm; FTBA TransPac, a Tampa-based transportation political committee; The Geo Group, a Boca Raton-based private prison company; the Florida Police Benevolent Association, a Tallahassee-based political committee; Manuel Kadre, a Coral Gables law firm; and Mam Title Consultants, based in North Miami."

Controversial agencies GEO Group and Correct Care Solutions are among the sponsors of Lauren's Kids

I remember when GEO Group denied giving their blood money to Senator Lauren Book in an article discussing their plans to sue Dream Defenders, a pro-immigration group that protested GEO Group's treatment of immigrant detainees.

The Florida Democratic Party also banned candidates from accepting GEO Group funds, but Lauren Book STILL received money from them.

Well, guess who is still taking GEO Group blood money? You guessed it-- Lauren Book. Below is a screenshot from her organization dated today.

Am I the only one finding it interesting that Lauren Book has accepted over $100k from a private prison group responsible for some of the worst cases of physical and sexual abuse in a juvenile detention in American history?

While we're on this subject, what about the fact Correct Care Solutions (which merged with Correctional Medical Group Companies to form a new company, Wellpath) also sponsors Lauren's Kids? They're the subject of a major lawsuit where neglect and abuse have led to miscarriages, stillbirths, and dangerous prison births. Remember the recent story of the mentally ill woman in Broward County who gave birth in her own jail cell after no one would come to her aid? That was Correct Care Solutions.

Why is it the media won't grill self-professed victim advocate Senator Lauren Book on the fact she continues to accept blood money from groups that have abused women and children? Am I the only one that finds it odd that her acceptance of this money is hypocritical of her as well as unethical? As the Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase once said, "Everybody's Got a Price." We all know the Books have a price, and it is paid with GEO Group blood money.

Guess who is STILL taking GEO Group's dirty money. Take a guess. Hint, name rhymes with "crook"

Lauren Book the so-called "child victim advocate" is STILL accepting money from GEO Group, the company that settled in a Mississippi Court for allowing rampant physical AND SEXUAL ABUSE

https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/florida-democrats-indirectly-accept-private-prison-money-from-geo-group-despite-ban-11061074

Despite Ban, Florida Democrats Still Indirectly Accepting Private-Prison Money

JERRY IANNELLI | JANUARY 29, 2019 | 9:14AM

Last year, a group of progressive activists convinced the Florida Democratic Party to stop accepting campaign donations from private, for-profit prison companies. The industry, which makes billions by keeping other human beings behind bars, immorally incentivizes cities to needlessly lock people up, many activists agree. One of America's two largest private-prison firms, Boca Raton-based GEO Group, is a major donor to both political parties.

The Democratic contribution ban was approved despite centrist members' argument the party needed the money. But GEO Group's cash has still made it into party coffers. It comes from political-action committees and lobbyists associated with GEO, state donation records show.

Most obviously, there's the Future Democratic Majority PAC, which accepted a $25,000 contribution directly from GEO on October 23. Then on November 1, the PAC donated $5,000 to the Florida Dems. Future Democratic Majority was formed last year by a team of Democratic state senators including Sens. Randolph Bracy, Linda Steward, Darryl Rouson, and Lauren Book, who is the daughter of ultralobbyist Ron Book.

The elder Book has long worked as a lobbyist for GEO. And other PACs have contributed to the party after taking his money. One of these, the "Leadership for Florida" committee, accepted $25,000 from Book on September 14 and then donated $10,000 to the state party. Before 2018, the PAC had taken $100,000 directly from GEO. "Leadership for Florida" is State Sen. Lauren Book's official campaign committee.

There's another group called Truth & Transparency, Inc., which took $40,000 from Book and $40,000 from the Future Democratic Majority PAC. Then, between October 3 and November 4, Truth & Transparency funneled a whopping $279,000 to the Florida Democratic Party in five separate donations.

Though last year's resolution says the party must "refuse donations from the registered lobbyists of, and any PACs associated with, private prison companies," Florida Democratic Party spokesperson Caroline Rowland argues that, since the money passed through multiple hands before reaching party accounts, the donations do not violate party rules.

"The Florida Democratic Party did not take money from a private prison or a lobbyist associated with a private prison," she writes in an email. "The party has not taken money from a PAC or an organization with a board member that is associated with or works for a private prison. The Florida Democratic Party will continue to follow in the spirit of this resolution, rejecting money from private prisons and lobbyists who work or associate with them."

The controversy shows how difficult it is to ban powerful donors from state politics. Although companies such as GEO can no longer directly donate to the Florida Democratic Party, those companies can still easily funnel cash through chains of committees. It's up to party activists to then sort out where PAC money ultimately comes from, a necessary but time-consuming process.

The process becomes even more complicated once lobbyists are factored in. Someone such as Book works for a seemingly endless list of clients and donates money to an avalanche of candidates and committees every year. He's as omnipresent as wallpaper. Though GEO is among his clients, some party members are hostile to the notion of refusing Book's money. According to state databases, GEO currently employs at least seven lobbyists besides Book.

Reached via phone, the party's second-in-command, former public relations and political campaign consultant Juan Peñalosa, seemed frustrated that New Times even brought up the issue. He questioned whether the newspaper would also investigate Republican donations from GEO and other private-prison firms (which New Times has done repeatedly), or if New Times was "just going after Dems." [sic]

Via phone, Peñalosa said he did not know anything about the GEO-funded PACs. "I would love to get money out of politics too, but I also have a staff to pay," Peñalosa said. He added that he knew nothing of the donations and that the party doesn't "check out the donation records of every person who gives to us."

He also said Book, for example, "gives to everyone," and that it would therefore be extremely difficult to ban him or other lobbyists of his stature from donating to the party.

Civil rights activists within the party last year were frustrated with Peñalosa after, in their opinion, he worked against passing the prison-donor ban. Peñalosa denies this, but New Times previously obtained internal party emails showing Peñalosa called portions of the ban "extremely problematic" before encouraging the party to water down the resolution's language.

In fact, the party's current stance appears to differ from what Peñalosa himself stated before the resolution was passed: In the email New Times obtained, Peñalosa told party members he was worried the party would be forced to give back donations from PACs that have taken money from GEO or other private-prison firms.

Most obviously, there's the Future Democratic Majority PAC, which accepted a $25,000 contribution directly from GEO on October 23. Then on November 1, the PAC donated $5,000 to the Florida Dems. Future Democratic Majority was formed last year by a team of Democratic state senators including Sens. Randolph Bracy, Linda Steward, Darryl Rouson, and Lauren Book, who is the daughter of ultralobbyist Ron Book.

The elder Book has long worked as a lobbyist for GEO. And other PACs have contributed to the party after taking his money. One of these, the "Leadership for Florida" committee, accepted $25,000 from Book on September 14 and then donated $10,000 to the state party. Before 2018, the PAC had taken $100,000 directly from GEO. "Leadership for Florida" is State Sen. Lauren Book's official campaign committee.

There's another group called Truth & Transparency, Inc., which took $40,000 from Book and $40,000 from the Future Democratic Majority PAC. Then, between October 3 and November 4, Truth & Transparency funneled a whopping $279,000 to the Florida Democratic Party in five separate donations.

Though last year's resolution says the party must "refuse donations from the registered lobbyists of, and any PACs associated with, private prison companies," Florida Democratic Party spokesperson Caroline Rowland argues that, since the money passed through multiple hands before reaching party accounts, the donations do not violate party rules.

"The Florida Democratic Party did not take money from a private prison or a lobbyist associated with a private prison," she writes in an email. "The party has not taken money from a PAC or an organization with a board member that is associated with or works for a private prison. The Florida Democratic Party will continue to follow in the spirit of this resolution, rejecting money from private prisons and lobbyists who work or associate with them."

The controversy shows how difficult it is to ban powerful donors from state politics. Although companies such as GEO can no longer directly donate to the Florida Democratic Party, those companies can still easily funnel cash through chains of committees. It's up to party activists to then sort out where PAC money ultimately comes from, a necessary but time-consuming process.

The process becomes even more complicated once lobbyists are factored in. Someone such as Book works for a seemingly endless list of clients and donates money to an avalanche of candidates and committees every year. He's as omnipresent as wallpaper. Though GEO is among his clients, some party members are hostile to the notion of refusing Book's money. According to state databases, GEO currently employs at least seven lobbyists besides Book.

Reached via phone, the party's second-in-command, former public relations and political campaign consultant Juan Peñalosa, seemed frustrated that New Times even brought up the issue. He questioned whether the newspaper would also investigate Republican donations from GEO and other private-prison firms (which New Times has done repeatedly), or if New Times was "just going after Dems." [sic]

Via phone, Peñalosa said he did not know anything about the GEO-funded PACs. "I would love to get money out of politics too, but I also have a staff to pay," Peñalosa said. He added that he knew nothing of the donations and that the party doesn't "check out the donation records of every person who gives to us."

He also said Book, for example, "gives to everyone," and that it would therefore be extremely difficult to ban him or other lobbyists of his stature from donating to the party.

Civil rights activists within the party last year were frustrated with Peñalosa after, in their opinion, he worked against passing the prison-donor ban. Peñalosa denies this, but New Times previously obtained internal party emails showing Peñalosa called portions of the ban "extremely problematic" before encouraging the party to water down the resolution's language.

In fact, the party's current stance appears to differ from what Peñalosa himself stated before the resolution was passed: In the email New Times obtained, Peñalosa told party members he was worried the party would be forced to give back donations from PACs that have taken money from GEO or other private-prison firms.

The defeats also have critics wondering if Florida is simply a Republican stronghold nowadays. A report last week from Politico Florida confirmed that 2018's large Republican turnout in 2018 seemed more like a presidential election than a midterm year.

There are also signs the Democratic Party failed to even run a competitive race. Veteran Politico reporter Marc Caputo has reported the party was warned, repeatedly, that candidates were trailing Republicans in reaching out to Hispanic voters. But campaigns (especially Nelson's) dithered. Separately, the party's state treasurer, Francesca Menes, quit after the election and told New Times she felt the party ignored her warnings of improper attention to financial issues and insufficient attention to black voices.

The party was also accused of participating in a bizarre scheme to allegedly alter state documents to seemingly let voters "correct" ballot signatures after the deadline for doing so. The public so far knows preciously little about the allegations — including what top party officials knew. Law-enforcement officials have not charged anyone in the probe.

In the meantime, allegations of abuse and neglect at GEO-run facilities continue to pile up: Earlier this month, the Southern Poverty Law Center filed a class-action lawsuit alleging that kids in the 100-plus federal migrant-detention facilities are being used as "bait" to catch deportable adult sponsors or deter immigrants from taking in refugee kids. As part of that suit, the SPLC cited a previous New Times story that revealed when immigrants in Miami's massive migrant camp turn 18, they are often handcuffed and transported to a Pompano Beach facility called the Broward Transitional Center. That building is operated by the GEO Group.

GEO Group, which gives money to Ron and Lauren Book, threatens to drag protesters to court

I've already established that Lauren Book doesn't care about children behind bars. Now it appears she cares just as little about children of immigrant families. Lauren Book continues to ramble on social media about her stupid vanity car tags and about Brock Turner, thousands of immigrants, including children, have been reporting sexual abuse in ICE detention centers run by GEO Group, one of the the Book Crime Family's biggest clients. 

I have yet to see Lauren the bimbo even acknowledge that GEO Group private prisons are grounds for rampant sexual abuse. 

In fact, I would not be surprised if the Book Crime Family suggested GEO Group sued their detractors, since the Books tried the same to one of those helping tun this blog. 

https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/geo-group-threatens-to-sue-dream-defenders-over-anti-private-prison-activism-10592772

ICE's Biggest Private-Prison Contractor Threatens to Sue Florida Civil-Rights Activists

JERRY IANNELLI, TIM ELFRINK | AUGUST 6, 2018 | 8:00AM

Boca Raton's GEO Group is Immigration and Customs Enforcement's single biggest contractor, with more than $400 million worth of deals to run private prisons, including the Broward Transitional Center, a site housing "low-priority" detainees. As the Trump administration has ripped families apart and jailed immigrants with no criminal records, GEO has come under heavy fire for making huge profits from those policies.

Now, GEO has a new strategy to combat that criticism: threatening to sue the civil-rights activists mounting the protests.

On Friday, GEO sent a cease-and-desist letter to Dream Defenders, a Florida group that has organized statewide protests against GEO and, in July, convinced the Florida Democratic Party to stop taking any donations from private-prison companies like GEO. In the letter, GEO claims that Dream Defenders are using "false information" to incite violence against GEO facilities.

"It is clear that Dream Defenders published knowingly false statements regarding GEO in an attempt to incite others to engage in potentially violent and harmful behavior directed at GEO facilities," reads the letter sent from Philadelphia-based attorney Carolyn P. Short of the Holland & Knight firm.

In a scathing response, the group hit back this morning with a point-by-point dissection of the supposedly "false" claims it had made against GEO Group and offering evidence that each criticism — including allegations that GEO is "caging children" and jailing poor black, Latino, and white people — is, in fact, accurate.

"You had the audacity to allege that the Dream Defenders, a group of young people of color who are advocating for our basic human rights, are exhibiting 'threatening and violent behavior toward GEO,'" the group says in its response letter. "We are advocating the end to your harmful and violent carceral behavior, which countless news reports, lawsuits, and government investigations have already established."

Dream Defenders, which was founded in 2012, has regularly protested GEO Group's private prison work, including in a new video series launched in July called "Dream Killers." The series uses a child actor to talk about GEO's political influence. The Defenders are also planning nationwide GEO protests tomorrow.

In its cease-and-desist letter, GEO claims those protests amount to an "intentional campaign to not only defame GEO's business reputation, but incite disruption at GEO's facilities around the country." By encouraging national protests, Dream Defenders' "proposed actions go well beyond the parameters of protected free speech (by) encouraging threatening and violent behavior toward GEO and its employees."

What's more, Short claims in her letter, Dream Defenders have incited that blowback with "false statements." Specifically, GEO singles out claims that the for-profit prison company "separates families," that the company "cages" children, that GEO "puts Black, Latino, and poor White people into jail," and that the company exerts "improper influence over the United States political system."

GEO also claims that Dream Defenders published an "incorrect" list of politicians who have taken cash from the firm, including Florida's Rick Scott, Adam Putnam, and Lauren Book, plus New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. (Those donations, of course, are a matter of public record and have been well-documented in the press.)

In its response this morning, Dream Defenders tackle those allegedly false claims one by one.

The claim that GEO is "caging children"?

"You hold children behind bars, fences, and/or in locked facilities," Dream Defenders note. "GEO’s own website details facilities across the country used to detain children for federal and state governments. Your own promotional materials refer to 'standard GTI security equipment such as steel cages' in your transportation fleet. Just this week, conditions in your Karnes County, TX facility have forced hundreds of children and fathers into a strike to protest what they describe as 'being treated like animals.'"

What about the claim the company separates families?

"GEO’s CEO has highlighted the business opportunities that come with the Trump administration’s immigration policies in calls with analysts," Dream Defenders write. "GEO not only maintains the physical walls separating inmates and detained immigrants from their families, but has even profited off of the few moments of connection detainees have over the phone."

It's clear that GEO does incarcerate thousands of poor black, Latino, and white people, the group writes, adding that "just because GEO is not directly responsible for sentencing or deciding which families to incarcerate, detain or deport does not absolve the company of participating in a racist system of mass incarceration that has its roots in slavery and Jim Crow laws."

Dream Defenders also note that GEO has given millions to political action committees and writes that "'lawfully' influencing our politicians with donations is not the same as exercising it morally or properly." The group links to recent news stories that watchdogs are suing over GEO's donations to Trump's SuperPAC and another story that GEO recently moved its annual conference to Trump's golf resort in Doral.

GEO's cease-and-desist letter demands that the Dream Defenders delete their old social media posts and quit spreading "intentionally false and defamatory statements" about GEO.

Dream Defenders say there's no chance they'll do so.

"Threatening us with lawsuits won’t stop us from exposing the truth about what the GEO Group and other Dream Killers are doing to our communities," the group writes in its response letter. "Groups around the country are gearing up to stand against you this week. You’ll need more than flimsy legal maneuvers to stop us."

Lauren Book, Running Unopposed, Raises $1.3 Million Despite Criticisms

I LOVE the Broward County/Miami New Times. They seem to be the only ones with the guts to ask the hard-hitting questions about the Books. The Miami Herald used to, but even they have grown silent on this issue. Oh, and the New Times has even posted a link to this humble blog. This site is merely a repository for existing info already out there about the Books. 

http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/news/lauren-book-running-unopposed-raises-13-million-despite-criticisms-7673729

Lauren Book, Running Unopposed, Raises $1.3 Million Despite Criticisms

TUESDAY, MARCH 29, 2016 AT 9:58 A.M.

Plantation resident Lauren Book, 31, has raised about $1.3 million for her state senate campaign, though she's running unopposed. Her charity was also awarded a million dollars by the state legislature this session.  

Book is the daughter of powerful Florida lobbyist Ron Book, and after suffering horrific abuse by a nanny in her teen years, she founded Lauren's Kids, which raises awareness about childhood sexual abuse and advocates for legislation affecting sex offenders.

She has designed an educational curriculum and written two books, Lauren's Kingdom, and It's OK to Tell. Every year, Book walks across the state during an annual "hope and healing tour." The walk passed through South Florida this past week. During portions of it, Book was joined by Miami Heat staff and hundreds of survivors of sexual abuse.  

Despite the phenomenal support, Book has faced criticism that due to her father's influence, her charity and, in turn, her candidacy get "outsized" benefits not typically afforded to a small non-profit or novice candidate. The Florida Legislature this year awarded Lauren’s Kids $1 million for “school and instructional enhancements." In 2014 and again in 2015, the charity received $3.8 million from that part of the state budget, far more than most other groups that were awarded funds in that category.  Billboards with her face on them promote her charity but have the side effect of increasing her visibility as a candidate. 

Book had initially drawn an opponent, former Walmart worker Emmanuel Blimie, but due to redistricting she is now unopposed in District 32, which includes Cooper City, Coral Springs, Davie, Plantation, Southwest Ranches, Weston, and parts of Miramar, Pembroke Pines, and Sunrise. As of February 29, she had raised $529,484 via 735 small campaign contributions (up to $1,000 each), including donations from pro athletes Dan Marino, Alonzo Mourning and Shane Battier.  

In addition, a political action committee called Leadership for Broward had raised $761,950 for Book. That includes donations from major Florida companies (like $20,00 from Autonation and $10,000 apiece from U.S. Sugar Corporation and Florida Crystals), plus $100,000 coming from the Miami Dolphins and $65,000 from the GEO Group — her father’s former or current clients. In the past, some have expressed concerns that if she were elected, Lauren's votes would be influenced by her father's work. (He is president of Lauren's Kids, and the charity is headquartered in the same office building as his firm.)  

This year, Derek Logue, a convicted sex offender who runs a website critical of the Books, says, “I’d love it if someone challenged Lauren Book on collecting GEO Group money considering the fact GEO group’s track record of allowing rampant physical and sexual abuse within their walls. I guess Lauren doesn’t care about abuse when it is about juveniles in facilities.” (A Department of Justice investigation into the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility, which is run by GEO Group, found that it was “deliberately indifferent to staff sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior with youth. The sexual misconduct we found was among the worst that we have seen in any facility anywhere in the nation.”)

Book's campaign manager, Steve Vancore, said Book was too busy to comment due to her annual walk. But in the past, she has deflected criticism with characteristic sweetness, saying she wished critics “would speak directly to me so I can show them the amazing work we are doing on behalf of children.”

Lauren's Kids boasts of having helped pass some two dozen laws to stop childhood sex abuse, such as mandating the placement of a red “P” on the driver’s licenses of sexual predators. Some groups have argued that laws created as a result of the zeal to punish sex offenders have had unintended consequences like breaking up families, and may not necessarily be effective in stopping abuse. A new documentary called Untouchable will explore how the Books’  efforts to regulate where sex offenders could live meant that some had nowhere they could reside legally except under a bridge (something Ron Book has publicly regretted). Filmmakers were not available this week, but promotional materials say the film "argues for a new understanding of how we think about and legislate sexual abuse." The film will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, April 13 to 24 in New York.

Lauren's Kids spokesperson Claire Van Susteren, said Book “is keeping a wall between her Foundation work and the campaign. Regarding the Untouchable film — neither Lauren nor Ron have seen the full version yet but I am sure would be able to comment once it’s officially been released.”

I look forward to hearing the reaction from the film. Below is the film trailer. 

UNTOUCHABLE - Festival Trailer from Meerkat Media on Vimeo.

GEO Group, one of Lauren Book's biggest PAC contributors, physically and sexually abused kids

Lauren Book took $50,000 from a group that allowed
juveniles to be sexually abused

We have recently reported that Lauren Book received $50,000 from GEO Group, the private prion industry, under her "Leadership for Broward" PAC. It is ironic that Lauren Book, whose entire political campaign platform is her desire to protect kids from sexual abuse while taking money from a private prison that allowed one of the worst cases of rampant physical and sexual abuse of juveniles in the history of the criminal justice system to occur under it's watch. 

GEO Group has been the subject of a lot of controversy over the years, but the Walnut Grove MS facility stands out among all of them. 

Lauren Book doesn't seem to care where the money for her campaign is coming from. There's a word for that-- HYPOCRISY!

http://www.npr.org/2012/04/24/151276620/firm-leaves-miss-after-its-prison-is-called-cesspool

Miss. Prison Operator Out; Facility Called A 'Cesspool'
Updated April 30, 20128:06 PM ET
Published April 24, 20124:15 PM ET

One month after a federal court ordered sweeping changes at a troubled juvenile prison in rural Mississippi, the private company managing the prison is out. A report by the Justice Department describes "systemic, egregious and dangerous practices" at the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility.

As those words imply, the official report is scathing.

Federal Judge Carlton Reeves wrote that the youth prison "has allowed a cesspool of unconstitutional and inhuman acts and conditions to germinate, the sum of which places the offenders at substantial ongoing risk."

Walnut Grove, located an hour's drive east of Jackson, is a 1,450-bed prison that houses inmates ages 13 to 22 who are minors convicted as adults. It is run by GEO Group of Boca Raton, Fla., the nation's second-largest for-profit prison corporation, which posted a profit of $284 million last year. The Mississippi Department of Corrections pays GEO to manage the prison.

Jonathan Smith is chief of special litigation in the civil rights section at the Justice Department, which spent two years looking into conditions at Walnut Grove.

"To have a prison that's chaotic, poorly run, dangerous, didn't provide services, highly sexualized and highly violent really limits the ability of the state to turn those folks around, and to ensure public safety upon their release from prison," Smith said.

Among the conditions described in the report released last month:

• Prison staff had sex with incarcerated youth, which investigators called "among the worst that we've seen in any facility anywhere in the nation."
• Poorly trained guards brutally beat youth and used excessive pepper spray as a first response.
• The prison showed "deliberate indifference" to prisoners possessing homemade knives, which were used in gang fights and inmate rapes.
• Some guards had gang affiliations — a finding confirmed to NPR last year by former inmate Justin Bowling.
• "A lot of times, the guards are in the same gang," Bowling said. "If an inmate wanted something done, they got it. If they wanted a cell popped open to handle some business about some fighting or something like that, it just pretty much happened."

A GEO spokesman said via email that the abuses documented by the government occurred before GEO took over Walnut Grove in late 2010. Another private prison company, Cornell Companies, ran the Walnut Grove facility until Cornell was purchased by GEO.

GEO Group also ran the correctional center when the Walnut Grove mayor used one of the inmates as his personal sex toy:

https://www.fbi.gov/jackson/press-releases/2012/former-mayor-of-walnut-grove-sentenced-for-federal-witness-tampering

JACKSON—William Grady Sims, 61, former mayor of Walnut Grove, Mississippi, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to serve seven months in prison followed by six months of home confinement and two years of supervised release for federal witness tampering, U.S. Attorney Gregory K. Davis and FBI Special Agent in Charge Daniel McMullen announced. Sims pled guilty to the charge on February 14, 2012.

Sims was the mayor of the town of Walnut Grove, Mississippi, having been elected to this position since 1981. In this role, he was one of the longest continually serving mayors in Mississippi, having served over 30 years. In October 2009, Sims became the administrator or warden of the Walnut Grove Transition Center in Walnut Grove. At the time, the Transition Center was a privately-owned and operated facility which had contracted with the Mississippi Department of Corrections to house state inmates. In November 2009, the Sims rented a motel room in Carthage, Mississippi; drove a female inmate in his custody from the Walnut Grove Transition Center to the motel room; and proceeded to have sex with her. During a federal grand jury investigation of the sexual encounter, Sims was recorded during several telephone calls with the female inmate instructing the inmate to lie to investigators by saying they had never had sex and had never been together in that motel room. Sims was subsequently interviewed by the FBI, and he admitted to having sex with the female inmate and instructing her to lie to investigators about their sexual encounter. Sims resigned as administrator or warden of the Walnut Grove Transition Facility in January 2010.

GEO Group also ran a juvenile facility in Texas that was run about as well as a third world country.

http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2007-10-26/554296/

The removal and firings came a week after two separate investigations into Coke: one by TYC investigators ordered by acting Executive Director Dimitria Pope after receiving a series of worrying reports, and a separate one by independent ombudsman Will Har­rell. In his report, Harrell describes inhuman conditions. Insects infested the dorms, where children slept on mats on the floor, and sheets were visibly dirty. His worst criticism is reserved for the security dorm. Calling it "malodorous and dark," he notes that inmates were only let out to shower, with no exercise or recreation. Education was a crossword or math puzzle shoved through the slot in the door. Bad as these conditions were, three inmates had voluntarily self-referred themselves to the security dorm to avoid gangs. Threats of inmate-on-inmate violence caused the greatest "sense of fear and intimidation" Harrell had ever experienced. Understaffing, long seen as one of the pivotal problems with TYC, was still unresolved: 44 of the 105 staff positions were empty, and the facility was having trouble finding new recruits because of negative publicity about earlier scandals.

However, Harrell inspected the facility on Sept. 24, and while Hurley applauded his report's content, he was concerned that he did not receive a copy until after his office's own investigation was complete. "If I'm the ombudsman, and I'm out there, I'm not going to go away, write a report, and then not send it to the one person who can actually make changes."

According to Hurley, the most worrying fact is that the on-site quality-assurance monitors had given the facility a clean bill of health. In his report, Harrell singled them out for criticism, writing, "With so many Q/A's assigned to this single facility, more than my staff for the entire state, why do these problems persist?" While Coke was the only privately run secure facility, TYC has now launched a full investigation into all its contract services. "We thought we had good reports," Hurley said. "The people who were a part of this were longtime TYC employees, but at this point we have no confidence in reports we have seen."

An audit of the Texas facility found:

• “The GEO Group does not ensure that the youth are provided with a clean and orderly living environment.”
• “Cells were filthy, smelled of feces and urine, and were in need of paint.”
• “[T]here are serious problems with insects throughout the facility and grounds.”
• “Plumbing chases were not secure at the time of the inspection. Contraband and pests were found in these areas.”
• “Water leaks are numerous throughout the facility, creating an unsanitary and unsafe environment for all youth and staff.”
• “There is racial segregation [in] the dorms; Hispanics are not allowed to be cell mates with African Americans.”
• “Youth sprayed with [Oleoresin Capsicum] pepper spray are not routinely decontaminated.”

Children at the facility told the Commission:

• They have “not received church services in over two months.”
• They are “disciplined for speaking Spanish.”
• They “are sometimes not allowed to brush their teeth for days at a time.”
• They “had been forced to urinate or defecate in some container other than a toilet.”

GEO Group also hired Ron Book among their collection of lobbyists

http://www.ozy.com/fast-forward/private-prisons-fight-back/66970

With bipartisan criminal-justice reform ramping up, which could drastically cut overall inmate populations, logic might suggest that the private-prison industry would be on its heels. It’s not. Because what does any good business do when its customer base shrinks? It widens its net, of course.

While state and federal prison statistics show a recent decline in the number of Americans who are behind bars, there are still roughly 5 million people under correctional supervision. Many more are in rehab and mental-health hospitals, while hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants are shuffled through detention centers – potentially big markets for private facilities. So the correctional industry is diversifying. “The scope of how big this is hasn’t even been anywhere near made clear,” says Caroline Isaacs, who closely tracks the private-prison industry for the American Friends Service Committee, an advocacy group that opposes corrections privatization.

Though the services may be evolving, the concerns remain much the same. As with many for-profit entities, the top priority is the bottom line, which is often at odds with the purpose of community corrections. Rehabilitation – whether in a prison or half-way house – is not typically in the operator’s best interest, because that means fewer clients. As such, some private prisons have been found cutting corners on training and dangerously understaffed, even leading to riots. And you may remember the kids-for-cash scandal, where two Pennsylvania judges received kickbacks for sentencing juveniles to time behind bars.

But there’s still money to be made. In October, Corrections Corporation of America – the largest proprietor of the for-profit bunch – purchased Avalon, adding to its growing network of halfway houses. GEO Group, the second largest in this field, several years ago purchased BI, an electronic monitoring company, and is now moving into health care. Such companies are even targeting contracts in the purely mental-health sector. Opponents have dubbed the latter the “treatment-industrial complex.” Around 90 percent of incarcarees are eventually released; however, mental health hospitals have the potential for lifetime confinement. The fear, some say, is that we’ll simply start funneling people from prisons to alternative care institutions and surveillance programs that will perpetuate many of the same issues — and, in some cases, be even more harmful to those who end up stuck in a vicious cycle.

As in any competition for government contracts, lobbying plays a role in the industry’s flexibility and resilience. Official, on-the-books lobbying numbers have gone down across the board over the decades, though CCA hired 199 lobbyists in 32 states over the past decade, while GEO employed 72 lobbyists in 17 states, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics. But many believe that lobbying activity has simply gone underground. Lee Drutman, a lobbying expert with New America and professor at John Hopkins University, says to tell the story of a $3 billion industry fighting for legislative survival, you have to look at the indirect ways it lobbies, from unlikely alliances to innovative media strategies.

CCA Director of Public Affairs Jonathan Burns points out the company has a longstanding corporate policy not to lobby for or against any policy that would determine the basis or duration of an individual’s incarceration or detention. Plain speak: The corporations are not supposed to influence the length of sentences or what counts as an offense punishable by prison. GEO, meanwhile, noted in a statement that it doesn’t advocate for or against any specific criminal-justice policy. Still, federal lobbying disclosure statements show that over the past decade the industry has spent almost $10 million on state persuasion efforts and close to $22 million lobbying Senate and House representatives, and it has contributed more than $3 million directly to candidates and PACs. “With the election coming, 2016 should be a very interesting year,” says Paul Ashton, a research associate at the Justice Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., which aims to reduce incarceration.

Yes, $3 million in contributions to candidates like Lauren Book and PACs like Leadership for Broward. The Books lobby for stricter sentencing, which means more business for the Boca Baton-based GEO Group. Also, GEO Care, GEO Group's health subsidiary, donated an extra $15,000 in addition to the $50,000 donated to Leadership for Broward.

The bottom line is Lauren's alleged concerns on preventing sexual abuse does not extend to juveniles behind bars.

With Deep Ties to Politicians, Private Prisons Have Exploded As Profit Centers

This article does not specifically mention the Book family, but the Books have taken lots of money from the GEO Group and even parties with the CEO. The GEO Group and Florida has a long history of corruption and scandal.

WITH DEEP TIES TO POLITICIANS, PRIVATE PRISONS HAVE EXPLODED AS PROFIT CENTERS
FRI, 6/12/2015 - BY MARY TURCK
THIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED ON AL JAZEERA AMERICA

Last month the state of Washington contracted with the GEO Group, one of the largest for-profit prison companies in the U.S., to move up to 1,000 inmates from the state’s overcrowded prisons to its correctional facility in Michigan, thousands of miles from their homes and families. This makes family visits and connection with the community harder, though studies show that inmates who receive more visits are less likely to re-offend after release.

Prisoners can’t vote in the United States and as a result they don’t have much sway over public policy decisions. But private, for-profit prison companies do, their voices amplified by big campaign contributions and millions spent on lobbying. Ahead of the 2016 presidential election, some of the candidates’ ties to the prison-industrial complex raise a lot of questions.

For example, the GEO Group has contributed heavily to campaigns of Florida senator and Republican contender Marco Rubio. And Republican candidate Jeb Bush’s support of for-profit prisons goes back to the 1990s, when he oversaw prison privatization as Florida governor.

Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton is calling for criminal justice reform, which would reduce profits for private prisons and reduce mass incarceration. The election offers voters a choice between candidates who support the current system that allows corporations to profit from the misery of the inmates and those committed to fundamental reform, which includes changing inflexible sentencing laws and ending the for-profit prison system.

Washington’s contract with the GEO Group is part of the boom in for-profit prisons, whose inmate population increased by 1,600 percent from 1980 to 2009. The privatization of prisons and prison services accelerated during former President Bill Clinton’s administration based on promises of cost savings and better treatment for inmates. For-profit prisons have delivered on neither.

Government-run prisons frequently fail in rehabilitation, in providing medical care and in protecting prisoners from abuse. But private prisons do worse. Poorly paid and inadequately trained guards make for-profit prisons dangerous for staff and prisoners alike. In a 2001 study, the National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) reported a higher incidence of assaults on prisoners by guards at private prisons than in state and federal prisons.

The U.S. Constitution prohibits cruel or unusual punishment of inmates. Increasingly, private prisons fail to meet even that minimal standard. One egregious example is the Bureau of Prisons’ contracts that require 10 percent of private prison beds to be set aside for solitary confinement. Because private prisons profit from keeping all beds full, this results in overuse and abuse of solitary confinement. This includes instances where immigrant mothers were punished with solitary confinement for protesting deplorable conditions at detention centers.

Other instances of cruel and inhuman punishment come from abusive guards, lacking training and supervision. A 2010 video from Idaho’s infamous “gladiator school” private prison shows guards watching one prisoner beat another unconscious and making no effort to intervene. In fact, reports show that the prison’s officials use “inmate-on-inmate violence to force prisoners to snitch on their cellmates.” A 2011 report by the American Civil Liberties Union on private prisons details horrifying cases of abuse, including instances where cells for juveniles that smelled of urine and feces, insect infestations, racial segregation, punishment for speaking Spanish and refusal of medical and mental health treatment.

Beyond turning prisons over to private companies, governments also contract out health care or food services or telephones or banking services in public prisons. Video conferencing visitation, now set up in many prisons, often comes at a high cost to families and prisoners. Privately run probation and parole services spark concerns about “profitmaking through collection of fees and fines from the offender, with little or no attention paid to an individual’s underlying issues such as substance use or unemployment,” according to a 2012 NCCD report.

The abuse and exploitation of prisoners doesn’t end there. U.S. prisoners often work for pennies making goods for profit. The Ella Baker Center, a non-profit organization working for racial and economic justice, characterizes prison labor as the new slave labor. In 2013 37 states contracted with private, for-profit companies for prison labor. Companies ranging from Starbucks to Victoria's Secret and Microsoft carry products made with prison labor.

Politicians have favored private prisons because they’re supposed to save taxpayer money. But they haven’t: Private prisons’ relatively cheaper operating cost has not translated into lower costs to taxpayers. For-profit prisons typically house less-serious offenders, who are less costly to maintain. Private prison employees receive less training, lower pay and benefits. Yet, the contract cost to state and federal government remains about the same as the per-prisoner cost of publicly operated prisons.

Private prisons do, however, generate corporate profits. A 2012 NCCD study found that private prisons remain highly profitable and growing, despite their failure to deliver on promises of cost savings and improved conditions for inmates. For example, CCA and the GEO Group, two of the corporations that dominate the private prison industry, post combined annual revenue of more than $3.3 billion.

CCA’s 2014 annual report warned shareholders that “relaxation of enforcement efforts, leniency in conviction or parole standards and sentencing practices” or changes in drug or immigration laws could adversely affect their profits. Unsurprisingly, the prison profiteers spend tens of millions of dollars on lobbying and on supporting the campaigns of “tough-on-crime” candidates. Harsh sentencing laws fill prison beds, generating profit for corporations. The most vulnerable people — young, poor, immigrants and people of color — make up a disproportionate number of those prisoners. Ultimately, profit is the worst possible motive for running prisons, or for making laws that govern crime and punishment.

- See more at: http://www.occupy.com/article/deep-ties-politicians-private-prisons-have-exploded-profit-centers#sthash.IjhgddI6.dpuf