Idaho gives lawyers another payday
In his editorial this morning, Opinion Editor Marty Trillhaase of the Lewiston Tribune comments:
It’s become so routine you hardly notice when a group of lawyers collects another payday because somebody affiliated with Idaho state government screwed up. This week’s headline involved Idaho’s former private prison contractor Corrections Corporation of America. Under its $29-million-a-year contract with the state, CCA operated the Idaho Correctional Center near Boise. But it scrimped on staff, leaving inmates so vulnerable to assaults the place acquired a nickname - the “gladiator school.”
While Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter’s administration maintained its contract with CCA, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on behalf of battered inmates who couldn’t afford the filing fees, let alone to hire attorneys. Eventually, CCA settled, agreeing to hire more staff. Rather than follow through on that settlement, however, the company concealed its understaffed prison by falsifying time cards. When that came out, U.S. District Judge David Carter found CCA in contempt and imposed higher-than normal attorneys fees of just less than $350,000. More here.
DFO: Idahoans are caught between the two wings of the dominant Republican Party: Tea Party/Liberty/Redoubt nonsense and “corporate cronyism.” Thoughts?
* This story was originally published as a post from the blog "Huckleberries Online." Read all stories from this blog