Letter: Petition not the way to handle prison concerns

Thursday, April 15, 2004 | 8:33 a.m.

This letter is regarding Monday's article that reported the submission of an alleged petition by inmates at the Southern Nevada Women's Correctional Facility to the Nevada Corrections Department -- a petition that was never formally presented by inmates to Corrections Corp. of America (CCA) or facility management.

Readers should be aware that it is unclear how many inmates signed the petition knowingly or did not sign the petition but whose names appeared nonetheless.

CCA takes any individual concerns seriously. In addition to a formal grievance process structured in accordance to state policies, the facility has an on-site state corrections official whom inmates can contact directly with any concerns. In the past when concerns have been raised facility management has always worked hard to resolve them.

Regarding the petition, none of these concerns have been raised by the state officials who work directly with our staff at the facility. It is unfortunate that the Las Vegas Sun reported unsubstantiated claims from such a document. The additional decision to include dated quotes from articles that ran months ago regarding issues that had long since been addressed was a disservice to your readers and only further fuels the efforts by the inmate(s) that is/are seeking to manipulate the situation.

CCA takes great pride in the level of services and programs that our staff provide to the inmates entrusted to our care while meeting our most important commitment of public safety. We invite anyone to visit the institution to see for themselves the quality of our operations.

STEVE OWEN

Nashville, Tenn.

Editor's note: Steve Owen is the spokesperson for Corrections Corp. of America.