Prison firm pays settlement for pro-Hispanic hiring bias

A company running a state prison in Florence agreed Thursday to pay $438,626 to end a discrimination case that started two years ago when federal investigators found Hispanics were routinely hired over job candidates from other ethnic groups.

The Corrections Corporation of America, one of the largest private prison firms in the country, will pay 464 former applicants an equal share of the settlement money and hire 16 of the rejected candidates as part of an agreement with the U.S Department of Labor.

The rejected candidates include 11 Asians, 66 blacks, 17 American Indians, and 370 whites. All of them were deemed qualified job applicants but were not hired, said William Smitherman, a spokesman for the Pacific Division of the Labor Department’s Federal Contract Compliance Program.

The Florence Correctional Center, which has 277 employees and houses 1,824 medium-security prisoners, also must undergo a future audit by federal investigators to determine if it has met the federal hiring standards.

If the prison has not changed its hiring practices by then, the company could face stiff penalties including fines or termination of its government contracts. Labor officials would not say how much time they have given the prison to correct its practices.

An audit by federal investigators in March 2005 ignited the case after investigators found a high rate of non-Hispanics had been passed over for jobs as prison guards.

During a two-year period starting in March 2003, 1,364 qualified job candidates applied for positions. Out of that, the firm hired 109 Hispanics and 124 non-Hispanics, said Deanne Amaden, a spokeswoman for the Labor Department.

“Had full affirmative action been exercised there would have been a larger percentage of non-Hispanics hired for those jobs,” Amaden said.

Many times, federal race discrimination cases are aimed at employers who overlook minority candidates. This one was unusual because a majority of those who faced discrimination were white.

“Yeah, this is sort of unusual,” Amaden said.

Because Corrections Corporation of America and its Florence prison receive federal money, it is subject to federal checks to determine whether it meets government standards. Last year, the department completed more than 4,000 audits of companies with federal contracts.

Company officials would not speak publicly about the case. But the company outlined its differences with the labor department in a written statement,

“CCA’s decision to enter the agreement does not constitute an admission that Florence violated its federal affirmativeaction obligations. The Department of Labor did not conduct a hearing and make a formal finding of wrongdoing by Florence or CCA,” Steven Owen, a spokesman for the company, stated in the letter.

“Although we continue to disagree with the position taken by (the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs), we have agreed to take certain steps to resolve this matter, including providing back pay to some qualified applicants who applied for positions at Florence during the review period,” the letter continued.

The suit comes as CCA is trying expand its Arizona business. It is one of four bidders on a state contract to build more prison space for an additional 3,000 inmates.

The Arizona Department of Corrections has submitted a bid for the contract — the first time in state history that DOC has been allowed to bid for a private prison contract. Final bids were submitted earlier this month. The winner is due to be announced in June.