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The ACA: Bought and Paid for.

On Thursday, August 9, several Philadelphia newspapers carried a paid advertisement signed by two senior officials of the American Correctional Association (ACA).
On Thursday, August 9, several Philadelphia newspapers carried a paid advertisement signed by two senior officials of the American Correctional Association (ACA). In this message, Betty Adams Green, the president, and James A. Gondles, Jr., the executive director, tried to defend their organization's record against the thousands of activists converging in Philadelphia the following week. According to Green and Gondles, the ACA promotes "programs and policies that reduce recidivism, put offenders in the least possible restrictive environments, support for total treatment of individuals to better prepare them to re-enter society. [sic]" Instead of challenging prison professionals, activists should address their concerns to "legislators, governors, the president, prosecutors, judges, council members, and other decision makers."

The ACA often spouts reformist rhetoric but its actual activities aren't nearly so innocent. Like all tax-exempt organizations, it submits a Form 990-an annual report to the IRS that contains complete budget statement for the period from October 1, 1999 to September 30, 2000. Needless to say, Gondles is not getting paid $156,100 a year to write warm and fuzzy open letters. (Green, a Tennessee judge, is not an ACA staff member and receives no salary). The ACA spent over $11 million that year, but although the organization presents itself as being made up of public-spirited professionals, only $684,008 came from member dues.

Who does the ACA represent? Here are some numbers to think about.
- The ACA received some $2 million directly from prisons, corrections departments, and prison service contractors. $1,167,154 was for advertising and $673,632 more was taxable revenue from conferences-almost certainly the fees the same organizations paid to exhibit at the trade shows. Finally, the ACA made $209,278 selling its mailing list.
- $2,859,429 in revenue came from accreditation fees that the ACA charged to prisons. Since this program only cost $2,278,856 to run, they made over half a million dollars on it. Is it any wonder that so few prisons fail to be accredited? (Compare this to the mere $88,739 the ACA spent on lobbying "legislators, governors, the president, prosecutors, judges, council members and other decision makers.")
- The federal government paid the ACA $1,074,029 to administer various correctional programs (at cost). This suggests that its favored policies closely resemble the status quo.
- The ACA received $408,890 in tax-deductible donations. 76% of contributors gave over $5,000, so it seems likely that were corporations. Unfortunately, this part of the 990 is not public information, but the IRS did omit to remove the name of the second largest contributor: SmithKline Beecham, with $30,600.
- The ACA received $953,963 in tuition for correspondence courses and training workshops, and spent $575,022 for a surplus of $378,941. Most fees were probably reimbursed by student's employers in the prison industry. Publication sales (again, mostly reimbursed) totaled $1,075,662.
 
 

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