Related Posts. Fargo Season 3 Complete WEBHD 480p, 720p 1080p Prison Break Season 5 Complete WEBDL 480p, 720p 1080p Fargo Season 12 Complete BluRay 720p. A Mother Jones Investigation Mother Jones. Chapter 1 Inmates Run This BitchHave you ever had a riot I ask a recruiter from a prison run by the Corrections Corporation of America CCA. The last riot we had was two years ago, he says over the phone. Yeah, but that was with the Puerto Ricans says a womans voice, cutting in. We got rid of them. When can you start the man asks. I tell him I need to think it over. I take a breath. Am I really going to become a prison guard Now that it might actually happen, it feels scary and a bit extreme. I started applying for jobs in private prisons because I wanted to see the inner workings of an industry that holds 1. As a journalist, its nearly impossible to get an unconstrained look inside our penal system. When prisons do let reporters in, its usually for carefully managed tours and monitored interviews with inmates. Private prisons are especially secretive. Their records often arent subject to public access laws CCA has fought to defeat legislation that would make private prisons subject to the same disclosure rules as their public counterparts. And even if I could get uncensored information from private prison inmates, how would I verify their claims I keep coming back to this question Is there any other way to see what really happens inside a private prisonRead the Latest Entertainment and Celebrity News, TV News and Breaking News from TVGuide. CCA certainly seemed eager to give me a chance to join its team. Within two weeks of filling out its online application, using my real name and personal information, several CCA prisons contacted me, some multiple times. They werent interested in the details of my rsum. They didnt ask about my job history, my current employment with the Foundation for National Progress, the publisher of Mother Jones, or why someone who writes about criminal justice in California would want to move across the country to work in a prison. They didnt even ask about the time I was arrested for shoplifting when I was 1. When I call Winn Correctional Center in Winnfield, Louisiana, the HR lady who answers is chipper and has a smoky Southern voice. I should tell you upfront that the job only pays 9 an hour, but the prison is in the middle of a national forest. Do you like to hunt and fishI like fishing. Well, there is plenty of fishing, and people around here like to hunt squirrels. You ever squirrel huntNo. Well, I think youll like Louisiana. I know its not a lot of money, but they say you can go from a CO to a warden in just seven years The CEO of the company started out as a COa corrections officer. Ultimately, I choose Winn. Not only does Louisiana have the highest incarceration rate in the worldmore than 8. Winn is the oldest privately operated medium security prison in the country. I phone HR and tell her Ill take the job. Well, poop can stick she says. I pass the background check within 2. Subscribe to our award winning magazine today for just 1. Two weeks later, in November 2. Dodge Ram pickup, I pull into Winnfield, a hardscrabble town of 4,6. Baton Rouge. I drive past the former Mexican restaurant that now serves drive thru daiquiris to people heading home from work, and down a street of collapsed wooden houses, empty except for a tethered dog. About 3. 8 percent of households here live below the poverty line the median household income is 2. Residents are proud of the fact that three governors came from Winnfield. They are less proud that the last sheriff was locked up for dealing meth. Thirteen miles away, Winn Correctional Center lies in the middle of the Kisatchie National Forest, 6. Southern yellow pines crosshatched with dirt roads. As I drive through the thick forest, the prison emerges from the fog. You might mistake the dull expanse of cement buildings and corrugated metal sheds for an oddly placed factory were it not for the office park style sign displaying CCAs corporate logo, with the head of a bald eagle inside the A. At the entrance, a guard who looks about 6. A tall, stern faced man leads a German shepherd into the cab of my truck. My heart hammers. I tell the woman Im a new cadet, here to start my four weeks of training. She directs me to a building just outside the prison fence. Have a good one, baby, she says as I pull through the gate. I exhale. Mother Jones senior reporter Shane Bauer pictured above in his prison uniform has previously reported on solitary confinement, police militarization, and the Middle East. He is the co author, with Sarah Shourd and Joshua Fattal, of A Sliver of Light, an account of his two yearsas a prisoner in Iran. James West. I park, find the classroom, and sit down with five other students. You nervous a 1. Ill call him Reynolds. Ive changed the names and nicknames of the people I met in prison unless noted otherwise. A little, I say. YouCCA RUNS 6. FACILITIES ACROSS THE UNITED STATES These include 3. It owns 5. 0 of these sites. Texas, 7 are in Tennessee, and 6 are in Arizona. Nah, I been around, he says. I seen killin. My uncle killed three people. My brother been in jail, and my cousin. He has scars on his arms. One, he says, is from a shootout in Baton Rouge. The other is from a street fight in Winnfield. He elbowed someone in the face, and the next thing he knew he got knifed from behind. It was some gang shit. He says he just needs a job until he starts college in a few months. He has a baby to feed. He also wants to put speakers in his truck. They told him he could work on his days off, so hell probably come in every day. That will be a fat paycheck. He puts his head down on the table and falls asleep. The human resources director comes in and scolds Reynolds for napping. He perks up when she tells us that if we recruit a friend to work here, well get 5. She gives us an assortment of other tips Dont eat the food given to inmates dont have sex with them or you could be fined 1. If we have friends or relatives incarcerated here, we need to report it. She hands out fridge magnets with the number of a hotline to use if we feel suicidal or start fighting with our families. We get three counseling sessions for free. Adobe Reader Internal Error Occurred Windows 2012 Active Directory more. I studiously jot down notes as the HR director fires up a video of the companys CEO, Damon Hininger, who tells us what a great opportunity it is to be a corrections officer at CCA. Once a guard himself, he made 3. Federal Bureau of Prisons. You may be brand new to CCA, Hininger says, but we need you. We need your enthusiasm. We need your bright ideas. During the academy, I felt camaraderie. I felt a little anxiety too. That is completely normal. The other thing I felt was tremendous excitement. I look around the room. Not one personnot the recent high school graduate, not the former Walmart manager, not the nurse, not the mother of twins whos come back to Winn after 1. Mc. Donalds and a stint in the militarylooks excited. I dont think this is for me, a postal worker says. Do not runThe next day, I wake up at 6 a. I decided to live to minimize my chances of running into off duty guards. I feel a shaky, electric nervousness as I put a pen that doubles as an audio recorder into my shirt pocket. Listen hereto Shane Bauers story on the current episode of Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX. In class that day, we learn about the use of force. A middle aged black instructor Ill call Mr. Tucker comes into the classroom, his black fatigues tucked into shiny black boots. Hes the head of Winns Special Operations Response Team, or SORT, the prisons SWAT like tactical unit.