One of myriad reasons that big business loves the big business of private prisons and the “war on drugs” is that it provides them with ample opportunities to exploit cheap labor. In that same vein Christian drug rehabilitation centers have found a way to make “nonprofit” business models very profitable—at least according to a new lawsuit filed against the Drug and Alcohol Recovery Program (DARP) this week.
A third lawsuit has been filed contesting the arrangement by which drug court defendants are sentenced to work unpaid, with pay going to nonprofit agencies.
The lawsuit was first reported this morning in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, but I've gotten a comment from a new defendant named in the lawsuit, a company headed by a state senator.
Past complaints, originally disclosed by an investigative reporting project, have detailed how workers have difficult jobs in the poultry industry and live in poor conditions, essentially slave labor, while the operators of the nonprofits enjoy large salaries. Simmons Foods, which recently announced a major expansion subsidized by state tax benefits in Northwest Arkansas, has been a major user of the workers (more than 100 currently, it has said). Today's lawsuit added another business that uses the workers, Hendren Plastics.
State Sen. Jim Hendren is the name behind Hendren Plastics, and after having a couple of days to see that he was going to be embroiled in an obvious shit show, he’s decided to try to look “pre-emptive,” after the fact.
Sen. Jim Hendren said his company, Hendren Plastics, terminated the agreement with the Drug and Alcohol Recovery Program following a lawsuit filed in Benton County that accused the program of conspiring with businesses to use the clients as free labor.
The lawsuit is among several filed after nonprofit news outlet Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting published a story exposing the questionable practices of some court-ordered diversion programs.
Republican Arkansas state senator Jim Hendren is trying to play both sides of this coin here as he gives a classic sorry-not sorry explanation.
“I just stopped it this week when I saw some of the allegations, and it’s one of those issues where a company has to make business decisions,” Hendren said, according to the Associated Press. “And the company is going to get put through the wringer for trying to help these kids — you just can’t afford to continue to do it. So I feel bad for some of the kids that I think we had an opportunity to help, but I think you’ll see a lot of companies step out of the program.”
Private prisons have been on the skids the past year or so and are hoping to make big comebacks with the new Republican administration’s pro-private prison system. The use of a christian work-ethic based “rehabilitation” has been a tea party tenet for quite some time now. Instead of doing possible jail time or having to pay fines they cannot afford, drug offenders can opt into some of these Christian-labor-camps rehabilitation programs. It’s something that helps evangelicals sleep better at night. But it’s exploitation, bordering on slavery. The Oklahoman had piece focused mostly on the similar Oklahoma-based Christian Alcoholics and Addicts in Recovery (CAAIR) program, earlier this month—also being sued.
All of the participants' wages in both programs go to pay for their room and board.
These nonprofit programs are not licensed or regulated by the state of Oklahoma.
That’s interesting. Why aren’t they regulated?
As long as the programs do not advertise themselves as offering a certified drug treatment program, the state does nothing to regulate them, said Durand Crosby, chief of staff and operations for the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services.
Amazing. But someone does has to pay for room and board and they’re Christian. What could they possibly be taking down? About $2 million in profits from the only available information, according to The Oklahoman. Better yet, most judges may not even realize that these programs aren’t legitimate drug treatment facilities—and many judges find themselves shouldering the burden of what to do about the rising addiction epidemic in our country as one lawsuit revealed.
In a court affidavit, Custer County Drug Court Judge Jill Weedon wrote that she stopped sentencing drug court offenders to DARP after the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services alerted drug courts that DARP was not a certified drug treatment program.
“At the time Malipurathu was sent to DARP, it was my understanding that it was a legitimate treatment facility,” the judge wrote. “It has always been very difficult to find inpatient treatment beds, and even more difficult for those who cannot pay for treatment. DARP was willing to work with our participants and did not charge for treatment.”
As for Sen. Hendren? He’s just a “job creator” y’all.
“I’ve been creating jobs for over 20 years,” the legislator says on his campaign website. “A country can not survive if it can not feed itself, and make things.”
In response to the lawsuit, Hendren told the Arkansas Times that he was proud to give “kids in drug rehab programs a second chance.”
“While they are not employees of our company, we pay the program for every hour they work consistent with all state and federal laws just as we do our other employees,” he said. “We have also hired some to become full-time employees upon completion of the program. It has been rewarding to see some of these kids turn their lives around.”
Did he know that these organizations are super shady and don’t actually provide much in the way of drug treatment? Who is to say? It turns out you didn’t have to dig very far to find out; and he didn’t think to dig at all.