Dec. 21, 1998
Prison expert faces 2nd
ethics complaint
News-Journal Wire
Services
GAINESVILLE (AP) - An expert on prison privatization faces a
second state ethics complaint for taking a $3 million
consulting contract with a private prison company.
The complaint filed on Dec. 10 comes from the Police
Benevolent Association with the Florida Commission on Ethics
against Charles Thomas, a criminology professor and
director of the University of Florida Private Corrections
Project.
The PBA, a union representing state
correctional officers, opposes privatization.
It filed
a similar conflict-of-interest complaint last year
against Thomas with the Ethics Commission.
In
June, the Ethics Commission found probable cause that
Thomas had violated state laws regulating the financial
relationships state employees can have with private companies.
The commission found conflicts between Thomas'
private work and his position as university researcher
and as a consultant to the Florida Correctional
Privatization Commission.
Helen Jones, spokeswoman for
the Ethics Commission, said the ethics charges from
the previous complaint are pending at the Florida
Department of Administrative Hearings.
Thomas
acknowledged to The Gainesville Sun newspaper of having a
relationship with Prison Real Estate Investment Trust.
He said he had a $3 million contract consulting
about the corporation's merger with Corrections
Corporation of America, ownership of 30,000 shares worth
$660,000 and a seat on the trust's board of directors.
Thomas said those financial ties are not a conflict
because the corporation is a real estate trust that
builds and leases correctional facilities to public and
private entities.