By Paul Egan
Detroit Free Press
LANSING — An Aramark Correctional Services worker is accused of trying to smuggle bags of marijuana into a state prison in Jackson in the latest in a series of problems since the administration of Gov. Rick Snyder opted to eliminate 370 state jobs and pay a contractor to provide prison meals, starting last December.
And while state Corrections Department officials say they aren’t ready to pull the plug on the $145-million, three-year deal yet, they said in a Feb. 27 letter to Aramark they have “grounds for insecurity” and expect a swift turnaround.
The state recently fined Aramark $98,000 for contract breaches, including employees exchanging love letters with prisoners, meal-time food shortages and frequent substitutions of menu items. Food also was cited as a reason for a demonstration by about 200 prisoners at Kinross Correctional Facility in the Upper Peninsula in February.
Similar — and in some cases more serious — problems, including improper fraternization, food skimping, overbilling and a prison riot, have been issues in other states that contracted with Aramark of Philadelphia as a way to save money on inmate food.
In Wednesday’s Michigan incident, a 19-year-old Jackson man who worked for Aramark admitted he “succumbed to some pressure from some inmates” and tried to smuggle in marijuana to distribute within the G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility in Jackson, said 1st Lt. Joseph Thomas, commander of the Michigan State Police Jackson post. Charges are pending.
The arrest came the same day two state employee unions and a Republican senator urged the Michigan Civil Service Commission to reject privatization of Michigan’s prison food service, saying the Aramark contract has endangered prison security since the company took over in December.
“How is that privatization going for you?” state Rep. Rudy Hobbs, D-Lathrup Village, taunted Snyder on Twitter on Thursday after the Free Press reported on the prison drug arrest.
The governor is confident Department of Corrections Director Dan Heyns and his officials are “monitoring this situation extremely closely, and know how important it is that we ensure that the terms of the contract and the level of service expected and needed are being met,” spokeswoman Sara Wurfel said.
A union appeal of the awarding of the contract to Aramark is before the Michigan Civil Service Commission, which heard concerns Wednesday and could rule any day.
Aramark, which is expected to save the state $12 million to $16 million a year, has promised to improve and blamed transition problems.
“We share MDOC’s zero tolerance for inappropriate conduct,” Aramark spokeswoman Karen Cutler said of the drug arrest.
“Assuming the facts are as reported, this incident would violate everything Aramark stands for and is contrary to our procedures, operations and values.”
But the issues are not unique to Michigan. Aramark has contracts with Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Kansas and West Virginia and provided prison food for Florida.
In some of those states, the company has faced similar complaints, and worse. For example:
¦ In September, an Aramark kitchen worker at Westville Correctional Facility in Indiana was charged with a felony, sexual misconduct by a service provider, after she was caught “in inappropriate activity with one of the inmate kitchen workers,” according to the News-Dispatch of Michigan City, Ind.
¦ Another Aramark prison food worker in Indiana, Roberta Ashburn of New Castle, was placed on probation for two years in August after officials said she smuggled tobacco, narcotics and a cell phone to an inmate at New Castle Correctional Facility, the Courier-Times of New Castle reported.
¦ And in August 2012, an Aramark worker at Indiana’s Pendleton Correctional Facility was charged with a felony after she was caught trying to smuggle marijuana and cell phones to an inmate there, the Herald Bulletin of Anderson, Ind., reported.
¦ In Ohio in October, just a month after Aramark service began, two of its food workers were fired and a third resigned at Mansfield Correctional Institution over “inappropriate relationships” with inmates, two of whom had “new tattoos in reference to the workers,” the Mansfield News Journal reported.
¦ Florida and Aramark parted ways in 2008 after the state repeatedly fined the company for contract violations and an audit accused Aramark of cutting costs and boosting profits by skimping on meals.
¦ In Kentucky, corrections officers and others said a 2009 prison riot was provoked by poor food service by Aramark. The company was also cited in a Kentucky audit for food skimping and excessive billings.
But not all reviews have been negative. In Indiana, for example, where the contract with Aramark is credited with saving the state more than $11 million a year, the National Governors Association last year gave Aramark an award for a prison vocational program it said has reduced recidivism.
And it’s not like there were never problems with State of Michigan employees who worked in prison kitchens. In fact, a state worker was sent to prison after aiding in an escape about nine years ago.
But not counting the marijuana incident, 36 Aramark employees have been banned from state prisons for a variety of transgressions since the company took over food service Dec. 8. By comparison, about five state employees were banned in the last five years, union officials said.
“None of this surprises me,” said Nick Ciaramitaro, legislative director for American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 25, which represented the state food service workers. But “it surprises me how quickly the situation has deteriorated.”