How a Former Prisoner Took Down a Big Shot from the Private Prison Industry (and Cheney Pal)

[marmar]

via AlterNet:



How a Former Prisoner Took Down a Big Shot from the Private Prison Industry (and Cheney Pal)

By Paul Wright, CounterPunch. Posted June 9, 2009.

Gus Puryear had his judicial nomination scuttled by a former prisoner turned criminal justice advocate.



On June 13, 2007, former President Bush nominated Gustavus A. Puryear IV, 40, for a lifetime appointment to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. While you've likely never heard of Gustavus Puryear, you may be familiar with the company he works for: Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the nation's largest for-profit prison firm. CCA is conveniently located in the Middle District of Tennessee and Puryear serves as the company's general counsel -- its top attorney.

Puryear's judicial nomination did not go unnoticed; it drew the attention of a former CCA prisoner turned criminal justice advocate who opposes private prisons. By conducting extensive research, securing widespread media attention, contacting members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and recruiting organizational allies, he coordinated an opposition campaign that managed to stall -- and ultimately scuttle -- Puryear's nomination.

Further, the ex-CCA prisoner who took down CCA's general counsel, denying him a federal judgeship in a humiliating defeat, happens to be employed by Prison Legal News.

The Man Who Would Be Judge

So who exactly is Gustavus "Gus" Puryear? Born into a wealthy family in Atlanta, Georgia, Puryear graduated with a B.A. from Emory University in 1990 and received a J.D. degree with honors from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 1993. He excelled in debate, placing third in a national debate tournament while in college.

Puryear clerked for a year for Judge Rhesa H. Barksdale on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit before settling down in Nashville, Tennessee. There he landed a position with the law firm of Farris, Warfield & Kanaday (now Stites & Harbison), where his family had longstanding connections. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/rights/140521/how_a_former_prisoner_took_down_a_big_shot_from_the_private_prison_industry_%28and_cheney_pal%29_/

[Stuart G]

1. K and R...thanks for posting this.

[47of74]

2. A K and an R

[izquierdista]

3. Wealth and connections lose out?

Maybe there is hope.....

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

4. Hell of an article, a most excellent read. Great Job Mr. Friedmann!!

Would that we had a thousand such folks doing this work.
rec.

[havocmom]

5. K&R Can we get this to the Greatest Page, please? More ammo against cheney's Corporate America

cheney was working for Halliburton when he was pushing the 'intel' for war in Iraq. He had all those energy company leaders in for secret meetings too, lest we forget. Now it seems a counsel for a for-profit prison corporation was nominated for a lifetime on an important bench.

drip drip drip comes the evidence that the 'vast RW conspiracy' is really a front for a vast CORPORATE conspiracy to set up puppets in various government positions then reap benefits from the decisions/policies/actions of their puppets.

This particular subject, for-profit private prisons trying to get their people in positions to insure their future profits, is very interesting to me. I have long wondered about former MT governor Marc Racicot and all the prison building he insisted on in MT. Small population here and not huge need for prisons, but I gather he drove the MT budget into the ditch getting prisons built. Then, he was put in charge of the RNC for a spell and went on to run bush/cheney. Wondered what he did to earn those plum jobs. Now I can ponder just how powerful private prison corporations are in cheney's version of Corporate America.

As evidence mounts, we who connect dots can laugh more and more at those who would attempt to marginalize our queries with the label conspiracy theorists. The more we learn, the more the dots connect themselves.

Thanks for posting. I hope this makes it to Greatest Page for more visibility. We need to expose the tentacles of corporate power into all branches, agencies, policy making, of government if we are ever to restore any chance of achieving 'the American Dream' for the working people of our beloved nation.

[dmr]

6. Excellent post to such a revealing article

K&R

[havocmom]

9. Thank you

[Demeter]

7. Sometimes We Win One

but it's insufficient. We need to win 96% of the time, at least.

[benld74]

8. Cheers to the lone man, who did not give up - NEVER give up!