Anyone been following the Michigan/Aramark sitch?
Jonathan Oosting
LANSING, MI — The Michigan Department of Corrections canceled
a $98,000 fine against Aramark Correctional Services months before the Snyder administration announced another $200,000 fine for the private prison food vendor.
An MDOC spokesperson on Thursday told The Detroit Free Press that the original fine, levied in March for various contract violations involving meals and improper contact with inmates, “
never was paid.”
The acknowledgement followed the release of an email thread between Gov. Rick Snyder's Chief of Staff Dennis Muchmore and MDOC Director Dan Heyns, who wrote on March 13 that he would “tone down my attack dogs, delay or cancel any fines and give Aramark time to solve the problems.”
The emails, obtained by Progress Michigan through a Freedom of Information Act request, began with Muchmore forwarding a news story about lawmaker concerns with violations by Aramark, which won a three-year $145 million contract with the state in late 2013.
“Do you feel you’ve got this under control?” Muchmore asked, suggesting the “attacks” were initiated by union groups, ostensibly upset that the state privatized a service previously performed in-house.
A subsequent email from Muchmore was redacted by the state, according to Progress Michigan, before Heyns said he would cancel any fines.
“We were concerned about losing control of a joint and told them repeatedly with no improvement,” Heyns wrote. “Our corrective action was too harsh.”
The original fines, detailed in a series of letters from MDOC to Aramark earlier this year, were expected to be paid within 30 days. Up until this week, it was not known that MDOC canceled the fines.
Snyder administration spokesperson Sara Wurfel said the email exchange was “simply a request to ease off escalating the tension and work toward identifying the cause of issues and finding resolution.”
“The contract and food service operations was clearly an issue — problems had been identified on both sides of the relationship and getting that situation fixed, along with safety and security at the state’s correctional institutions, was a top priority,” she said.
Progress Michigan, a liberal advocacy group that released the emails, had a different interpretation. The exchange, the group said, “shows the top levels of Snyder’s administrations pulling strings in the early stages of Aramark’s public blunders” and confirmed fears about prison safety.
"For months, we were led to believe this fine had been levied and that it was part of holding Aramark accountable, and then we find out it hadn’t been levied," said spokesperson Sam Inglot. "It’s a questionable action from this administration."
Snyder last month announced
a $200,000 fine against Aramark and said the company would be required to redesign its current training and staffing procedures in coordination with MDOC.
Using that fine money, Snyder this week
hired a new independent monitor to act as a liaison between the state and Aramark. Ed Buss, former chief of prisons in Florida and Indiana, will make $160,000 as the Senior Advisor for Contract Oversight.
Buss has extensive experience in corrections, but critics have also questioned his hire. He was reportedly forced out after six months on the job in Florida following contract clashes with Gov. Rick Scott, including concerns that initial health care privatization bids would have benefited a consultant whom Buss had hired.
Michigan Corrections canceled first $98,000 Aramark fine for contract violations | MLive.com
