Aerial image of Homestead child detention center (Source: Youtube.com)
NPR reported today on the Southern Florida-based child detention center, Homestead, a for-profit facility run by Comprehensive Health Services (CHS). Public Accountability Initiative Director Kevin Connor spoke to NPR about the SEC disclosures of CHS’s parent company, Caliburn, which is in the process of going public:
“Caliburn’s SEC filings make it clear that they understand the controversial nature of the policies that they are benefiting from.”
Listen to the full story here.
If the reality of a for-profit child prison is not abhorrent enough, the financial dealings and the players behind its existence only make it more odious.
In March 2018, the Alexandria, Virginia-based private equity firm DC Capital Partners purchased CHS and bundled the company with three other acquisitions to create a new conglomerate, Caliburn International. Now their goal is to take Caliburn International public. DC Capital’s intentions came to light in SEC filings last fall, in the wake of widespread media attention on the family separation crisis that drew international condemnation over the summer.
Despite this negative attention, the owners of CHS see the potential for profits and are moving forward with an IPO with the support of a cadre of Wall Street banks that will also cash in on the deal. Bank of America, Jefferies, and Suntrust are underwriting the IPO.
DC Capital Partners has an advisory board stacked with former top military and intelligence officials with revolving door ties to the NSA, CIA, and Department of Defense. Trump’s former Chief of Staff, John Kelly, was a paid advisor before he joined the administration. His former U.S. Envoy to Qatar, Anthony Zinni, currently sits on the advisory board and sits on the board of Caliburn. Another notable advisor, former CIA Director Michael Hayden, actually said that family separation policies shared “commonality” with Nazi Germany.
For more on the Wall Street banks and power players pushing this deal, see our data visualization below.