Commentary
Federal Prison Camps – A Complete Waste
Written by David Banks, former COO, IRP Solutions and wrongly convicted
It is another boring day at the federal prison camp in Florence, Colorado. Figured I would write something concerning my observations about the usefulness of a prison camp and highlight facts concerning the IRP6 bond denial, which I am sure you will find interesting.
I have been wrongly convicted and incarcerated for 14 months at the Federal Prison Camp in Florence, Colorado. I am David Banks, one of the IRP6. Prison reform has been discussed both by President Obama and Eric Holder given that the federal prison system is operating at 40% overcapacity. I would recommend to budget conscious legislators to take a close look at the waste of taxpayers’ dollars being expended to operate useless federal prison camps, which in my opinion is nothing more than a warehouse for storing humans. The government would save a significant amount of money by replacing prison camps with home confinement.
Prison camps are considered the lowest security level in the federal prison system. Given that low security level, they don’t have a fence around them. Certainly the inmates sent to a prison camp can’t be considered a danger to the community or the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) would have secured their incarceration with all the trimmings such as barbed wire fencing and roving patrols. Since I have been here, three inmates have simply walked off the camp and have yet to be found. Two are certain to have returned to Mexico and the other unknown at this time. If the inmates are not caught it will save taxpayers $90,000 per year. Basic representative analysis of costs associated with operating a prison camp presents a compelling picture. (CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE COMMENTARY)
Philly PD still using typewriters; are you kidding me?
IRP Solutions execs had the fix for Philly PD but IBM and Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Kirsch interfered with business
For those who are intimately familiar with the IRP5 story, you will know that every bit of this commentary is true. For those naysayers, maybe this commentary and the linked story will show you yet another element of the IRP story that proves the IRP6 WERE NOT running some sort of scheme.
To the contrary, the IRP5 were in fact working very hard to help solve major issues within law enforcement agencies across this country. It's sad that there are folks in this country who put personal aspirations and political goals ahead of what is right.
The link below is to a story that recently ran in Technically Philly (by Juliana Reyes). Technically Philly reports that Philly PD is still using typewriters and they have spent over $7 million with top contractors like IBM unsuccessfully trying to automate their processes.
Philly PD had a need. IRP Solutions had the fix. An overzealous Assistant U.S. Attorney wanted to convict some guys. IBM project managers were not going to be upstaged. (CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE COMMENTARY)
Is Big Blue Too Big To Fail?
Did IBM Run IRP Solutions Corporation Out of Business?
This story goes hand-in-hand with the story of how the executives of IRP Solutions Corporation had a dream, but as they went after new business, IBM undermined their efforts in Philadelphia. Did this multi-billion dollar corporation feel threatened by a small start up? Is IBM too big to fail, and IRP too small to succeed?
Did this major government vendor/contractor play a role in undermining the executives of IRP and help facilitate the investigation and subsequent indictment/trial/conviction?
How can this be substantiated? The trail leads back to 2009 when IRP attempted to do business in Philadelphia with the Office of the Inspector General (OIG). IBM had a contract to build an electronic search warrant capability but was failing at delivering on the contract. After IRP Solutions conducted a demo of IRP's capabilities, Philadelphia was ready to do business with IRP Solutions. IBM's project managers realized that they might be out and IRP in, so they went to the managers within the OIG and presented a newspaper article showing that IRP was under investigation (NOTE: The article was supposed to have been under seal but, somehow, it was leaked). (CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE COMMENTARY)