ons, but I was able to get information on one of them. Citizens Against Private Prisons or (CAP) is a purposive interest group that was formed in the spring of 1999 in Wellsville, Ohio when the towns’ mayor and council was approached by a Congressman to consider the construction of a 2500 bed private correctional facility. The facility was to be owned and operated by Correctional Corporation of America. The group formed in response to this and because of the CCA owned prison in Youngstown that has had many questionable escapes and deaths. This purposive group formed in response to an enemy. So far, the group has mainly targeted the general public, the mass media, and other interest groups. They haven’t successfully targeted policy makers.CAP was able to get an initiative on a November ballot. Basically it says that the sewer services are prohibited to a private correctional facility that houses out-of-state prisoners. CAP has gained the support of AFSCME-CU, OCSEA, AFGE, and Senator Hagan helping them in their group’s efforts. (20) CAP was able to get Eric Bates, private prison critic and widely acclaimed author to speak at a Wellsville open meeting. They also held an informational meeting for the community with representatives from different unions in 1999. In October 1999 CAP canvassed neighborhoods along with members of different unions to join their group. In 1999, CAP also wrote many letters to the editors of local newspapers. Also, in October, CAP spoke to the School Board about prison privatization. With the help of OCSEA and AFGE, CAP passed out packets of information including a copy of their initiative to 1300 registered voters. In November, the CAP initiative did not pass. It failed 657 to 622. In December, CAP tried to get the initiative back on the ballot, but they were unable to because a contact at the election board did not inform them on how to correctly file the initiative properly. In January 2000, C...
