Warden says deal not unethical

PETER SHINKLE
Publication Date: February 13, 1995
Burl Cain, former warden at Dixon Correctional Institute, signed a private business
contract in 1992 with a company that wanted to use Dixon inmates to run a
waste recycling plant.
Cain, now warden of the state penitentiary at Angola, signed the contract with
Controlled Recycling Equipment Inc., which also proposed building its plant at
Dixon. State ethics law prohibits a state official from working for a company
affected by decisions the employee makes in his public job.
"The ethics code prohibits public officials from working for a private company
seeking to do business with their public agency," said Maris McCrory, attorney for
the state Commission on Ethics for Public Employees. McCrory declined to
comment on Cain's activities, saying she cannot comment on cases that the
commission has not reviewed.
Cain denied his business with CRE violated state ethics laws. "My relationship with
them had nothing to do with my state employment," Cain said. "I avoid any
conflict of interest at all costs. I know better," he said.
CRE's plans for Dixon and at least two other sites in Louisiana never came to
fruition, and Cain said he never made any money from his dealings with CRE. Cain
also said he backed away from CRE's plans once he concluded they were not
legal.
But local officials said Cain supported CRE in May 1992, just weeks before he
signed a contract with the company guaranteeing him a 5 percent commission
on deals he arranged. And beginning in October 1992, Cain and an associate,
Larry Parker, invested $58,000 in CRE. In an effort to win contracts for CRE, Cain
met with the mayor of New Orleans at the time, Sidney Bartholemy, and traveled
around Louisiana and to other states.
But that business relationship soured. In April 1994, Cain sued CRE in federal
court in Baton Rouge, alleging CRE gave false information when it sought his
investment. CRE denied that claim. In turn, CRE alleged Cain and his associate
harmed CRE by using information developed by CRE to start their own company,
Recycling Management Inc., and to market the same technology offered by CRE.

The recycling technology uses pressurized steam to turn food and yard waste
into a usable pulp and extract it from garbage, according to CRE literature. CRE
also claimed Cain and Parker caused CRE to lose a $20 million loan that CRE was
going to use to build one recycling plant in New Orleans and two in New Jersey.
The use of Dixon prisoner labor has drawn criticism recently.
Last month, the state Legislative Auditor said a private business that processes
chickens at Dixon saved about $3.3 million in labor costs over 14 months by
using prisoner labor. The auditor concluded the prison system was "not being
adequately compensated." The Department of Public Safety and Corrections
replied that the chicken business was still making a profit for the department.
Cain and his attorney, Barton Conradi, came to The Advocate's offices Feb. 4 to
discuss CRE and provide documents on Cain's relationship with the company.
Cain said he met CRE officials and tentatively agreed to work with CRE in April
1992.
CRE president Kenneth Saucier revealed his plan to use Dixon inmates in a letter
to the East Feliciana Parish Police Jury dated May 4, 1992. Dixon and CRE would
obtain permits for the facility, which could handle up to 100 tons per day of
waste from the parish, he wrote. That month, Cain backed CRE in meetings with
the Police Jury,including one meeting in the warden's office at Dixon, said James
Hunt, the jury's president.
"To my knowledge, he was completely in favor of it," Hunt said. However, Hunt
said he could not remember the specifics of the CRE proposal Cain supported,
and no records of the meetings were available.
Cain said when he learned CRE wanted to use inmate labor, he supported the
idea on the condition that it was legal. However, he said he changed his position
to oppose the plan because he believed it violated a state law that permits
inmate labor to work only for private companies involved in agriculture or
aquaculture.
"I pulled the plug on it and wasn't going to do it," he said.
Cain also said he opposed a proposal by CRE to build the plant on Dixon
property. Instead, he said, he supported the idea of building the plant on Dixon

property that was expected to be transferred to the Police Jury. But Hunt, the
Police Jury president, said he was unaware of Cain's opposition to CRE's plans.
The Police Jury greeted the plan because the parish needed to meet state
requirements for recycling, Hunt said. Hunt and Mamie Rouzan, a resident who
chairs the parish's recycling committee, said they believed CRE's plan died
because the parish could not generate enough waste to justify the plant. And if
Cain opposed the use of Dixon labor by CRE, it went unknown to Rouzan.
"He wanted the prisoners to work there," Rouzan said. Rouzan and Hunt said they
were not aware that Cain was financially involved with CRE. Cain initially said he
never mentioned the CRE proposal to any corrections department official, but he
later said he talked to a department attorney about CRE.
Cain had a Dixon official send a memorandum to the lawyer on May 8, 1992,
asking about the legality of CRE's proposal to use Dixon inmates and build on
Dixon land. The lawyer, Roxie Goynes-Clark, said she told Cain on about May 12a day when the Police Jury was to discuss CRE's plan - that the proposal probably
was legal.
She said her view was partly based on the memo's statement that the plant could
produce agricultural feed. That meant the inmates could be considered to be
involved in agriculture, she said. Conradi said Cain's decision to talk to the lawyer
shows the warden dealt with the matter "above board and publicly."
Cain acknowledges starting his own recycling company, but said his firm began
marketing the technology only after CRE failed to pay the inventor of the
technology for the rights to market it. Cain said his company has not yet built any
recycling facilities. CRE's president, Kenneth Saucier, did not return messages left
at his home. No one answered the phone at a number listed on CRE stationery.
The company's attorney, James Holliday, said he was unaware of any support
Cain ever gave to CRE in its dealings with the state. In their lawsuit, Cain and
Parker claim Saucier and CRE official James Pope provided false information and
concealed facts the investors should have been given. For example, Saucier and
Pope said they had signed a contract to recycle 200 tons of waste per day at a
landfill in Sabine Parish, Cain and Parker claim. No such contract was ever signed,
a Sabine Parish official told The Advocate. But in court documents, CRE attorney
Susan Griffin said Cain and Parker knew they were loaning money to a firm that
needed funds to survive until it could sign contracts to build plants. In fact, the

company hired Cain to arrange contracts and he also attempted to find funding
from parish officials, Griffin said. No trial date has been set on the lawsuit
involving Cain and CRE.