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Albert Sneed Correctional
Facility
La Villa, Texas
Texson Management Group
April 17, 2000
Two inmates, one convicted of aggravated sexual assault and attempted capital
murder, the other a repeated burglar, climbed through an air vent and over a
fence to escape. They escaped from the private prison in Texas around 4:00 a.m.
(Valley Morning Star, Rio Grande Valley, TX)
Angelina
County Jail
Angelina County, Texas
CiviGenics (formerly run by Correctional Services Corporation)
October 26, 2005 Lufkin Daily News
When Angelina County's old downtown jail re-opens for business next year, it
will be under familiar leadership. Bob Prince, marketing liaison for CiviGenics
Texas, Inc., told Angelina County commissioners that when the jail re-opens
under CiviGenics early next year it would be with Ken Stewart at the helm.
Stewart served as Angelina County's jail administrator. Stewart was also a vocal
supporter of the county's campaign to pass a $10.5 million bond that financed
the construction of the county's current jail located on Lufkin Avenue.
According to Stewart, the downtown jail was built in 1983 with the ability to
hold 63 beds. A 1990 addition to the building increased the jail's inmate
capacity by 48 beds to 111 total. Aware of Stewart's recent retirement and his
reputation in the business of jail administration, CiviGenics contacted Stewart
to see if he could be lured out of retirement, Prince said.
October 12, 2005 Lufkin Daily News
Angelina County commissioners on Tuesday approved the purchase of new electronic
touch-screen voting equipment, made possible by a grant of almost $600,000
through the Help America Vote Act. Commissioners did not take action on
Tuesday's agenda item to approve a lease of the county's old jail facility by
CiviGenics, a private corrections firm that operates facilities in 16 states,
including eight locations in Texas. County Sheriff Kent Henson asked that the
commissioners table the contract approval until he could review the wording on
the document. "I want to make sure the county doesn't get stuck with some things
like we did the last time," Henson said, referring to the previous corrections
firm that pulled out after leasing the old county jail facility for less than a
year. Commissioners approved tabling the agenda item and will likely consider it
at their Oct. 25 meeting. Bob Prince, CiviGenics' government liaison for
marketing, was on hand at Tuesday's meeting and told commissioners if his
company came on board, it would employ 27 workers and pump more than $1 million
into the local economy. Payroll alone would account for about $700,000, he said.
In addition, CiviGenics plans to use a familiar face to serve as the facility's
administrator in naming Ken Stewart - who served in the same capacity for the
county sheriff's office before the new jail facility was built - to oversee
operations.
November 10, 2004 KTRE
The old Angelina County jail is locking up. The county started leasing
the building about eight months ago to the Correctional Services Corporation so
dozens of undocumented immigrants could be housed there. The Immigration and
Naturalization Service can no longer afford that arrangement.
Bartlett State Jail
Bartlett, Texas
CCA
April 30, 2011 Killeen Daily Herald
The largest private corporation operating prisons in the U.S. is suing the city
of Bartlett after the city threatened last week to shut off the water supply to
a state jail the company operates. Corrections Corporation of America Inc. (CCA)
was granted a temporary injunction Thursday, preventing Bartlett from cutting
off water and sewer to the 1,049-bed Bartlett State Jail. CCA alleges the city
has severely over-billed the company because of a faulty water meter. Since
December, CCA has disputed the amount the city has charged for use of its water
supply. According to court filings, CCA believes Bartlett charged the company
for 44 percent more water than was actually used at the jail. The disputed water
bills amount to $213,237. CCA claims it requested hearings with city officials
each time it disputed a bill, but was rebuffed. The company also submitted
checks to the city for water usage CCA is not disputing; however, the city has
not cashed those checks. In the summer of 2010, jail officials became suspicious
that the jail's water and sewer bills were excessive, court documents state. CCA
hired two experts to examine water usage at the Bartlett State Jail. One expert
confirmed the suspicions of CCA officials by examining the jail's water tank.
The expert, Sutton G. Page, found that over a 24-hour period, the city's water
meter showed the jail used 68,595 gallons more than the amount he measured. A
second expert, an engineer named William Johansen, examined the city's water
meter. In an affidavit filed with the court, Johansen states that the water
meter is not working properly. The jail's low-flow meter was inoperable, so
Johansen measured it as 100 percent inaccurate. The high-flow meter made a
measurement error between 14.4 percent and 95 percent, Johansen stated. "It is
my opinion that the meters at the Bartlett, Texas, State Jail do not function
properly and cannot reliably account for the amount of water flowing through the
meters," he stated in court documents. According to Bartlett's city charter,
city officials must accept CCA's account of the water bills. The charter places
a time limit on water disputes. If city officials do not meet with a water
customer or respond to their complaints about a disputed bill within a certain
timeframe, the city is automatically determined at fault. CCA claims city
officials never attempted to meet with jail officials regarding disputed bills.
City officials could not be reached for comment.
January 7, 2010 AP
A boil water notice has been issued for Bartlett where a shortage has led to
using an emergency well and portable toilets for a state jail. The 1,049-bed
Bartlett State Jail ordered portable restrooms and 5,000 bottles of water after
briefly losing city service. Steve Owen with Corrections Corp. of America says
employees Wednesday occasionally shut off water so an onsite tower could refill.
Water levels in the city's two elevated storage tanks have been declining.
Officials suspect a pump malfunction. A backup well, which failed an assessment
less than two years ago, was brought online this week after passing a bacterial
test. Mayor Arthur White did not immediately return a message Thursday from The
Associated Press.
February 25, 2009 FOX 7
A former corrections employee, armed with a gun, had a central Texas jail on
full alert this morning. A swat team was called out to the Bartlett State Jail
around 11:00 Tuesday for a hostage situation. The standoff ended early Wednesday
morning, when a former employee of this jail was taken into custody. A
spokesperson for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice tells us the woman
confronted a current employee in the parking lot late last night. Another
employee came out to see what was going on, and the former employee pulled out a
gun and took the two men hostage, forcing them back into the jail. That brought
out the swat team and DPS, and the jail was locked down. The hostages were in
the jail's visitation area and were able to escape. At that point, this was a
standoff between the woman with the gun and the law enforcement officers
outside. By 1:25 this morning, the TDCJ spokesperson tells us the woman was
taken into custody and taken to the Williamson county jail in Georgetown. This
is a state jail under the authority of t-d-c-j, but it's run by a private
company called corrections corporation of America. The woman accused of taking
two employees hostages here is a former employee, who stopped working here about
a year ago.
January 8, 2002
Kyndall Dwight James, 22, who escaped from the Bartlett State Jail in 2000,
pleaded guilty Monday to charges of escape, a second-degree felony, and unlawful
use of a motor vehicle, a state jail felony. James was sentenced to 20
years in prison. David Lee Sanders, a second Bartlett inmate accused of
escaping with James, will stand trial today. (The Statesman)
August 28, 2000
Two convicted felons escape after breaking into the maintenance shop and
stealing a cutting tool to cut through the 12-foot perimeter fence. They
were caught the next day after a high speed car chase that ended with the
escapees' stolen truck tires being shot out. (Austin American-Statesman, August
29, 2000)
Ben Reid Community
Correctional Facility (AKA Southeast Texas
Transitional Center)
Houston, Texas
GEO Group (bought
Cornell Companies)
April 6, 2012 Houston Press Blogs
A high-risk child rapist who hopped over his halfway house's barbed wire fence
Thursday night is the fifth sex offender to abscond from the privately run
Southeast Texas Transitional Center in 18 months. According to the Houston
Chronicle story linked above, authorities say Michael Elbert Young, who might be
"mentally unstable if not taking medication," removed his electronic tracking
monitor. He was "released from prison after serving eight years for two
aggravated assault convictions. Both were sex related. He also served a 20-year
term for sexual assault of a child and attempted aggravated sexual assault." Oh,
and he has a history of using knives. Owned and operated by Florida-based GEO
Group, the facility at 10950 Old Beaumont Highway was formerly known as the Ben
A. Reid Community Correctional Facility. Apparently, since GEO can't keep track
of its convicted sexual predators, it just figured changing the name would solve
the problem. After all, it's much cheaper than hiring a competent staff and
improving security. In October 2010, Anthony Ray Ferrell walked out of Southeast
Texas/Ben A. Reid, and was later charged with gunning down a Good Samaritan who
intervened when Ferrell allegedly tried to snatch a woman's purse inside a gas
station convenience store. A week before Ferrell strolled off the grounds, Bruce
McCain, convicted of two sexual assaults in 1986, fled the facility. In December
2010, Arthur William Brown, who had served 31 years for aggravated sexual
assault of two women and a 16-year-old, did the same. A month after that, sex
offender Timothy Rosales Jr. absconded. Although some of these folks were
caught, the problem is, as we wrote earlier, the place is like a freaking sieve,
and GEO has a sweet contract with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice:
There's apparently no repercussion for escapes, and once a resident absconds,
it's no longer GEO's problem. All GEO personnel have to do is pick up a phone
and notify real-life law enforcement officers. Thanks, GEO. We certainly feel
safer with y'all at the wheel. And thanks, TDCJ, for continuing to do business
with them.
January 25, 2011 KTRK
High risk, armed and dangerous are the words being used to describe a sex
offender who absconded from a Houston halfway house on Monday night. It's been
nearly 24 hours since Timothy Rosales, Jr. disappeared from the halfway house
and he is no where to be found. The Texas Department of Public Safety has since
added him to it's Top 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list. Rosales was doing maintenance work in the lobby of the
Reid Center on Beaumont Highway around 6:15pm Monday when he bolted through the
front door, cut off his electronic monitoring device around his ankle and fled.
Rosales then did not report back to his parole officer and a warrant was issued
for his arrest. Across the street at Melba's Country Kitchen, the owner and her
staff had no idea he'd absconded until today. Melba Barfield says she has no
reservations being this close to a halfway house where offenders can leave, so
long as they have an approved schedule. "I've been here nine years and I've had
absolutely no problems from the guys at the halfway house. I know that several
have walked away but they haven't stopped here to get my dollar," said Barfield.
January 25, 2011 Houston Press Blogs
Timothy Rosales Jr. is the first rapist of 2011 to escape from the privately run
Ben Reid halfway house, and the second to escape in a little over a month. The
39-year-old sex offender fled from the Beaumont Highway facility around 6:15
Monday night, according to the Department of Public Safety. He's considered
armed and dangerous. And, like Arthur William Brown, the rapist who escaped in
late December, he was able to remove his electronic monitoring ankle bracelet.
We wrote about the unsecured Reid facility, and its parent company, the
Florida-based GEO Group, in December. Two months before the story ran, Anthony
Ray Ferrell escaped from Reid and allegedly shot and killed a 24-year-old good
Samaritan who intervened in a gas station purse-snatching. Another rapist split
the Reid facility a few weeks before Ferrell slipped out. Although the place is
like a freaking sieve, there is nothing in GEO's contract with the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice about a maximum number of vicious sexual
predators that can be let loose on the public in a given amount of time. And
once these monsters step off the Reid premises, they're no longer GEO's problem:
It is up to actual real-life law enforcement officers to apprehend the escapees.
All GEO personnel need to do is pick up the phone and make a few calls once they
realize an offender hasn't returned on time. Needless to say, we're a little
concerned about the kind of people who are standing between the public and some
armed asshole who likes to rape 16-year-old kids. You know who doesn't need to
worry? GEO's top executives. Their salaries and benefits are secure. They will
continue to make money off the Reid facility. And besides, their families don't
live anywhere near the facility. So what in the world would they have to worry
about?
November 16, 2010 Houston Press
The man charged with killing a Good Samaritan during a purse-snatching is the
third person to escape the same state-contracted halfway house in the last 20
months. Anthony Ray Ferrell had fled a "halfway house in the 10900 block of
Beaumont Highway" in October, according to the Houston Chronicle. The home in
that block is the Ben A. Reid Community Correctional Facility, from which sex
offender Bruce McCain escaped in October 2010 and Richard Williamson Griffin Jr.
escaped in February 2009. (McCain was arrested in the Rio Grande Valley three
weeks after his escape). The home was operated by private prison group Cornell
Companies, which was bought by its main competitor, the Florida-based GEO Group,
last April. The facility "provides temporary housing, monitoring and
transitional services for 500 minimum-security adult male offenders," according
to Cornell Companies literature. Its "security measures include 24-hour
custodial supervision, 12-foot perimeter fence, outdoor lighting, close circuit
cameras, secure entrances and frequent census checks." Cornell Companies/GEO
also operate Houston's Leidel Comprehensive Sanctions Center. In 2005, before
GEO bought Cornell, a Leidel resident who got a day-pass for church and never
bothered to return; he fled to Fort Worth, where he killed three men. Ferrell is
accused of murdering Sam Irick at a Meyerland convenience store last week. Irick
tried to intervene as Ferrell allegedly was robbing a customer.
September 9, 2004 Houston Chronicle
Drug use by employees at a privately run halfway house for paroled felons led to
seven resignations this week after the facility's corporate owners called for
staffwide drug tests. The departure of the seven workers — including
administrators, security guards and caseworkers — was the latest problem at the
Ben Reid Community Correctional Facility, which houses up to 500 felons in
northeast Houston.
The facility is operated by the Houston-based Cornell Companies Inc. The seven
employees who resigned did so after testing positive for drug use. In May, its
director of employee training, Roy Thomas, 50, was arrested after a police
officer, acting on a tip, searched his car and found 212 tablets of hydrocodone,
an addictive painkiller, and 123 tablets of Xanax, an anti-anxiety drug, police
said. Cornell fired the Ben Reid House's director and several high-level
managers last year, citing poor management and violations of numerous company
policies.
Bexar County Courthouse
Bexar, Texas
Champion National Security
June 06, 2001
Dissatisfied with current security contractor, Commissioners Court voted
unanimously Tuesday to hire its own civilian guards to man the entrances to
Bexar County's three courthouse facilities. Henry Martinez, deputy chief
of courthouse security for Sheriff Ralph Lopez, said the current contractor,
Champion National Security, was assessed more than $85,000 in fines for guards
showing up late and for other performance infractions that occurred over a
16-month period that ended April 30. Commissioners also voted to reject
all bids received by the March 30 deadline to take over security operations.
Among the bidders were Champion, DSS Services, the Wackenhut Corp. and Lobo
Security. "You're going to have a better-trained guard in the future than
we've had in the past," said County Judge Nelson Wolff, who last week met with
Lopez and Commissioner Paul Elizondo to iron out the details of the sheriff's
proposal. "The position of the judges, unanimously, is that it (courthouse
security) needs to be done by the Sheriff's Department," said 226th District
Judge Sid Harle, who is serving as the county's criminal administrative judge.
(The San Antonio Express-News)
Bexar County Jail
Bexar County, Texas
Aramark,
Premier Management Enterprise
May 13, 2009 KSAT
Most people can simply run out to the store when they need a jar of peanut
butter or a loaf of bread, but people behind bars are a captive audience for
such necessities, literally. Inmates at the Bexar County jail are allowed to buy
simple things like ramen soup, soap and candy bars at the jail commissary, run
by Aramark, but now some wonder if they're not being ripped off. "The prices are
just outrageous and ridiculous,” said one inmate. "I think they're outrageous,”
said another. “They're terrible." Abel Gallardo agrees. "Here we go baby. Where
are we going, HEB?" Gallardo said to his small child as he pushed the child in a
toy car near the home they share on the southside. Gallardo is trying to raise
two kids while his wife is in jail. He said the jail commissary’s high prices
make it hard on families to get by, because money has to be spent behind bars.
"They need to treat these ladies and these guys right,” Gallardo said. “Yeah,
they committed a crime, well they're sitting in jail paying for it." In a
comparison shopping trip, the KSAT 12 Defenders found that a bar of Irish Spring
soap is $1.29 in the commissary, but $.75 at a store. Candy bars are $1.09 in
the commissary versus $.74 in the store. Chili is $3.59 in the commissary, $1.45
at the store. A tuna pouch is $2.99 in the commissary, $.89 in the store and the
ramen soup is $.69 in the commissary, but only $.15 in the store. "It's just
straight highway robbery," said an inmate. But the jail said prices here are in
line with convenience store prices, not grocery store prices, and that the
county takes 35 percent of the profits from commissary profits and puts the
money back into inmate services.
March 12, 2008 Express News
A small plane crash Monday night killed a Louisiana businessman whose
private prison services company, Premier Management Enterprises, was at the
center of a public corruption investigation that last year forced the
resignation of Bexar County Sheriff Ralph Lopez. Patrick LeBlanc, 53, died with
the pilot while trying to land in rough weather in Lafayette, La., according to
a family friend and local press reports. LeBlanc and his brother, Michael
LeBlanc, co-owned Premier and LCS Corrections Services, which build or service
prisons in several states, including in three South Texas counties. The
brothers' company remains the subject of an ongoing FBI investigation into
"contracting irregularities," a bureau official confirmed. "He had great
integrity and honor, unlike what some of you guys tried to do to him," said Ron
Gomez, a close friend and partner in a small weekly newspaper that published its
first edition last week. Gomez said LeBlanc went into the news business as a
response to negative publicity about his company's role in a Bexar County
corruption probe that caused him to lose a race last fall for state legislative
office. Premier Management Enterprises, which has operated jail commissaries in
Texas, was at the center of a Bexar County district attorney's investigation
involving a foreign vacation gift to Lopez and cash payments to the sheriff's
top aide, John Reynolds, before, during and after the company was given
commissary contracts. The LeBlanc brothers have repeatedly denied all wrongdoing
and have not been indicted or formally accused of any crime related to the Bexar
County jail commissary contract. But Lopez resigned and pleaded guilty to
reduced misdemeanor charges for accepting a Costa Rica golf vacation from the
LeBlancs, while Reynolds last month was sentenced to 10 years for demanding
thousands of dollars in "consulting fees" and charitable donations from Premier.
The FBI took over from state authorities, and over the last several months,
agents have interviewed Lopez and Reynolds as part of their respective plea
deals. FBI Special Agent Erik Vasys said the bureau was well aware of LeBlanc's
death but declined to discuss whether the tragedy might affect the
investigation.
December 4, 2007 San Antonio Express-News
A Bexar County judge has agreed to dismiss a libel lawsuit brought against the
San Antonio Express-News by Premier Management Enterprises, a Louisiana-based
company that formerly ran Bexar County Jail's commissaries. In the lawsuit,
filed in February 2006 against Hearst Newspaper Partnership, the San Antonio
Express-News and reporter Elizabeth Allen, Premier's principals, Patrick and
Michael LeBlanc and Ian Williamson, claimed the newspaper published two stories
and one editorial containing “false and misleading statements” accusing them of
conduct that was “unethical, incompetent and, in some cases, illegal.” On
Thursday, Judge David Berchelmann of the 37th District Court signed an order
after both parties agreed to dismiss the suit with prejudice, meaning it cannot
be brought again. As part of the agreement, the newspaper acknowledged three
errors that ran in Allen's stories and in a subsequent editorial in December
2005: LCS Correction Services is not Premier's parent company. Michael LeBlanc
had no past legal problems at the time the articles were printed. Charges
against Patrick LeBlanc, Michael LeBlanc's brother, in connection with a
charitable bingo operation on an American Indian reservation were dismissed. The
5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later affirmed the dismissal. Since Allen's
stories, Premier has phased out its commissary operations at the jail. Former
longtime Sheriff Ralph Lopez resigned in August as part of an agreement with
prosecutors regarding his dealings with Premier. It included that Lopez plead no
contest to three misdemeanor charges, and pay a $10,000 fine, resulting from an
all-expenses-paid golfing and fishing trip to Costa Rica that Premier gave him
in August 2005. Lopez's plea deal also shielded his wife, Nancy, from any
potential state charges. Lopez's longtime campaign manager and friend, John
Reynolds, also pleaded guilty to one felony count of theft related to his
dealings with the company. Reynolds was Lopez's appointee to the Benevolent Fund
board, which awarded and oversaw the commissary contract. According to court
documents, Reynolds told Premier to contribute to Lopez's campaign and give
charitable donations through Reynolds in exchange for operating the commissary.
Premier attorneys have insisted that there was no wrongdoing in the way the
company landed the contract. Reynolds is awaiting sentencing.
November 8, 2007 Caller-Times
A new commissary company started this week in Kleberg County Jail after
Premier Management Enterprises and the county mutually ended Premier's contract.
Premier was investigated in Bexar County for buying a trip to Costa Rica for
former Sheriff Ralph Lopez. Lopez resigned and pleaded no contest to three
charges related to the trip. Premier, based in Lafayette, La., also operated in
Kleberg County since former Sheriff Tony Gonzalez signed the contract in fall
2004. Sheriff Ed Mata said last month he wanted to end Premier's contract
because of the Bexar investigation and because of performance issues. Keefe
Commissary Network, based in St. Louis, began providing commissary services
Monday to the Kleberg County Jail. The one-year contract gives the county 24
percent of net sales, defined as gross sales minus non-commissioned items such
as stamps. Keefe was chosen over Swanson Sales Corp., which said in a proposal
it could offer up to 30.25 percent of net sales. Commissaries, which supply
snacks and some toiletries, are considered privileges for inmates. Texas law
gives sheriffs sole discretion over the contracts. A county's proceeds must be
spent on items or activities that contribute to inmates' well-being, such as
education, libraries, writing materials, clothing and hygiene items, according
to state law. Kleberg Chief Deputy Willie Vera said Keefe offered the better
overall package despite the lower commission. Some items will be marked up to
make up part of the difference. Plus, the company offered a one-year contract,
while Swanson initially wanted five, then agreed to three, Vera said. Premier
had signed a five-year contract with Gonzalez, and Vera said the current sheriff
isn't willing to sign such a long contract. "We have a year to evaluate this
company," Vera said. "If he needs to go out and search for another company the
door is still open." Keefe also recently began service to the Nueces County
Jail, making it easier for the company to add Kingsville to its routes, Vera
said. Keefe made the transition smoothly and the Kleberg County Jail was never
without commissary services, he said. Premier ran the Nueces County Jail
commissary under a contract signed by former Sheriff Larry Olivarez until Nueces
County Sheriff Jim Kaelin terminated the agreement after taking office in
January, citing performance issues. Keefe gives Nueces County a commission of 39
percent of net sales. Mata and Kaelin have said their staffs told them their
predecessors, Gonzalez of Kleberg County and Olivarez of Nueces County, went on
that trip to Costa Rica in August 2005. Neither Mata nor Kaelin has
documentation corroborating the reports. Gonzalez left office in 2004 after
losing an election to Mata, and Olivarez resigned in January 2006 to run for
county judge. Gonzalez and Olivarez have not responded to requests for
interviews. Premier's principals, Patrick and Michael LeBlanc, also own LCS
Correctional Services, which is building a private prison to house federal
inmates near Robstown.
October 1, 2007 Caller-Times
Two local sheriffs are distancing themselves from their predecessors'
decisions to award jail commissary contracts to a company involved in a criminal
investigation in Bexar County. Kleberg County Sheriff Ed Mata said last week
officials are researching ways to end that county's five-year agreement with the
company, Premier Management Enterprises. Nueces County Sheriff Jim Kaelin gave
Premier a 30-day termination notice on Jan. 24, after taking office. Former
Bexar County Sheriff Ralph Lopez resigned and pleaded no contest to accepting a
trip to Costa Rica from the principals of Premier. The Lafayette, La., based
company runs the county jail commissary. Neither Kaelin nor Mata has
documentation corroborating what their staffs have told them -- that their
predecessors, Larry Olivarez of Nueces County and Tony Gonzalez of Kleberg
County, went on that August 2005 trip. Neither Gonzalez nor Olivarez has
responded to requests for comment. There is no known investigation in Nueces or
Kleberg counties. "At this point no case has been submitted to me," Kleberg
County District Attorney John Hubert said. "If something is submitted to me, I
take every case on its own merits. I don't have any information other than what
I've read in the papers and -- no offense to anybody -- that's not really
evidence." Nueces County District Attorney Carlos Valdez was out of the office
late last week, and the Bexar County District Attorney's Office did not respond.
The FBI would not comment. Olivarez signed a contract with Premier five months
after the Costa Rica trip involving the former Bexar County sheriff. Gonzalez
signed a contract in September 2004. Premier's principals, Patrick and Michael
LeBlanc, also own LCS Correctional Services, which is building a private prison
to house federal inmates near Robstown. A receptionist at Premier referred all
questions to the company's chief executive officer, Chris Burch, who did not
respond. An attorney for the company, Tonya Webber of Corpus Christi, said her
clients have not been commenting because of the open investigation in Bexar
County. She said she would check with her clients for comment on the local
contracts but did not respond after that. Kaelin and Mata both cited performance
issues with Premier as reasons for terminating the contract. Mata said the Bexar
investigation also played a part. "What I'm trying to do is just protect this
county," Mata said. "I'm not trying to pass any judgment if something was done
wrong." Kaelin said his decision was based solely on Premier's performance. He
met with Premier officials about complaints before ending the agreement,
according to correspondence the Caller-Times obtained under the Texas Public
Information Act. Kaelin and Premier also tangled over payments. A new contract,
with Keefe Supply, also is potentially more lucrative for the county. The
Premier contract gave the county $130,000 or 31 percent of net sales, whichever
was greater. The new contract gives a minimum of 39 percent with the possibility
of 41 percent after the first year. Texas law gives sheriffs sole discretion
over commissary contracts. Commissaries supply snacks, such as chips, candy bars
and soda, as well as certain toiletries, for inmates. Friends and family put
money in an inmate's account to spend on commissary items. A county's proceeds
must be used for commissary staff, social needs of inmates (such as education or
counseling), libraries, writing materials, clothing, hygiene items or other
programs that contribute to inmates' well-being, according to state law. Kaelin
said he uses commissary profits to buy newspaper subscriptions, televisions and
uniforms. Kaelin said inmates frequently complained about Premier's service.
Under that system, inmates would order items to be packed into bags, shipped
from San Antonio and handed out the next day. Kaelin said his office received
numerous complaints about items being damaged or wrong. Keefe stores items at
the Nueces County Jail McKenzie Annex and brings items around on a cart twice a
week so inmates can choose and receive items immediately, Kaelin said. Premier's
accounting system also allowed inmates to buy on credit, and as a result some
inmates would leave custody owing money to Nueces County, Kaelin said. Keefe's
system charges inmates' accounts directly by scanning a bracelet inmates wear.
An inmate can't buy items unless there is enough money in the account.
September 25, 2007 San Antonio Express-News
The longtime campaign manager and friend of resigned Bexar County Sheriff Ralph
Lopez pleaded guilty to one felony count of theft Tuesday that could bring him
up to a decade in prison and a $10,000 fine. John Reynolds' plea stemmed from
his demands that Premier Management Enterprises give charitable donations,
campaign contributions and other money "so you can take care of us," in exchange
for contracts to operate the jail and jail annex commissaries, which were under
the control of Lopez. According to the plea deal, Reynolds ended up diverting
the Premier money — $32,000 — for his personal use. 'You're killing me' --
Premier's Texas point man at one time was Ian Williamson, who no longer works
for the company. Now a cooperating witness, Williamson told Bexar County
investigators that Reynolds "asked for certain things" in exchange for awarding
Premier the commissary business. Specifically, Reynolds told Premier to pay the
equivalent of 1 percent of commissary sales to Lopez's campaign fund and give
three payments of $7,500 each that Reynolds said were donations to the
Optimists, when, in fact, the money went into his own bank accounts. Williamson
testified that he called Reynolds this past spring, as the investigation was
heating up, and asked him for receipts for the three $7,500 donations.
"Williamson said there was dead silence until John Reynolds stated, 'You're
killing me; you're killing me,' at which time Ian Williamson claimed it was then
that he realized that John Reynolds had never delivered the donations,"
according to court documents. At one point, Williamson stated, Reynolds demanded
a consulting fee of $5,014. When Williamson asked why he shouldn't write a check
for a round $5,000, he said Reynolds replied: "that $5,000 looked too funny."
Other filings by the district attorney's office have shown checks made out to
Reynolds' accounts and signed by Michael LeBlanc, who is an owner of Premier
along with his brother Patrick, and by Chris Burch, who replaced Williamson as
Premier's CEO. Burch said in a recent interview that he believed Reynolds'
representations that the checks were for legitimate charities. Premier's lawyers
have denied any wrongdoing. After the scandal broke, Premier mutually agreed
with the Sheriff's Office to prematurely end its Bexar County commissary
contracts. Recently, Lopez pleaded no contest to taking a gift from Premier — an
all-expense paid trip to Costa Rica for golf and fishing. He was forced to
resign and fined $10,000; his interim replacement, Roland Tafolla, was sworn in
last week. Lopez claims he was ignorant of how Reynolds was running his campaign
finances. By pleading guilty to third-degree theft, Reynolds will be going to
prison, First Assistant District Attorney Cliff Herberg said. Under the parole
rules, the 10-year sentence would make him eligible for early release in 2.5
years. That is much less than the potential sentence he could have faced had he
been indicted. District Attorney Susan Reed's office had threatened to indict
Reynolds as a repeat offender because of Reynolds' previous conviction for
falsifying a furniture damage claim while he was in the military. That would
have made Reynolds' minimum sentence 15 years, the Express-News confirmed.
Reynolds entered his plea before 399th District Judge Juanita Vasquez-Gardner on
Tuesday afternoon and was released on a $10,000 bond. As part of his plea,
Reynolds will have to tell all he knows to federal authorities before his Jan. 4
sentencing as part of an FBI investigation that may — or may not — continue for
some time. "The investigation is very fluid at the moment and to comment on the
direction just wouldn't be prudent right now," said Special Agent Erik Vasys, a
spokesman for the San Antonio-based FBI office. Goals met -- Reynolds' plea
effectively brings to a close Reed's public corruption investigation of the
lucrative jail commissary contracts, granted in 2005 and 2006 by the board of
the Benevolent Fund that was controlled by Lopez and chaired by Reynolds. "Our
goal was to go after the public officials that we believe engaged in
wrongdoing," Herberg said. "And with John Reynolds' and the sheriff's plea, we
believe we've accomplished our goal." Also caught in the investigation was the
ex-sheriff's wife, Nancy Lopez, who kept her own close ties to Reynolds and
whose signatures were found on thousands of dollars worth of campaign checks
that Reynolds allegedly deposited into his private accounts. She was given
immunity from state prosecution. Reynolds will be required to talk with federal
investigators about "all transactions. This includes but is not limited to, all
of his experiences, whether illegal or not, with the Bexar County Sheriff's
Office, the BCSO Benevolent Fund, Michael LeBlanc, Patrick LeBlanc, Premier
Management Enterprises, LCS, Louisiana Corrections Systems, and affiliated
persons and entities," states a letter from Reed to Reynolds' lawyer, outlining
the plea deal. Louisiana-based Premier and the prison-building company called
LCS Corrections Inc., which is also owned in part by Michael and Patrick
LeBlanc, operate in five South Texas counties, Louisiana and Alabama. Lopez and
Reynolds weren't the only one to benefit from their ties to Premier. The
Express-News has reported that Premier also gave a contract for temporary
staffing to John E. Curran III, who, like Reynolds, is a friend of Lopez's and a
member of the Bexar County Benevolent Fund board. Premier gave Curran the
staffing business after he'd voted to give Premier an initial commissary
contract. He later recused himself from further votes about Premier. In summer
2006, Reynolds, in a desperate attempt to cover up the real reason he'd taken
money from Premier, handed out envelopes full of cash to his friends,
purportedly college scholarships for their children. District attorney
investigators said Reynolds concocted the Optimists scholarships as a disguise.
One of the students whose parent received the $7,500 told investigators "he did
not know the name of the organization that awarded him the scholarship money, he
didn't know about an organization named Optimist, nor does he know what the word
'optimist' means." In fact, Reynolds' affiliation with the Optimists had ended
years earlier, investigators found.
September 8, 2007 The Advocate
This week’s conviction of a San Antonio area sheriff for his involvement in
a bribery and money laundering scheme has ties to a Lafayette company owned by a
candidate for the state House of Representatives. Pat LeBlanc and his brother,
Michael, own Premier Management Enterprise. Bexar County prosecutors say
now-resigned Sheriff Ralph Lopez and his long-time campaign manager John
Reynolds received money and a golf and fishing trip to Costa Rica in exchange
for awarding Premier Management the contract to run the county jail’s
commissary. LeBlanc, a Republican, qualified Thursday to run for the District 43
seat being vacated by Ernie Alexander, R-Lafayette. LeBlanc said Friday that he
is cooperating with investigators and as such cannot comment on the specifics of
the case. But LeBlanc said he is confident in his and his company’s integrity.
“We haven’t done anything wrong,” LeBlanc said. “We’re caught up in something
that’s a lot bigger than us.” Lopez and his wife, Nancy, pleaded no contest
Monday to charges of receiving an improper gift, failing to file the proper
disclosures, and tampering with a government record. According to the couple’s
plea deal, they will be required to cooperate with both local, state and federal
authorities in the ongoing investigation. Affidavits attached to search warrants
in the case allege that in April 2005, Reynolds began lobbying the sheriff’s
office Benevolent Fund board — which at the time ran the commissary operations —
in an attempt to have the board award the commissary contract for the jail annex
to Premier Management on a trial basis. Reynolds sat on the board at the time.
In June 2005, a board member intended to present the board an analysis that
showed there would be a decrease in profits if the contract were agreed to,
according to the affidavit. Lopez, the board chairman and the skeptical board
member sent a letter to Premier Management in July 2005 telling the company the
board would not be awarding it the contract, the affidavit says. Soon
thereafter, the chairman resigned from the board and Reynolds took over as
chairman. Reynolds then called a special meeting on a date when he knew two
objecting board members would be out of town; and at that meeting, Reynolds gave
Premier Management the contract, according to the affidavit. Twelve days later,
Lopez and Reynolds attended an all-expense paid golf and fishing trip to Costa
Rica, hosted by Premier Management, according to the affidavit. A person
investigators believe to be an Alabama state senator also attended. In October
2005, the contract was formally signed. One month later, Premier Management gave
a $5,000 check to “Systems Analysts,” which prosecutors say was a shell business
controlled by Reynolds. In January 2006, Premier Management gave $7,500 to the
“Optimist Club Scholarship Fund,” which prosecutors say is a sham nonprofit
controlled by Reynolds. Another $7,500 check to Optimist followed on May 11,
2006, according to the affidavit. Two weeks later, despite an analysis by the
board’s accountant that showed the commissary profits had decreased, the board
voted to extend the contract to the entire jail, not just the annex operations,
the affidavit says. In total, prosecutors allege, Premier Management or Michael
LeBlanc gave Reynolds’ organizations more than $32,000, which Reynolds then
turned into cash and deposited into his personal bank account. Pat LeBlanc said
the contracts his company signs with state and federal officials require a great
deal of disclosure, including the requirement that his company’s books be open
for review at a moment’s notice by those agencies. “I’m proud to say I have
passed muster,” LeBlanc said. “There’s probably no candidate in Louisiana that
gets more scrutiny.” LeBlanc said he and his brother started the commissary
business as a satellite business to serve their own prisons, before deciding to
branch off to serve other facilities. It’s not a large part of the overall
business, LeBlanc said. “I would never ever risk my integrity over selling candy
bars and potato chips,” LeBlanc said. LeBlanc said that most voters see the
issue as he sees it, as a “smear campaign.” He said most Lafayette media outlets
were tipped off on the San Antonio prosecutions within a two-and-a-half hour
period. “It’s politics as usual,” LeBlanc said. “It’s the nature of the game.
It’s a blood sport. People will use every little piece of leverage they can.”
September 9, 2007 San Antonio Express-News
Bexar County Sheriff Ralph Lopez and some of his friends weren't the only
ones in South Texas who enjoyed the benefits of helping Premier Management
Enterprises secure lucrative jail commissary contracts, according to interviews
and records examined by the San Antonio Express-News. Like Lopez, the sheriffs
of two other counties awarded contracts to the Louisiana jail services company,
and either they or their associates reaped financial benefits. Those sheriffs,
now out of office, also boasted to their staffs about going on a golf and
fishing trip to Costa Rica with Premier officials, the same trip that last week
forced Lopez to resign. Here in Kleberg County, then-Sheriff Tony Gonzalez, a
close friend of Lopez, gave Premier a contract to run his jail commissary when
he was in office in 2004 and has been paid by the company for consulting work of
an unknown nature. "I've done some consulting for them here and there," Gonzalez
told the Express-News during a brief interview at his ranch-style home on the
outskirts of Kingsville, declining to elaborate. "I'm just down here keeping my
nose clean." In Nueces County, one associate of former Sheriff Larry Olivarez,
another Lopez friend, reaped rewards after helping Premier win a jail commissary
contract there in 2005. The associate, a commercial real estate broker who was
appointed by the sheriff to an ad hoc committee that awarded the contract, later
earned a commission from the sale of 56 acres where LCS Corrections Services
Inc., another company owned in part by Premier's principals, is building a
private detention center, the Express-News has learned. In addition, the former
sheriff's chief deputy won political backing from LCS when he ran as a candidate
to replace Olivarez, who had stepped down to run for county judge. Premier,
which has come up repeatedly in an ongoing public corruption investigation in
Bexar County for doing favors for influential people in a position to help the
company, has denied any wrongdoing. That investigation, so far, has narrowly
targeted only individuals in Bexar County, such as Lopez and his longtime
campaign manager, John Reynolds, and Reynolds' financial relationship with the
sheriff's wife. Lopez, Reynolds and at least one of their associates helped
Premier land the local jail food commissary contract in 2005. As part of an
immunity deal with Bexar County District Attorney Susan Reed, the sheriff
resigned, effective Sept. 19, and pleaded no contest Tuesday to three
misdemeanor charges, two of which were related to the Costa Rica golf outing he
accepted from Premier. The deal protected him from further state prosecution;
his wife wasn't indicted. Reynolds, who played a key role in awarding the
contract to Premier, is suspected by Reed of bribery, extortion, theft, money
laundering and campaign finance violations. He also went on the Costa Rica trip
and received checks totaling more than $30,000 from Premier and one of its
owners for consulting and donations to fake charities Reynolds set up. An
associate of both Reynolds and the sheriff, John E. Curran, voted with Reynolds
on a jail board to give Premier the commissary contract, then won a contract
himself from Premier to provide temporary workers for the operation. Largely
unexamined is the broader picture of how Premier, its owners, Patrick and
Michael LeBlanc, and LCS conducted a business expansion with local government
partners throughout South Texas. A closer look at some of those operations
reveals similarities in conduct with local officials that have drawn none of the
law enforcement or media scrutiny seen in Bexar County. Nueces County Sheriff
Jim Kaelin, who succeeded Olivarez, is among those who have been watching the
news from San Antonio with keen interest because LCS is about to open an 800-bed
prison in his county. So far, no law enforcement agency has contacted him,
Kaelin said. Close relationships -- LeBlanc-run companies Premier and LCS
operate jail-related businesses in five South Texas counties. The first started
in Brooks County in 2000. They have embarked on an aggressive expansion in
recent years that has capitalized on tighter federal immigration control
policies. In addition to the work at Bexar County Jail, the companies also
operate jails, commissaries or full-scale prisons in Brooks, Kleberg, Hidalgo
and Nueces counties. They also run four jails in the LeBlancs' home state of
Louisiana and one in Alabama. Current Texas law makes sheriffs key gatekeepers
for contracts such as those sought by Premier and to a certain extent by the
prison-building LCS. Under current law, Texas sheriffs have almost unchecked
authority to contract management of their commissaries with no competitive
bidding. County commissioners must approve deals to build private prisons but
often keep their sheriffs closely in the loop as resident overseers and
advisers. Premier, LCS or sometimes both arrived in counties served by sheriffs
who maintained close personal relationships with one another and with Bexar
County's Lopez, according to interviews with personnel in several offices.
Lopez's office calendar for the past few years shows he often traveled to visit
Kleberg's Gonzalez on weekends for golfing and that Gonzalez traveled to San
Antonio. The calendar also shows a number of trips to visit Olivarez in Corpus
Christi, where he still lives in a house near a golf course. At the Kleberg
County Sheriff's Office, Gonzalez's former staffers say the three were often
joined in golfing and hunting outings by other sheriffs and elected officials in
counties where Premier or LCS are doing business today. Among them was Balde
Lozano of Brooks County, who did not return three calls for this story. "He kept
a close-knit circle of friends," said Yvonne Barbour, Gonzalez's former office
administrator. "I know Tony was a big golfer." Those relationships would later
prove mutually beneficial for the Louisiana companies and the sheriffs or their
friends. Gonzalez, for instance, used his relationships in Nueces County to help
Premier and LCS gain entrance there. Assistant Deputy Chief Peter B. Peralta,
who worked in the office when LSC first began courting county business,
remembered that it was Gonzalez who made the introductions. Later, Gonzalez
approved giving Premier a food commissary contract for his jail during his final
weeks in office. At some point either before or after Gonzalez left office in
late 2004, he accepted private consulting work from Premier's owners, he and a
company official acknowledged. When Gonzalez transferred the commissary contract
to Premier, two lifelong Kingsville residents, brothers who run a small local
grocery, felt the pain. Betos Community Grocery had held the contract since the
1970s and had come to rely on the modest commissary revenue as competition from
large grocery stores cut into Betos' bottom line. They were told they should
only bid for the contract if they had a sophisticated computer system. "We
didn't even get one computer until last year," said Juan Garza, who co-owns the
grocery with his brother Albert and supported Gonzalez's last failed re-election
bid. "It hurt." It remains unclear what kind of consulting work Gonzalez did for
the company or when it started. But former five-term Brooks County Judge Joe B.
Garcia recalled one occasion — after Gonzalez lost his election — that he came
calling, apparently after hearing that Garcia had begun agitating for Brooks
County to renegotiate better terms from its LCS detention center contract. It
was during this time that Gonzalez phoned Garcia wanting to meet for lunch and
talk about local LCS operations. "I've known Tony for a while. But I didn't want
to talk to him about my contract with LCS," Garcia said. Garcia remembered
another story he found disturbing, when Michael LeBlanc himself showed up at his
office, accompanied by the man Garcia had just beaten in the election. That
LeBlanc would travel to South Texas was not unusual; he often has personally
tended to his business affairs. But Garcia said what he heard made him feel
uncomfortable. "They said if I had a campaign debt, they would contribute to my
campaign," Garcia said. He said he told them he had no campaign debt to pay off
and wouldn't have accepted the offer even if he did. "A lot of people try to do
those type of things," Garcia said. "I've always been the type who, hey, I've
worked hard for my education. I don't have fancy cars, no ranches." Attorneys
for LCS and Premier have declined all requests for interviews regarding the
ongoing investigation in Bexar County or for this report. Last year, the
LeBlancs sued the Express-News, alleging they were libeled in articles the paper
published in late 2005. The lawsuit is pending. But Chris Burch, chief executive
officer of Premier, acknowledged that Gonzalez had done some consulting work for
the company under an arrangement with a predecessor, Ian Williamson, who is no
longer with the company. Burch said he was not privy to any details about that
work. Gonzalez still may be working for the company as a paid consultant, Burch
said. "I do know he has done some consulting work, but I'm not the one who put
this together." Benefits and campaign -- Like Gonzalez, then-Nueces County
Sheriff Olivarez helped Premier land a commissary deal in his jail during his
final days in office in late 2005. He then quit, as required, to run for county
judge. During his time as sheriff, LCS had a "pass through" contract with Nueces
to refer federal prisoners to its other Texas facilities, and it advanced a
proposal to build the 800-bed detention center, now nearing completion. The
project is expected to generate $800,000 for the county in inmate transfer
payments, plus $350,000 to $400,000 in taxes. The Express-News has learned an
ally of Olivarez benefited financially from LCS' effort to build the detention
center — after helping the sheriff give the jail commissary contract to Premier.
Corpus Christi commercial real estate broker and developer Tim Clower served in
late 2005 on an ad hoc selection committee the sheriff appointed to examine bids
for the commissary management job, according to the office of Kaelin, the
current sheriff. In February 2006, several months after Clower voted for the
commissary contract, he brokered a real estate purchase of 56.6 acres on behalf
of LCS for the $20 million detention center. The property's seller, Patricia Ann
Bernsen, said Clower's company approached her and brokered the purchase of her
farmland for $4,000 an acre, or $225,000. "He did get a commission, that's for
sure," Bernsen said, declining to say how much. "It was a good commission." On
average, commercial real estate agents earn between 6 percent and 10 percent,
according to one South Texas commercial real estate broker. At the time of the
sale, the 2006 sheriff's primary race was heating up. Clower co-signed for a
$20,000 campaign loan to Olivarez's former chief deputy, Jimmy Rodriguez, whose
opponent at the time was publicly criticizing him for helping bring LCS to town.
LCS went to Rodriguez's aid by lambasting his opponent. At one point in the
campaign, LCS went public with a threat to halt construction of its detention
center if Rodriguez did not win the Democratic primary. "We're not going to work
with or for someone who doesn't respect our company," Michael LeBlanc was quoted
in the Corpus Christi Caller-Times as saying about Rodriguez's opponent. "If Mr.
(Pete) Alvarez wins, we're out of Nueces County — plain and simple," LeBlanc
said. Rodriguez won the primary but lost the general election. Last week, he
insisted that he was paying off the $20,000 bank loan he said Clower co-signed.
"He's been a friend for a long time," Olivarez's former chief deputy said of
Clower. "He had a long history with the department before we even got there."
Clower did not return repeated calls seeking comment about the loan or his
commission on the LCS land purchase. Traveling together -- The Express-News
could not substantiate or refute comments from those in the Sheriff's Office
that Olivarez, while he was sheriff, went on the same Costa Rica trip in August
2005 with Lopez, Reynolds and Premier officials. Olivarez did not return
numerous phone calls or respond to a message left during a visit to his home.
Kaelin said Olivarez boasted of the Costa Rica trip and a separate hunting trip
to employees who remain on staff. Kleberg's Gonzalez, while in office, also told
some of his staff of going on the same Costa Rica trip, said Kleberg Sheriff Ed
Mata, who beat Gonzalez in the 2004 election. Mata conceded that he can't prove
the story, but he wondered why no one has investigated as in Bexar County.
Gonzalez, during the recent interview at his home near Kingsville, was asked
several times if he would deny going on the trip. He declined each time. The
Costa Rica trip was not the only reputed benefit Kaelin heard about in regard to
Olivarez. Shortly after taking office, Kaelin said, a staff person phoned him to
report that Olivarez had appeared with a small group of businesspeople seeking
to tour the detention center project. Kaelin said he was told that Olivarez had
represented himself as an "unpaid spokesperson for LCS." Kaelin called LCS
officials to inquire as to whether Olivarez might have been hired to run the
detention center, a prospect Kaelin worried would undermine his office's working
relationship with it. But he was told Olivarez had no known connection to the
company or employment prospects. Bexar Sheriff Lopez's office calendar indicates
he planned to attend the detention center groundbreaking with Olivarez on Feb.
23, 2006, after Olivarez had left office to run, unsuccessfully it turned out,
for judge. Today, Olivarez works as a manager for the Corpus Christi branch of
CGT Law Group International, according to a woman who answered the phone there.
Richard Harbison, a vice president in charge of LCS' Texas operations, is
certain that Olivarez has had no financial relationship with LCS. As he was
preparing to take his own vacation to Costa Rica, Harbison also said by phone
that he was unaware of any paid trips involving sheriffs in Texas and the
LeBlancs. Burch, of Premier, said he was not working for the company at the time
of the August 2005 trip. In Bexar County, where the public corruption
investigation has been in high gear lately, District Attorney Susan Reed has
said she is mainly interested in prosecuting local individuals such as Reynolds,
whom she called "rotten fruit." None of Premier's San Antonio offices have been
searched, Reed acknowledged. "I'm not finished, so I'm not ready to make any
definitive determination yet" about Premier, she said. The FBI and Texas
Rangers, which have been involved in the Bexar County investigation, aren't
commenting. Patrick LeBlanc, who last week formally became a candidate for the
Louisiana Legislature, is running in part on a message that he will fight
against political corruption that "robs us of our confidence in government."
Last week, he told the Lafayette Advocate that he has been cooperating with
investigators in Bexar County but couldn't elaborate. "We haven't done anything
wrong," he told the newspaper. "I would never, ever risk my integrity over
selling candy bars and potato chips."
September 1, 2007 San Antonio Express-News
With an indictment hanging over his
head, Sheriff Ralph Lopez resigned Friday in a deal struck with prosecutors that
guarantees him no jail time in exchange for a no contest plea and $10,000 fine,
a source familiar with the negotiations told the San Antonio Express-News.
Lopez's brief resignation letter marked the end of his 15-year reign as Bexar
County sheriff. The letter was faxed to District Attorney Susan Reed at 5:36
p.m., following what the Express-News confirmed were ongoing negotiations about
resolving his criminal case. Lopez faces misdemeanor charges stemming from an
investigation into a jail commissary contract awarded to a Louisiana private
jail services company called Premier Management Enterprises. "I, Rafael Lopez,
hereby resign my position as Sheriff of Bexar County, Texas, effective at 5:00
p.m. on August 31, 2007," Lopez's resignation letter said. Reed turned the
resignation letter over to Commissioners Court, whose members plan to meet
Tuesday to begin choosing a successor. A new sheriff could be named by Sept. 19.
The resignation was the product of a deal Lopez and his attorneys struck with
Reed's office, a source familiar with the agreement confirmed. Under the
undisclosed terms, Lopez agreed to plead no contest to all three misdemeanors,
and to pay a $10,000 fine. A review by the Express-News of the court's records
Friday showed no plea agreement was filed, and judges who could have formalized
the deal had left the building by the time Lopez's resignation was made public.
Sources familiar with the negotiations, however, confirmed the sheriff will
formalize the proposed deal in front of a judge, possibly as early as next week.
Reed declined to comment. So did Lopez's lawyer, Mike McCrum: "I cannot comment
about anything regarding his pending case," he said. After formally resigning,
Lopez retreated to the privacy of his Leon Valley home, which raided last week
by investigators, and did not answer calls from the media. Through other
officials, he requested to be left alone. County Commissioner Paul Elizondo said
Lopez may issue a public statement in the coming days. The indictments against
Lopez, issued just as the statute of limitations was about to expire, are part
of a broader ongoing investigation into just how Premier Management Enterprises
came to win the jail commissary contract. Lopez faces three misdemeanor counts:
accepting a gift, accepting an "honorarium," and failing to disclose the gift
and honorarium in his finance reports to the county. The alleged gifts were in
the form of a golfing and fishing trip to Costa Rica in August 2005, at a time
when Premier's contract was in jeopardy. Key questions remain unanswered. Chief
among them is whether Lopez or his wife, Nancy Lopez, still might be subject to
charges in the public corruption investigation. She has been named as a suspect
in bribery, money laundering and campaign finance law violations. Also unknown
is whether Lopez and his wife will become cooperating witnesses against others
who have been named as suspects or who have been called before the grand jury.
The grand jury's term was extended until late September. "The sheriff clearly
wants to spend more time with his family, and he's confident that his department
is being left in capable hands," said McCrum, who declined to comment on Nancy
Lopez's status or any possible deal involving Lopez himself. "He's proud of the
Bexar County Sheriff's Office and that it is in capable hands. Because of a lot
of different factors, he's decided to resign to spend more time with his
family." County officials called a news conference late Friday afternoon to
announce the resignation. Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff described a calm,
professional interaction with the sheriff during which Lopez disclosed his
intention to resign. Wolff said he didn't ask Lopez any questions. "He did say
he's going to take some time with his family and wanted some privacy," Wolff
said, later adding: "The last two or three weeks have obviously been difficult.
I think at least I feel relieved in the sense that it's come to a conclusion,
and we now know a timeline in which we will take action. It's never good when
any elected official has legal problems." Elizondo and Commissioner Tommy
Adkisson also expressed regret. "It is sad for a person who came in with great
aplomb and reception ... to come to this juncture," Adkisson said. "I had a very
good relationship with the sheriff, and I always really respected him," Elizondo
said. "He's had an outstanding career in law enforcement and he's done a lot to
modernize and upgrade the Sheriff's Office during his career. It's sad that it
comes to this juncture." Wolff said he had no successor in mind for Lopez.
Sheriff's Deputy Al Damiani, president of the Bexar County Sheriffs Deputy Law
Enforcement Officer's Organization, long considered a Lopez ally, expressed
dismay over the resignation. The union, known as LEO, has had its records
subpoenaed, along with some of its top members, and long has retained longtime
Lopez campaign manager John Reynolds as a political consultant. The
investigation into the jail commissary contract also has encompassed Reynolds,
who served on the nonprofit board. "If this hadn't have come up, they would have
been naming buildings after Ralph Lopez," Damiani said. "He took our
organization from the dark ages to a situation where we're a viable modern law
enforcement organization." Damiani, who only recently became LEO's president,
said he has ordered a full 10-year audit of the organization's books that will
focus on any dealings involving Reynolds. He also urged Commissioner's Court to
appoint an interim sheriff who knows the department well and isn't currently a
declared candidate for the office. He said the office has been in "absolute
turmoil." "We want someone who can stabilize things and get us back to the
business of serving the public," Damiani said. Premier took over management of
the jail food commissary contract at the urging of Lopez, who used close
associates on a nonprofit corporate board overseeing the jail commissary to push
the contract through when a majority of other board members were prepared to
vote it down. Through their attorneys, Ralph and Nancy Lopez and Reynolds have
denied any wrongdoing.
August 15, 2007 San Antonio Express-News
Bexar County Sheriff Ralph Lopez was indicted Thursday on three misdemeanor
criminal charges related to benefits he allegedly took from a jail contractor,
but the four-term officeholder avoided the indignity of getting booked into his
own jail. The indictments accused Lopez of accepting and failing to report a
gift and an "honorarium" — both involving the same 2005 all-expenses paid
golfing/fishing trip to Costa Rica — from a company he helped get the contract
to run his jail's food commissaries. In particular, the indictments allege that
he solicited and accepted food, lodging, transportation and entertainment,
including golfing and fishing, from two officials of Louisiana-based Premier
Management Enterprises, which now runs the commissaries. One indictment labels
the trip as a gift to a public servant; the other an "honorarium," or informal
payment, that "was in consideration for services that the defendant would not
have been requested to provide but for defendant's official position and
duties." The third charges that he failed to report the gift on his personal
financial disclosure form. Lopez remains in office, as allowed by law for an
official under indictment, but if found guilty, Lopez would be automatically
disqualified for service and could end up behind bars. Despite warrants issued
for his arrest Thursday, Lopez never had to join his prisoners. After reporting
to a judge, he was allowed to remain free on a personal recognizance bond. The
charges are the first to surface as part of a wider-ranging public corruption
probe that District Attorney Susan Reed said focuses on the relationship between
Premier, Lopez, his longtime campaign manager John Reynolds, members of a
nonprofit board the sheriff set up and appointed to run the jail commissaries,
and others. Attorneys for Premier did not respond to requests for comment
Thursday. After testifying under subpoena for 45 minutes before the grand jury
Thursday morning, Lopez said, "I've done nothing wrong." A Democrat who recently
announced he would run for re-election next year, Lopez called the 18-month
investigation by Republican Reed "a political witch hunt." Jason Davis, one of
Lopez's attorneys, said, "We are looking forward to our day in court." In
previous interviews, Lopez has acknowledged accepting the trip to Costa Rica for
an undisclosed business purpose, a kind of favor to friends, but has insisted it
had no bearing on his decision to help Premier take over the jail commissaries.
He maintains he has never received any form of payment from Premier for his
help. Reed characterized the indictment of Lopez as merely a stepping-stone in
an investigation that is far from over, involving the FBI and Texas Rangers. She
said the misdemeanor indictments against Lopez were presented Thursday only
because the legal time limit for filing such charges would have ended on Monday.
Reed dismissed the sheriff's accusation that the investigation was political,
noting that it began long before Lopez declared he would run for re-election.
"That is a fairly typical response from any politician who has been indicted. In
fact, I can't remember anyone not claiming that," she said. "The sheriff has run
for office before and I have kept my distance. I didn't even support the
candidates who were running. I made no public endorsements. I felt I needed to
work with him. He's the sheriff." The charges against Lopez fall short of more
penalty-heavy public corruption or bribery, which challenge prosecutors to
present evidence that meets a more stringent standard. Instead, the two charges
characterizing the trip as a payment or benefit, if proved, each carry up to a
year in prison, a $4,000 fine, or both. A third charge accusing Lopez of failing
to report it as required on financial disclosure statements carries a penalty of
up to 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine. Jail business -- The sheriff's Costa
Rica trip came at a time when Premier's prospects of getting the jail business
was in jeopardy, and he wasn't the only one who benefited from a relationship
with the company. Until the fall of 2005, the county's two jail commissaries
were being run and managed directly by the sheriff's office through the
nonprofit Benevolent Fund. By most accounts, the commissaries were run
efficiently and had some $2 million a year in revenue. But starting earlier in
2005, the sheriff began pushing hard for his appointed board members to hand
over management to Premier, on grounds that a private company could run the
commissaries more professionally. Premier's principals were brothers Michael
LeBlanc and Patrick LeBlanc, as well as CEO Ian Williamson. But some of Lopez's
own staff and appointed Benevolent Fund board members strongly objected to the
change. A background check turned up information about Premier that was
generally critical of the company and cited specific examples where another
company run by the LeBlancs, a private prison firm, had faced legal challenges
to their operations. A majority of board members were prepared to vote against
the project. Even Lopez momentarily withdrew his support, but he was soon
pushing for it again. A key meeting that broke the logjam occurred in August
2005, when Reynolds became chairman of the board and pushed the Premier contract
forward, minutes show. In a recent court filing seeking to force Reynolds to
give up handwriting samples, the district attorney's office accused him of
accepting more than $27,000 in unreported "donations" to "shell" charities and
"consulting" fees from Premier during the time that Reynolds was also helping
the company win the jail commissary business as a sheriff-appointed member of
the Benevolent Fund board. He is a target of the investigation, subpoenaed at
least three times by the grand jury. Neither Reynolds nor his attorney has
returned phone calls. He has invoked the Fifth Amendment right against
self-incrimination all three times. It was also later that month, from Aug.
20-23, that Lopez accompanied Michael LeBlanc and Ian Williamson to Costa Rica,
according to the sheriff's calendar and the indictments. Investigators have
interviewed a number of other current and former Benevolent Fund board members.
Among them is John E. Curran III, a longtime political and business associate of
both the sheriff and Reynolds. The Express-News reported July 29 that Curran
runs a temporary worker company that got a contract to staff Premier's
commissary operations after he helped the Louisiana company overcome Benevolent
Fund board opposition to gain a footing at the jail during the summer of 2005.
Curran said he fully disclosed his contract, worth an estimated $15,000
annually, to the sheriff and fellow board members and abstained from further
voting as a board member on Premier business.
August 11, 2007 The Independent
A Lafayette company headed by brothers Michael and Patrick Leblanc has
turned up in the middle of a public corruption investigation centered on the
Bexar County Sheriff’s Office in west Texas. Sheriff Ralph Lopez was recently
indicted on three misdemeanor charges related to unreported benefits he received
from the Leblancs’ company, Premier Management Enterprise. Lopez took an
all-expenses-paid golfing/fishing trip to Costa Rica with the Leblancs, at a
time when Premier was vying for a lucrative contract to run the county jail’s
commissary stores. Court filings also show that one of the sheriff’s close
associates, John Reynolds, appears to have laundered money from Premier into his
own personal bank account, through a fraudulent charity scholarship organization
named Optimists. “We were duped,” says Pat Leblanc. “I really don’t know the
whole length and breadth of the story, but I can tell you this: If somebody
played funny with our money, I want to prosecute them to the end of the world.”
Leblanc, who is a candidate for District 43 state representative, also distanced
himself from the company, which he says is primarily run by his brother and
another associate, Ian Williamson. Michael Leblanc says he is working closely
with investigators and anticipates the entire issue should soon be resolved.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t know who this guy was,” he says, referring to
Reynolds. “Shame on us.” While it appears Premier is unlikely to face any
charges from the investigation, the circumstances surrounding its contract with
the Bexar County jail have certainly created a perception of quid pro quo. The
district attorney has labeled Lopez’s golf trip as an honorarium that “was in
consideration for services that the defendant would not have been requested to
provide but for defendant’s official position and duties.” Lopez began pushing
to farm out the county jail’s commissaries to Premier in 2005. Initially the
idea met resistance from the board of the “Benevolent Fund” — a nonprofit Lopez
had set up to manage the commissaries several years ago. One board member,
Amadeo Ortiz — who now is running against Lopez for sheriff — commissioned a
background report that was critical of Premier and another Leblanc company.
After Ortiz resigned, the issue came up again. The board approved moving ahead
with a six-month trial contract with Premier in August 2005. The vote came at a
special meeting held while two board members were out of town. Reynolds was
elected chairman of the board at the same meeting. A few weeks after that
meeting, the Leblancs took both Lopez and Reynolds on the trip to Costa Rica.
Sheriff Lopez has stated the trip, which John Reynolds also attended, was a
private conference unrelated to any county business. Pat Leblanc says the
conference addressed security issues related to one of the Leblancs’ private
prisons in Alabama. In addition to Premier, the Leblancs own LCS Prisons, the
fifth largest prison system in the U.S. with facilities across the Gulf Coast
region. “In our jail business, we hold conferences with various law enforcement
agencies to discuss security and issues having to do with operation. That was
the basis of the trip,” says Pat Leblanc. He adds the business also “routinely
entertains clients. We take them fishing and we take them golfing,” he says.
“That’s business culture; everybody in the business world does that. All the
service companies here do it.” Premier signed its six-month contract with the
Benevolent Fund’s board in October 2005, and in the months following made a
total of $27,500 in contributions to charities now known to be controlled by
Reynolds. The district attorney’s office has bank records showing that Reynolds
transferred the funds into his personal account. Reynolds is yet to be called
before a grand jury. For his part, Sheriff Lopez, a Democrat, has maintained
that he is the victim of a “political witch hunt” by the Republican district
attorney. Premier’s Texas-based attorney, Tonya Webber, issued the following
statement on behalf of her clients: “Neither PME nor any of its employees or
principals has engaged in any misconduct. While both the company and the
Leblancs typically make charitable and political contributions they had every
reason to believe that any such charities were legitimate and that all
contributions or benefits were reported by the recipients as required by law.”
Pat Leblanc says that in hindsight, his company was too trusting of the Brexar
County officials. “We’re out of towners,” he says. “We’re not from that area. We
went in, we sold our service; they wanted us to do the commissary service. We
operate a good, clean business and to think that we might have been taken
advantage of in that regard just turns my stomach.”
July 29, 2007 San Antonio News-Express
In the summer of 2005, a determined
effort by Bexar County Sheriff Ralph Lopez to privatize the county jail
commissary stores — which generated some $2 million a year in gross sales — was
on the verge of foundering. In Texas, elected sheriffs enjoy wide leeway and
independence in managing and operating county jails, including the jail
commissary, where inmates can purchase everything from snacks to toiletries. But
Lopez had met strong resistance from several board members of a nonprofit
"Benevolent Fund" corporation that he had established several years earlier to
run the commissaries. They saw no good reason to contract out the operation to a
private vendor of Lopez's choice, Premier Management Enterprises, or any other
business. The deal seemed all but dead when Premier's fortunes took an abrupt
turn for the better. Some board members, including the chairman who staunchly
opposed the deal, resigned. The new leaders of the board along with a new
member, all allies of Lopez, would push the Premier contract through the rough
patch. Within weeks of the contract approval by the sheriff's Benevolent Fund
board in August 2005, Lopez, an avid golfer known to travel the country playing
at elite resorts, was visiting Costa Rica, where he spent time on the greens
with Premier officials at the expense of Premier's principal owners, Patrick and
Michael LeBlanc. Later, less than a month after the contract was officially
inked, board Chairman John Reynolds was allegedly depositing the first of four
checks totaling $27,500 from Premier into accounts named for charities that were
"shells" and "fronts," according to court documents filed by a district attorney
investigator. And within four months, board Vice Chairman John E. Curran III was
preparing to cut his own financial side deal with Premier. Curran's temporary
worker company, PersoNet, now provides the very commissary employees that
Premier uses to carry out the contract Curran helped along as vice chairman. In
a recent interview, Curran said his own ongoing business with Premier, based in
Louisiana, to supply the jail commissaries with about a dozen temporary workers
is worth between $12,000 and $15,000 a year to him. Curran said he did nothing
criminally or ethically wrong, and that he verbally disclosed the relationship
with Premier to the sheriff and abstained on relevant votes once his company had
Premier's business in April 2006. "I had the sheriff's permission prior to doing
any business with Premier, and I asked the board's permission. Both granted it,"
Curran said. "I wanted to be sure there was no conflict of interest. I did not
want anyone to find out in the newspaper, or any other way, that one of my
clients was Premier." The sheriff did not reply to several telephone messages
last week. Neither Reynolds nor his attorney returned messages requesting
comment for this article. Even if no laws were broken, disclosures about
Premier's generosity toward elected and appointed officials who have helped it
win lucrative contracts have left — at the least — a public perception of
wrongdoing in how the sheriff and his allies conduct business. "Ugh," Bexar
County Judge Nelson Wolff groaned when told of Premier's arrangement with
Curran's company. "This thing's worse than it already has been. This is not good
at all. Nothing about it looks good. Whether you've violated a criminal act or
an ethics issue, or neither, it's still not appropriate behavior. It looks bad."
District Attorney Susan Reed's public corruption investigators, joined by the
FBI and the Texas Rangers, are conducting interviews and have sought grand jury
subpoenas regarding Reynolds. On several occasions, he's invoked his Fifth
Amendment right against self-incrimination in response to subpoenas, according
to court documents. First Assistant District Attorney Cliff Herberg said his
office would not discuss the investigation. Curran acknowledged that
investigators have questioned him about PersoNet's relationship with Premier.
Asked if he had ever shared any of the Premier revenue with Reynolds or anyone
else, Curran replied: "I'm not sharing my revenue with anyone but my kids. My
staff is not donating to anybody. There's just nothing there." One of Premier's
attorneys, Tonya Webber of Corpus Christi, wrote in an e-mail reply, in part,
that: "Temp-to-hire services are a prudent business practice. This was an
arms-length transaction documented in writing with an experienced temp-to-hire
company." Webber said she wasn't at liberty to respond to specific e-mailed
questions, such as why Premier chose a Benevolent Fund board member's company,
rather than more than a dozen other area licensed temp worker companies. Created
in 2002 by Lopez, the Benevolent Fund appears to be the only one that exists in
the state for the purpose of running a jail commissary. Sheriffs in other
counties have contracted the job directly with private companies in line with
state laws that allow them to do so without competitive bidding. Because of the
Benevolent Fund's unique existence and function, said Lauri Saathoff, a
spokeswoman for the Texas attorney general's office, the question of how the
state's conflict of interest law might apply has never come up. "We don't have
any previous attorney general's opinions for a board like this," Saathoff said
in response to an Express-News request. Three-way alliance -- Curran's ties to
the sheriff and Reynolds date to the late 1990s when Curran worked as a senior
analyst in the Bexar County Personnel Division. Close alliances were built among
the three over the years, each assuming positions of potential benefit to the
others. Lopez and Reynolds have known each other for at least 15 years; Lopez
has hired Reynolds as his campaign manager for years and once made Reynolds his
chief of staff. Curran began serving on various boards alongside Reynolds, doing
business with a deputies' union considered aligned with Lopez, and working on
the sheriff's campaigns that Reynolds managed. While Reynolds was chairman of
the West San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, which he helped found, Curran was
treasurer. Reynolds also nominated Curran in 2004 for appointment to the Alamo
Workforce Development board, one of 28 such boards across the state that spend
Texas Workforce Commission funds to help the unemployed find work. Curran and
Reynolds also share a connection through the Bexar County Sheriff's Deputies Law
Enforcement Organization's union. The fact that LEO routinely hires Reynolds as
its paid lobbyist has led to the perception among some deputies that Lopez
wields some influence over the organization. LEO also has given consulting
contracts to Curran to conduct salary surveys the union uses to justify pay
raise requests, he said. And Lopez's wife, Nancy, served at one time with
Reynolds on a now-defunct nonprofit fundraising arm of LEO. Curran, for his
part, said he has donated PersoNet's "time and energy" to man phone banks
soliciting past Lopez election campaign contributors and will again for the
sheriff's 2008 re-election campaign. When Lopez founded the Benevolent Fund,
Curran was among the first whom the sheriff asked to serve on it. The alliance
between Curran, Reynolds and the sheriff would come into play at a critical
moment during the summer of 2005, in ways that would yield fruit for more than
just Premier. Opposition to proposed contract -- Starting in early 2005, when
commissary revenues were approaching record highs of $2 million under Benevolent
Fund board management, Lopez began pushing for Premier to run the jail annex
commissary, the smaller of two, on a six-month trial basis. If that worked out,
the contract would be expanded to the main jail commissary. Rather than contract
out the commissary at first, Lopez had opted to set up a Benevolent Fund with a
seven-member board to do the job in-house. He has authority to nominate and
appoint members. Lopez said last month that he later wanted to switch to Premier
because the commissary operations were outgrowing the limited expertise of board
members and it was time for professional management. "None of us had
experience," Lopez said. "Running a jail is not just putting guys in jail. It's
detention ministries; it's banking and other services. It's all comprehensive."
Some of the sheriff's subordinates on the board immediately opposed the change.
But the endeavor did not run into serious trouble until the eve of a scheduled
board vote on the pilot contract June 22, 2005. The chairman at the time, Deputy
Chief Amadeo Ortiz, released the results of a background investigation of
Premier that he had quietly commissioned from the Houston law firm McFall,
Sherwood & Breitbeil. The report was generally critical of Premier and cited
specific examples where another company in which the LeBlancs also were
shareholders, LCS Corrections Services Inc., had faced legal challenges to their
operations. The background report — and a financial analysis projecting an
initial revenue loss of $103,790 if Premier took over — raised sufficient
concern for Reynolds to table the Premier contract that day, according to
meeting minutes and two former board members. Ortiz, who resigned from the board
shortly after that meeting and is running for sheriff against Lopez, said he
believes he knows why. "It would have failed a vote at that time," said Ortiz,
guessing the board would have voted 4-2 against Premier. "My fellow board
members didn't like the contract because there was nothing wrong with the way
the commissary was being run." Even the sheriff momentarily wavered in his
support for Premier because of the background report. But Lopez was soon pushing
again. And in the sheriff's corner, Ortiz and another board member said, were
the only two who had supported the proposal all along and who would go on to
break the stalemate: Curran and Reynolds, "the two Johns," as Ortiz and other
board members sometimes referred to them. Doing 'business with friends' -- On
Aug. 9, 2005, Reynolds and Curran called a special meeting. Ortiz had by then
resigned, and the two other board members were out of town, at least one of whom
was firmly opposed. Reynolds and Curran were joined by Dr. Bert Cecconi, a
71-year-old dentist and occasional candidate for local political office who had
recently been added to the board. Only weeks earlier Reynolds has asked him to
join the board as a favor to the sheriff, Cecconi recalled in an interview last
week. He said he'd gotten to know Reynolds and Lopez over the years at Saturday
morning community breakfast meetings downtown. The three, enough for a quorum,
elected Reynolds the new board chairman and Curran the new vice chairman. Lopez
put in a brief but rare appearance at the meeting. Then, according to meeting
minutes, the trio "approved and unanimously recommends implementation
immediately" of the Premier annex commissary tryout program. Curran acknowledged
the purpose of that Aug. 9 special meeting. "That meeting was called to help get
things going forward," he said. "We were just trying to coordinate it to get
things up and going." Cecconi, who described himself as a "passive member" of
the board, said he served for just four meetings, dropping off shortly after
signing the Premier contract. Cecconi was given to believe the Premier deal was
a routine matter requiring little scrutiny. "To me, I thought it was like a
machine with Cokes coming out of it or something. I didn't know it was a major
deal," Cecconi said last week about transferring the $2 million a year jail
commissary operations to Premier. "I probably just said, 'OK.' I didn't give it
much thought, for better or for worse." Later that month, from Aug. 20-23, the
sheriff, who frequently played golf with Premier's owners, traveled to Costa
Rica, his office calendar shows. Lopez recalled last month that the LeBlancs
paid all of his expenses to Costa Rica for an undisclosed business trip,
unrelated to county affairs, that included tee time. Lopez still refuses to
fully disclose the business purpose of the trip, only that it involved a favor
to his Premier friends, a foreign ambassador and a senator, neither of whom he
would name in deference to a confidentiality agreement he said he struck with
all involved. He also said he was not paid. "The LeBlanc people paid for the
Costa Rica trip," the sheriff said. "I was over there carrying my resume with me
for credibility for part of the trip." From August on, Lopez and Premier would
encounter no more dissent. After several resignations, the board, under the
guidance of Chairman Reynolds and Vice Chairman Curran, would reconstitute
itself with new members who would continue clearing the path for Premier's pilot
six-month contract. On Oct. 19, 2005, Cecconi, as board secretary, signed the
contract with Premier for the pilot program, a copy of the agreement shows. A
short time later, Cecconi dropped off the board. He told the Express-News his
dental practice had gotten too busy. About three weeks after the contract was
signed, Premier wrote a $5,014 check for "consulting" to Systems Analysts Inc.,
described as Reynolds' "alter ego," according to allegations by district
attorney investigators. Three more Premier checks, totaling another $22,500, to
Reynolds-controlled accounts would follow, according to court filings. Webber,
Premier's attorney, said last month when asked about the checks that there is no
evidence of Premier being connected to any alleged wrongdoing. Curran's firm
gets hired Once Premier had its signed the pilot contract, Curran said a company
official asked him for advice about staffing the limited operation. Premier was
going to need only four of its own workers. Curran said he offered to let
Premier conduct interviews in the offices of PersoNet, free of charge, as a
favor. As vice chairman, Curran continued to consider and discuss Premier's
status until about February 2006, by which time the tryout period was more than
half over, and it was clear to board members that Premier would secure a
five-year contract to run both jail commissaries. Curran confirmed that was
about when Premier first broached the topic of his company getting paid to
provide commissary workers for the anticipated expansion. He said he tried to
refer the business elsewhere but that the company insisted on PersoNet. "They
said, 'We need employees,'" Curran recalled. "I recommended a couple of
different avenues for them because I am in the business, and they chose not to
follow those, so ..." While there are a dozen licensed temporary staffing
companies in the greater San Antonio area, Curran said Premier preferred to do
business with him because "I guess it's all networking. You like to do business
with friends." During the February 2006 board meeting, minutes show, Reynolds
disclosed Curran's pending business relationship with Premier. The sheriff,
Reynolds announced, had requested that Curran's company "bid" on work to supply
Premier with workers. Curran's fellow board members then approved a motion that
he recuse himself "from voting on matters that may create a conflict of interest
with the (Benevolent) Fund's activities," according to the minutes. When the
time came for the Benevolent Fund to extend the contract in April 2006, Curran
abstained. PersoNet had penned its deal with Premier. Once Premier had all the
commissary business, the Benevolent Fund no longer needed to employ the 13
commissary workers. Some were laid off; others were encouraged to reapply to
Premier for their old jobs, at substantially lower pay and with no benefits,
according to two former employees. PersoNet handled the initial reapplication
process, bringing some of the old commissary employees into PersoNet's fold as
temporary workers. It also became the equivalent of Premier's human resources
department, outsourced. Curran said he hopes his company grows with Premier,
which has contracts elsewhere in South Texas. "We want them to do well, both as
a board member and as a client," Curran said. "Their success — just like all my
other clients' success is — if I can help them be more successful, then I'm
successful. "That's business."
Bexar County Secure Juvenile Correctional Treatment Center
Bexar County, Texas
Children’s Comprehensive Services/CCS
October, 1998
On October 21, three male inmates kicked open a rear gate and escaped. Less than
a week later, another inmate escaped through an unlocked front gate. (San
Antonio Express-News, November 11, 1998)
Big Spring Complex
Big Spring, Texas
GEO Group (bought
Cornell)
November 9, 2010 NewsWest 9
An accidental shooting on Tuesday at the federal prison in Big Spring put an
inmate in the hospital. The shooting happened right before noon at the Flight
Line Prison, located at the airpark in Big Spring. According to medics, a
Hispanic man was accidentally shot by a gun in the upper arm. The wound was not
serious, but he was taken to Scenic Mountain Medical Center for a follow up. He
was alert and conscious while being transported. We still don't know how the
prisoner was shot. Details are limited at this time, but we've learned the
shooting is under investigation. NewsWest 9 has contacted the Geo Group, which
currently runs the prison, and they have not commented on the incident. NewsWest
9 will continue to follow this story and will bring you the very latest
information when we get it.
September 14, 2008 Permian Basin 360
Questions remain unanswered concerning Friday night's prison riot in Big Spring.
Fires reportedly broke out in several buildings at the Big Spring Correctional
Center's FlightLine unit. Ambulances were seen leaving the scene. Cornell
Companies currently operates the site. "All we do is establish a perimeter.
That's all we do in these instances. They handle all the security inside the
fence," said Sgt. Tony Everett of the Big Spring Police Department. The unit is
specifically for prisoners who commit immigration violations. At this time,
Cornell Companies has yet to respond to our calls.
September 13, 2008 NewsWest 9
Questions still remain unanswered after a prisoner fire and riot on Friday
night. Facility officials are being very cautious of what information is being
disclosed. Big Spring authorities rushed to the scene of a riot and fire from
the Flightline Correctional Center near the Big Spring airport. The facility
takes prisoners from the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services, but since
it is a privately owned facility the plan for police was to secure a perimeter.
"The only reason we are here, our only purpose is if spills outside of the
fenced facility," Sergeant Tony Everett, with the Big Spring Police Department,
said. In total, about 15 police officers stayed outside managing traffic while
Big Spring firefighters went inside. "My understating is that may be one or two
buildings were on fire," Everett said. Several ambulances left the scene towards
Scenic Mountain Medical Center where family members were advised not to disclose
any information. But the mother of one of the injured employee was thankful to
hear her son was doing better. "I feel a whole lot better, I feel relieved that
he is O.K. Like I said earlier, I just left it in the hands of God and he is the
one who pulled me through," Inez Heins, Mother of a facility Employee, said.
NewsWest 9 also received a couple of calls from relatives who say that seven
facility staff were injured and were treated for minor injuries. According to
officials from the correctional center the riot never posed danger to the
public.
September 13, 2008 KWES TV
State and local authorities have responded to a private prison near the airport
in Big Spring after an apparent riot. Big Spring Police responded to the riot
around 9:00p.m. Friday night, and quickly set up a perimeter around the prison.
There have unconfirmed reports of injuries, but a mother of an injured guard
tells NewsWest 9 that her son did sustain injuries to the face. We were also
told that three ambulances also left the prison after the riot, which is run by
Cornell Companies. Viewers also reported seeing smoke coming from the prison,
but our crew did not see any smoke when they arrived to the scene. Sgt. Tony
Everett with the Big Spring Police Department did confirm that a fire was
started in the prison but it is now under control. Authorities tell NewsWest 9
that the situation has calmed down for the night. The prison handles INS cases
for the federal government. There have been no reports of inmates escaping the
prison at this time.
September 12, 2008 KOSA CBS 7
Emergency officials are currently responding to a fire at the Flightline Prison
located at the Big Spring airport. CBS 7 News has confirmed that a riot broke
out at the prison about 9:00 p.m. Several ambulances were seen leaving the
prison. Fire crews confirm there are six to eight people who were injured and
taken to the hospital. No word yet on the severity of the injuries. According to
Big Spring Police spokesperson Tony Everett, the riot is under control and Big
Spring police have set up a perimeter around the facility. CBS 7's Greg Sherman
was the first reporter on the scene. He says thick black smoke was seen coming
from the prison. The Flightline unit handles low-risk inmates who are primarily
incarcerated for immigration violations.
August 16, 2005 AP
Investigators want to know what started an inmate disturbance at a privately run
prison in West Texas that left five workers hurt. The assaults happened at the
Flightline Unit of the Big Spring Correctional Center. Center spokeswoman Janice
Bishop says one staffer required hospital treatment, while the other four
suffered minor injuries. Bishop says the unit was slightly damaged in Saturday
night's incident. No inmates were injured. Bishop today declined to release
further information about the assaults. Big Spring police say the disturbance
was contained inside the prison. Texas troopers and the Howard County sheriff's
department also responded to the center run by the Houston-based Cornell
Companies.
March 13, 2001
A Cornell Corrections inmate escaped over a fence late Sunday night but his
freedom was short lived. The inmate, 29-year-old Ernesto Soto-Olivarez
climbed over the fence at the Airpark unit around 9:30 p.m. Sunday and was
spotted by correctional officers who took after him on foot. He lost the
officers in the darkness and about 30 minutes later, he approached a house in
the 2600 block of Dow where he asked the resident to call for an ambulance,
saying he was suffering from chest pains. The resident called for an ambulance
and then, according to Big Spring Police Sgt. Roger Sweatt, the resident made
another call to the police station. "The inmate, without realizing it, had
come to the residence of an off-duty police officer," said Sweatt. (Big Spring
Herald, March 13, 2001)
Bill Clayton Detention Center
Littlefield, Texas
Southwestern Corrections (formerly run by
GEO Group, formerly
Correctional Services Corporation, formerly run by Corrections Concepts)
Texas prison
boom going bust: by Mitch Mitchell, September 3, 2011,
Star-Telegram. Expose on troubles facing many communities that bought into
the private prison bonding scam.
Wanted:
Inmates and Investors Texas Lockups Go on the Block: July 19, 2011,
Bond Buyer: Private prison bonding not panacea.
September 16, 2011 KCBD
After auctioning off the Bill Clayton Detention Center back in July, the
City of Littlefield thought they were free from the financial strains. However,
the private bidder has backed out of their $6 million offer. The private buyer
made the offer via telephone during the July auction. Thirty days after the bid,
the contract on the property was supposed to close. However, the City received
word that the deal had fallen through. "It didn't happen and the reason it
didn't happen was because the person who put in the highest bid basically backed
out on their bid and kind of put us in a tailspin," City Manager Danny Davis
said. After years of mismanagement and broken contracts, the $11 million dollar
detention center sat vacant. The city was left to foot the bill, still owing
more than $9 million on the property. The city was certain the bid of $6 million
would help close the gap on their debt. The news of the bidder's change of heart
is frustrating for Davis. "With the detention center, nothing has happened easy.
It's been a struggle for us all along, so, in some ways, we were not that
surprised that we've got a continued struggle," Davis said. It was a struggle
that listing agent Jef Conn says he wasn't entirely surprised by. "We always
hope for the best and plan for the worst. It's never the best when a contract
falls out," Conn said. Conn says he is working with the City of Littlefield to
come up with a plan to get the detention center sold. "There are some interested
parties and we will be working with them and the city of Littlefield to find the
best possible option and have them come in and buy the prison," Conn said. For
Davis, he is hopeful the detention center can be sold quickly to alleviate
concerns all across the board. "I'm retiring in two weeks, and I was very
hopeful that this would be one problem my successor wouldn't have to deal with,"
Davis said.
July 28, 2011 Dallas Morning News
A debt-ridden West Texas town auctioned off the empty prison at the source of
its money problems for $6 million Thursday morning. A private prison company
bought the Bill Clayton Detention Center from the city of Littlefield, whose
approximately 5,700 residents had barely been scraping by to pay the $9 million
they still owed on the facility. The company placed their offer as a
confidential bidder and is requesting to remain that way until the 30-day period
for settling the sale is complete, according to Jef Conn, a real estate
specialist for Coldwell Banker Commercial Rick Canup Realtors. The five-pod
facility was built in 2000 by hopeful city officials wanting to rake in revenue
for the small cotton-growing town. Instead, Littlefield was saddled with more
than $9 million in debt once prisoners were pulled out and the private company
operating the center left. After the sale, Littlefield will only owe between $3
million and $4 million on the facility, officials said.
July 27, 2011 American Independent
City officials in Littlefield have big hopes for tomorrow morning’s auction,
where a minimum bid of $5 million could be enough to buy your own little slice
of Panhandle heaven: the 383-bed Bill Clayton Detention Center. It’s being
billed as a “turn-key medium security detention center,” a 383-bed bargain with
slick promotions courtesy the Williams and Williams Worldwide Real Estate
Auction house. The 11-year-old prison was refurbished in 2005, and looks great
in the slideshows and teaser trailers produced for the auction. (Here’s a longer
video tour, but scroll down for a look at the best one, a “Battlestar Galactica”
inspired tour, all quick cuts and drums.) For the City of Littlefield, though,
the prison’s last couple years haven’t been such a thrill ride. The town paid
for the prison with a $10 million bond issue, planning for a bright future with
the Texas Youth Commission. But after TYC pulled pulled its charges from the
facility in 2003, Littlefield’s credit rating suffered as the South
Florida-based private prison giant GEO Group shopped around the country for
inmates to fill its beds — first with Wyoming’s, then with Idaho’s Department of
Corrections. Idaho pulled its prisoners in 2008, GEO Group after them, and the
town’s been stuck with the empty prison it hasn’t finished paying for. Now it’s
raising taxes and fees on its 6,500 residents to make room for bond payments.
The empty prison is the driving force behind cuts to the city budget this year,
according to a City Manager’s message in the budget: The budget for 2010-2011
has presented new challenges for us since the debt payments for the Bill Clayton
Detention Center (BCDC) have been pushed front and center by the lack of a
source of prisoners to provide a revenue stream for those bond payments. Earlier
this week, The Bond Buyer looked at the Bill Clayton facility and a handful of
others now sitting empty around Texas. While many towns found ways to avoid
leaving taxpayers on the hook if operators left, that didn’t happen here: Like
many of the speculative detention centers built in sparsely populated counties,
the Clayton facility was meant to be an economic stimulus instead of an economic
drain. But Littlefield took the somewhat unusual step of pledging its full faith
and credit to the bonds. City officials were either on vacation or didn’t reply
to interview requests from the Independent. The advocacy group Grassroots
Leadership has made a case study of Bill Clayton, warning of the hidden dangers
private prisons can create for a town, and folks with the group say Texas’
shrinking prison population doesn’t tell the half of the Littlefield story.
“This was like a soap opera,” said Grassroots Leadership executive director
Donna Red Wing, recalling a 2004 prison break police said was aided by a pair of
guards, and a 2008 suicide that sparked a suit against GEO Group from the family
of the inmate, alleging he’d been left in solitary for more than a year. “You
couldn’t make this stuff up, the stories are horrible,” Red Wing said. “If you
wrote that screenplay, they wouldn’t take it.” When the Idaho DOC left the
Clayton facility in 2008, state Correction Director Brent Reinke said it was
pulling out because of “an ongoing staffing issue,” the Associated Press
reported at the time, referring to an Idaho audit that found guards had been
falsifying reports of their inmate checks. “Littlefield is a difficult place to
have a facility. It’s a long way from an employment base,” said Grassroots
Leadership’s Bob Libal, who edits the blog Texas Prison Bid’ness. Libal said the
Clayton facility was part of a much greater prison-building rush around Texas
that ended around 2007, followed by national searches for inmates to fill them.
The only growth lately, Libal said, has been in facilities for Immigration and
Customs Enforcement. A $35 million prison in Jones County was built by New
Jersey-based Community Education Centers last summer, and now sits empty, as
local TV station KTXS reported, “ready to bring nearly 200 jobs to the area.” In
that case, the county formed a Public Facility Corporation to help minimize the
taxpayers’ liability — but Libal said it could still mean trouble for the county
because its credit rating is still tied to the prison debt. In January,
Littlefield officials hoped the Texas Department of Criminal Justice would sign
off on an application from Avalon Correctional Services to operate the prison,
but nothing came of it. Now the city just wants it off the books, even at half
of what they paid. NPR featured both the Clayton facility and Jones County’s new
prison back in March, before Littlefield had announced its auction: “Too many
times we’ve seen jails that have got into it and tried to make it a profitable
business to make money off of it and they end up fallin’ on their face,” says
Shannon Herklotz, assistant director of the [Texas Commission on Jail
Standards]. The packages look sweet. A town gets a new detention center without
costing the taxpayers anything. The private operator finances, constructs and
operates an oversized facility. The contract inmates pay off the debt and
generate extra revenue. The economic model works fine until they can’t find
inmates.
July 14, 2011 Willams Auction
This is a unique opportunity to acquire a turn-key medium security detention
center in Littlefield, TX. New owners will benefit from support from the town
that built the facility, the area's low cost of living as well as a ready local
workforce. Conveying with the buildings on auction day are furniture, linens,
computers, kitchen supplies and other equipment used in the operation of the
facility. Located approximately 45 minutes northwest of Lubbock, it is easily
accessible from Highway 84, the Littlefield Municipal Airport, as well as
Preston Smith International Airport. The Bill Clayton Detention Center was built
in 2000 and updated in 2005. Standing on 30+/- acres, the center has 94,437+/-
sq ft of space. It consists of five one-story air-conditioned buildings
constructed of concrete block with a brick veneer and pitch seamed metal roofs.
It has a capacity of 383 inmates in 5 housing pods, complete with dayrooms and
other amenities. The buildings are contained behind a strengthened perimeter of
double fences with an electronic shaker detection system and eight video
surveillance cameras. Approximately 10 acres are contained within the fence. The
facility also has a freestanding gymnasium, maintenance shed, armory and parking
lot. At the opening bid of $5 million, the cost per bed is approximately
$13,055!
May 19, 2011 Bradenton Herald
Fitch Ratings has taken the following action on
Littlefield, Texas' combination tax and revenue certificates of obligation (COs)
during the course of routine surveillance: --$1 million combination tax and
revenue COs, series 1997 affirmed at 'BB+'. -- The Rating Outlook is Negative.
-- RATING RATIONALE: --The 'BB+' rating and Negative Outlook reflect the ongoing
financial pressures resulting from Littlefield's challenges in servicing
outstanding debt issued for a now vacant detention center. The city tapped
reserve funds to help make the August 2010 debt service payments on the series
2000 and 2001 COs (not rated by Fitch); $268,825 was used from the combined
reserves - that money has since been repaid and the reserves are fully funded.
No reserve funds were used to make February 2011 payments. --Despite ongoing
efforts to find a new tenant/operator, the city's detention center remains
empty. The city council recently entered into a contract with an auction company
to auction off the facility within 120 days. --Financial resources to make debt
service payments have been aided by the adoption in fall 2010 of a debt service
property tax and transfers from the city's two economic development
corporations' sales tax revenues; transfers from the city's water and wastewater
utility fund, which are secondary pledged revenues for the Series 1997 COs,
remain the main source of debt service support. --General fund finances remain
weak, with limited reserves. -- WHAT COULD TRIGGER A DOWNGRADE A failed auction
would maintain financial pressure on the city, forcing it to continue with the
current practice of cobbling together debt service payment amounts from various
sources; utility system cash levels could decline and additional reserve fund
draws could occur. -- SECURITY: The series 1997 COs are payable from and secured
by a limited ad valorem tax pledge against all taxable property in the city,
plus surplus revenues of the city's waterworks and sanitary sewer system. --
CREDIT SUMMARY: The city has been unable to locate a new tenant and/or permanent
operator of its detention facility since the State of Idaho removed its
prisoners in January 2009 and the GEO Group terminated its operating agreement
at the same time. With no facility revenues to service the debt associated with
the facility, the city in subsequent months patched together payments from
various city sources, primarily available revenues of the water and wastewater
utility system. The city was current on its payments until August 2010, when
legal questions surrounding the city's ability to use sales tax revenues from
its 4A economic development corporation delayed use of those funds. The city
used nearly $269,000 from the debt service reserves associated with the series
2000 and 2001 COs issued for the detention center to make the August 2010
payment on these COs. Since then, the legal question regarding use of economic
development corporation sales tax revenues has been resolved favorably for the
city and the debt service reserves were fully replenished. Also, last fall the
city council established a debt service property tax for the first time, which
is expected to generate roughly $115,000 annually to help meet debt service
requirements. Finally, Littlefield voters last fall approved the creation of a
second 4B economic development corporation (also with sales tax collection
authority), and that corporation's sales tax receipts will supplement the
revenue stream. The combination of sales tax revenues and property tax revenues,
a utility system transfer and a loan of other city funds enabled the city to
make the February 2011 principal and interest payment on the detention center
COs without tapping the reserve funds. Acknowledging the difficulty in securing
new prisoners for the facility, the city recently executed a contract with a
national auction house which will put into motion the process of auctioning off
the detention facility within 120 days. Management reports that a $5 million
reserve (minimum bid) will be included in the bid specifications. While a sale
at this price will not retire the $9.5 million outstanding in related CO debt,
it would enable the city to call a significant portion of the COs, reduce the
annual debt requirement correspondingly, and relieve the current financial
pressure measurably. Conversely, a failed auction will mean the city continues
with its current practice of piecing together city revenues from various sources
to meet debt payments - a challenging prospect that will keep pressure very
high. Financial flexibility remains limited. The general fund balance is modest,
with the city recording a $17,000 fund balance at fiscal 2010 year-end, or less
than 1% of expenditures and transfers out. While the water and sewer fund
maintains healthy liquidity and has historically provided significant general
fund and detention center fund support, available surplus funds are expected to
decline going forward as excess revenues are used to continue support of the
general fund. The new debt service property tax and additional sales tax
revenues help, but do not eliminate the need for utility system support. Utility
debt service support was budgeted at more than $390,000 for fiscal 2011, or 50%
of the $781,000 annual CO debt requirement. If the auction fails, reliance on
utility system transfers until the COs are retired does not appear feasible; an
alternative permanent solution would need to be devised. Littlefield, with a
population of nearly 6,400, is located approximately 35 miles northwest of
Lubbock and serves as the county seat for Lamb County. The area is primarily
rural in nature, with agriculture services, government, manufacturing, and trade
as key components of the county's economy. County unemployment rates have risen,
with a 7.6% posted for February 2011; however, the rate remains below the
statewide average of 8.2%. While there is moderate taxpayer concentration among
the top 10 taxpayers, there is generally a good mix of industries within the
list.
March 28, 2011 NPR
Private Prison Promises Leave Texas Towns In Trouble by John Burnett The country
with the highest incarceration rate in the world — the United States — is
supporting a $3 billion private prison industry. In Texas, where free enterprise
meets law and order, there are more for-profit prisons than any other state. But
because of a growing inmate shortage, some private jails cannot fill empty
cells, leaving some towns wishing they'd never gotten in the prison business. It
seemed like a good idea at the time when the west Texas farming town of
Littlefield borrowed $10 million and built the Bill Clayton Detention Center in
a cotton field south of town in 2000. The charmless steel-and-cement-block
buildings ringed with razor wire would provide jobs to keep young people from
moving to Lubbock or Dallas. For eight years, the prison was a good employer.
Idaho and Wyoming paid for prisoners to serve time there. But two years ago,
Idaho pulled out all of its contract inmates because of a budget crunch at home.
There was also a scandal surrounding the suicide of an inmate. Shortly
afterward, the for-profit operator, GEO Group, gave notice that it was leaving,
too. One hundred prison jobs disappeared. The facility has been empty ever
since. A Hard Sell "Maybe ... he'll help us to find somebody," says Littlefield
City Manager Danny Davis good-naturedly when a reporter shows up for a tour. For
sale or contract: a 372-bed, medium-security prison with double security fences,
state-of-the-art control room, gymnasium, law library, classrooms and five
living pods. Davis opens the gray steel door to a barren cell with bunk beds and
stainless-steel furniture. "You can see the facility here. [It's] pretty
austere, but from what I understand from a prison standpoint, it's better than
most," he says, still trying to close the sale. For the past two years,
Littlefield has had to come up with $65,000 a month to pay the note on the
prison. That's $10 per resident of this little city. A Resident Burden Is the
empty prison a big white elephant for the city of Littlefield? "Is it something
we have that we'd rather not have? Well, today that would probably be the case,"
Davis says. To avoid defaulting on the loan, Littlefield has raised property
taxes, increased water and sewer fees, laid off city employees and held off
buying a new police car. Still, the city's bond rating has tanked. The village
elders drinking coffee at the White Kitchen cafe are not happy about the way
things have turned out. "It was never voted on by the citizens of Littlefield;
[it] is stuck in their craw," says Carl Enloe, retired from Atmos Energy. "They
have to pay for it. And the people who's got it going are all up and gone and
they left us... " "...Holdin' the bag!" says Tommy Kelton, another Atmos
retiree, completing the sentence. The Declining Prison Population The same thing
has happened to communities across Texas. Once upon a time, it seems every small
town wanted to be a prison town. But the 20-year private prison building boom is
over. Some prisons are struggling outside Texas, too. Hardin, Mont., defaulted
on its bond payments after trying, so far unsuccessfully, to fill its 464-bed
minimum security prison. And a prison in Huerfano County, Colo., closed after
Arizona pulled out its 700 inmates. According to the Bureau of Justice
Statistics, the total correctional population in the United States is declining
for the first time in three decades. Among the reasons: The crime rate is
falling, sentencing alternatives mean fewer felons doing hard time and states
everywhere are slashing budgets. The Texas legislature, looking for budget cuts,
is contemplating shedding 2,000 contract prison beds. Statewide, more than half
of all privately operated county jail beds are empty, according to figures from
the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. "Too many times we've seen jails that
have got into it and tried to make it a profitable business to make money off of
it and they end up fallin' on their face," says Shannon Herklotz, assistant
director of the commission. The packages look sweet. A town gets a new detention
center without costing the taxpayers anything. The private operator finances,
constructs and operates an oversized facility. The contract inmates pay off the
debt and generate extra revenue. The economic model works fine until they can't
find inmates. In Waco, McLennan County borrowed $49 million to build an 816-bed
jail and charge day rates for bunk space. But today because of the convict
shortage, the fortress east of town remains more than half empty. The sheriff
and county judge, once champions of the new jail, now decline to comment on it.
Former McLennan County Deputy Rick White, who opposed the jail, had this to say
about the prison developers who put the deal together: "They get the
corporations formed, they get the bonds sold, they get the facility built, their
money is front-loaded, they take their money out. And then there's no reason for
them to support the success of the facility." Two of Texas' busiest private
prison consultants — James Parkey and Herb Bristow — declined repeated requests
for interviews. The Inmate Market Private prison companies insist their future
is sunny. A spokesman for the GEO Group declined to speak about the Littlefield
prison, but he sent along a slew of press releases highlighting the company's
new inmate contracts and prison expansions across the country. Corrections
Corporation of America, the nation's largest private prison operator, says the
demand for its facilities remains strong, particularly for federal immigration
detainees. New Jersey-based Community Education Centers, which has been pulling
out of unprofitable jails across Texas, issued a statement that "the current
(jail) population fluctuation" is cyclical. One of the places where CEC is
cancelling its contract is Falls County, in central Texas, where a for-profit
jail addition is losing money. Now it's up to Falls County Judge Steve Sharp to
hustle up jailbirds: "If somebody is out there charging $30 a day for an inmate,
we need to charge $28. We really don't have a choice of not filling those beds,"
he said. Another place where they're desperate for inmates is Anson, the little
town north of Abilene, Texas, once famous for its no-dancing law. Today, Jones
County owns a brand-new $34 million prison and an $8 million county jail, both
of which sit empty. The prison developers made their money and left. Then the
Texas Department of Criminal Justice reneged on a contract to fill the new
prison with parole violators. The county's Public Facility Corporation that
borrowed the money to build the lockups owes $314,000 a month — with no paying
inmates. They've got a year's worth of bond service payments set aside before
county officials start to sweat. "The market has changed nationwide in the last
18 months or two years. It's certainly a different picture than when we started
this project. And so we're continuing to work the problem," Jones County Judge
Dale Spurgin says. Grayson County, north of Dallas, said no to privatizing its
jail. Two years ago, the county was all set to build a $30 million, 750-bed
behemoth twice as big as was needed. But the public got queasy and county
officials ultimately scuttled the deal. "When you put the profit motive into a
private jail, by design, in order to increase your dollars, your revenues, your
profits, you need more folks in there and they need to stay longer," says Bill
Magers, mayor of the county seat of Sherman, a leading opponent. When the supply
of prison beds exceeds the demand for prison beds, there are beneficiaries. The
overcrowded Harris County Jail in Houston, the nation's third largest, farms out
about 1,000 prisoners to private jails. Littlefield and most other
under-occupied facilities in Texas have all been in touch with Houston. "It
really is a buyer's market right now, especially a county our size," says Capt.
Robin Kinetsky, who is in charge of inmate processing for the Harris County
Sheriffs Department. "They're really wanting to get our business. So, we're
getting good deals." Nearby, disheveled and unsmiling men are brought from a
holding cell to stand before a booking officer for their intake interviews. The
detainees are wholly unaware that they may soon become the newest commodities of
the volatile inmate market. Aarti Shahani contributed to this NPR News
investigation and report.
February 3, 2011 KCBD
While the Lubbock County Detention Center is filling up with inmates, other
counties are struggling to find an inmate. Taxpayers of those counties are now
being held prisoners by their own prisons as they're forced to pay the price of
empty facilities. About an hour from Lubbock, the Bill Clayton Detention Center
in Littlefield hasn't had a single inmate in the last two years. "This was not
built to house local inmates; it was built to house inmates from other parts of
the state or other parts of U.S. It was built to bring economic development to
the city of Littlefield," said Danny Davis, Littlefield city manager. For a
while it did bring money into Littlefield, until the State of Idaho decided to
remove its inmates from the center when the economy tanked back in 2009.
"Everybody was cutting back it seemed, and it was very difficult to find other
inmates from out of state to come in and fill the facility," said Davis. Nearly
100 people lost their job in the area, and with $9 million left to pay for the
now empty building, residents are stuck paying the price through increased taxes
and fees." Jokingly I've told people when I took this job I weighed a lot more
and had a lot more hair, so that's how I guess you can say how the frustration
level is. It has been a frustrating situation for the whole community," said
Davis. About two hours away Dickens County faces a similar fate. Their
contractor CEC didn't renew their contract with the Dickens County Correctional
Center. In mid-December the remaining inmates were moved to Lubbock County's new
facility, and nearly 120 jobs were lost - huge hit to the small communities of
Dickens County. "It cost money to put people in jail. The state of the economy,
the governments don't have as much money. Our own state is cutting the budget,
and there's one way to save money…that's not to incarcerate them, and so that's
why I believe our inmate population is down," said Lesa Arnold, Dickens County
Judge. So far Dickens County hasn't had to increase taxes to foot the prison's
one million dollar bill each year, but that option might soon surface. "We need
to get this thing going within a year, and hopefully a whole lot sooner than
that before that issue comes up as to who's going to make those bond payments,"
said Arnold. So how can Lubbock County fill its newly built facility while these
two and others around the U.S. are failing? It comes down to why these
facilities were built in the first place. Littlefield and Dickens County didn't
have an inmate population for the large prisons they built; instead they were
built to make a profit for the towns by contracting out the prison cells to
other parts of the state and U.S. Lubbock on the other hand, needed the bigger
facility. All 1,063 inmates currently in the Lubbock County Detention Center are
from Lubbock County, which means their cells will constantly be filled with a
local inmate population. The other facilities are staying hopeful a new inmate
population will come their way. "I can't worry about why we have it because
that's in the past. I can only worry about what can we do with it now that we
have it, and that's what we work on every day," said Davis.
January 3, 2011 Avalanche-Journal
The city of Littlefield comes into 2011 hoping it will have a new tenant renting
the Bill Clayton Detention Center in a few months. The prison, which closed in
January 2009 after the Idaho Department of Corrections canceled a contract with
private operator GEO Group and moved its prisoners from Littlefield to Oklahoma.
Since then, the city has stretched itself financially to keep making payments on
revenue bonds it issues to build the facility, which opened in 2000 as a
juvenile detention center. The present ray of hope comes with Avalon
Correctional Services, which has applied to TDCJ to operate an Intermediate
Sanction Facility, which is a short-term facility that houses offenders who
violate terms of their community supervision or paroles. The state issued a
request for proposals in June, but no decisions have been made yet. “It’s been
on (TDCJ’s) agenda a couple of times, but reading between the lines, it’s
probably waiting until the state gets a better handle on its budget,” said Danny
Davis, Littlefield’s city manager.
September 1, 2010 Smart Money
Owners of municipal bonds issued to pay for jails might not get to pass Go--and
could have trouble collecting interest payments as well. These tax free bonds
don't have a monopoly on defaults, but they're well represented among failures
and troubled issues among the more speculative classes of municipal bonds. Data
from Municipal Market Advisors reveals a slew of tax-free bonds issued to fund
construction of privately run prisons and detention facilities in states from
Texas to Rhode Island to Montana. The most recent example is Littlefield, a West
Texas town of about 6,500 people. Located between the New Mexico border and
Buddy Holly's hometown of Lubbock, Littlefield had to dip into reserves to cover
payments for about $1.2 in bonds and other debt used to finance the Bill Clayton
Detention Center. The bonds were issued in 2000, but the expected revenue stream
evaporated when, after a prisoner suicide in 2008, the 310-bed private prison
lost its contract to house out-of-state inmates. In 2009, the Geo Group (GEO),
formerly known as Wackenhut Security, ended its operating agreement with the
detention center, leaving it unoccupied. In April, Fitch Ratings, which in 2009
lowered the bonds to BB from BBB, affirmed a negative rating outlook.
Littlefield city manager Danny Davis says the city is scrambling to avoid
default on the $780,000 worth of annual payments and plans to cut police and
fire service while dramatically raising property taxes when the new fiscal year
begins Oct. 1. The property could be sold or could be taken over by the state,
though neither option is certain. "It's going to be difficult," he says. "In the
meantime, we're just trying to keep our heads above water until we get to a
solution." Bob Libal is the Texas campaign coordinator for Grassroots
Leadership, a lobbying group which opposes for-profit prisons, and the editor of
the blog Texas Prison Bid'ness. He says many small towns agree to build
"speculative prisons" to be run by private contractors using municipal bond
financing but that many of these projects in a post-Sept. 11 boom have had
trouble. Libal criticizes the development groups that get paid up front for
building detention centers thus saddling the bond-issuers (usually special
public facilities corporations created solely for those projects) with risky
debt. "They go after a lot of towns without a lot of sophistication and
resources to do the due diligence," Libal says. "If they let the bonds go under,
it's very difficult for them to issue any more debt." Matt Fabian, director of
research at Municipal Market Advisors, cites similar bond woes in Central Falls,
R.I.; Hardin, Mont.; and Baker County, Fla., where about $105 million in total
debt has run into trouble because the prison projects haven't worked out as
expected. "The incarceration rates drives speculation," he says. "There's an
idea that you can profit from this prison trend." Investors in these
increasingly-insecure jail bonds have certainly had to assume more risk, even
though they get higher yields. The $99 million Central Falls Detention Facility
bond issue of 2005 entered technical default in 2009 when it drew on its
reserves to make payments. The bonds, issued at par with a yield of 7.25%, last
traded at the end of 2009 at 85.3 cents to the dollar, with a yield of 8.69%.
Municipal revenue bonds issued in 2002 that funded the West Alabama Youth
Services detention facility defaulted in 2005. The bonds last traded in February
at 9 cents to the dollar with a yield of 73.6%. Fabian says some of the biggest
private prison busts are unlikely to have simple resolutions. A shopping center
is easy to repurpose; a detention center is not. "It's hard to restructure," he
says. "Even the land underneath a prison isn't worth as much as it was." Even
with a resurgent effort by the private prison industry to use their facilities
to detain illegal immigrants and an attempt by the U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement agency to overhaul detention procedures, problems persist. The Baker
Correctional Development Corporation, created to finance a correctional facility
and immigration detention center west of Jacksonville, Fla., dipped into
reserves for its August payment to holders of bonds issued in 2008. With those
bonds trading last at 71.25 cents to the dollar with a yield of 20.73%,
investors looking to lock up their money should probably seek less risky types
of municipal bonds.
June 17, 2010 Courthouse News
A man claims a corrupt private prison company, The GEO Group, bribed the
government to get contracts and then abused inmates, including his father, who
died at the Bill Clayton Detention Center in Littlefield, Texas, from "grossly
inhumane treatment, abuse, neglect, illegal and malicious conditions of
confinement." Daniel McCullough sued Texas-based GEO Group and its top
executives, all of Florida, and the warden of the jail where his father,
Randall, died on Aug. 18, 2008. In his complaint in Comal County Court, Daniel
McCullough says his father "was found dead after supposedly being monitored by
GEO and its personnel." The complaint states: "McCullough's death was caused by
specific breaches of duty by the Defendants ... who engaged in grossly inhumane
treatment, abuse, neglect, illegal conditions of confinement, and subsequent
coverup of wrongdoings." McCullough claims that "GEO and its personnel were
found to have fabricated evidence, including practicing 'pencil whipping,' a
policy and practice of GEO to destroy and fabricate log books and other relevant
evidence." He claims that GEO and its officers "personally engage in efforts to
illegally influence public officials in Austin, Texas and in the Texas counties
where the GEO prisons are located, including Laredo, Webb County, Texas. Their
goal is to conceal, deflect, hide or exculpate themselves and their company from
all forms of personal civil or criminal liability, censure, detriment, or
punishment in order to procure and continue their lucrative contracts at the
expense of the inmates' and their families' suffering. They and their company,
GEO, engage in a pattern and practice of abuse, neglect, public corruption, and
cover up." McCullough claims that GEO and its officers "have a history of
illegally neglecting, manipulating, and abusing inmates, and then covering up
their wrongful and illegal conduct." He claims these abuses include "making
illegal payments to governmental entities in exchange for contracts and permits;
... destruction of evidence and lying to state investigators; and
misrepresentations to state and governmental entities regarding conditions
inside their facilities." He seeks damages of $595 million - GEO's net worth -
for gross negligence, breach of duty, wrongful death, and pain and suffering. He
is represented by Ronald Rodriguez of Laredo.
April 14, 2010 Business Wire
Fitch Ratings takes the following rating action on Littlefield, Texas' (the
city) as part of its continuous surveillance effort; --Approximately $1.2
million in outstanding combination tax and revenue certificates of obligation
(COs), series 1997 rated 'BB.' The Rating Outlook remains Negative. RATING
RATIONALE: --The majority of the city's outstanding debt is for a detention
center (not rated by Fitch), which had been self-supporting from detention
center operations. However, both detention center prisoners and the private
operator left the facility in 2009, and despite the city's active efforts to
locate prisoners or sell the facility, the detention center remains vacant.
--The lack of a debt service tax levy has resulted in considerable operating
pressure. --A fully funded debt service reserve remains in place, with the
February 2010 principal and interest payment made from available funds,
primarily excess water and sewer system revenues. Officials plan to make the
next interest payment in August 2010 from available funds as well, although
there is a possibility debt service reserve funds may be needed. --General fund
reserves are minimal; however, the water and sewer fund maintained about
$800,000 in unrestricted net assets for the close of fiscal 2009. The city is
considering making future detention center debt service payments from a
combination of budget reductions, available city funds, and the imposition of an
interest and sinking fund tax beginning in fiscal 2011. --The city's tax base
has shown moderate annual growth, and county unemployment rates, although higher
than a year ago, remain below the state and nation. Proximity to the Lubbock
metropolitan area offers additional employment opportunities for residents.
August 24, 2009 Ad Hoc News
Fitch Ratings has downgraded to 'BB' from 'BBB-' the rating on Littlefield, TX's
(the city) outstanding $1.3 million combination tax and revenue certificates of
obligation (COs), series 1997, and removed the ratings from Rating Watch
Negative. The CO's constitute a general obligation of the city, payable from ad
valorem taxes limited to $2.50 per $100 taxable assessed valuation (TAV).
Additionally, the COs are secured by a pledge of surplus water and sewer
revenues. The Rating Outlook is Negative. The downgrade reflects events related
to the operation of the city's detention center facility, which accounts for the
majority of outstanding debt (which was not rated by Fitch but is on parity with
the series 1997 bonds). To the surprise of city officials, Idaho announced their
plans to leave the Littlefield facility in January 2009, citing the need to
consolidate all of its out-of-state prisoners into a larger facility in
Oklahoma. In addition, the detention center's private operator, the Geo Group,
unexpectedly announced termination of their agreement to manage the facility
effective January 2009. The move to leave Littlefield by the Geo Group is
significant, given that the established private operator had made sizable equity
investments in the detention center reportedly totaling approximately $2
million. In the past, the ability of the Geo Group to quickly replace prisoners
with little disruption in operations, as well as their investment in the
Littlefield detention center were cited as credit strengths. On Dec. 9, 2008,
Fitch placed the series 1997 bonds on Rating Watch Negative, reflecting the
city's active pursuit of various alternatives to remedy the situation and
possibly resolve it within the next several months. Funds to repay debt service
on detention center COs through August 2010 had been identified through
available city funds as well as a debt service reserve fund. The city indicated
to Fitch in May 2009 that it was in negotiations with another established jail
operator (the operator) to assume management of the Littlefield facility and
that the operator was attempting to secure an agreement with a federal agency to
house prisoners. Resolution or near resolution of this agreement was expected by
August 2009. However, the operator has yet to secure a prisoner agreement and
the timing for resolution remains uncertain. The downgrade to 'BB' reflects the
uncertainty as to when and if the city can secure an operator for the detention
center as well as the city's limited financial resources to repay the detention
center debt. While the city continues to pursue an agreement with the operator
(and other private companies in the event negotiations with the operator break
down), the Negative Outlook reflects the potential financial hardship placed on
the city if a long-term viable solution is not found. Although the detention
center COs are also secured by an ad valorem tax pledge, the city levies a
property tax for operations only. Officials report that the 2010 proposed budget
does not include any property tax levy for debt service, but the city is
investigating funding alternatives for future detention center debt service. In
order to fully support the detention center COs, the ad valorem tax rate would
have to double, which is not politically feasible.
December 13, 2008 Lubbock On-line
GEO Group Inc. says it has canceled its contract with the city of
Littlefield and plans to terminate 74 employees at the Bill Clayton Detention
Center effective Jan. 5 The Boca Raton-based Fla. company gave official notice
last month, filing a mass layoff Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act letter
with the city in accordance with federal law. The letter was obtained by The
Avalanche-Journal. Under the law, an organization terminating 50 or more
employees must give at least 60 days notice. GEO's decision was made shortly
after it learned its own contract had been canceled with the Idaho Department of
Corrections, which according to the Times-News in Twin Falls, Idaho, cited
prisoner safety concerns. IDOC had contracted with the for-profit corporation to
house 300 of its inmates in the one-time youth detention facility owned by the
city. Some of those inmates, according to the Times-News, will be transferred to
the North Fork Corrections Facility in Sayer, Okla., which is operated by
Corrections Corp. of America. "We understand the gravity of the situation and
the citizens' concerns, but we are working hard toward a solution," said Danny
Davis, Littlefield city manager, who was informed about GEO's decision on Nov.
7. He said the city has since hired Woodlands-based Carlisle & Associates, a
municipal consultant, which has been brought on board to sell the 372-bed
prison. Littlefield, which issued revenue bonds to construct the facility as
part of an economic development strategy, still owes $10 million. However, Davis
said, the city had already set aside a year's worth of bond payments as a
precautionary measure when it made the decision to build. "We have enough to
make at least the next three payments," adding the city should not have to tap
those reserve funds until August. Danny Soliz, director of business services for
WorkForce Solutions South Plains - the area's largest job placement/training
organization - said he met with Littlefield prison guards during 12 hours of
informational sessions Wednesday. "We'll be doing everything we can to help
them," he said. Soliz said many of the workers told him they have no intention
of leaving Littlefield, while others showed interest in applying for jobs at the
new Lubbock County Jail and the Montford Psychiatric Unit operated by the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice. Soliz said WorkForce brought in an expert from
Fort Worth to assist workers in filing for unemployment benefits. Davis said the
city is working on a number of scenarios involving filling the facility with
inmates from other areas on a temporary basis. "We've also talked with a number
of people who are interested in buying it. There are a lot of entities out there
looking for beds, but it takes time for these solutions to transpire," he said.
December 9, 2008 Yahoo
Fitch Ratings has placed the 'BBB-' rating on Littlefield, TX's (the city)
outstanding $1.4 million combination tax and revenue certificates of obligation
(COs), series 1997 on Rating Watch Negative. The CO's constitute a general
obligation of the city, payable from ad valorem taxes limited to $2.50 per $100
taxable assessed valuation (TAV). Additionally, the COs are secured by a pledge
of surplus water and sewer revenues. The Negative Watch reflects recent events
related to the operation of the city's detention center facility, which accounts
for the majority of outstanding debt. Officials are pursuing various
alternatives to remedy the situation, with possible resolution within the next
several months. Funds to repay debt service on detention center COs (which were
not rated by Fitch) over the next one to two years have been identified through
available city funds as well as a debt service reserve fund. However, failure to
develop a viable long-term solution within the near term will have a negative
impact on the rating. Detention center operations support approximately $1.4
million in outstanding 2000 COs and $9.0 million in outstanding 2001 COs issued
for the construction of the facility. The detention center has a history of
difficulties, beginning with construction delays and the subsequent loss of
Texas Youth Commission (TYC) prisoners in 2003 and State of Wyoming prisoners in
2006. Detention center operations began to stabilize with the near immediate
replacement of the State of Idaho prisoners in the facility. The city's contract
with Idaho was scheduled to expire in July 2009, with negotiations for contract
renewal planned for January 2009. However, to the surprise of city officials,
Idaho recently announced their plans to leave the Littlefield facility in
January 2009, citing the need to consolidate all of its out-of-state prisoners
into a larger facility in Oklahoma. In addition, the detention center's private
operator, the Geo Group unexpectedly announced termination of their agreement to
manage the facility effective January 2009. The move to leave Littlefield by the
Geo Group is significant, given that the established private operator had made
sizable equity investments in the detention center reportedly totaling
approximately $2 million. In the past, the ability of the Geo Group to quickly
replace prisoners with little disruption in operations as well as their
investment in the Littlefield detention center were cited as credit strengths.
In response to the sudden loss of both prisoners and operators, city officials
are investigating various options. According to the city, a number of other jail
operators have expressed interest in managing the Littlefield facility. In
addition, officials are considering selling the facility and retiring the
outstanding debt. Officials have expressed the need to resolve this issue
quickly and hope to have additional information within the next several months.
In the interim, officials report that sufficient funds are on hand to make the
Feb. 1 debt service payment, with the subsequent payments made from other
resources, including the water and sewer fund as well as the debt service
reserve fund. Prior to fiscal 2006, the detention center fund required transfers
primarily from the water and sewer fund to meet operating and debt service
needs. Since that time, detention center net revenues have been sufficient to
cover its debt, providing 1.1 times (x) coverage in fiscal 2007. The water and
sewer fund, which supports the remainder of the city's general obligation debt,
continues to record positive results and for fiscal 2007, net revenues were $1.4
million, providing more than 3x coverage on water and sewer related CO debt
service. In addition, the series 2000 and 2001 CO sales included provisions for
a fully funded debt service reserve fund. Although the city utilized the reserve
fund to meet debt service requirements in 2001 due to the delay in opening as
well as the moratorium on TYC transfers to the detention center, officials
report that the reserve is currently fully funded and has not been utilized
since 2001 to meet debt service needs. For fiscal 2007, the restricted reserve
stood at $1.1 million compared to fiscal 2007 debt service of approximately
$780,000. Although the detention COs are also secured by an ad valorem tax
pledge, the city levies a property tax for operations only. Officials report
that they are considering levying a property tax to partially support the
detention center COs. However, in order to fully support the detention center
COs, the tax rate would have to double, which is not feasible given political
realities. Littlefield, with a population of 6,500, is located approximately 35
miles northwest of Lubbock and serves as the county seat for Lamb County. The
area is primarily rural in nature, with agriculture services, government,
manufacturing, and trade as key components of the county's economy. The city's
population and TAV had been flat until recently; for fiscal 2008 the city's tax
base increased nearly 5% due to the construction of several commercial projects
as well as residential development. While there is moderate taxpayer
concentration among the top 10 taxpayers, there is generally a good mix of
industries within the list. General fund finances have stabilized over the past
several years, benefitting from the recent imposition of a 0.25% increase in the
sales tax rate as well as tax base growth. Debt ratios are very low given the
level of non-property tax support for outstanding COs although payout is slow.
Fitch issued an exposure draft on July 31, 2008 proposing a recalibration of
tax-supported and water/sewer revenue bond ratings which, if adopted, may result
in an upward revision of this rating (see Fitch research 'Exposure Draft:
Reassessment of the Municipal Ratings Framework'.) At this time, Fitch is
deferring its final determination on municipal recalibration. Fitch will
continue to monitor market and credit conditions, and plans to revisit the
recalibration in first quarter-2009.
November 14, 2008 Magic Valley Times-News
Families of two Idaho inmates who apparently killed themselves in lockups
run by private prison company GEO Group Inc., pleaded Thursday with Texas state
senators to bar out-of-state prisoners from the Lone Star State. The Idaho
Department of Correction has housed more than 300 prisoners at GEO-run Bill
Clayton Detention Center in Littlefield, Texas, but recently announced plans to
move them to the private North Fork Correctional Facility in Sayre, Okla. The
move follows allegations that GEO falsified reports and short-staffed the Texas
facility where Idaho inmate Randall McCullough, 37, died. Families of Idaho
inmates spoke Thursday at a Texas state Senate hearing in Austin, Texas. The
hearing, which dealt with general oversight of the Texas prison system and did
not result in specific action, was webcast live over the Internet. Among those
testifying was lawyer Ronald Rodriguez, who represents McCullough's family as
well as that of Idaho inmate Scott Noble Payne, 43, who killed himself last year
at another GEO-run prison in Dickens, Texas. "Idaho prisoners need to be in
Idaho where they have access to their court - Where they have access to their
families," Rodriguez on Thursday told the Texas Senate Committee on Criminal
Justice. Payne's mother, Shirley Noble, spoke to Texas lawmakers last year and
again on Thursday. "It seems that no lessons were learned," Noble said. "If
changes had been placed - Randall would not have been so desperate to take his
own life, as my son did." Texas Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, chairman of the
Senate Committee on Criminal Justice, questioned why the "little" state of Idaho
recently decided to pull its prisoners from Geo-run Bill Clayton. "Should we be
following their lead?" he asked. But a Texas Department of Criminal Justice
official told Whitmire that Texas inmates aren't held at Bill Clayton, and
warned against painting private prisons in Texas with a broad brush. Inmate
McCullough's sister, Laurie Williams, told Texas senators that they should do a
review of all private prisons in their state - including GEO competitor
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). Idaho prisoners are to be taken to CCA-run
North Fork in Oklahoma, where another Idaho inmate, David Drashner, was
allegedly murdered in June. IDOC's decision to move prisoners from one privately
run lockup to another out-of-state facility concerns Williams, as well as
Drashner's wife, Pam Drashner, who have said they want Idaho to stop shipping
away its inmates. Idaho doesn't have enough room for all its prisoners, and
sending them out-of-state has been widely unpopular. Williams also wants to talk
to Idaho lawmakers, she said. "We should be addressing the Idaho Senate," said
Williams, after Thursday's hearing in Texas. "This is Idaho sending its inmates
out of state whether it's Texas that takes them or Oklahoma and that's what we
have to have stopped." GEO made $4.9 million in annual operating revenues off
its contract with Idaho to manage prisoners at Bill Clayton. GEO officials said
shareholders won't lose out from Idaho's withdrawal because of an expanding
contract with the state of Indiana.
November 9, 2008 Magic Valley Times-News
Private prison company GEO Group Inc. isn't lamenting the loss of a
multimillion dollar contract with Idaho to manage more than 300 inmates at a
Texas lock-up owned by the city of Littlefield. Idaho was only 1 percent of Baca
Raton-based GEO's business, according to a 2007 annual report from the company.
"The discontinuation of GEO's contract with the Idaho DOC will have no material
impact on GEO's previously issued pro forma earnings guidance for the fourth
quarter of 2008," according to a GEO press release Friday. GEO made $4.9 million
in annual operating revenues off its contract with Idaho to manage state inmates
in Texas, and the company announced Friday that revenue won't be lost because
it's expanding a contract with the state of Indiana. "GEO expects the
discontinuation of its contract with the Idaho DOC to be more than offset by the
420-bed contract expansion with the Indiana DOC," according to the press
release. Idaho Department of Correction officials told the Associated Press
Thursday it was pulling out of the contract with GEO and cited inmate safety
risks at the Bill Clayton Detention Center, which is owned by the city of
Littlefield. GEO, however, claims Idaho pulled out of the contract for a
different reason than inmate safety or staffing levels. GEO officials said
Friday that Idaho ended the contract because the state wants to consolidate all
its out-of-state prisoners into one private facility. "We understand the
decision by the state of Idaho to consolidate its out-of-state inmate population
into one large-scale facility," said GEO Chief Executive Officer George Zoley in
the press release. "The consolidation effort has led to the discontinuation of
our out-of-state inmate contract with the Idaho Department of Correction at the
Bill Clayton Detention Center." IDOC officials told the Times-News Friday that
staffing at Bill Clayton and consolidation efforts were both factors in its
decision to cancel the contract with GEO. IDOC didn't reply to the Times-News
when asked which factor may have weighed more heavily. The pull-out announced
Thursday by IDOC came after a two-month-old audit showed GEO guards weren't
checking on inmates enough. GEO is also terminating its contract with the city
of Littlefield to run Bill Clayton, which it has operated since 2005, the
company announced Friday. GEO decided not to manage Bill Clayton anymore in
Littlefield, a town populated by about 6,500 people, "due to financial
underperformance and lack of economies of scale," according to the Friday press
release. The first formal IDOC audit of Bill Clayton dated Sept. 3 followed an
apparent suicide of Idaho inmate Randall McCullough, 37, of Twin Falls in
August. IDOC had been monitoring the facility at least two weeks out of every
month since last fall, an IDOC official said. IDOC's original two-year contract
with GEO signed in 2006 could have ended on July 20, 2008. IDOC extended it a
year until July 20, 2009, but now says all inmates will be out of Texas by
January and moved to the Northfork Correctional Facility in Sayre, Okla. - run
by GEO competitor, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), which holds
hundreds of other out-of-state Idaho inmates.
November 7, 2008 The Olympian
Idaho Department of Correction officials still don't know the cause of death
for an inmate who apparently committed suicide in a private Texas prison in
August. But what they do know is disturbing: The prison was so understaffed that
the warden himself was working the midnight shift at the Bill Clayton Detention
Center on Aug. 17, the night Randall McCullough died. A state investigation
found that regularly scheduled checks on inmates either weren't done or were
done incorrectly, and there was no effective check done on McCullough from the
time he turned in his dinner tray at 5:45 p.m. to the time his body - already
cold and stiff - was found just after midnight. Log books from that night are
inaccurate, according to the investigation, and the videotape from the prison's
security system shows neither the correct date nor the arrival of emergency
workers, prompting Idaho investigators to speculate that it might not be the
tape from that night at all. "You can see where the train wreck is coming, can't
you?" state Department of Correction Chief Investigator Jim Loucks told The
Associated Press in an interview Thursday. Department officials this week
announced they're terminating the state's multimillion dollar contract with The
GEO Group, the for-profit private prison company that runs the Bill Clayton
Detention Center. Within 60 days, the roughly 300 Idaho prisoners there will be
transferred to the Correction Corp. of America-run North Fork Correctional
Institution in Sayre, Okla. The inmates have been housed out of state because of
overcrowding in Idaho prisons. As of Oct. 1, Idaho had nearly 7,300 total
inmates. The staff at the Bill Clayton center - from then-warden Arthur Anderson
down to the correctional officers - didn't follow prison policy or respond
properly to McCullough's death, according to documents obtained by The AP from
the Idaho Department of Correction through public records requests. Pablo Paez,
spokesman for The GEO Group, has not returned repeated phone calls from The AP.
The GEO Group Vice President Amber Martin said she couldn't comment on the
documents or Idaho's decision to end the contract. McCullough was found dead in
his cell by Anderson at about 12:15 a.m., according to the state's
investigation. Two letters were found in his cell as well - one to his sister,
Laurie Williams, and another addressed to Anderson and the Idaho Department of
Correction. "To hom it may concern," the misspelled, handwritten letter read. "I'v
been puting this off for long anuff. I can't set here and slowly die. Sorry for
the inconvenience." The apparent suicide surprised those who knew McCullough,
according to the investigation. The inmate, who was serving time on a robbery
charge, was within a few months of an expected parole hearing and apparently
believed he would be sent back to Idaho sometime around the end of the year,
pending a cell opening in the state's overcrowded system. McCullough had been in
segregation for several months at the Texas facility after he was accused of
assaulting a staff member. The prison, located in the tiny town of Littlefield,
Texas, competes for employees with nearby oil fields, which often pay more than
residents can make working as a correctional officer, Loucks said. That
contributed to the chronic understaffing. Around the time McCullough died,
prison employees were working as much as 20 hours of overtime every week, and
often resorted to calling in sick just to get some time off, Loucks said. On the
night of Aug. 17, 2008, five people didn't make it in to work - leaving the
prison with just 10 correctional officers for the 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. shift, below
the state-mandated minimum of 12, and well below the 15 officers generally
scheduled, according to the report. To deal with the shortage, the shift
supervisor persuaded two dayshift employees to stay until 10 p.m., and got two
employees scheduled for the next day to come in four hours early, at 2 a.m. But
that still left the prison short two officers from 10 p.m. on Aug. 17 to 2 a.m.
on Aug. 18, Loucks said. That's when Warden Anderson and Chief of Security
Dennis Blevins agreed to come in to work those middle-of-the night hours. The
short-staffing led to a few bad habits at the prison, according to the report.
Officers often committed a practice known as "pencil-whipping," filling out the
log books to show they had made security checks on the inmates every 20 minutes,
even if the checks hadn't been done. It also meant that the prison was often
without a utility officer, an employee charged with fueling the vehicles,
emptying the trash and doing other non-guard duties. Because the segregation
unit had fewer inmates than other areas, the correctional officer guarding the
unit was generally pulled away from his duties to take care of the utility
officer chores, Loucks said. That happened the night of Aug. 17, he said, and as
a result no one noticed that McCullough was unmoving and unresponsive until
12:18 a.m., when Warden Anderson walked by the cell. Anderson radioed for help
when he noticed McCullough wasn't responding to knocking on the cell door.
Medical personnel came within four minutes, but didn't bring the necessary
equipment to treat an unresponsive patient and so had to go back to another part
of the prison to get it, according to the report. Staffers began CPR, but didn't
move McCullough's body from the bed to the floor, where they would have had a
firmer surface and more effective chest compressions, investigators found.
Prison officials didn't call 911 for 15 minutes, according to the report, but
Anderson reportedly told investigators that was because he was trying to notify
enough other employees so they could safely unlock McCullough's door and go into
the cell. McCullough was dead and apparently had been for some time - his body
was cold to the touch, according to the report. Prison officials immediately
suspected that McCullough might have overdosed on medication, and his body was
sent for toxicology tests and an autopsy. Those tests have been completed, but
the Texas coroner's report has not yet been finished, so Idaho Department of
Correction officials still don't know just how or why McCullough died. But one
thing is clear: Idaho prisoners will be removed from Bill Clayton. State
Correction Department chief Brent Reinke notes the state prison system is
expanding, with roughly 600 more beds to be added next year. Reinke hopes that
will provide enough room to bring all the out-of-state prisoners home. "It's a
real unfortunate situation - it always is," Reinke said. "But there's no
question that Idaho inmates are much better to manage in Idaho."
November 6, 2008 AP
The Idaho Department of Correction has terminated its contract with private
prison company The GEO Group and will move the roughly 305 Idaho inmates
currently housed at a GEO-run facility in Texas to a private prison in Oklahoma.
Correction Director Brent Reinke notified GEO officials Thursday in a letter.
Reinke said the company's chronic understaffing at the Bill Clayton Detention
Center in Littlefield, Texas, put Idaho offenders' safety at risk. An Idaho
Department of Correction audit found that guards routinely falsified reports to
show they were checking on offenders regularly — even though they were sometimes
away from their posts for hours at a time. "I hope you understand how seriously
we're taking not only the report but the safety of our inmates," Reinke told The
Associated Press on Thursday. "They have an ongoing staffing issue that doesn't
appear to be able to be solved." The contract will end Jan. 5. Reinke said the
department wanted to pull the inmates out immediately, but state attorneys found
there wasn't enough cause to allow the state to break free of the contract
without a 60-day warning period. In the meantime, Reinke said, Idaho correction
officials have been sent to the Texas prison to help with staffing for the next
two months. GEO will be responsible for transferring the inmates to the North
Fork Correctional Facility in Sayer, Okla., which is run by Corrections Corp. of
America. GEO will cover the cost of the move, Reinke said, but Idaho will have
to pay $58 per day per inmate in Oklahoma, compared to $51 per day at Bill
Clayton. Amber Martin, vice president for The GEO Group, of Florida, said she
couldn't comment on the audit or on Idaho's decision to end the contract. She
referred calls to the company spokesman, Pablo Paez, who could not immediately
be reached by the AP. As of Oct. 1, Idaho had nearly 7,300 total inmates. The
Bill Clayton audit describes the latest in a series of problems that Idaho has
had with shipping inmates out of state. Overcrowding at home forced the state to
move hundreds of inmates to a prison in Minnesota in 2005, but space constraints
soon uprooted them again, this time to a GEO-run facility in Newton, Texas.
There, guard abuse and prisoner unrest forced another move to two new GEO
facilities: 125 Idaho inmates went to the Dickens County Correctional Center in
Spur, Texas, while 304 went to Bill Clayton in Littlefield. Conditions at
Dickens were left largely unmonitored by Idaho, at least until inmate Scott
Noble Payne committed suicide after complaining of the filthy conditions there.
Idaho investigators looking into Payne's death detailed the poor conditions and
a lack of inmate treatment programs, and the inmates were moved again. That's
when the Idaho Department of Correction created the Virtual Prisons Program,
designed to improve oversight of Idaho inmates housed in contract beds both in
and out of state. The extent of the Bill Clayton facility understaffing was
discovered after Idaho launched an investigation into the apparent suicide of
inmate Randall McCullough in August. During that investigation, guards at the
prison said they were often pulled away from their regular posts to handle other
duties — including taking out the garbage, refueling vehicles or checking the
perimeter fence — and that it was common practice to fill out the logs as if the
required checks of inmates were being completed as scheduled, said Jim Loucks,
chief investigator for the Idaho Department of Correction. For instance, Loucks
said, correction officers were supposed to check on inmates in the
administrative segregation unit every 30 minutes. But sometimes they were away
from the unit for hours at a time, he said. The investigation into McCullough's
death is not yet complete, department officials said. The audit also found
several other problems at Bill Clayton. The auditor found that "the facility
entrance is a very relaxed checkpoint," prompting concerns that cell phones,
marijuana and other contraband could be smuggled past security. In addition, the
prison averages a 30 percent vacancy rate in security staff jobs, according to
the audit. Though it was still able to meet the
one-staffer-for-every-48-prisoners ratio set out by Texas law, employees were
regularly expected to work long hours of overtime and non-security staffers
sometimes were used to provide security supervision, according to the audit.
"Based on a review of payroll reports, there are significant concerns with
security staff working excessive amounts of overtime for long periods of time,"
the auditors wrote. "This can lead to compromised facility security practices
and increased safety issues." When the audit was done, there were 29 security
staff vacancies, according to the report. That meant each security staff person
who was eligible for overtime worked an average of 21 hours of overtime a week.
That extra expense was borne by GEO, not by Idaho taxpayers, said Idaho
Department of Correction spokesman Jeff Ray. The state's contract with GEO also
required that at least half of the eligible inmates be given jobs with at least
50 hours of work a month. According to the facility's inmate payroll report,
only 35 out of 371 offenders were without jobs. But closer inspection showed
that the prison often had several inmates assigned to the same job. In one
instance, nine inmates were assigned to clean showers in one unit of the prison
— which only had nine shower stalls. So although each was responsible for
cleaning just one shower stall, the nine inmates were all claiming 7- and 8-hour
work days, five days a week. GEO is responsible for covering the cost of those
wages, Ray said. "While the contract percentage requirement is met, the facility
cannot demonstrate the actual hours claimed by offenders are spent in a
meaningful, skill-learning job activity," the auditors wrote. Auditors also
found that too few inmates were enrolled in high school diploma equivalency and
work force readiness classes.
October 1, 2008 AP
For a decade, Idaho has been shipping some of its prisoners to out-of-state
prisons, dealing with its ever-burgeoning inmate population by renting beds in
faraway facilities. But now some groups of prisoners are being brought back
home. Idaho Department of Correction officials are crediting declining crime
rates, improved oversight during probation, better community programs and
increased communication between correction officials and the state's parole
board. The number of Idaho inmates has more than doubled since 1996, reaching a
high of 7,467 in May. But in the months since then, the population has declined
to 7,293 -- opening up enough space that 80 inmates housed in the North Fork
Correctional Facility in Sayre, Okla., and at Bill Clayton Detention Center in
Littlefield, Texas, could be bused back to the Idaho State Correctional
Institution near Boise. The inmates arrived Monday night. Idaho Department of
Correction Director Brent Reinke hailed their arrival as one of the benefits the
system was reaping after years of work. "It's more about having the right
inmates at the right place at the right time," Reinke said. "People are
communicating better and we're working together better than we were in the
past."
September 21, 2008 Times-News
Pam Drashner visited her husband every weekend in prison, until she was
turned away one day because he wasn't there. He had been quietly transferred
from Boise to a private prison in Sayre, Okla. She never saw him again. In July,
she went to the Post Office to pick up his ashes, mailed home in a box. He died
of a traumatic brain injury in Oklahoma, allegedly assaulted by another inmate.
David Drashner was one of hundreds of male inmates Idaho authorities have sent
to private prisons in other states. About 10 percent of Idaho's inmates are now
out-of-state. The Department of Correction say they want to bring them all home,
they simply have no place to put them. Drashner, who was convicted of repeat
drunken driving, is one of three Idaho inmates who have died in the custody of
private lockups in other states since March 2007, and was the first this year.
On Aug. 18, Twin Falls native Randall McCullough, 37, apparently killed himself
at the Bill Clayton Detention Center in Littlefield, Texas. McCullough, serving
time for robbery, was found dead in his cell. IDOC officials say he left a note,
though autopsy results are pending. His family says he shouldn't have been in
Texas at all. "Idaho should step up to the plate and bring their prisoners
home," said his sister, Laurie Williams. Out of Idaho -- Idaho has so many
prisoners scattered around the country that the IDOC last year developed the
Virtual Prison Program, assigning 12 officers to monitor the distant prisons. In
2007 Idaho sent 429 inmates to Texas and Oklahoma. This year; more than 700 -
and by one estimate it could soon hit 1,000. But officials say they don't know
exactly how many inmates may hit the road in coming months. The number may
actually fall due to an unexpected drop in total prisoner head-count, a
turnabout attributed to a drop in sentencings, increased paroles and better
success rates for probationers. The state will also have about 1,300 more beds
in Idaho, thanks to additions at existing prisons. State officials say bringing
inmates back is a priority. "If there was any way to not have inmates
out-of-state it would be far, far better," said IDOC Director Brent Reinke, a
former Twin Falls County commissioner, noting higher costs to the state and
inconvenience to inmate families. Still, there's no end in sight for virtual
prisons, which have few fans in state government. "I do think sending inmates
out-of-state is counter-productive," said Rep. Nicole LeFavour, D-Boise, a
member of the House Judiciary, Rules and Administration Committee. LeFavour
favors treatment facilities over prisons. "We try to make it (sending inmates
out-of-state) a last resort, but I don't think we're doing enough." Even
lawmakers who favor buying more cells would like to avoid virtual lockups. "It's
more productive to be in-state," said Sen. Denton Darrington, R-Declo, chairman
of the Senate Judiciary and Rules Committee, who said he would support a new
Idaho prison modeled after the state-owned but privately run Idaho Correctional
Center (ICC). "We don't want to stay out-of-state unless we have to ��- It's
undesirable." A decade of movement -- Idaho has shipped inmates elsewhere for
more than a decade, though in some years they were all brought home when beds
became available at four of Idaho's state prisons. The 1,500-bed ICC - a
state-owned lockup built and run by CCA (Corrections Corporation of America) -
also opened in 2000. But that wasn't enough: "It will be years before a
substantial increase in prison capacity will allow IDOC to bring inmates back,"
the agency said in April. In 2005, former IDOC director Tom Beauclair warned
lawmakers that "if we delay building the next prison, we'll have to remain
out-of-state longer with more inmates," according to an IDOC press release. That
year inmates were taken to a Minnesota prison operated by CCA, where Idaho paid
$5 per inmate, per day more than it costs to keep inmates in its own prisons.
"This move creates burdens for our state fiscally, and can harden our prison
system, but it's what we must do," IDOC said at the time. "Our ability to
stretch the system is over." Attempts to add to that system have largely failed.
Earlier this year Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter asked lawmakers for $191 million in
bond authority to buy a new 1,500-bed lockup. The Legislature rejected his
request, but did approve those 1,300 new beds at existing facilities. Reinke
said IDOC won't ask for a new prison when the next Legislative session convenes
in January. With a slow economy and a drop in inmate numbers, it's not the time
to push for a new prison, he said. Still, recent projections for IDOC show that
without more prison beds here, 43 percent of all Idaho inmates could be sent
out-of-state in 2017. "It's a lot of money to go out-of-state," Darrington said.
Different cultures -- One of eight prisons in Idaho is run by a private company,
as are those housing Idaho inmates in Texas and Oklahoma. The Bill Clayton
Detention Center in Texas is operated by the Geo Group Inc., which is managing
or developing 64 lockups in the U.S., Australia and South Africa. The North-Fork
Correctional Facility in Oklahoma is owned and operated by CCA, which also has
the contract to run the Idaho Correction Center. CCA houses almost 75,000
inmates and detainees in 66 facilities under various state and federal
contracts. Critics of private prisons say the operators boost profits by
skimping on programs, staff, and services. Idaho authorities acknowledge the
prisons make money, but consider them well-run. "Private prisons are just that -
business run," Idaho Virtual Prison Program Warden Randy Blades told the
Times-News. "It doesn't mean out-of-sight, or out-of-mind." Yet even Reinke
added that "I think there's a difference. Do we want there to be? No." The
Association of Private Correctional and Treatment Organizations (APCTO) says on
its Web site that its members "deliver reduced costs, high quality, and enhanced
accountability." Falling short? Thomas Aragon, a convicted thief from Nampa, was
shipped to three different Texas prisons in two years. He said prisons there did
little to rehabilitate him, though he's up for parole next year. "I'm a
five-time felon, all grand theft and possession of stolen property," said
Aragon, by telephone from the ICC. "Apparently I have a problem and need to find
out why I steal. The judge said I needed counseling and that I'd get it, and I
have yet to get any." State officials said virtual prisons have a different
culture, but are adapting to Idaho standards. "We're taking the footprint of
Idaho and putting it into facilities out-of-state," Blades said. Aragon, 39,
says more programs are available in Idaho compared to the Texas facilities where
he was. Like Aragon, almost 70 percent of Idaho inmates sent to prison in 2006
and 2007 were recidivists - repeat IDOC offenders - according agency annual
reports. GEO and CCA referred questions about recidivism to APCTO, which says
only that its members reduce the rate of growth of public spending. Aragon said
there weren't enough case-workers, teachers, programs, recreational activities
and jobs in Texas. Comparisons between public and private prisons are made
difficult because private companies didn't readily offer numbers for profits,
recidivism, salaries and inmate-officer ratios. During recent visits to the Bill
Clayton Detention Center in Littlefield, Texas - where about 371 Idaho inmates
are now held - state inspectors found there wasn't a legal aid staffer to give
inmates access to courts, as required by the state contract. Virtual Prison
monitors also agreed with Aragon's assessment: "No programs are offered at the
facility," a state official wrote in a recently redacted Idaho Virtual Prison
report obtained by the Times-News. "Most jobs have to do with keeping the
facility clean and appear to be less meaningful. This creates a shortage of
productive time with the inmates. "Overall, recreational activities are very
sparse within the facility ��- Informal attempts have been made to encourage the
facility to increase offender activities that would in the long run ease some of
the boredom that IDOC inmates are experiencing," according to a Virtual Prison
report. The prison has since made improvements, the state said. Only one inmate
case manager worked at Bill Clayton during a recent state visit, but the
facility did increase recreation time and implemented in-cell hobby craft
programs, Virtual Prison reports show. Other inmate complaints have grown from
the way they have been sent to the prisons. Inmates describe a horrific bus ride
from Idaho to Oklahoma in April in complaints collected by the American Civil
Liberties Union in Boise. The inmates say they endured painful and injurious
wrist and ankle shackling, dangerous driving, infrequent access to an unsanitary
restroom and dehydration during the almost 30-hour trip. "We're still receiving
a lot of complaints, some of them are based on retaliatory transfers," said ACLU
lawyer Lea Cooper. IDOC officials acknowledge that they have also received
complaints about access to restrooms during the long bus rides, but they
maintain that most of the inmates want to go out-of-state. Many are sex
offenders who prefer the anonymity associated with being out-of-state, they
said. Unanswered questions -- Three deaths of Idaho interstate inmates in 18
months have left families concerned that even more prisoners will come home in
ashes. "We're very disturbed about...the rate of Idaho prisoner deaths for
out-of-state inmates," Cooper said. It was the razor-blade suicide of
sex-offender Scott Noble Payne, 43, in March 2007 at a Geo lockup in Dickens,
Texas that caught the attention of state officials. Noble's death prompted Idaho
to pull all its inmates from the Geo prison. State officials found the facility
was in terrible condition, but they continue to work with Geo, which houses 371
Idaho inmates in Littlefield, Texas, where McCullough apparently killed himself.
Noble allegedly escaped before he was caught and killed himself. Inmate Aragon
said he as there, and that Noble was hog-tied and groaned in pain while guards
warned other inmates they would face the same if they tried to escape. Private
prison operators don't have to tell governments everything about the deaths at
facilities they run. The state isn't allowed access to Geo's mortality and
morbidity reports under terms of a contract. Idaho sent additional inmates to
the Corrections Corporation of America-run Oklahoma prison after Drashner's
husband died in June. IDOC officials said an Idaho official was inspecting the
facility when he was found. IDOC has offered few details about the death. "The
murder happened in Oklahoma," said IDOC spokesman Jeff Ray, adding it will be up
to Oklahoma authorities to charge. Drashner said her husband had a pending civil
case in Idaho and shouldn't have been shipped out-of-state. She says Idaho and
Oklahoma authorities told her David was assaulted by another inmate after he
verbally defended an officer at the Oklahoma prison. Officers realized something
was wrong when he didn't stand up for a count, Drashner said. "He was healthy.
He wouldn't have been killed over here," she said.
August 28, 2008 Times-News
An Idaho prison inmate held at a private facility in Texas through the state's
Virtual Prison Program was in solitary confinement for more than a year when he
apparently killed himself, authorities have confirmed. Idaho Department of
Correction is still investigating the cause and manner of death for the inmate,
Randall McCullough, 37, who was found unresponsive Aug. 18 in his cell, which
measured 7.5 feet, by 12 feet, by 8 feet, said Idaho Department of Correction
Spokesman Jeff Ray. McCullough had been segregated from other inmates since Dec.
13, 2007, after he allegedly assaulted a staff member at the Bill Clayton
Detention Center run by Geo Group Inc., said Ray. He apparently wasn't
criminally charged for that alleged assault in Texas. "It's our understanding
that the prosecutor in Texas had not made a decision on whether or not to file
charges," said Ray. "The staff assault occurred in Texas and would be considered
a Texas crime. IDOC would not have a direct connection to it." Authorities at
Geo Group's Bill Clayton Detention Center directed all questions from the
Times-News on Wednesday back to the Idaho Department of Corrections. McCullough
was in prison for a 2001 Twin Falls County robbery conviction. He had a criminal
record involving charges of escape, forgery, controlled substance possession,
grand theft, burglary, resisting arrest, and driving violations, according to
court records. Imposing inmate segregation for one to two years as a result of
an assault on a guard would not be uncommon, and wardens at out-of-state
facilities holding Idaho inmates can decide if an inmate is put in segregation,
said Ray. Inmates in segregation eat meals in their cells and can shower once
every 72 hours. Toilets are in cells and McCullough had a television, said Ray.
Lights at the Texas facility are on 24 hours a day, Ray said, adding that some
facilities in Idaho dim lights at sleeping times.
August 21, 2008 The Times News
The state's Virtual Prison Program is only a year old and the Monday death
of inmate Randall McCullough, 37, could be the second suicide involving the
initiative outside of Idaho. Idaho prison officials said Wednesday they're still
investigating if McCullough committed suicide at a private contracted facility
in Texas - Bill Clayton Detention Center run by the GEO Group Inc. - which is
holding 371 inmates each at $51 per day under a contract that expires in July
2009. The Virtual Prison Program started in July 2007, but the state started
putting inmates in non-state owned facilities in October 2005, said Idaho
Department of Correction Spokesman Jeff Ray. Six state inmates have committed
suicide since July 2006, not including McCullough, Ray said.
December 11, 2007 AP
Inmates from Idaho housed at a private West Texas detention facility could face
new charges following an attack on a female guard. The woman was attacked about
7:30 p.m. Monday after she apparently tried to take tobacco away from at least
two of the inmates at the Bill Clayton Detention Center, Idaho Department of
Correction spokesman Jeff Ray said. The woman suffered non-life threatening
injuries, he said. Afterward, as many as 15 inmates refused to return to their
cells and additional officers were called in to help, Ray said. The inmates then
agreed to return to their cells, he said. Officials with the Littlefield police
department, which is investigating the incident, did not immediately return a
phone call Tuesday. A deputy warden with the Idaho agency is on his way to
Littlefield to investigate, a release from that department said. Those involved
in the attack could face charges, and inmates who refused to return to their
cells will likely face disciplinary sanctions, the release said. The prison is
operated by The GEO Group Inc., a Boca Raton, Fla.-based company that owns or
operates 68 facilities worldwide. "We will be working cooperatively with the
Idaho Department of Correction as they conduct their investigation," said Pablo
Paez, a GEO spokesman. A lack of space in Idaho prisons brought hundreds of
inmates to Texas in early 2006. They were first housed here at a GEO facility in
Newton in East Texas. They were moved to Littlefield in August 2006 after
allegations of abuse by guards prompted an investigation. Three employees at
Newton's facility were disciplined as a result of the investigation.
July 31, 2007 Idaho Statesman
Idaho's Department of Correction has created a new position to manage Idaho's
roughly 2,400 inmates in private, out-of-state prisons and county jail beds.
Randy Blades, who has been the warden at the Idaho State Correctional
Institution south of Boise, will monitor the 500-plus inmates, now in three
Texas prisons managed by the Geo Group Inc. of Boca Raton, Fla. He will also
monitor the 240 inmates soon to be transferred from Idaho to a private prison in
Oklahoma, and the inmates in county jail beds across the state. Correction
Director Brent Reinke created the position after disclosing that conditions at
one of those prisons were so bad that inmates will be moved elsewhere. Inmates
at the Dickens County Correctional Center are being moved to the Bill Clayton
Detention Center after an inmate suicide at Dickens revealed filthy living
conditions and poorly trained and unprofessional staff. “Times have changed and
we simply need to get in front on this issue,” Reinke said in a statement. “We
must be proactive. We need to make sure inmates are being treated adequately and
taxpayers are getting what they are paying for.”
October 24, 2006 Yahoo.com
Fitch downgrades the rating on Littlefield, TX's (the city) outstanding $1.6
million combination tax and revenue certificates of obligation (COs), series
1997 to 'BB+' from 'BBB+.' The Rating Outlook is Stable. The downgrade primarily
reflects the city's significantly weakened financial position. The general fund
balance has been at minimal levels for the past several years, while the
detention center fund, which supports the bulk of the city's general obligation
debt, is in a deficit unrestricted net asset position, created by the pull-out
of Texas Youth Commission (TYC) prisoners in 2003. Some signs of financial
improvement are evident, and projected fiscal 2006 results are expected to show
a moderate increase in general fund reserve levels as well as a small operating
surplus in the detention center fund. Further, the detention center is now fully
occupied. Nevertheless, financial stabilization has not been achieved, and the
city remains highly dependent on housing outside prisoners to meet operational
and debt service requirements of the detention center. Detention center
operations, which experienced problems at the onset primarily due to
construction delays, were again negatively impacted by the loss of all TYC
prisoners in 2003. While TYC offenders were subsequently replaced with state of
Wyoming prisoners, the impact on finances was severe and continued through
fiscal 2005, evidenced by a $351,000 unrestricted net asset deficit recorded in
the detention center fund. In addition, the detention center fund had to rely on
support from other funds, most notably a sizable transfer from the water and
sewer fund in fiscal 2004, to meet operational and debt service needs. The
contract to house Wyoming prisoners was terminated in 2006, and subsequently a
new contract with the state of Idaho was implemented. For 2006, officials report
that no outside financial support was required and that a $30,000 operating
surplus is expected. However, the large deficit will likely remain for sometime
and the historical movement of prisoners in and out of the Littlefield facility
demonstrates the difficulty of maintaining long-term prisoner contracts. If the
city had to levy an interest and sinking fund tax to meet detention center
related debt obligations, officials estimate that the overall tax rate would
have to double over the current operations and maintenance tax rate, which Fitch
believes would be extremely difficult to impose.
September 17, 2004 Star-Tribune
Four Texans have been jailed on charges of assisting two Wyoming inmates in
escaping from the Bill Clayton Detention Center in Littlefield, Texas, last
week. Three of the Texans worked as guards at the prison, Littlefield Police
Chief Bill McMinn said. Arrested and charged with permitting and facilitating
the escape of a convicted felon were Roy Sosa and Yvonne Delagarza, who both
worked as guards at the detention center. They were being held in the Lamb
County Jail on $50,000 bond each and face two to 20 years in prison if
convicted. Delagarza's brother, Robert Sandoval, and Tammy Harper, another
prison guard, also have been charged in the incident with hindering the
apprehension of a felon, a crime that carries a one- to 10-year prison sentence.
They were also in jail on $50,000 bonds. McMinn said the motive for the escape
appears to be that the women guards, Harper and Delagarza, were in love with the
inmates.
September 16, 2004 Houston Chronicle
Four of the five federal inmates who escaped from a Frio County private prison
last month remained at large Thursday, but officials said they've nabbed two
people who helped the escapees vanish into a protective underworld of
prison-gang sympathizers. Held on charges of instigating
or aiding a federal escape are Randy Folsom, 42, and Debra Ayala, 44, both of
San Antonio. U.S. Marshals Service officials, who arrested them Wednesday, said
Folsom drove as many as four of the "Frio Five" escapees from the Pearsall
lockup Aug. 6. The five inmates exited the private prison in daylight through
cuts in the chain-link fencing of the recreation yard.
Investigators also are trying to determine whether prison personnel aided in the
escape.
September 11, 2004 Casper Star Tribune
Two Wyoming inmates were back in custody Friday, after escaping from a Texas
detention center the night before. Michael Solis and Jeremiah Zupko apparently
cut through a fence to escape from the Bill Clayton Detention Center in
Littlefield, Texas.
September 10, 2004 KCDB
Littlefield police arrested five people involved in a prison break at the
Bill Clayton Detention Center, a private facility in Littlefield. So far, their
investigation has led them to believe two female prison guards, Iyvonne
Delagarza and Tammy Harper, may be involved. Janet Simmons' daughter works at
the prison with one of the women who is suspected. At around 9:30 Thursday
night, 35-year-old Michael Solis and 22-year-old Jeremiah Zupko cut their way
through two layers of fence and razor wire using some kind of cutting tool.
Police say they are investigating how the inmates got the tool. Police have not
figured out a motive for the prison break and why these two female guards would
have reason to help them.
The inmates initially were serving time for selling methemphetamines and heroin
in Wyoming.
August 26, 2003
As the deadline nears for the Texas Commission for Youth to leave the Bill
Clayton Detention Center in Littlefield, interest in the facility continues to
heat up. TCY intends to vacate the premises by Sept. 1, transferring
juvenile residents to other TCY facilities. Corrections Concepts Inc., a
faith-based organization headquartered in Dallas, devoted about five hours last
week to meet with Littlefield city officials and tour the facility. "At
this point we're considering some of the things they talked about," City Manager
Danny Davis said Monday. The two entities plan to meet again in September.
"They're going to try to have facilities for males, females, juveniles and
geriatrics," Davis said. "Ours would be more likely ... adult males."
Financial terms were not discussed, he said. "We did tell them what it
would take to make our facility cash (needs)," Davis said. Corrections
Concepts would use the facility for a Christian-based prison program. The
organization is in the final stage of starting a similar facility in Coleman
that will likely house state and federal prisoners. "This is falling in
line with President Bush's faith-based initiatives," Davis said. He added
that the community of Littlefield is "really interested" in faith-based programs
for the detention center. "We're interested in seeing men's lives
changed," said Bill Robinson, chairman of trustees of Corrections Concepts.
Under the program, men in their final 12 to 24 months of their prison terms,
regardless of their offenses, could be transferred to the facility. There they
would receive Christian-based transition training. If Corrections Concepts
were to use the Littlefield facility, about $1.5 million in capital improvements
would be made in constructing a work center, Robinson said. Those funds would
come from a "number of sources," he said. Private industry would be
allowed to set up shop in the medium-security facility and hire inmates at
prevailing wage rates. (Lubbock Online)
Bi-State Jail/Bowie
County Detention Center
Bowie County, Texas
Correctional Medical Services,
CiviGenics
October 3, 2009 Texarkana Gazette
A federal lawsuit filed by the family of a one-armed, toothless man who
managed to hang himself with a suicide suit while an inmate in the Bowie County
jail annex, has been settled. Because of a confidentiality agreement, neither
the plaintiff nor the defendants are talking about the terms of the arrangement.
The family of Robert Bruce Williams filed the suit in April 2007. Named as
defendants are Bowie County, Sheriff James Prince, Civigenics Inc., which
manages the jail, Correctional Medical Services, which serves the medical needs
of Bowie County inmates, and several...
May 15, 2009 Texarkana Gazette
A former Bowie County jail guard was indicted last week by a grand jury.
Amber Hinds, 20, “turned around and went back to her car when she realized her
supervisor intended to search employees that day as they came to work,”
according to a probable cause affidavit. Officials with the jail, which is run
by Civigenics, contacted the Bowie County Sheriff’s Office about Hinds’ conduct,
the affidavit said.
May 14, 2008 Texarkana Gazette
A man who smuggled marijuana into the Bowie County Correctional Center while
working as a guard there pleaded guilty Monday and received a 10-year term of
probation. Marquise Dushun Hunt, 21, had been working as a correctional officer
for CiviGenics for about two months when he was caught bringing three sandwich
bags full of marijuana into the jail. CiviGenics is a private company that
contracts with Bowie County to run the jail. A confidential informant alerted
jail officials to the marijuana in Hunt’s possession on March 1, 2007. He was
indicted by a grand jury Jan. 3.
March 1, 2007 KPXJ 21
He worked in the jail and now a Bowie County Correctional Center officer has
found himself behind bars. Bowie County sheriff's investigators say 20-year old
Marquise Hunt of Texarkana, Texas is charged with introducing a prohibited
substance into a correctional facility. Officers found three bags of marijuana
in Hunt's possession. For two months, Hunt worked for Civigenics, which operates
the jail. His bond has been set at $100,000.
January 24, 2007 Texarkana Gazette
A correctional officer at the Bowie County Correctional Center annex has been
arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle marijuana, tobacco and cigars into the
jail. Bowie County Sheriff’s Office investigators said James Porter, 18, was
booked on charges of bringing prohibited substances into a correctional
facility. Porter has also been fired. Porter’s supervisor saw him acting
nervously as he entered the jail Sunday afternoon, said Capt. Larry Parker. The
supervisor searched Porter and found the marijuana, tobacco and cigars wrapped
in three bundles. He was arrested on charges of bringing prohibited substances
into a jail and booked into the Bi-State Justice Building Jail on a $40,000
bail. The charge is a third-degree felony. Parker said besides drugs and
weapons, it is illegal to take into a jail money, alcohol, cell phones and
tobacco. He said Porter had worked for Civigenics, the company that operates the
jail, for about four months
August 19, 2006 Texarkana Gazette
A professional tax preparer has been sentenced to three years probation for her
conviction of conspiracy to file false tax claims against the U.S. government.
Colleen D. Jordan, 44, of Texarkana, Texas, had originally pleaded innocent to
the charges in federal court in Texarkana, Texas. She later changed her plea and
was recently sentenced by U.S. District Judge David Folsom. In addition to a
three year sentence, Jordan must also pay a $1,000 fine. Jordan was charged on
Jan. 10 by a federal grand jury in Tyler with one count of conspiracy to file
false IRS claims, 12 counts of filing false IRS claims, and 12 counts of
possession of authentication features with intent to defraud the United States.
The other charges were dropped after her sentencing. She had been employed by
the Arkansas Department of Correction since 1999 but was fired by ADC in 2003.
Civigenics, a private contractor that now runs the jail, hired her in December
2003.
January 23, 2006 Texarkana Gazette
A former Bi-State Justice Building jailer and a tax preparer have been indicted
on 25 federal counts that they used inmates’ Social Security numbers to get more
than $50,000 in tax refunds for themselves. Janice F. Koontz, 30, of Texarkana,
Ark., and Colleen D. Jordan, 44, of Texarkana, Texas, have both pleaded not
guilty to the charges in federal court in Texarkana, Texas. They were each
charged by a federal grand jury in Tyler on Jan. 10 with one count of conspiracy
to file false IRS claims, 12 counts of filing false IRS claims, and 12 counts of
possession of authentication features with intent to defraud the United States.
Jordan, according to the indictment, was a professional tax preparer. Koontz was
a jailer at the BJB jail and a security officer at Smith-Keys Village
Apartments. She was employed by the Arkansas Department of Correction since 1999
but was fired by ADC in 2003. Civigenics, a private contractor that now runs the
jail, hired her in December 2003. Assistant U.S. Attorney Barry Bryant alleges
that Koontz obtained names, Social Security numbers and other means to identify
inmates incarcerated in the BJB. She worked for Smith-Keys from 2000 to 2002.
Bryant alleges that Koontz also gained access to the security office of the
apartments and obtained names and means of identifying the tenants without the
knowledge of the housing authority or the residents. Jordan allegedly worked
with Koontz to create W-2 forms using the names and Social Security numbers of
the inmates and residents. Forms were allegedly electronically filed with the
IRS in 2003 using information gathered since 2000. The women allegedly divided
up more than $50,000 in fraudulent tax refunds.
December 30, 2005 Baxter Bulletin
An inmate at the Bi-State Jail died early Wednesday after having a fight with
another inmate at the jail, authorities say. Texarkana Police Department
spokesman Chris Rankin said Damien Wheeler, 23, of Texarkana, Ark., was involved
in a fight with another inmate, Nathaniel Cleveland, 19, of Texarkana, Texas,
between 11 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. Tuesday. Rankin said police don't know why the
inmates were fighting. "The details are still pretty sketchy as far as what was
going on in the jail," Rankin said Thursday. "All we know is they were involved
in a fight, they were separated, and at some point this guy went downhill
extremely fast and died." Wheeler, who was checked by a jail nurse after the
fight, was found unresponsive several hours later, Rankin said. Wheeler was
taken to Wadley Regional Medical Center at 5 a.m. Wednesday and was pronounced
dead, he said.
June 23, 2005
Texarkana Gazette
Even though Bowie
County recently made what appears to be a lucrative deal to hold some 325 state
inmates, the county will actually collect less than a quarter of the income.
Last week, the county's Commissioners Court approved a contract with the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice, in which the county agrees to lease 325 of its
Correctional Center spaces to hold the state inmates. The contract calls
for the state to pay the county $39 per inmate, per day, which in a year's time
would amount to about $4,626,000. However, since the county no longer
employs jailers, more than 75 percent (roughly $3,479,000) of that income will
have to go to Civigenics, a private security firm, which the county hired in
November 2001 to operate and maintain the jail annex near Union Station in
downtown Texarkana. Although the county would get the remaining 25 percent of
the annual income, amounting to about $1,163,000, Bowie County Auditor William
Tye said much of that money will be easily swallowed up by residual state inmate
medical and meal expenses.
April 24, 2005 TylerPaper.com
Smith County inmates have been moved from the Bowie County Detention Center
to other facilities operated by the CiviGenics firm, because the Bowie County
facility failed its most recent inspection, county officials announced. On
Monday, Smith County commissioners are scheduled to consider interlocal
agreements with Falls and Limestone counties to house male and female prisoners.
"Those agreements are really just routine in nature," County Judge Becky Dempsey
said. "We had to enter into an agreement with Bowie County when we began
shipping our prisoners there, even though the jail there is operated by the
private company." The changes will come at no charge to Smith County, she adds.
"The terms are exactly the same, according to information the sheriff gave us,"
she said. "And Bowie County took care of the expenses involved in moving our
prisoners to the other counties."
March 21, 2005 Texarkana Gazette
A Bowie County Detention Center inmate from Grayson County, Texas, had about
five minutes of freedom Sunday morning before he was recaptured. Warden Larry
Johns said the inmate was being escorted by an officer in the sally port area
about 10 a.m. The garage type door was being opened to allow officers to bring
food into the detention center from the Bi-State Justice Center, located about a
block away in downtown Texarkana, Texas. Johns said the inmate, who is serving
time for public intoxication from Grayson County, broke away from the officer
and slid under the garage door. Two other officers and the supervisor started
chasing the inmate at 10:02 a.m. At 10:07 a.m. the inmate was recaptured. Johns
declined to release the name of the inmate since it was misdemeanor.
February 26, 2005 Texarkana Gazette
A former CiviGenics jailer has been arrested for allegedly having sex with a
female inmate inside an office at the Bi-State jail, an official said. Steven
Bradley Grisham, 35, of DeKalb, Texas, was arrested Friday on charges of
violating the civil rights of a person in custody and sexual activity with a
person in custody, said Bowie County Sheriff's Department Chief Deputy James
Manning.
October 15, 2004 Texarkana Gazette
Several employees have lost their jobs as Bi-State jail and Bowie County
Correctional Center strengthen security after the recent escape of a capital
murder suspect.
CiviGenics Inc., a Massachussetts-based company, has operated both jails since
January. "We have made some leadership changes ... it's an opportunity to
fine-tune," said Jim Shaw, regional director for Civigenics Inc. The escape of
Henry, 28, and two other inmates has also prompted CiviGenics to evaluate
security and make some other changes. There have been two other escapes from
Bi-State jail since CiviGenics took over operations.
October 14, 2004 KTBS
An internal investigation at the Bi-State Jail in Texarkana has led to both
physical changes in the jail facility and changes in the security system.
The investigation was prompted by last month's escape of three inmates.
Officials with Civigenics, which operates the jail, won't comment specifically
on the physical changes for security reasons, but tell us they did find
vulnerabilities in the jail system and that their investigation isn't over.
September 29, 2004 Texarkana Gazette
A capital murder suspect, who escaped Tuesday morning from
the Bi-State Justice Building jail with two other inmates, remained at large
late Tuesday despite an intense manhunt by local law enforcement. The search for
Torrence Henry, 28, of Hope, Ark., was expected to continue overnight.
Henry escaped with two other Bi-State inmates sometime before 4 a.m. Tuesday,
said Bi-State Jail Warden Bob Page. Henry is considered extremely dangerous.
Medical staff noticed one of the pod's inmates was missing about 4 a.m., Page
said. The staff then searched the pod's shower area and found that the escapees
had apparently torn a hole in the shower's plaster ceiling and escaped through
the ventilation system. They made their way to an electric control room and
eventually down the stairwell of one of the building's interior fire escapes. On
Tuesday afternoon, the mother of one of the suspects who was apprehended spoke
out about her frustration with the Bi-State jail. She said her son had escaped
before, and that apparently no changes have been made to improve security. "I
was very relieved he didn't get very far. Even though he was wrong to do that
(escape), I feel like they are giving him rope to hang himself with by not
keeping him in a secure environment," she said. "I know he would be safer in
jail than out running around."
September 28, 2004 Texarkana Gazette
Bowie County will have to absorb about $390,000 in Bi-State Justice Building
expenses but property taxes will not have to be increased as a result.
The county is paying the extra amount for having to extend its contract with
Civigenics Inc. Specifically, the county incurred the added expense when the
Arkansas Department of Correction decided at the end of last year to withdraw
its jailers from having to guard Bi-State inmates.
July 23, 2002
Sixteen jailers at Bowie County Correctional Center will be laid off this week,
according to Warden Robert Page. CiviGenics Texas, Inc., sent letters to
the affected officers last week. Their positions will be eliminated as of
Friday due to "a decline in the inmate population," Page said. The 488-bed
facility nudged between the Bi-State Justice Center and the railroad yard in
downtown Texarkana was housing 245 inmates as of Monday afternoon, Page said.
(The Texarkana Gazette)
B.M. Moore Correctional Center
Overton, Texas
MTC (Formerly run by
CCA)
November 24, 2005 Disability Compliance Bulletin
A corrections officer sued her former employer, Corrections Corp. of America,
claiming it failed to accommodate her disability after a work-related vehicular
accident. (Cole v. Corrections Corp. of America, No. 05-cv-00411 (E.D. Texas
complaint filed 10/31/05).) The case was originally filed in the District Court
of Rusk County, Texas, where it was case number 2005-450. The lawsuit, which
alleges violations of Title I of the ADA and Texas state law, seeks back pay,
compensation for emotional pain, inconvenience and mental anguish, court costs
and attorney's fees. Cole, a corrections office at the B.M. Moore Correctional
Center in Overton, Texas, was injured in a vehicular accident during the scope
of her employment. The accident, which occurred in July 2004, left her with
wrist, back, hip and leg injuries. The complaint charges that over the next
year, Cole was repeatedly discriminated against on the basis of her disability,
and classified in a manner that would deprive her of opportunities for
advancement.
Bradshaw State Jail
Henderson, Texas
CCA (formerly run by
Management and Training Corporation)
June 16, 2009 Tyler Morning Telegraph
A prison guard at the Bradshaw State Jail has been arrested after it was alleged
she performed sexual acts on a male prisoner and gave him money. Rusk County
Precinct 5 Justice of the Peace Bob Richardson arraigned Hether Nicole Bargsley,
32, last Friday on the charges of violations of civil rights of a person in
custody by sexual contact and prohibitive substance in a correctional facility.
According to court documents, Bargsley allegedly performed a sexual act with a
male Bradshaw State Jail inmate on April 25 in a doorway to one of the prison's
dormitories. As the investigation continued, Bargsley told officials she did in
fact perform the sex act and added she also had given the inmate $200 in
currency at different times. The court documents state the offender involved has
corroborated Bargsley's story. The violation of civil rights is a state jail
felony and the prohibitive substance charge is a third-degree felony. Richardson
set the woman's bonds at $7,500 and $10,000 respectively. Steve Owen, a
spokesman for Corrections Corporation of America, which runs the private
facility, said Bargsley was hired as a guard on Sept. 22, 2008, and was
terminated June 11. Owen said he could not discuss the specifics of the case
citing an ongoing investigation.
January 23, 2008 Longview News-Journal
An inmate at Bradshaw State Jail in Henderson was found dead in his cell
this past week, a Texas Department of Corrections spokesman said. Gregory Cole,
30, was discovered hanging by a bed sheet from the light fixture in his cell at
about 11 a.m. Jan. 15, said Jason Clark. Jail personnel performed emergency care
on Cole, and he was taken to a hospital. He was pronounced dead at 11:30 a.m. In
June 2006, Cole was sentenced to 10 years in state jail for possession and
intent to deliver a controlled substance in McLennan County, Clark said. The
spokesman did not know where Cole lived. Clark said investigators with the
attorney general's office were notified of the death. He said the attorney
general's office always is notified when an inmate dies. A call to the AG's
office was not returned Tuesday.
November 25, 2003
Private prison-management corporations and their employees may be sued under
§[1983 by a prisoner who has suffered a constitutional injury. FACTS: Billy
Rosborough is a prisoner in the Bradshaw State Jail, a Texas prison owned and
operated by defendant Management and Training Corp., a private prison-management
corporation. Defendant Chris Shirley is a corrections officer employed by MTC at
the jail. Rosborough sued MTC and Shirley under 42 U.S.C. §[1983 alleging that
he was subjected to cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth
Amendment when Shirley maliciously slammed a door on Rosborough's fingers,
severing two fingertips. Rosborough also alleges that Shirley displayed
deliberate indifference to Rosborough's resulting serious medical condition. In
addition, Rosborough alleges that MTC is liable under 42 U.S.C. §[1983 for its
improper training and supervision of Shirley. Rosborough supplemented his
federal action with state-law negligence claims. The district court sua sponte
dismissed Rosborough's action on the ground that Shirley was an employee of MTC
rather than an employee of the State of Texas and, therefore, was not acting
under color of state law for purposes of suit under 42 U.S.C. §[1983. The court
dismissed the supplemental state-law claims but did not address MTC's potential
liability for failing to train Shirley. Rosborough appeals. HOLDING: Reversed
and remanded. "To state a claim under §[1983, a plaintiff must allege the
violation of a right secured by the Constitution and laws of the United States,
and must show that the alleged deprivation was committed by a person acting
under color of state law." West v. Atkins, 487 U.S. 42 [1988]. At issue here is
the "under color of state law" requirement. The district court assumed that this
requirement prevented a person in private employ from being sued under §[1983.
The Supreme Court, however, has held that "[t]o act"under color' of law does not
require that the accused be an officer of the state." Adickes v. S.H. Kress &
Co., 398 U.S. 144 [1970]. Under the Supreme Court's "public function" test, a
private entity acts under color of state law "when that entity performs a
function which is traditionally the exclusive province of the state." Wong v.
Stripling, 881 F.2d 200 [5th Cir. 1989]. The Supreme Court has explained that
"when private individuals or groups are endowed by t he State with powers or
functions governmental in nature, they become agencies or instrumentalities of
the State and subject to its constitutional limitations." Evans v.
Newton, 382 U.S. 296 [1966]. Thus, the Supreme Court has found private actors to
be susceptible to suit under §[1983. Relevant to this case, the Supreme Court
has suggested -- though it has not actually held -- that state prisoners might
bring suit under §[1983 against privately-owned correctional facilities. In
Skelton v. Pri-Cor Inc., 963 F.2d 100 [6th Cir. 1991], the 6th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals, relying on these Supreme Court precedents, held that a private
company administering a state corrections facility could be sued under §[1983.
The Sixth Circuit found determinative the fact that the corporation was
"performing a public function traditionally reserved to the state." The court
reasoned that "the power exercised by [the private prison-management company] is
possessed by virtue of state law and made possible only because the wrongdoer is
clothed with the authority of state law.'" Moreover it found that "'[t]here is a
sufficiently close nexus between the State and the challenged action of [the
corporation] so that the action of the latter may be fairly treated as that of
the State itself.' Thus, according to the Sixth Circuit, the private corporation
"acted under color of law for purposes of §[1983." District courts within this
circuit have similarly held that private prison-management companies and their
employees are subject to §[1983 liability because they are performing a
government function traditionally reserved to the state. The court agrees with
the Sixth Circuit and with those district courts that have found that private
prison-management corporations and their employees may be sued under §[1983 by a
prisoner who has suffered a constitutional injury. Clearly, confinement of
wrongdoers -- though sometimes delegated to private entities -- is a
fundamentally governmental function. These corporations and their employees are
therefore subject to limitations imposed by the Eighth Amendment. The court
finds that the district court erred in dismissing Rosborough's §[1983 claim.
(Texas Lawyer)
Brazoria County Jail
Brazoria, Texas
Capitol Corrections Resources
November 30, 2005 The Facts
Brazoria County Pct. 2 Commissioner Jim Clawson announced Tuesday he won't seek
re-election next year, opting for retirement after four terms. Clawson said he
had few regrets about his tenure, but wishes he could have stopped the county
from entering a contract with a private prison company to house out-of-state
prisoners from Missouri. Clawson voted against the project at every stage,
predicting it would turn out badly for the county because there was no guarantee
it wouldn't end up with maximum security inmates, despite assurances to the
contrary, he said. That, in fact, is exactly what happened, leading to the 1996
shakedown, which was caught on videotape. The county ended up settling a lawsuit
brought by inmates for $2.2 million. As Clawson predicted, the jail never became
the revenue-generating machine officials hoped it would.
January 1, 2000
A record $2.2 million class-action lawsuit reached between inmates and CCR.
Suit stemmed from videos made of guards abusing inmates.
March 2, 1997
Video tape made of Missouri inmates being abused.
September 18, 1996
Video tape made of Missouri inmates being abused.
Bridgeport Correctional Center
Bridgeport, Texas
MTC (former run by
GEO Group)
June 27, 2010 Wise County Messenger
A new management company will take over the Bridgeport Correctional Center
beginning Aug. 31. The 520-bed facility has been managed by GEO Group Inc.,
since the center opened in August 1989. GEO was reawarded a three-year contract
from Sept. 1, 2005, and also had two, one-year renewals. The Texas Department of
Criminal Justice conducted a competitive bid process, and Management & Training
Corp. won the seven-year bid. "There's a technical review of the bid and a
financial review of the bid," said Jason Clark, public information officer for
the TDCJ. Clark said that the reviews are done separately by different
committees. "They score those reviews and compile the scores and a
recommendation is made to the TDCJ."
June 28, 2005 Wise County
Messenger
The Office of the Inspector General will investigate the death of an inmate who
was housed at the Corrections Corporation of America in Bridgeport.
Julia Martinez, 29, collapsed Wednesday afternoon and was pronounced dead
a short time later at Wise Regional Health System.
Warden Gwen Bowers said Martinez reportedly collapsed in the facility’s
outdoor exercise area. Paramedics were called and transported Martinez to WRHS.
June 7, 2005 Wise County Messenger
The Rev. Gil Pansza and an official with The Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth
met with officials of the Bridgeport Correctional Center Wednesday to discuss
Pansza’s dismissal as a volunteer from the men’s division of the center, but
Pansza said he remains barred from the facility. “They didn’t invite me back,”
said Pansza, pastor of St. John’s Catholic Church in Bridgeport and Assumption
of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Decatur. Pansza and Ralph McCloud, division
director of the Social Justice Ministry of the diocese, said they met with
senior warden Priscella Miles, assistant warden Bobby Thompson and chaplain
Phillip Yoder at the center. Pansza said Yoder told him a couple of weeks ago
that his services were no longer necessary at the center, which Pansza had been
visiting since February. Miles said in a previous story that Pansza was barred
because of his demeanor and because the prison feared a security issue could
occur with Catholic prisoners. On Wednesday, Pansza said the entire group met for almost an
hour, and then Miles and McCloud met privately for a half-hour. “Warden Miles
was interested in better understanding what our concerns were, and I think she
was pretty patient in listening to what I had to say,” Pansza said. “She gave an
opportunity for the chaplain to say what his views were and then to warden
Thompson as to what his views were. Her concern is that there’s an allegation of
discrimination. I pointed out that that allegation was not by the church. And
she mentioned that the allegation really came from the community. On prison
officials’ concerns about security issues, Pansza said Thompson mentioned that
he was concerned about “offender manipulation.” Pansza said officials were
concerned that he would tell the offenders that the institution was not giving
him access to prisoners, and that “the offenders would be quite upset about that
and maybe that would become a security issue.” “I guess I can understand that,”
Pansza said. “That’s certainly not something I would want to do. But I can
understand his concern.” Yet Pansza said Thursday that he’s confused about
Thompson’s justification on the matter of security concerns. On the day Thompson
told Pansza that he supported Yoder’s decision to bar Pansza from the prison,
the subject of security concerns was never broached, Pansza said. Pansza said he
thinks that issue emerged after the fact. Pansza said one offender in
segregation asked to see his priest but was denied access. Pansza said Yoder
told him that the warden said the prison was ready to transfer him to another
unit.
June 2, 2005 Wise County Messenger
A Wise County priest says he has been barred from performing church services
or visiting with offenders at the men’s division of the Bridgeport Correctional
Center. The Rev. Gil Pansza, pastor of St. John’s Catholic Church in Bridgeport
and Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Decatur, said he doesn’t know why
he has been prevented from celebrating Mass or talking with prisoners. Priscella
Miles, senior warden at the prison, said Tuesday that Pansza has been barred
from the prison, but that she is open to talking with him. She said she talked
with him last week and hopes to hear from him again this week. Pansza said
problems emerged three weeks ago, after he saw another church service advertised
on flyers on two bulletin boards at the facility. He asked Chaplain Phillip
Yoder whether Catholic Masses could be advertised on flyers on 12 bulletin
boards at the prison. He said he also asked whether Thursday Mass could be
placed on the monthly religious service calendar. The Mass was later advertised
on a corrected calendar, Pansza said. Pansza said he and Yoder discussed church
postings on bulletin boards. Yoder agreed to allow the posting of the Catholic
service flyers. About a week later, before Pansza’s next Mass, Pansza said he
visited with Yoder, who was upset about their previous meeting and said he
thought Pansza had questioned his integrity. After some discussion on the
bulletin boards and prisoner visitation – Pansza said he apologized to Yoder if
he offended him and that he was just trying to ensure Catholic Masses receive
the same treatment as others – Yoder told Pansza that he was a guest in the
facility and that he was under his supervision. Pansza said understood prison
rules but told him that he would not “tolerate disparate treatment” from Yoder’s
office or anyone else, meaning that he didn’t accept what he thought was Yoder’s
office promoting one church service over another. “I guess he didn’t like that,”
Pansza said. Pansza said Yoder then told him that his services were no longer
necessary at the prison, Pansza said.
Miles said The GEO Group Inc. – which contracts with the state to manage the
Bridgeport unit – and the Bridgeport Correctional Center support all religions.
Bridgeport Pre-Parole and Transfer Facility
Bridgeport, Texas
Corrections Corporation of America
June 28, 2005
The Office of the Inspector General will investigate the death of an inmate who
was housed at the Corrections Corporation of America in Bridgeport.
Julia Martinez, 29, collapsed Wednesday afternoon and was pronounced dead
a short time later at Wise Regional Health System.
Warden Gwen Bowers said Martinez reportedly collapsed in the facility’s
outdoor exercise area. Paramedics were called and transported Martinez to WRHS.
Brooks County Detention Center
Falfurrias, Texas
Louisiana Corrections Services
July 8, 2011 KZTV 10
On New Year's Eve 2008 Mario Garcia pled guilty to 2 charges of submitting
fraudulent bids to the government to win contracts at the Corpus Christi Army
Depot. U-S District Judge Janice Graham Jack ordered Garcia be taken into
custody until sentencing. Garcia was brought to the Brooks County Detention
Center and placed on suicide watch. He was there when he died January 12th,
2009. His family is suing the jail and some of it's officials. Kathy Snapka
represents Garcia's family. "It is our allegation that the prison disregarded
his very, very serious medical condition and that's why days after he was sent
to Brooks County he died," she said. Snapka says the case has flipped between
district and federal courts, but now a February trial date has been set in Mc
Allen where U.S. District Judge Randy Crane sits. "He's aware that the matter's
been on file for a significant length of time. And I think that he wants the
case moved along," Snapka told Action Ten News. According to the lawsuit, Garcia
had a known seizure disorder and was on medication for it. And that he suffered
from seizures and headaches while in jail. It also says jail officials 'breached
their duty of care to Garcia by failing to care for his medical needs. The
Brooks County Death Certificate lists Garcia's cause of death as seizure
disorder. The Nueces County medical examiner's autopsy says the same thing. The
defendants in the case are LCS Correction Services, which owns the jail, former
jail warden Miguel Niderhauser, and Dr. Michael Pendleton, former head of the
jail's medical staff. On Janaury 23rd 2009, just days after Garcia's death, we
reported that LCS President Dick Harbison told us Niderhauser resigned and
Pendleton's contract was terminated. Attorneys for all defendants told us by
phone today that they couldn't comment on a pending case, but that their clients
plan to vigorously defend themselves.
July 23, 2009 Caller Times
The family of a man who died in a privately run prison in Brooks County has
filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging he was denied medical treatment. Mario
Alberto Garcia, 42, was awaiting sentencing at LCS-Brooks County on charges of
bid-rigging at the Corpus Christi Army Depot when he was found dead in January.
Garcia suffered from a seizure disorder and was prescribed medication to treat
it. The lawsuit claims he was denied access to medication, despite warnings from
family members about his condition. An autopsy by the Nueces County medical
examiner found that Garcia died of the seizure disorder. The lawsuit seeks
unspecified damages. It names prison owner LCS Correction Services, the prison’s
former warden and former doctor as defendants. The prison typically houses
inmates facing immigration charges. Representatives of the doctor and prison did
not return calls for comment. Garcia had pleaded guilty to submitting inflated
bids for office equipment. Along with those bids, he submitted lower bids from
his own company. In most situations, defendants facing white-collar crimes
remain free while awaiting sentencing. But a federal judge, concerned over
Garcia’s mental status, ordered him to the Brooks County facility on suicide
watch. Garcia could have been sentenced to as long as 10 years in prison, but
was likely to receive only a few months under federal sentencing guidelines.
January 14, 2009 Caller Times
An inmate awaiting sentencing on charges of rigging bids on federal contracts
was found dead Monday at the Brooks County Detention Center in Falfurrias, and
Texas Rangers are investigating how the death occurred. The circumstances are
unclear. The Nueces County Medical Examiner's Office performed an autopsy
Tuesday but has not released a cause of death. The inmate, Mario Alberto Garcia,
42, had been placed on suicide watch at a court appearance. Garcia pleaded
guilty Dec. 31 to submitting fictitious, inflated bids to supply office
equipment at the Corpus Christi Army Depot. He submitted the fake bids along
with his company's lower bid to win contracts. Under normal circumstances, a
white-collar defendant like Garcia would remain free while awaiting sentencing,
but U.S. District Judge Janice Graham Jack ordered him into custody over
concerns that Garcia would take his life, said Garcia's criminal defense
attorney, Keith Gould. A physician at the facility removed Garcia from suicide
watch Jan. 8. He died Monday, said Al Lujan, deputy U.S. marshal. As part of his
agreement to plead guilty, a third count of lying to U.S. Army investigators was
dismissed. Prosecutors say Garcia also faxed phony bids in July 2007. He was not
prosecuted for those incidents. Juan Reyna, an attorney representing Garcia's
family, said Garcia had a medical condition. Reyna, who declined to identify the
condition, said Garcia's family knew of it and warned jail officials about it.
"The family had some major concerns with respect to medical treatment Mr. Garcia
was receiving," Reyna said. "The family made it very clear regarding medical
treatment." Reyna said he has requested the facility preserve several categories
of records relating to Garcia. The private facility is run by LCS Corrections
Services of Lafayette, La., and is typically used to house illegal immigrants.
Gary Copes, general manager for LCS, said a Texas Ranger visited the facility
Wednesday as part of the investigation. Copes declined further discussion.
September 15, 2004 Caller-Times
The manhunt for an escaped prisoner continued Tuesday as officers combed the
area surrounding the Brooks County Detention Center with dogs, on horseback and
by helicopter, Sheriff Balde Lozano said.
On Monday, Elias Ramirez Martinez, 20, of Veracruz, Mexico, escaped from the
privately owned holding center. Inmates were being moved from an eating area
just before 7 p.m. when Martinez made his getaway, jumping a 10-foot electric
fence, Lozano said. It was the facility's first breakout since September 2002,
when two inmates escaped through the detention center's ceiling. Measures have
been taken since then to prevent similar escapes. Ceilings were enclosed with
heavy mesh and the electrical fence was installed, Lozano said. It was not known
if the fence was activated when Martinez jumped it.
September 29, 2002
Falfurrias residents reacted with fear and worry after learning that two inmates
escaped form the privately owned Brooks County Detention Center early Saturday.
The two men, Juan Guerra and Steven Torres, were being held at the facility
prior to their trials. Guerra, a Mexican national, had been charged with murder
and Torres was arrested for a parole violation- an alleged robbery. The
two men were missing during an inmate headcount at 7 a.m. after they had been
present for a similar count at 3 a.m., said Patrick LeBlanc, president of the
Louisiana-based LCS Corrections Services Inc., the company that oversees the
operations of the detention facility. "I don't think it was whim ," he
said. "I think they studied and analyzed and searched for the scene and
unfortunately they found it." The two men kicked through a security
ceiling that was welded shut, LeBlanc said. Then, they climbed into the
ceiling and got into a mechanical chase that the facility's pipes run through-
similar to the escape in the movie "Shawshank Redemption," he said. The
chase leads to a door locked form the outside that opens on the detention center
grounds, he said. There, the two men, wearing detention-center issued
orange uniforms with white T-shirts, scaled two double fences, each topped with
three lines of razor wire. Investigators found a blood trail, LeBlanc
said. As the search gout under way, residents learned of the news by word
of mouth. About half a dozen people called KPSO-Radio 106.3 news director
Steve Cantu to express their concerns. "A lot of people are worried," he
said. "These are not some of the nicest people out there." LeBlanc
said the detention center does not have a procedure to alert area residents of
an escape, instead turning over the information to local law enforcement to get
the word out. (Caller-Times)
Burnet County Jail, Texas
Southwestern Correctional
Texas prison
boom going bust: by Mitch Mitchell, September 3, 2011,
Star-Telegram. Expose on troubles facing many communities that bought into
the private prison bonding scam.
March 13, 2012 Daily Tribune
The escape of a man from the Burnet County Jail has grown into a family affair
with the arrest of the inmate's brother on charges the sibling tried to help the
suspected jailbird fly the coop. The news March 13 followed an earlier report
from sheriff's deputies that the brothers' mother also was arrested a few days
ago in the case. Louis Arce IV, 29, of Burnet was charged March 12 with
hindering apprehension or prosecution of a known felon. He remained in the jail
pending the setting of a bond. Deputies arrested Arce's 59-year-old mother
Francis Ybarra March 10 on the same charges. She posted a $10,000 bond and was
released from jail March 11. The accusations in both cases stem from the escape
of Johnny Angel Ybarra, 40, from the public-private jail March 1. He was
recaptured about three hours later. According to an arrest affidavit by
sheriff's Investigator Bo Boshears, Arce told Texas Rangers assisting with the
case he helped Ybarra after the escape by taking him from their mother's home on
Pierce Street to a relative's place at the nearby Green Acres Apartments.
Ybarra, who is serving a life sentence on three felony charges including
burglary of a habitation with intent to commit a sexual offense, disappeared
from a handicap cell sometime from 12:50 a.m.-3:30 a.m., deputies said. Jailers
discovered a hole had been knocked through a cinder block wall under a sink in
Ybarra's cell using the rail from a toilet. The convicted felon hung towels over
the sink to cover his escape route and even rolled up blankets under his bed
sheet to make it look like somebody was sleeping there. Ybarra made his way to
the roof, slipped through razor wire and dropped to the ground, deputies said.
March 13, 2012 Daily Tribune
The mother of an accused jail escapee landed behind bars in the same
facility after deputies charged her with trying to get her son out of Texas.
Francis Ybarra, 59, is charged with hindering the apprehension or prosecution of
a known felon, Burnet County Sheriff W.T Smith said. She was released March 11
from the Burnet County Jail after posting a $10,000 bond. The case stems from
the March 1 escape of Johnny Angel Ybarra, 40, from the public-private jail
after he received a life sentence on three felony charges including burglary of
a habitation with intent to commit a sexual offense. An arrest affidavit by
sheriff's Investigator Bo Boshears stated after the son escaped from jail, the
mother was trying to help him get out of Burnet and to a relative's home in
Colorado. But before the duo could carry out the plan, officers captured the
inmate at the Green Acres Apartments. According to the investigators, sometime
from 12:50 a.m.-3:30 a.m. March 1, Ybarra disappeared from his cell. A hole had
been knocked into a cinderblock wall under a sink using the railing from the
toilet in the handicap cell. The escape route was hidden by towels hanging to
dry on the sink. A rolled-up blanket under the sheets made it look like someone
was in the bed. Reaching the roof, the inmate slipped through razor wire and
dropped to the ground.
March 5, 2012 Daily Tribune
The Burnet County Jail has flunked a state inspection that found design flaws in
the wake of an escape March 1 by an inmate who chiseled a hole in the wall. The
state report says the private-public jail, which opened with 587 beds in April
2009 at a cost of $23 million, is "non-compliant" with security standards. "It
means something is wrong," County Judge Donna Klaeger said March 5. The Burnet
County Sheriff's Office supervises the jail, which is operated by the private
firm LaSalle Southwest Corrections. Texas Commission on Jail Standards
inspectors recently found "deficiencies" in the network of concrete blocks and
reinforcement bars that support walls near cells for handicapped inmates,
Executive Director Adan Munoz said. It is in one of the handicapped cells that
Johnny Angel Ybarra, 40, removed a rail by a toilet and chiseled away at cinder
blocks under a sink until he created an escape route, investigators said. He hid
his handiwork by hanging towels to dry over the sink and replacing the rail
before guards noticed it was missing, they added. "Those cells are unpopulated
now," Klaeger said. Hale Mills Construction built the jail at 900 County Lane
three years ago. County Commissioner Bill Neve said he plans to meet Hale Mills
builders March 6 at the jail, along with Sheriff W.T. Smith and LaSalle
officials. "We are going to talk about construction issues related to the jail,"
Neve added. Also, the commissioners plan to hear a jail security update during
the meeting March 13, Klaeger said. Neither Smith nor LaSalle officials could be
reached for comment March 5.
October 20, 2009 KXAN
New razor wire that measures more than 4 feet tall and nearly 3 feet wide is
coiled around the metal roof and down the sides of the new Burnet County Jail.
The $90,000 security measure was recently added to the 7-month-old facility to
stop another inmate from sneaking out. Authorities are still searching for a man
who made his getaway during recreation time back in August. On a surprise visit
last Thursday, jail inspectors found concerns inside after questioning two
female inmates. One was pregnant and said she was not given proper medication.
Another mental health patient said she was not given her medication either, so
inspectors checked her medical chart. "There were certain medications that
needed to be prescribed for her that had not been given to her, and that's
obviously not in compliance with jail standards," said Adan Munoz, executive
director of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards . "They get excellent care
here," said Tammy Manning, the Burnet County Jail medical supervisor. Manning
was out of town during the inspection but normally sees the inmate who she said
had been refusing to show up to appointments after they were scheduled. The
situation had not been documented on her medical chart that state inspectors
reviewed. "We do have room for improvement in our documentation," said Manning.
"And our actional plan we put into place Friday was to improve our documentation
so this will not happen again." One of the female inmates also said they were
not getting recreation time everyday. "We went on to check the recreation log to
see if their concerns were valid," said Munoz. "We couldn't even find a
recreation log." Burnet County Jail Warden Bruce Armstrong admits there was a
breakdown there, too. "We run rec everyday," said Armstrong. "And the officer
calls in the count to the central control officer whose suppose to be logging
the count down on how many offenders went to rec, and they were neglecting to
document the count." Armstrong said it has been taken care of, but the state
said there is one more requirement the county has yet to comply with. The state
does not have the jail's operational plan, which covers everything from what to
do in case of a fire to how to administer health care. "The fact that it's been
open since April and still not within our agency certainly gives us great
concern," said Munoz. The county told the state they were working on it. Munoz
sent written notification of the deficiencies to the county and Southwest
Corrections, the company who manages the jail. They have 30 days to comply.
September 3, 2009 Burnet Bulletin
Only four months after opening its doors to the public with tours, speeches
and a ribbon cutting, the Burnet County Jail has been cited by the Texas
Commission on Jail Standards for a different kind of open house: Improper
supervision of inmates after a prisoner escaped Sunday night and fled past
nearby residential neighborhoods and to freedom. The controversial privately run
jail – a facility that many nearby residents unsuccessfully fought during its
development – now is officially deemed noncompliant with Texas jail standards,
confirmed Adan Munoz, a former sheriff who serves as executive director of the
Texas Commission on Jail Standards. An inspector from the commission visited the
jail and found inadequate its procedures for checking prisoners, Munoz said.
Meanwhile, the jailer responsible for supervising prisoners into and out of a
recreation yard has resigned, and two other correctional officers at the jail
face disciplinary action that could mean suspension or termination as a result
of the escape of Nuana Antonio Fuentes-Sanchez, confirmed Billy McConnell,
co-owner of the private jail management firm. Fuentes-Sanchez, 23, a day laborer
and native of El Salvador, was arrested in connection with a violent robbery of
a Burnet County couple in April. Being noncompliant doesn't mean the jail is in
danger of being shut down. It means Southwestern Correctional LLC, the private
company hired by the county to manage the jail, has 30 days to report how it
will satisfactorily resolve the issues, Munoz said. Currently, 37 of the 247
county jails regulated by the TCJS are noncompliant with the standards, which
could be for a range of minor to major issues, such as inoperable toilet
facilities, malfunctioning intercom systems or inadequate staffing, Munoz said.
The Burnet County Jail’s issues fall under the heading of “supervision of
inmates,” a key section of the 600 standards regulated by the commission. Munoz
said “The best way to describe it is a lack of diligence, a lack of
professionalism,” Munoz said.
November 19, 2007
This Monday, concerned Burnet County residents will hold a public meeting with
Burnet County Commissioners to discuss their opposition to a proposed 500-bed
private detention center. The meeting will take place Monday, November 19th, at
Old Courthouse on the square in Burnet at 7:00pm. Burnet County residents are
concerned that the proposed jail will be operated by a Louisiana-based
for-profit private prison corporation, that out-of-county prisoners will shipped
to the prison, and that Burnet County has taken steps to float revenue bonds to
pay for the prison, which could endanger the county's future bond rating,
without a public vote. Private prison corporations have a track record that
include human rights abuses, lawsuits, higher rates of violence, and financial
mismanagement. Research shows that prison construction has no positive economic
impact on communities. Counties that finance private prison construction have
been held liable for abuses that take place in the prisons.
Central
Texas Detention Facility
San Antonio, Texas
GEO Group (formerly known as Wackenhut Corrections)
February 10, 2012 San Antonio Express-News
Two members of the Texas Mexican Mafia pleaded guilty
Thursday to charges that they got cellphones and drugs smuggled into a federal
jail with help from a guard. Paul “Polo” Hernandez and Jesse C. “Chuy” Guerra
also pleaded guilty to an extortion and drug-possession charge for their roles
in the gang's enforcement of a 10-percent “street tax” on other drug dealers in
San Antonio. Guerra's cousin Fernando “Klan” Delgado also pleaded guilty
Thursday to a heroin-possession charge. The three were among 12 snared in
November 2010 by the San Antonio Police Department and the U.S. Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Three of the 12 pleaded guilty last
year and were sentenced to prison. Hernandez's plea deal said he made several
phone calls while awaiting trial on drug-related charges at the Central Texas
Detention Facility, a federal jail in San Antonio run by Florida-based The GEO
Group. In the calls, Hernandez directed his wife to find heroin and a gun he had
hidden on his property that police missed when they raided the couple's home,
the plea deal said. Hernandez also asked his wife to contact another Texas
Mexican Mafia member to let him know that Hernandez had identified three
“snitches” who cooperated with police, the plea deal said. One of the three was
later found murdered, the deal said. Hernandez and Guerra also admitted that
they had four cell phones — three were found on Guerra and one on Hernandez —
and small amounts of marijuana and heroin in the lockup, according to deputy
U.S. Marshal Eric De Los Santos. Three people were charged in the smuggling and
await trial, including former GEO employee Jack Shane McNeal, inmate Antonio
Molina-Ortega and Marisol Reyna Mermella, records show.
March 21, 2011 San Antonio Express-News
The parents of an inmate who died last year from a heroin overdose at a
privately run federal jail in downtown San Antonio have sued the operator,
alleging guards may have smuggled the drugs in and provided them to the
prisoner. The suit filed by Albert and Sandra Gomez, which was moved from state
court to federal court last week, states that their son, Albert Gomez Jr., died
May 19 from a heroin overdose while he was held at one of the more secure parts
of the Central Texas Detention Facility. The 685-bed facility is owned by Bexar
County, but has been managed for years by the Boca Raton, Fla.-based GEO Group
Inc., which has a contract with the county and the U.S. Marshals Service to
house federal pretrial inmates there. The suit names GEO and a female guard,
listed as “Jane Doe 1,” as defendants. The suit alleges guards are improperly
trained to handle people with drug addictions and can freely participate in
“black market sale of drugs to prisoners.” One of the Gomez couple's lawyers,
Matt Wymer, said he has been informed that a criminal investigation has been
launched, but the Marshals Service declined comment because the matter is in
litigation. The GEO Group did not respond to a request for comment, but denied
the allegations in a court-filed response.
May 21, 2010 KENS 5
A federal inmate has died while in custody. Guards found the 25-year-old dead in
his cell early Wednesday morning. His family wants to know what went wrong.
Federal authorities arrested Albert Martin Gomez Jr. On January 20. He was
accused of making and passing fake $100 bills. He and a co-defendant were
charged in a counterfeit-money ring. Gomez was released, but was back at a
federal holding facility in March, awaiting sentencing. Around 6:30 a.m.
Wednesday guards found Gomez unresponsive. Sources say Gomez died from an
apparent drug overdose, but nobody is talking. Meanwhile, toxicology reports are
pending. Bexar County records show Gomez was also arrested in 2005 on an assault
charge. The autopsy was completed, but details aren't being released. The
central Texas detention facility where Gomez was being held is operated by the
GEO Group, Inc. A spokesperson had no comment on the death, only to say it is
under investigation.
November 23, 2007 American-Statesman
Sam Kambo can now hold his 4-year-old son, Seth, something he couldn't do for a
year while he was in a San Antonio prison waiting for the legal system to sort
out whether he should be deported. 'The worst thing you can do to a useful
person is to make him useless,' Kambo said On Thursday, the Austin resident
celebrated the first Thanksgiving since being released a month ago from a
federal prison in San Antonio. There he had waited for the legal system to sort
out whether he should be deported on government charges that he was involved in
mass murder in Sierra Leone, the West African country in which he grew up and
helped lead a bloodless coup in 1992 against the ruling party. After Kambo spent
nearly a year awaiting his day in court — while federal officials ignored two
orders to release him on bail — an immigration judge rejected the government's
allegation that Kambo had participated in mass murder. The judge ordered his
release, but Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents did not comply for five
months, until another federal judge ordered him set free. Kambo's wife, Hanaan,
cared for their four children during that year, coordinated with the lawyer
handling her husband's case and survived on the charity of family and friends.
"We appreciate every day now. I appreciate every time I have a day," Sam Kambo
said Thursday, slicing a long slender eggplant for a salad in the kitchen of his
North Austin home. "I really cherish this moment." Later, his brother, David,
and mother, Susan, stopped by, both of them having been granted status as legal
residents after they followed Sam to Austin. They did not talk about his fight
with the federal government. Six children played in a side room and occasionally
ran through the kitchen, where the adults moved about and chatted lightly,
spooning plates of food from the table in an informal pot luck style. The first
course was skewered beef cooked in peanut sauce and onions. Later came a
jambalaya-like dish of rice mixed with bits of beef, shrimp, carrots and peas,
accompanied by a salad, talapia fish and sweet blue African potatoes. Hanaan
Kambo did most of the cooking, but her husband rarely left the kitchen.
Sometimes, she says, when he is out of sight, she feels a wave of anxiety come
over her. "Maybe I'll be in the kitchen, and I just have a moment, as if I'm
reliving the time he was taken from us," she said. Kambo was arrested in October
2006 at a hearing that he thought would determine whether he became a permanent
resident of the United States. Instead, he was arrested and locked up in the GEO
Group private detention facility in San Antonio, where he shared a cell the size
of his kitchen with five other men and drank tap water from a basin attached to
the cell's group toilet.
September 2, 2005 San Antonio Express-News
Eight local residents, including two former jail guards, pleaded guilty Thursday
to participating in a bank-fraud conspiracy that netted between $90,000 and
$160,000. The scheme stretched from July 2003 to October 2004 and involved
opening 52 accounts at Bank of America branches and depositing checks from a
closed account or empty envelopes and quickly withdrawing cash before bank
officials caught on, court records noted. The case ensnared 12 defendants and is
among the first brought to federal court by a U.S. Secret Service-led task force
formed in October 2004 to target identity-theft rings and other organized
financial crime rackets. Court documents allege Santos Lopez III, 27, his
girlfriend, Estella Ramirez, and Bruno Alejandro Jr., 40, devised the scheme and
managed the operation. Court records said the recruits were given startup money
by the organizers to open the accounts. The recruits would then hand over
personal identification numbers and ATM cards to Lopez or Ramirez. Checks from a
closed bank account would then be deposited through automated tellers, and cash
withdrawals would be made almost immediately, according to the court documents.
The court record showed recruits would be given part of the proceeds, and Lopez
and others spent much of the proceeds on cocaine. Also pleading guilty Thursday
were: Alejandro Regino, Manuel Riojas, Jessica Guevara, Belinda Contreras,
Angelica Guerra and Lopez's ex-girlfriend, Sophia Martinez, whom Lopez started a
relationship with while she was a guard and he was incarcerated in San Antonio.
Officials said both Martinez and Guerra worked at the jail, operated by the
Florida-based GEO Group Inc., during the conspiracy. Both were terminated.
February 16, 2005 Express-News
A former guard who admitted trying to smuggle methamphetamine into a private
downtown jail that holds federal inmates was sentenced Tuesday to 2 1/2 years in
prison. U.S. District Judge Xavier
Rodriguez allowed Lou Cindy Ford, 39, to turn herself in to federal prison
officials by June 3. Ford, who worked at
the old Central Texas Parole Violators Facility across the street from the main
police station, pleaded guilty last year to intending to distribute 50 grams to
500 grams of the drug. Ford
's plea agreement said she was caught trying to deliver four ounces to an inmate
in exchange for $800 during an undercover sting July 27, 2003. Ford
was arrested later that day after she drove back to the jail, which is run by
Florida-based GEO Group Inc.
February 2, 2005
KSAT
A 19-year-old guard at the GEO Central Texas Detention Facility in San Antonio
has been placed on unpaid leave following his arrest on drug and alcohol
charges. According
to a San Antonio Police Department report, Manuel Castillo was arrested early
Tuesday after he allegedly smuggled drugs and alcohol into the federal facility.
During
Castillo's midnight break, he left in his vehicle and later returned to the
facility at 218 South Laredo carrying a clear bottle filled with vodka, the
report said. Police also found some cocaine concealed in a sock and some tobacco
tucked inside his belt line. Castillo, who was hired in July 2004, is the fourth
detention officer arrested for allegedly bringing contraband into the facility
in the past 2 ½ years.
December 20, 2004 Express-News
Two San Antonio women have admitted they helped deliver a car and money for a
jailbreak attempt by several inmates, including alleged members of the Texas
Mexican Mafia. Estella
Soto, 27, and Paula Soto, 23, have struck plea deals in which they've agreed to
plead guilty to conspiracy in an escape attempt from a privately run jail
downtown. Inside the lockup, which is run by The Geo Group Inc. of Florida, Soto
was to escape through a window along with alleged Mexican Mafia general Jimmy
Zavala, 35, reputed Mexican Mafia member Gerardo Sanchez, 31, and David A.
Straughn, 31.
November 5, 2004
Express-News
A guard at a privately run jail that holds federal prisoners was released on
bond Thursday after pleading not guilty to planning to smuggle heroin into the
lockup.
A federal grand jury indicted Juan Roberto Ortiz, 40, on Wednesday. Ortiz had
worked at the jail since November 2003 and has been placed on unpaid leave, said
Pablo Paez, spokesman for Florida-based GEO Group Inc., which runs the jail.
November 1, 2004
Express-News
A guard at a privately run jail for federal inmates made his first court
appearance today on charges that he tried to smuggle heroin and cocaine into the
lockup. During an initial hearing, U.S. Magistrate Judge John Primomo ordered
Juan Roberto Ortiz held pending a bail hearing on Thursday.
Before his arrest this weekend, Ortiz, 40, had worked at the Central Texas
Parole Violators Facility since November 2003, according to Pablo Paez,
spokesman for The Geo Group, the Florida-based company that runs the jail.
Ortiz's arrest was the latest for guards who worked at the jail. In the past
year, Jessica Lee Piña, 24, and David C. Higginbotham, 42, have gone to prison
for trying to smuggle drugs into the lockup. Lou Cindy Ford, 39, pleaded guilty
in March to intending to distribute 4 ounces of methamphetamine at the jail. She
awaits sentencing.
March 16, 2004
A former jail guard accused of trying to smuggle methamphetamine into the
Wackenhut detention facility downtown has struck a plea deal. Lou Cindy Ford,
39, is scheduled to finalize the agreement by pleading guilty today in federal
court to intending to distribute between 50 grams to 500 grams of meth. She
faces five to 40 years in prison. (San Antonio Express-News)
August 7, 2002
A jail guard who crashed a van carrying six prisoners into a downtown lamppost
earlier this week does not have a driver's license, state officials said
Tuesday. The van, operated by the private security firm Wackenhut Corp.,
had just exited the feral courthouse parking lot shortly before 5 p.m. Monday
when the vehicle swerved toward the curb. Three inmates were treated for
"bruises and soreness" and sent back to their cells at the privately operated
Laredo Street lockup, said Al Pacheco, the Wackenhut warden. Cited for
driving without a license, the driver was likewise treated and released at
Christus Rosa Hospital. The wreck served as a bloodless reminder of an
earlier fiasco for the U.S. Marshals service, which contracts with the Wackenhut
and oversees federal prisoners awaiting trial in the Western District of Texas.
Two federal inmates died in April when a prisoner transport operated by the
private security firm CiviGenics crashed en route from El Paso.
Wackenhut's Pacheco said he did not know how many times the driver, who started
working as a Wackenhut guard five months ago, had driven the daily transports to
the federal courthouse on East Durango Boulevard. (San Antonio
Express-News)
April 3, 2002
A jailer was arrested last week on charges that he accepted money and what he
believed to be heroin from an undercover agent, promising to take the illegal
drug inside the privately-owned federal correction facility where he worked.
David Higginbotham was arrested March 26 outside the Central Texas Parole
Violator Facility, a Wackenhut detention center located downtown. (San
Antonio Express-News)
Sept. 5, 1996
A week after a double murderer from Oklahoma escaped through a 6-inch window,
officials at Wackenhut Corrections Center say they are stepping up security at
the private jail. The escape of John Ray Davis, 21, prompted prison
management to decide to spend $20,000 on new doors and security locks and to
implement new procedures in the coming weeks, officials said. (Houston
Chronicle)
Children's Assessment Center Foundation
Harris, Texas
January 16, 2002 Harris County Commissioners Court approved an
agreement Tuesday changing how the county and a nonprofit group run a renowned
center for sexually abused children. The new contract with the Children's
Assessment Center Foundation is the result of months of study, and officials
said its approval resolves problems that have dogged the program for the past
year. County Auditor Tommy Tompkins said last year the foundation owed the
county $1.5 million reimbursement for some expenses. Officials feared the center
had become distracted from that mission last year after Tompkins' discovery of
the $1.5 million debt and allegations that Ellen Cokinos, the center's first
director, was mismanaging the program. Cokinos -- a county employee -- came
under court scrutiny after employees, volunteers and state and local officials
accused her of falsifying reports on the number of children served by the
center, using employees for personal errands and damaging relations between the
CAC and partner agencies. Cokinos, who has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing,
resigned in May, saying her departure was best for the program she helped build.
The allegations led to investigations by auditors and District Attorney Chuck
Rosenthal. The auditors helped tweak financial controls over the center, and
prosecutors said in November they found no indictable offenses. (Houston
Chronicle)
Cleveland Pre-Release Center
Cleveland, Texas
CCA
Sept. 3, 1998
Corrections Corporation of America is pulling out of the pre-release prison
here, citing a disagreement with the local school board over money owed in lieu
of taxes. CCA served officials notice this week to the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice that it will no longer manage the Cleveland Pre-Release Center
in Liberty County after Dec. 31, said company spokesperson Laurie Shanblum.
"It is the result of a difference of opinion between CCA and the Cleveland
Independent School District regarding the annual amount of money to be paid in
lieu of taxes to the school district." School board president Walter
Stovall said CCA's announcement took him by surprise. The board, he said,
was merely enforcing CCA's tax obligation and was willing to listen to abatement
proposals. "It's terrible," County Commissioner Melvin Hunt said.
"Almost everybody is unhappy. The county and city have been giving tax
abatements to CCA for a long time." The trouble between CCA and the
Cleveland school district started in 1995 - more than five years after the
facility now valued at $13.2 million, was built to house 520 state inmates
within two years of release. That year the school district sued the
for-profit corporation in federal court for reducing their $180,000 annual tax
payment by $100,000 without permission. Last month, the school district's
lawsuit against CCA was settled out of court, with CCA agreeing to pay its
outstanding debt of $300,000 plus interest. Both the city and county have
given CCA more than a 50 percent tax abatement since 1995, authorities said.
(Houston Chronicle)
Coastal Bend Detention Center
Robstown, Texas
Louisiana Correctional Services
November 4, 2011 Record Star
Texas Commission on Jail Standards officials recently said the organization is
powerless to oversee any changes at the Coastal Bend Detention Center in
Robstown, after center officials decided to move out all of their county
prisoners. Adan Munoz Jr., Executive Director of the TCJS said he was notified
last week that LCS Corrections Services Inc., owners of the CBDC, asked for the
detention center to be pulled off the state's inspection rolls, as they would no
longer house county inmates.
July 12, 2011 Record Star
A Robstown detention center was recently found to be in non-compliance with
state guidelines following an inspection by the Texas Commission on Jail
Standards. Coastal Bend Detention Center, owned and operated by LCS Corrections
Services Inc., was visited May 20 by representatives with the TCJS, during which
an inspection was conducted. The results were posted on the agency's Web site
last month.
May 3, 2010 Caller-Times
State jail inspectors ruled that a Robstown private detention facility
doesn't meet state standards because it failed to report an inmate's death and
its warden and deputy warden lack jailers' licenses. The Coastal Bend Detention
Center was cited Monday for failing to report the death of a prisoner, who died
April 18, according to commission Director Adan Muñoz. Michael Higgins, a former
state trooper found guilty of stealing money from Hispanic drivers, also died of
an apparent heart attack April 29, while in the facility. Officials with the
prison were not immediately available for comment. Discussions with the deputy
warden and the chief of security of the facility revealed that neither official
knew of the requirement to notify the state agency of the deaths in custody,
Muñoz said. Jail commission Assistant Director Shannon Herklotz told the men
that their lack of reporting was a non-compliance issue and would be handled
accordingly in a follow-up notice of non-compliance for failing to report the
April 18 death. Herklotz determined that neither of the top two prison managers
had proper state licenses, a violation of state standards. "Both the lack of the
jailer licenses by the warden and deputy warden, the lack of properly or
entirely filling out the inmate screening form, and failing to report the April
18, 2010, death in custody within 24 hours as required will immediately result
in a notice of non-compliance with minimum jail standards for the Coastal Bend
Detention Center," Muñoz said. The facility is out of compliance for the second
time in a year.
February 1, 2010 Caller-Times
A private detention facility in Robstown has passed two surprise state
inspections since the accidental release of a convicted sex offender put its
compliance status at risk. The Coastal Bend Detention Center mistakenly released
Mario Estrada Martinez, 31, an undocumented immigrant from Matamoros, Mexico,
instead of Mario Estrada Antonio in November. Estrada Antonio was supposed to be
turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation. Estrada
Martinez, who was being held for illegally re-entering the U.S. and set for a
hearing before U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack, was deported instead. The
accidental release wasn’t a violation of state standards. But the Texas
Commission on Jail Standards deemed the facility, operated by Lafayette,
La.-based LCS Corrections, at risk of falling out of state compliance and
promised a series of surprise inspections for 90 days, said Adan Muñoz, the jail
commission’s executive director. State inspector George Johnson conducted the
first surprise visit on the evening of Jan. 6, according to documents obtained
by the Caller-Times through a public information request. The inspection did not
reveal any non-compliance issues. But Johnson noted that of 118 officers, 85
were working with temporary state jailer licenses. All must complete training
and pass a state-mandated jailer certification course within their first year of
employment.
December 29, 2009 WEAU
There will soon be a new jail boss in town and he comes with a couple
championship belts. Art Crews is the soon to be jail captain in Chippewa County,
formally known as the Blonde Bomber. As the Blonde Bomber, he took on the likes
of Ric Flair, Jesse “the Body” Ventura, Andre the Giant and, yes, even Hulk
Hogan back in the 1980's. Now, his biggest fear is Wisconsin’s cold weather.
"You're to be up here on Saturday?" Chippewa County Sheriff Jim Kowalczyk asks
his new jail captain on the phone. Kowalczyk is looking forward to welcoming
Crews up from Texas; he’s a man who comes with a couple championship belts.
"When I was in wrestling, I was in corrections and I didn't know it,” Crews
tells us with a laugh over the phone. “In other words, you're dealing with
people every single day and wrestling has a lot of crowd psychology." Crews was
in wrestling for a decade all through the 80’s. He's been working at jails and
prisons ever since. Most recently as warden at Coastal Bend Detention Center, a
private prison in Texas. Crews said he resigned in August. Two weeks later local
newspaper reports show the prison failed an inspection. The Texas Commission on
Jail Standards told the Corpus Christi Caller Times it "borders really close to
complete incompetence." Crews said he knew it was bad when he left. He says
that's why he left. "I voiced my concerns to the company that there were going
to be issues not meeting standards and compliances. They did not comply and I
had no choice but to resign." "He indicated they were undermanned, understaffed;
he didn't have the budget he needed that he thought he could run the facility to
the best of his ability."
December 18, 2009 Caller-Times
A private detention facility in Robstown faces frequent, unannounced state
inspections for 90 days after its inadvertent release of a convicted sex
offender. The Coastal Bend Detention Center did not violate state standards when
Mario Estrada Martinez, 31, an undocumented immigrant from Matamoros, Mexico,
mistakenly was released, but it is at risk of falling out of state compliance
after corrections officers did not follow release procedures, according to a
letter from the Texas Commission on Jail Standards obtained by the Caller-Times
through an open records request. In November, federal authorities asked the
prison run by Lafayette, La.-based LCS Corrections to release Mario Estrada
Antonio to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation. Instead
Estrada Martinez, who was awaiting sentencing for illegal re-entry to the U.S.,
was released and deported. He was gone for three weeks before LCS corrections
staff figured out they released the wrong prisoner. In Mexico, where both
prisoners are from, the middle name serves as last name, and the last name is
the person’s maternal surname. “Certainly an improperly released inmate is a
liability to all parties involved,” Adan Muñoz, the jail commission’s executive
director, wrote in the letter. Prison Warden Elberto “Bert” Bravo said an
investigation is ongoing and focused on four employees. “We are trying to narrow
it down to where it happened,” Bravo said. “It was human error. The procedures
we had in place, they failed to follow the procedures.” No other county jail or
private correctional facility holding county or out-of-state inmates is at risk,
commission officials said. Being at risk means any member of the jail commission
staff may make frequent, unannounced visits to the facility during the next 90
days. If no violations or noncompliance issues are noted, the facility will be
removed from the at-risk list. “No one from point A to point Z ever verified his
identity during several stages of release. By more than one detention officer,
all the way to ICE, his identity was never confirmed,” Muñoz said Friday.
Estrada Martinez had a prior conviction for a sexual offense, according to U.S.
marshals. He was convicted in Iowa for sexual abuse and sentenced to 10 years in
December 1999, according to court filings. He was paroled in 2002. U.S. District
Judge Janis Graham Jack issued a warrant for Estrada Martinez’s arrest when the
mishap was made public. He has not been rearrested.
December 11, 2009 Corpus Christi Caller-Times
A convicted sex offender has been missing from a Robstown lockup since Nov.
19, unknown to the prison’s officials until Thursday. Officials at the Coastal
Bend Detention Center discovered that they inadvertently released Mario Estrada
Martinez, 31, an undocumented immigrant from Matamoros, Mexico, who most
recently was arrested for illegal re-entry. He was being held at the Robstown
facility, owned by Lafayette, La.-based LCS Corrections, awaiting sentencing
after pleading guilty to illegal re-entry to the U.S., a felony, U.S. District
Judge Janis Graham Jack said Friday afternoon. Federal authorities asked the
prison in November to release Estrada Martinez to U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement for deportation. Coastal Bend Detention Center handed over Estrada
Martinez. Federal authorities actually were looking to deport Mario Estrada
Antonio, according to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. In Mexico, where
both men are from, the middle name serves as last name, and the last name is the
person’s maternal surname. “We really want to leave the whole mix-up,
specifically how it happened, to Coastal Bend,” U.S. Marshals spokesman Carlos
Alvarado said. “(I am talking about this) just so the community knows there is
not a sex offender running our streets. He was deported and sent back. ICE
deported him.” Estrada Martinez had a prior conviction for a sexual offense,
Alvarado said. He was convicted in Iowa for sexual abuse and sentenced to 10
years in December 1999, according to court filings. He was paroled in 2002. LCS
Warden Elberto “Bert” Bravo did not return calls. LCS Vice President of
Operations Dick Harbison would not comment and referred comment back to U.S.
Marshals. The Houston-based Immigration and Customs Enforcement-Detention and
Removal division deported Estrada Martinez early this week, said Fred Schroeder,
assistant special agent in charge for the local Immigration and Customs
Enforcement office. ICE spokesman Greg Palmer said late Friday he would research
what happened with Estrada Martinez and comment next week. It doesn’t appear
that Estrada Martinez escaped on purpose, said Adan Muñoz, the jail commission’s
executive director, after reviewing LCS’s preliminary escape report. He was
released. “What transpired between the wrongly released inmate and the releasing
officer is something that LCS will have to investigate,” Muñoz said. “There is
no overt action shown by the mistakenly released inmate to indicate he made any
statements to the releasing officer that he was attempting to disguise who he
was while being released. “And why the receiving transport service did not
verify the inmate’s identity is also something that needs to be ascertained and
investigated,” Muñoz said. LCS contacted the jail commission within 24 hours of
the discovery, which is required by law. The company must submit a written
report detailing why and how the escape happened, Muñoz said. The release counts
as an escape and could pose problems for the prison, Muñoz said. In
mid-September, Coastal Bend Detention Center was cited by the jail standards
commission for 17 compliance issues, including failure to classify inmates or to
check for contraband, improper staff training, jailers without proper state
licensing and no tuberculosis screening plan.
September 21, 2009 Corpus Christi Caller-Times
State jail inspectors have warned the owner of a private Robstown facility to
rectify 17 compliance issues immediately or face possible closure. The Coastal
Bend Detention Center was cited Monday for failing to classify inmates, check
for contraband, improper staff training, jailers without proper state licensing
and no tuberculosis screening plan, among other issues. If the facility, owned
by Lafayette, La.-based LCS Corrections, cannot correct its problems, especially
the jailers’ licensing, then the Texas Commission on Jail Standards could
temporarily close it, commission Director Adan Muñoz said. “I have to bring any
remedial order before the (jail) commission, but this borders really close to
complete incompetence,” he said. The jail opened in September 2008. Its first
inmates arrived in March. Jail warden Art Crews was replaced in August by
Elberto “Bert” Bravo, who also is warden at LCS’ detention facility in Hidalgo
County, said Dick Harbison, LCS vice president of operations. The management
shake-up should help fix the jail’s problems, he said. “My people know exactly
what needs to be done,” Bravo said. “I know the report looks bad. They say it is
the worst they have ever seen. But honestly, we are going to be OK. It’s just
going to take me a little bit of time to do it.” The jail will be in compliance
by late October, he said. Within the past two weeks, Bravo hired two deputy
wardens with more than 60 years of combined experience. He also laid off 26
jailers until they can get the correct state licensing. He fired another 10 for
not doing what they were told, he said. The detention facility was overstaffed
and reassigned some of its 175 staff members to cover jailer positions, Bravo
said. The facility has a capacity for 1,056 inmates. When it was inspected last
week it held 475, according to state inspectors. Most are undocumented
immigrants housed in Robstown through a contract with federal agencies. Another
41 are inmates from Duval, Jim Wells and Kleberg counties, where jails are
overcrowded, according to the jail standards commission. Compliance Issues-- The
Coastal Bend Detention Center in Robstown had 17 compliance issues after state
inspectors reviewed the facility last week. -- Inmate toilet and shower areas
have insufficient privacy shields -- Jailers are not being trained properly for
fire drills -- Jailers are not being trained properly in the use of air packs --
No documentation outlining generator testing or the transfer of the facility’s
electric load at least once a month -- Inmates were not classified correctly --
Classification reviews were not conducted within 90 days of initial inmate
custody assessments -- Classification workers didn’t receive the required four
hours of training -- Internal classification audit logs were not kept -- No
tuberculosis screening plan had been approved by the health department --
Twenty-four officers did not have a required jailer’s license or temporary
jailer’s license -- Hourly face-to-face prisoner checks were not performed --
The facility did not meet the state mandated 1-to-48 jailer-to-inmate ratio --
Personnel did not conduct required contraband searches -- Disciplinary hearings
for minor inmate infractions were conducted by a single person rather than a
disciplinary board -- Jail did not respond to inmates with grievances within 15
days or resolve issues within 60 days as required -- Inmates did not receive one
hour of supervised physical education three days per week as required -- A fire
panel doesn’t show an inspection tag
March 7, 2009 Caller-Times
As federal prisoners began arriving at the privately owned LCS detention
facility in Robstown on Friday, a company official said employees who were laid
off in January have been rehired. In response to the influx of prisoners into
the 1,100-bed facility, which has sat empty since it opened in September, the
prison has called back some 40 employees who were laid off in January, bringing
the current number of employees up to 75, said Dick Harbison, LCS vice president
of operations. “It’s full steam ahead right now,” he said. And beginning Monday,
the company plans to hire another 80 employees with starting pay at $11 an hour.
The news comes a week after Nueces County Judge Loyd Neal and the U.S. Marshals
agreed on a temporary price tag for prisoner housing. LCS will get roughly $44
per prisoner per day under the terms of an addendum to the contract already in
place for housing prisoners in Hidalgo County.
February 5, 2009 Record Star
With necessary paperwork stalled in Washington D.C., the Coastal Bend Detention
Center has yet to receive its first inmate, and recently laid off or reassigned
over half of its staff. The detention center, a private facility owned by LCS
Corrections Services, Inc. and located just south of Robstown, held a grand
opening ceremony in November and was expected to receive its first inmates in
early December. Arthur Crews Sr., the warden of the Coastal Bend facility, said
a final contract that requires the signature of administrative personnel in the
Washington D.C. branch of the U.S. Marshal service has not been signed, delaying
the facility's opening. While that paperwork was filed months ago, Crews said
the change in administration in Washington D.C. has been largely to blame for
the hold up. "That's mainly due to the situation of the timing that's going on,
with the Democratic Party going in, the Republican Party coming out, department
heads not really knowing who's going to have what job and who's going to be
replaced," Crews said. The facility initially hired 72 people in November, but
that number fell to 60 by early January, as individuals found work elsewhere or
relocated. Without any inmates, the facility is not bringing in revenue, which
led the company to make significant staffing changes two weeks ago. During that
process, six staff members were transferred to another LCS facility in the area,
12 were hired by the Nueces County Sheriff's Department and 16 were laid off.
Those who were laid off primarily worked in the food service or customer service
departments, Crews said. Of the 26 staff members still on the payroll at the
Coastal Bend facility, most have seen their weekly hours reduced as a
cost-saving measure, Crews indicated. Nueces County Sheriff Jim Kaelin said last
week the detention center's loss was the county's gain, as the 12 individuals
hired by the county are already certified through the state as corrections
officers and will fill a significant staffing need. "It just so happens that we
had reached the point that we had vacancies where we could hire all they wanted
to send our way," Kaelin said. "It's going to be a win-win for us and a win-win
for LCS because it helps them reduce their payroll." Although Crews could offer
no timeline for when the final paperwork might be completed, he said he has
little doubt the facility will be fully operational in the near future. "We
don't know how long this contract's going to take. It could be two weeks, it
could be two months or more. We just don't know," Crews said. "My speculation,
with 22 years in the correction business, is that with us having 1,100 beds,
it's not going to sit here empty." And Crews said all the employees laid off or
reassigned have guaranteed jobs once the facility does start housing prisoners.
"I let them leave here, the ones we laid off, and keep their ID badge and keep
their uniforms," Crews said. "That's the bond that I have with the employees,
and they are going to come back."
January 24, 2009 Caller-Times
LCS Corrections Services laid off half of its Robstown detention center
employees Friday because federal authorities have yet to transfer in prisoners,
but the company plans to offer jobs to some elsewhere. LCS, a private Lafayette,
La.-based prison company, expected to have a full house at its 1,100-bed
facility shortly after the prison opened in mid-November, but the center remains
empty after a contract with the federal government stalled, said Dick Harbison,
LCS vice president of operations. Of the 35 correctional officers laid off, six
will be offered positions at the LCS detention facility in Brooks County,
Harbison said. Short on correctional officers, Nueces County Jail will offer
jobs to 14 others, county officials said. Fifteen temporarily will be left
without jobs, Harbison said. To start the intake of federal prisoners from
agencies such as the U.S. Marshals Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement
and the U.S. Border Patrol, LCS needs Nueces County to sign an agreement with
marshals that will outline how much the federal government will pay for housing
their prisoners. Congress also must pass a 2009 budget, which should occur when
a continuing resolution allowing the federal government to operate under its
2008 budget expires in early March. The prison company intends to rehire the
laid-off employees and hire additional staff once prisoners start arriving,
Harbison said. Nueces County spent millions to clean up its jail's substandard
conditions that led to the June 2006 removal of federal prisoners. The federal
inmates haven't returned. County officials have been negotiating since January
2008 for a higher fee to house them at the jail. The contract also will include
fees for housing federal prisoners at two LCS facilities. Because the federal
government doesn't deal with private detention contractors, LCS is dependent on
a "pass through" contract, where the county gets a share of fees charged per
prisoner for passing through overflow federal prisoners to the company's private
facilities in Hidalgo County and Robstown. Nueces County Judge Loyd Neal said
Friday that the county, the U.S. Marshals Service and LCS are in agreement on
new rates for the jail and the LCS facilities. He wouldn't disclose the
negotiated rates. The proposed fees are awaiting review and approval from the
Office of the Federal Detention Trustee, which oversees federal detention
programs. The county, which received a $45.15 daily rate per prisoner prior to
their removal from the county jail, was seeking a raise to $61.49. County
officials previously have said that negotiations were stuck at about $53 a day
per prisoner. "The marshals and I have agreed on that rate. We have worked with
LCS, and they agree it is very favorable," Neal said. "We did this several
months ago, and we have been unable to get any kind of funding out of the
federal government. Until the new Congress and President (Barack) Obama reach an
agreement (on a budget) there is no money available for a new arrangement for
federal prisoners." The county receives $2 a day for each prisoner sent to LCS'
Hidalgo County facility, and LCS earns roughly $43. A similar pass through deal
is in the works for the Robstown facility once the county and the federal
government sign off on new rates. "The minute we hear anything at all we will be
contacting everybody to come back to work," Harbison said.
January 23, 2009 KIII TV
A new private prison near Robstown hasn't even opened up yet, but already
some staff members have been laid off. The transition of power in Washington is
said to be the main reason for the holdup. The Coastal Bend Detention Center is
ready to go, but with no prisoners and no revenue, company officials were forced
to do this for the time being. The new private prison in Robstown is ready for
business. More than 1100 beds are made and waiting for federal prisoners, but
the transition of power in the presidency has caused problems for the U.S.
Marshal's Office to sign the contract and bring prisoners to the facility. "So
we don't have inmates at this time," said Art Crews, Prison Warden for the LCS
Coastal Bend Detention Center. "That's our revenue. Until we do, we can't hire
the people back." So the prison officials called a meeting for its employees.
They announced about 12 are being laid off, while another 48 are seeing their
hours reduced. "First time in my 22 years in the correction field in a warden
position having to tell them that and that hurts," Crews said. The private
prison did find jobs for about 15 guards at the Nueces and Kleberg County jail.
Coke County Juvenile Justice
Center
Bronte, Texas
GEO Group (formerly known as Wackenhut Corrections)
October 12, 2007 KRIS TV
The delayed discovery of squalid conditions at a privately run Texas Youth
Commission jail was "a human failure" and stronger oversight is needed to
prevent similar incidents, a key state senator said Friday. "It was very simple
that the monitors were not doing their job and there was a human failure," said
Sen. John Whitmire, head of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee. "Who's
monitoring the monitors?" Whitmire, a Houston Democrat, called a committee
hearing about a week after a Coke County juvenile lockup in Bronte operated by
The GEO Group, Inc., was closed because of filthy conditions. A Texas Youth
Commission ombudsman discovered the conditions, even though the facility had
passed previous inspections by TYC monitors. The TYC system was rocked earlier
this year by allegations of rampant sexual and other physical abuse against
juvenile inmates in the system. The star witness at Friday's hearing on adult
and juvenile prison monitoring was Shirley Noble, who told how her son,
43-year-old Idaho inmate Scot Noble Payne, endured months of horrific conditions
then slit his own throat at a private Texas prison run by GEO Group. "It seemed
there was no end to the degradation he and other prisoners were to endure with
substandard facilities," Noble said. Her son died March 4 in a private prison in
Spur. Noble questioned why Idaho sent its inmates to Texas and why the
Florida-based GEO Group was allowed to keep prisoners in what she described as
"degrading and subhuman conditions." "Please, please hold them accountable for
all the injuries and misery they have caused," Noble said. A spokesman for GEO
Group did not immediately return a telephone call from The Associated Press to
respond to comments made at the hearing. TYC Acting Executive Director Dimitria
Pope, who took over the youth agency earlier this year, testified that she's
putting more monitoring safeguards in place. That includes sending executive
staff members out to view the lockups, something she said hadn't been done
regularly in the past. "Because of my concerns of what I saw in Coke County, I
have implemented a blitz of every facility, either the ones that we operate,
that contract, district offices, anything that has TYC affiliated with it," she
said, adding that each site will be visited by the end of October. Adan Munoz
Jr., executive director of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, said he has
four inspectors do annual inspections of the 267 facilities under his oversight.
He defended his agency's practice of giving two- to three-week notices about
inspection visits but said recently there have been more surprise inspections.
Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa, D-McAllen, said privatizing prisons is an "easy way
out." He said he worries about the state continuing to contract with companies
that have a history of abuse. "It's a myth that the private sector does a better
job than government" in running prisons, Hinojosa said. "They're there to make a
profit and they'll cut corners, and they'll cut back on services and they'll
many times look the other way when abuse is taking place." Because of Texas'
size and high rate of locking up convicts, the state is in the national
spotlight for its dealings with private prison firms, said Sen. Rodney Ellis,
D-Houston. "It puts a special burden on us," he said. "If it needs to be
improved, improve it, because everybody looks to us." Noble was the panel's
final witness. The room hushed as she told the senators her family's emotional
tale. Her son, a convicted sex offender, was kept in solitary confinement for
months with a wet floor, bloodstained sheets and smelly towels. She said he
wrote long, detailed letters to family members in which he said the only way to
escape the prison's harsh conditions was to join his late grandfather in the
spirit world. Noble said she begged for psychological help for her son. She said
he wasn't supposed to have been given a razor, and she still wonders how he got
the one he used to end his life. "After he tried to unsuccessfully slash his
wrists and ankles, he knelt in the shower and cut his own throat," she said.
"Surely only a person in utter disillusionment and horrifying conditions would
bring themselves to this end."
October 12, 2007 Dallas Morning News
Three monitors fired by the Texas Youth Commission last week for failing to
report filthy and dangerous conditions at a privately run juvenile prison in
West Texas had previously worked for the company they oversaw. Two of the
quality assurance monitors were hired directly from caseworker positions with
The GEO Group Inc. at the Coke County Juvenile Justice Center, according to
their job applications. The monitoring unit's supervisor also briefly worked for
GEO at the youth prison near Bronte four years before being hired by TYC,
records show. A clerk who was fired had previous GEO employment as well. TYC
spokesman Jim Hurley said agency executives were unaware of the terminated
workers' ties to GEO before The Dallas Morning News filed an open-records
request this week. Officials said last week that they were concerned about
entanglements between TYC employees and the company they monitored. TYC's
inspector general has launched a criminal investigation of operations at the
Coke County prison, including the possibility of financial transactions between
GEO and TYC employees. GEO's relationship with the fired TYC monitors is a
likely topic at a hearing today of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee in
Austin. It is intended to examine GEO's operation of youth and adult prisons in
Texas. State Sen. John Whitmire, the panel's chairman, was angered to learn from
a reporter Thursday that TYC monitors had previously been employed by GEO. "I
think it's outrageous," the Houston Democrat said. "It just confirms what many
of us suspected – that there was too close a relationship between the TYC
employees and GEO employees." He said the committee also would seek answers from
the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and county jail and juvenile probation
officials about their own monitoring of private corrections companies. "Anyone
that confines individuals in the state of Texas needs to make certain they know
who their monitors are – and that they go behind their monitors and literally
monitor their monitors," Mr. Whitmire said. Mr. Hurley said the prior employment
with GEO raised questions about whether the monitors had been objective in their
evaluations of the facility. "How do you monitor the monitors?" he said. "We
need a very good answer to that." For years, quality assurance reports on the
Coke County prison had been overwhelmingly positive. Twice, TYC named it
contract facility of the year. "You have to worry about conflicts of interest,"
Mr. Hurley said Thursday. "I'm not saying there is a conflict of interest. But
there is a perception." TYC Executive Director Dimitria Pope fired four monitors
at the Coke County prison and a clerk last week after she and others toured the
facility. It was in such deplorable condition, Ms. Pope said, that she ordered
the removal of all 197 inmates. She also fired another employee at the Coke
County facility who had not worked for GEO, and two contract care supervisors at
TYC's district office in Fort Worth. The head of contract care at TYC's
headquarters in Austin resigned. Ms. Pope canceled TYC's $8 million contract
with Florida-based GEO, which had operated the Coke County facility since it
opened in 1994. GEO initially tried to reinstate the contract but, after
criticism, said it accepted the decision. The Coke County facility was the
state's largest private youth prison. It was the only Texas juvenile facility
operated by GEO, one of the nation's biggest private prison contractors. As a
result of the problems discovered at Coke County, Ms. Pope ordered a wholesale
review of the agency's contract care system. "Who the monitors are and where
they come from will be one of the issues that we're going to look at," Mr.
Hurley said. TYC employs more than 40 quality assurance specialists and
supervisors, according to personnel records provided to The News. Some are
stationed at the facilities they monitor, several of which are in remote rural
areas. Mr. Hurley shied away from discussing what actions the agency might
undertake if it learns that other monitors had previous employment with
contractors they inspect. "What we need to do is make sure that first of all,
every one of these contracts is being monitored and that it's being monitored
correctly," he said. "If the remoteness is a problem, I think that monitoring
these contracts accurately will show us that," he said. "We need to have a sort
of evidence-based determination." The Coke County prison is in a one-stoplight
town about 30 miles north of San Angelo. It was the town's second-largest
employer after the school district. One-third of the school district's $6
million budget is tied to programs at the prison. Two of the fired TYC employees
lived in Bronte. Valerie Jones, former supervisor of the monitoring unit, has
two children in the Bronte schools. Patti Frazee, her clerk, is married to a
member of the Bronte school board. Ms. Jones, who worked for GEO as a
chemical-dependency counselor from October 1995 to July 1996, declined to
comment Thursday. She was hired by TYC as a quality assurance monitor in spring
2000, records show. Ms. Frazee, reached at her home, said officials of the youth
agency never raised any questions about her previous employment with GEO. "There
were not very many jobs out here," she said. "Any time you could take a state
job, it was a better job for everybody because it paid more money. That's the
only reason. It was like a step up from GEO. That's the way everybody viewed
it." Ms. Frazee was paid $17,950 per year working as bookkeeper for GEO. As a
clerk for TYC, she earned $25,035. The two monitors hired directly from GEO,
Brian Lutz and David Roberson, earned $26,800 and $24,500 per year,
respectively. With TYC, Mr. Lutz was paid $33,945,while Mr. Roberson received
$37,393, agency records show. Several attempts to locate Mr. Lutz for comment
were unsuccessful. Mr. Roberson, reached at his home in San Angelo, declined to
be interviewed. Lisa Williamson worked as a TYC quality assurance monitor at the
Coke County facility from 1998 until 2004. She said she knew Mr. Roberson and
Ms. Jones well. She described them as honest, hard-working people devoted to
their jobs. "There is not anybody there who I wouldn't trust with my own
children," said Ms. Williamson, who now works as a juvenile probation officer in
Young County. Ms. Williamson said she had not worked for GEO. But she said she
never saw any of her colleagues who had worked for the company ignore any
problems. While she and the GEO warden, Brett Bement, frequently tried to tell
each other how to do their jobs, Ms. Williamson said, she didn't feel pressured
and didn't obey him. "He knew I wasn't a pushover, and he couldn't get by with
it. He couldn't have done that with any of us," she said. GEO Group gave money
to several state officials' campaigns -- State Rep. Jerry Madden held his annual
"How Sweet It Is" dessert party in Plano on Thursday night to raise money for a
future campaign. One of the sponsors at the $2,500 "cherries jubilee" level was
to be The GEO Group Inc., a Florida-based corrections company. Until last week,
GEO operated the Coke County Juvenile Justice Center near Bronte under contract
with the Texas Youth Commission. In recent years, the company has donated to the
campaigns of some legislators who oversee the youth agency. Two of them, Mr.
Madden and Sen. John Whitmire, are co-chairmen of the special legislative
committee established this year to oversee reforms of TYC in the wake of a
sexual abuse scandal at the West Texas State School in Pyote. Mr. Madden,
R-Plano, received a total of $2,500 from GEO's political action committee in
2005 and 2006, according to campaign finance records. Mr. Whitmire, a Houston
Democrat, received $2,000 from the political action committee of Wackenhut
Corrections Corp., as GEO was previously known, in 2003 and 2004. Other
recipients of GEO or Wackenhut contributions are Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who
received $2,500 in 2006, and House Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland, who received
$1,000 in 2005, state records show. In addition to Mr. Madden, the chairman of
the House Corrections Committee, two other panel members received donations from
GEO or Wackenhut. Rep. Delwin Jones, R-Lubbock, received $250 in 2006. And Pat
Haggerty, R-El Paso, received $500 from the Wackenhut Corrections PAC in 2004.
Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee
on Criminal Justice and another member of the Joint Committee on the Operation
and Management of the Texas Youth Commission, received $250 in 2006. Mr.
Madden's predecessor as head of the corrections committee, Ray Allen, received
$3,500 in 2003 and 2004 from Wackenhut. He since has left public office and is a
lobbyist for GEO. Mr. Madden acknowledged that lobbyists for GEO might attend
his fundraiser at the Southfork Hotel on Thursday night. But he said he had told
the lobbyists that he did not want a check. "Just right now, I think it would be
a bad idea to specifically look for contributions from GEO," he said.
October 11, 2007 The Olympian
The mother of an Idaho inmate who killed himself in a Texas prison this year
has become a corrections activist. Shirley Noble travels to Austin, Texas Friday
to urge lawmakers there to stop accepting out-of-state prisoners at their
for-profit lockups. Texas is holding hearings over The GEO Group, a
Florida-based private prison company that lost its contract to oversee a
juvenile prison because of dirty bed sheets, feces-smeared cells and insects in
the food. GEO also ran the prison where Shirley Noble's son, Scot Noble Payne,
slashed his throat March 4. The convicted sex offender had been shipped to Texas
with a group of 450 Idaho inmates because of overcrowding at prisons at home.
Shirley Noble contends sending prisoners out-of-state leaves them without family
contact - and caused Idaho prison officials to neglect them.
October 6, 2007 Dallas Morning News
The Texas Youth Commission is investigating whether its employees had improper
ties to GEO Group Inc., the company that ran a West Texas juvenile prison where
inmates lived in dangerous and squalid conditions. Acting TYC Executive Director
Dimitria Pope said Friday that agency investigators will be checking into the
backgrounds of employees to "see if they are connected to GEO in any way." Among
the areas of inquiry, she said, is whether anyone in TYC was working as a
consultant for GEO. Investigators also will look for any other financial
arrangements between TYC workers and GEO, which operated the now-closed Coke
County Juvenile Justice Center in Bronte. Any TYC employee found to have ties to
GEO will be fired, Ms. Pope said. "I'm saying let's go back to the time this
facility just opened. Let's see if there are any interesting financial
transactions," she said. "I think if you go back and look, there will be some
interesting things to look at." On Friday afternoon, Ms. Pope toured the TYC
prison in Mart, which took in the 197 inmates removed from the GEO facility on
Tuesday. TYC canceled its $8 million contract with the company on Monday, citing
"deplorable conditions." Ms. Pope, who visited the Coke County prison late last
month after a surprise agency inspection, said she saw indications that the
relationship between TYC's on-site monitors and GEO was not as separate as it
should have been. For example, she said, GEO workers had keys to TYC's office in
Bronte. When she entered the office, she said, no agency employee was there, but
confidential inmate records remained in plain sight. "Kids' files were laying
out on the table," she said. "There was stuff on the fax machine." Ms. Pope said
she does not know if any TYC monitors formerly worked for GEO, but she is
concerned about that as well. 'A disgrace' -- TYC has already fired seven
employees whose jobs were to monitor the Coke County unit and GEO's contract
compliance. TYC's on-site inspectors routinely filed glowing reports on the
prison. "They were there," she said of the inspectors. "They [their reports] say
absolutely nothing." At a news conference in Austin earlier in the day, Ms. Pope
blasted GEO, with whom Texas has done business since 1994. She said it operated
a fire trap and that inmates' medical needs were ignored, schooling was "almost
nonexistent" and a pattern of "physical and psychological harm" was routinely
tolerated. "GEO should be ashamed," she said. "The Coke County Juvenile Justice
Center is a disgrace." A TYC audit of the facility described a breakdown on many
levels, including safety, hygiene, medical treatment, education and maintenance.
Asked if TYC auditors found anyone at the Coke unit who had been doing the job
properly, Ms. Pope responded: "I'm saying, 'Hell, no, they weren't.' " "The kids
had a stench because they weren't allowed to bathe," she said. "And their teeth?
Horrible." During her visit to TYC's prison in Mart, near Waco, Ms. Pope spoke
with about 25 inmates from the GEO-run unit. "I notice you have toothpaste in
there," she said to one, as the inmates stood at parade rest outside their
cells. "I got you here so you can be treated like a human being," Ms. Pope told
one 15-year-old inmate. A TYC audit of the GEO facility, released Friday, said
inmates did not have access to toothpaste or toothbrushes for days at a time.
Filth and disrepair were common throughout the prison, the report said. Only one
washer and one dryer were available to serve nearly 200 youth. TYC auditors who
visited the prison got so much fecal matter on their shoes they had to wipe
their feet on the grass outside, Ms. Pope said. Many pieces of fire safety
equipment were either inoperable or missing, the report said. Some emergency
exits were closed with locks and chains. "I personally was locked in one of the
dorms because the doors didn't work properly," Ms. Pope said. The prison's
warden said he was aware of many of the problems pointed out by auditors. "He
indicated that corporate did not respond to many of his purchasing needs ...,"
the audit report said. Dispatching audit teams -- TYC paid GEO $632,000 a month
to operate the prison, the report said. Last year, TYC spent nearly $17 million
of its $249 million budget on private contractors, according to a Dallas Morning
News investigation in July, which revealed problems with the agency's contract
facilities. The agency said it was sending audit teams, composed of former
members of the state's jail standards commission, to visit every TYC prison and
halfway house. "No stone is going to go unturned," Ms. Pope said. "I don't want
any more surprises." State Sen. John Whitmire, chairman of the Senate Criminal
Justice Committee, said Friday that he would hold legislative hearings on GEO's
contracts to run other correctional facilities throughout Texas. "We're
preparing ourselves for a thorough review of GEO, and it could easily take us
into other private contractors," he said. "But GEO is our focus now as a result
of Coke County and their response." He criticized not only the conditions that
GEO allowed to exist but also the company's response to the problem. "They tried
to cover it. They tried to spin it. They had their lobbyists try to pressure
legislators not to listen to TYC," Sen. Whitmire said. "So if that's their
attitude, then I question their ability to carry out their contractual
requirements in other state facilities." Rep. Jerry Madden, R-Plano, chairman of
the House Corrections Committee, said he had no information to suggest financial
corruption in the GEO contract but added, "I think that we should let the
[inspector general's] investigation go forward and see what they find." Criminal
inquiry -- TYC Inspector General Bruce Toney said Wednesday that he had begun a
criminal investigation of the GEO-run youth prison. He requested assistance from
the state auditor's office and also advised the Texas Rangers and Texas attorney
general's office of his investigation. TYC is "an agency that has had deep
internal problems, and they just don't go away overnight," Mr. Madden said.
"There should have been a lot of people who had the responsibility of finding
out that those things had happened." Ms. Pope expressed anger at critics of
TYC's cancellation of the GEO contract. "I will no longer sit here and take the
unfair jabs of individuals who are attempting to advance their personal agenda
over the welfare of youth," she said. She would not specify about whom she was
talking. "I think it speaks for itself," she said. Some local officials in Coke
County have said the prison does not deserve to be closed and have said TYC's
actions will have a devastating economic impact on Bronte. "Anyone who's
rallying behind GEO," Ms. Pope said, "should ... hold their heads in shame."
October 5, 2007 San Antonio Express-News
The Texas Youth Commission's chief blasted critics Friday who questioned her
handling of problems at a juvenile center shuttered this week, but also admitted
a "significant breakdown" in her own agency's oversight. "I will no longer sit
back and take the unfair jabs from individuals who are attempting to advance
their own particular agenda over the welfare of the youth," said Dimitria Pope,
TYC's acting executive director. "Neither money nor power can come over my No. 1
priority, which is our youth." Pope, who made the comments at a news conference
she called at TYC's Austin headquarters, refused to name the individual critics
she called unfair or inaccurate. Her comments appeared directed, however, at two
sources of criticism. One is the elected leadership of the small town of Bronte
in West Texas, angered by the loss of 100 jobs when TYC shuttered the Coke
County Juvenile Justice Center this week and transferred about 195 young inmates
elsewhere. The other is state Rep. Jerry Madden, R-Richardson, chairman of the
House Corrections Committee, who said he wonders why TYC only now is learning
about alleged squalor and unfit conditions at the youth lockup run by Geo Group
Inc. of Boca Raton, Fla. Citing those conditions, Pope fired seven agency
"quality assurance" staffers and canceled the agency's $8 million contract with
Geo, which specializes in private prisons. The action threw TYC in the spotlight
again after a sex abuse scandal at the agency led to investigations and intense
legislative scrutiny last spring. "I am very concerned as to how did this
condition arise, how long did it take and why are we just now finding out about
it?" Madden said Friday, applauding a criminal investigation under way by TYC's
inspector general. "We asked the question at our last hearing, were the kids
safer? The answer we got was yes. It appears to me some of them were not,"
Madden added. Pope complained during her news conference that she was "damned if
I did and damned if I didn't" and asserted that the agency should get the
respect it needs as it attempts to carry out the mission of keeping confined
youths safe. "There was a significant breakdown. That will be totally
restructured," she said of the lack of checks and balances for the agency's
oversight team. TYC's acting director of quality assurance, Elizabeth Lee,
resigned this week but the agency's spokesman Jim Hurley said he didn't know if
it was connected to the problems at the Geo-run youth facility. "Geo should be
ashamed and anyone who's rallying behind Geo should also hold their head in
shame," Pope said. Geo officials, who had said they provided quality services,
said Friday they'd make no further comments. Coke County Judge Roy Blair said
that he'd been to the Geo-run youth facility several times, and the
Commissioners Court had inspected it every quarter. "I have never noted any,
what I would call severe, problems as far as mistreatment or health issues or
any significant problems," he said. "The thing has always been relatively
clean." Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman John Whitmire, D-Houston,
opened an investigation of adult private prison contracts with Geo.
October 5, 2007 Houston Chronicle
A Houston lawmaker is launching a broad investigation into a private prison
contractor after the state closed one of its youth facilities this week, citing
filth, poor safety and health violations. Democratic Sen. John Whitmire,
chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, cited the "terrible job" Geo
Group Inc. did running the West Texas youth lockup and said Thursday he plans to
review adult corrections contracts the state has with the company. Boca Raton,
Fla.-based Geo Group, which runs eight adult lockups in Texas, was sued by the
Texas Civil Rights Project in 2006 in connection with an alleged rape and
suicide of a woman at the Val Verde County Jail. The suit alleged jail guards
working for the company have allowed male and female inmates to have sex with
each other. The suit was settled earlier this year with a nondisclosure
agreement. Geo spokesman Pablo Paez did not return phone calls seeking comment,
but earlier stated the company had provided quality services at the TYC
facility. On Monday the Texas Youth Commission shuttered the doors of its Coke
County Juvenile Justice Center, run by Geo, and moved nearly 200 young offenders
to other TYC facilities. "When we saw what a terrible job they were doing at
Coke County, TYC had the ability to shut it down and move their youth," Whitmire
said. As for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, he wondered, "When we
find a failure to properly run a facility, what do they do?" Geo operates four
prisons, two shorter term lockups and a halfway house for the adult prison
system. Prison spokeswoman Michelle Lyons said the agency hasn't had any
"significant ongoing operational issues." Whitmire said he found evidence that a
90-day lockup in Houston run by Geo was out of compliance in 139 of 395 areas in
a recent inspection. Lyons said Whitmire is referring to a 2006 audit, and all
problems cited have now been cleared up. Geo also supervises state prisoners in
leased space in the Jefferson and Newton county jails. TYC spokesman Jim Hurley
said the agency's inspector general has opened a criminal investigation into the
conditions at the Coke County juvenile facility. Seven TYC employees have been
fired, including several who were responsible for on-site monitoring of the Coke
facility. This was the only contract Geo had with the Youth Commission. But the
agency has contracts with several other providers for various programs
throughout the state, including foster homes and a program to teach parenting
skills to delinquents who are pregnant.
October 3, 2007 Dallas Morning News
Seven Texas Youth Commission employees were fired Wednesday as a state
investigation widened at a privately run West Texas juvenile prison where
inmates were found living in filth. TYC Inspector General Bruce Toney said
Wednesday he has begun a criminal investigation of operations at the Coke County
Juvenile Justice Center near Bronte. Mr. Toney said his inquiry could focus on
TYC employees and those of GEO Group Inc., which operates the prison. "We are
going to follow all leads wherever they take us and as high as they may go both
in TYC and the operation of that facility," Mr. Toney said. Citing "deplorable
conditions," TYC this week canceled its contract with GEO to operate the state's
largest private juvenile prison. All 197 male inmates were removed on Tuesday.
Mr. Toney said he has requested assistance from the state auditor's office and
met with the head of the Travis County district attorney's public integrity unit
on Wednesday. He said he also advised the Texas Rangers and Texas attorney
general's office of his investigation. He sent one of his investigators to the
Coke County facility last week. "Our initial response was to go out there and
basically take a preliminary look and see what we had out there. We will just
look at everything and see what transpires," Mr. Toney said. State Sen. John
Whitmire, D-Houston, threatened to hold a public hearing on GEO's operation of
the TYC prison. "Certainly that's an option if this goes any further," said Mr.
Whitmire, chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee. "If GEO thinks
they've been treated unfairly, let's have a public hearing and look at all the
photographs and videos [of the Coke County prison] and let the public decide."
Mr. Whitmire said he was upset at efforts this week by GEO lobbyists to convince
legislators that TYC had treated the company too harshly. "Now enters GEO with
their paid lobbyists attempting to put a good face on this," Mr. Whitmire said.
"I'm saying the corporation should back off. They've run a very poor facility
that probably violates the youths' civil rights. ... Kids were stepping in their
own feces. The sheets were such that a cat or dog wouldn't sleep on them." GEO
spokesman Pablo Paez said he would not comment on any attempts by the company's
lobbyists to sway legislators. Mr. Paez said his company was disappointed in
TYC's decision to cancel the contract. "We believe we have provided quality
services for the Texas Youth Commission for many years," he said. TYC officials
have been unable to explain how the agency's own quality assurance monitors,
stationed just outside the prison, not only failed to report substandard
conditions but praised the operation. In the monitors' most recent review, in
February, the prison was awarded an overall compliance score of 97.7 percent. In
that review, monitors also thanked GEO staff for their positive work with TYC
youth. "Those who were supposed to be our quality-assurance people out at Bronte
will no longer be working for the Texas Youth Commission," agency spokesman Jim
Hurley said. He cited an "abysmal failure on their part to not report the
deterioration of that facility." Four of the TYC employees who were fired on
Wednesday worked as quality assurance monitors at the Coke County facility. A
fifth, who worked in TYC's district office in Fort Worth, was an author of the
February report. The two other employees also were in contract care management,
but Mr. Hurley said he would not disclose their specific job titles or where
they worked. TYC identified none of the employees by name. Late last month,
several TYC officials – including acting executive director Dimitria Pope –
visited the prison and found poor conditions. A report by TYC ombudsman Will
Harrell detailed numerous deficiencies. He found inmates who had been placed in
solitary confinement for five weeks. They were allowed to leave their cells once
a day, in shackles, to take a shower. Mr. Harrell also noted that some bedsheets
were dirty and that inmates "complain regularly of discovering insects' in their
food. "Children seemed almost desperate to lodge their complaints," Mr. Harrell
wrote in his report. Many of his findings were confirmed in a report by Susan
Moynahan, the TYC liaison for the Harris County Juvenile Probation Department.
Among her discoveries at the Coke unit: Inmates in one dorm did not have a
restroom, so they were forced to defecate in plastic bags. Mr. Paez, the GEO
spokesman, said he has read the ombudsman's findings. "I have seen the report,"
he said. "I really can't comment on it." State Rep. Jerry Madden, R-Plano, said
he will meet today with GEO representatives to discuss the Coke County prison.
"I want to hear their side of it." TYC paid GEO $8 million a year to run the
Coke County prison. GEO said it had pre-tax earnings of about $800,000 a year on
the contract. Last year, TYC spent nearly $17 million of its $249 million budget
doing business with private contractors, including GEO. TYC is putting together
a plan to review each contract care program, Mr. Hurley said. "We are working
right now on plans to have a physical presence at every contract care program
that we are operating to review what is going on and to ensure the monitoring
reports that we get are accurate," he said. In July, The Dallas Morning News
found numerous problems with TYC's contractor-run facilities. The stories
revealed that private contractors housing juvenile inmates in Texas repeatedly
have lost contracts or closed operations in other states after investigators
uncovered mismanagement, neglect and abuse. Two states closed GEO-operated units
because of abuse allegations and inadequate care of inmates. TYC was placed in a
state conservatorship this year after a sex abuse scandal and subsequent
cover-up were exposed by The News and the Web site of The Texas Observer. Mr.
Madden of Plano was one of the authors of legislation this year intended to
reform TYC. He noted Wednesday that he had asked TYC officials at a hearing last
month if inmates are safer now than they were before the reforms. Officials
assured him they are. Now, Mr. Madden said, problems such as those in Coke
County have caused him to question TYC's response. "I'm not sure the answer,
'They are safer,' is actually true," he said.
October 3, 2007 Dallas Morning News
The Texas Youth Commission is investigating why juvenile inmates endured squalor
and deprivation at a privately run West Texas prison that was repeatedly praised
by TYC's own quality-assurance monitors. The agency began busing the 197 male
inmates from the Coke County Juvenile Justice Center before dawn Tuesday.
Officials also canceled an $8-million annual contract with operators of the
state's largest private juvenile prison, citing "deplorable conditions." The
problems found at the prison in Bronte, operated by the GEO Group Inc. of
Florida, were described in a report by TYC Ombudsman Will Harrell. "There is a
greater sense of fear and intimidation in this facility than perhaps any other I
have been to," Mr. Harrell wrote. He also noted that: •Some young inmates were
kept in "malodorous and dark" security cells for five weeks. They were allowed
to leave, in shackles, only once a day for a shower. •There was an
"over-reliance" on the use of pepper spray. •Inmates "complain regularly of
discovering insects in their food." TYC announced Tuesday that its inspector
general's office, as well as Department of Public Safety troopers, were
investigating. TYC spokesman Jim Hurley said other agencies, including the state
auditor's office and the attorney general's office, could join the
investigation. Asked if TYC suspected financial wrongdoing, Mr. Hurley would say
only, "We're concerned about every aspect of the way this facility was run and
the contract was administered." The agency "cannot tolerate this kind of
situation," he added. "Not only do there need to be financial sanctions, but
there need to be other actions taken against people who operate this way." This
is only the latest problem to beset TYC, which was placed in state
conservatorship this year after a sex abuse scandal and subsequent cover-up were
exposed by The Dallas Morning News and the Web site of The Texas Observer. In
July, an investigation by The News detailed numerous problems with TYC's
contract-run facilities, including GEO's Coke County prison. The investigation
revealed that at least two other states had closed GEO-run facilities because of
inadequate care of inmates and abuse allegations. GEO spokesman Pablo Paez said
the company was disappointed by TYC's decision, which he said was unexpected.
"We had not received any notices or any indication of any significant
deficiencies at the facility prior to agency's decision to discontinue the
contract," Mr. Paez said. Contractor of the year -- Among other matters at the
Bronte facility near San Angelo, state investigators will explore whether
inmates were prevented from filing grievances with TYC. "I don't think the
phones worked all the time if they wanted to complain," Mr. Hurley said, and
"kids weren't let out of their cells" to file complaints. TYC employs four
full-time quality-assurance monitors at the Coke County prison. They work in a
portable building just outside the facility's secure perimeter. Their jobs were
to ensure that GEO was meeting the terms of its contract, the first priority
being inmates' health and safety, Mr. Hurley said. "What were they doing? That's
what we're asking," Mr. Hurley said of the monitors. "I do imagine that we will
be seeing personnel actions taken as a result of this." According to TYC
records, the agency's quality-assurance monitors awarded the Coke County
facility mostly high scores on planned and unplanned inspections there over the
last seven years. In 1999 and again in 2005, TYC named Coke County its "contract
facility of the year." Mr. Hurley said monitors conducted their most recent
comprehensive review of the facility in late February 2007. Records show few
problems were recorded. Coke "achieved an overall compliance score of 97.7
percent with twenty-eight of twenty-nine critical measures passed," the report
stated. "Thank you to the Coke County staff and administration for the positive
work they do with TYC youth." Monitors did note that one dorm "had an offensive
odor" due to a sewer backup. "A number of youth complained that their clothing
was not getting clean and that it was returned to them still damp," the report
stated. In addition, TYC monitors wrote that the schedule for inmates' showers
had been interrupted because of emergencies requiring guards to maintain safety
in the dorms. "Administrative staff was made aware of the issue and the need to
correct," according to the report. The comprehensive review occurred five months
after 19-year-old Robert Schulze, an inmate who had complained that he felt
unsafe, hanged himself in his solitary cell. A TYC investigation found a number
of missteps that contributed to the young man's suicide, and TYC put the
facility on a corrective action plan as a result. 'Prevalence of fear' -- Mr.
Harrell, the new TYC ombudsman, said he visited the Coke County facility on
Sept. 21 as part of his tour of the agency's West Texas facilities. He found
dirty mattresses lying on cell floors and a large infestation of spiders,
beetles and crickets crawling around the facility, he said. Inmates told him
their sheets and clothes had not been laundered in weeks or months. "Most of
what I had seen had to be pre-existing for months if not years," he said in an
interview. There was also a "real prevalence of fear" among the inmates, he
said. "If I was to be placed in a TYC facility that would be my last pick for
sure," he added. Of the schooling available to inmates in security cells, Mr.
Harrell wrote in a report on his visit: " 'Education' consists of someone
dropping a single sheet of paper through the door slot each day which usually
contains a cross work [sic] puzzle, a word game or math problems." Three days
after Mr. Harrell's visit, acting TYC Executive Director Dimitria Pope
dispatched her new director of juvenile corrections to the Coke County facility.
Billy Humphrey, a former adult prison warden, told his boss that the facility
was "filthy" and that TYC needed to "take a much deeper look" because he had a
"very uncomfortable feeling," Mr. Hurley said. On Sept. 26, a team of TYC
officials made an unannounced visit to Coke. Ms. Pope arrived at the facility
last weekend and returned on Monday to Austin, where she met with Alfonso Royal,
the governor's liaison to TYC, and Brian Newby, the governor's chief of staff.
She then ordered the GEO contract canceled and the youths moved to another TYC
prison in Mart, near Waco. "She told us that this needs to happen," said Robert
Black, the governor's spokesman. "And we told her if this needed to happen, she
needed to do it." Inmates were moved to TYC's McLennan County facility on buses
escorted by DPS troopers. TYC made room for the Coke County youth by moving
dozens of Mart inmates to other agency facilities, said Scott Medlock, an
attorney for the Texas Civil Rights Project. At least two TYC inmates he
represents in legal action against the agency were transferred to the Crockett
State School in East Texas, he said. TYC transferred the youth without notifying
parents, he said. "I've had panicked parents calling me all day, saying, 'I
can't find my kid,' " said Mr. Medlock. Problems persist -- State Sen. Juan
Hinojosa, D-McAllen, said Tuesday he has been concerned about GEO's performance
for years, a point he raised at a legislative hearing in August. "I'm not
surprised at what they [TYC officials] found," said Sen. Hinojosa, an author of
the 2007 law aimed at reforming TYC. "There are still a lot of problems at TYC
that we're trying to clean up." A GEO news release issued Tuesday noted that its
TYC contract generated quarterly revenue of about $2 million and pre-tax
quarterly earnings of about $200,000. Now, the company plans to market the
facility to state and federal detention agencies around the country. In the
meantime, it expects to lay off most of the 140 employees. City and school
district officials in Bronte said Tuesday they had no advance notice of TYC's
decision to close the Coke County facility. The mayor and school superintendent
blamed the decision on politics. "It is straight from Gov. Perry's office. He
wants this facility closed," Mayor Gerald Sandusky said. "He's looking for
public image." "This facility does an outstanding job," Mr. Sandusky added. "It
couldn't be better."
October 2, 2007 Dallas Morning News
Texas Youth Commission officials will pull the 197 TYC inmates out of a West
Texas juvenile justice center today and cancel their contract with the company
that runs it, citing deplorable conditions at the state's largest privately
operated juvenile prison. "The decisive action ... is a clear indication of the
positive changes under way at the Texas Youth Commission," Gov. Rick Perry said
Monday. "I am deeply disappointed that conditions at the facility have
deteriorated to this point, but am confident that today's actions will remedy
the situation." The Coke County Juvenile Justice Center in Bronte, operated by
the Florida-based GEO Group Inc. since 2003, has a history of abuse and neglect,
including a 2006 suicide, allegations of sexual assault that were settled out of
court, and the 2004 death of a youth whose medical conditions were ignored. As
recently as this spring, the prison realized it had hired a registered sex
offender as a guard. An investigation by The Dallas Morning News in July
detailed problems at the facility. The coverage also documented problems at GEO
facilities in other states. A representative from GEO could not be reached for
comment on Monday. In the July article, spokesman Pablo Paez told The News that
the company strives to provide high-quality service and always reviews serious
incidents to determine "what corrective actions, if any, can be taken." After
reports last month of unsanitary conditions at Coke County, acting TYC Executive
Director Dimitria Pope visited the facility last weekend for a surprise audit.
On Monday, she ordered that all youth be transferred to other TYC units
immediately. "TYC's No. 1 priority is the safety and well being of those youths
under our care," Ms. Pope said in a statement. "The unsafe conditions I
witnessed at Coke County this weekend are unacceptable. We have zero tolerance
for any form of abuse within the system, and those responsible parties will be
held accountable." Despite the high-profile cases reported at the Coke County
facility – and the fact that at least two other states have closed their GEO
facilities over reports of abuse and neglect – GEO and the company's previous
owner were allowed to renew their contract in Texas at least seven times. GEO
has the highest rate of alleged abuse among all TYC contractors. This is hardly
the first time GEO has run into trouble in state juvenile justice systems. The
U.S. Justice Department sued the company in 2000, when it was known by a
different name, alleging that youth inmates in a Louisiana facility suffered
abuse and neglect. All youth were removed from the facility under a settlement.
Five years later, Michigan closed its state prison run by GEO after budget
problems and a lawsuit over poor inmate care. Until recently, TYC has continued
to give GEO high marks, awarding the Coke County outpost its "contract facility
of the year" award in 1999 and again in 2005. This despite a history of abuse
and neglect at the facility, including: • A 1999 lawsuit filed by former female
inmates alleging sexual abuse at the hands of Coke employees. The lawsuits,
which involved girls being forced into performing sexual act and dancing naked,
were settled out of court. • The death in 2004 of John Rodriguez, whose rashes,
open sores and spiking fever were overlooked for months by medical staff. • The
hiring – and eventual termination – of a registered sex offender to work as a
prison guard. The TYC acknowledged the GEO facility does its own hiring, and
wasn't held to the same standards as other non- contract prisons. • The 2006
suicide of Robert Shulze, a 19-year-old inmate who repeatedly threatened to harm
himself and lost 23 pounds in two months. Nurses never put Mr. Shulze on suicide
watch, and he hanged himself in his cell. Scott Browne, a Beaumont attorney
representing Mr. Schulze's family, commended the TYC on Monday for its action.
"I would hope that changes like this by TYC would help ensure that no one else
would suffer the way Robert Schulze did," Mr. Brown said. "... Hopefully a move
like this by TYC will get the attention of anyone who wants to be in the private
corrections business."
July 29, 2007 The Dallas Morning News
Robert Schulze was scared. He threatened to harm himself unless he was moved to
another youth prison location. He lost 23 pounds in two months. Ten days later,
he hanged himself from the top bunk of his solitary cell. Texas Youth Commission
investigators presented a grim report on the prison's failings to Gov. Rick
Perry and other state officials in February. They could have discovered even
more disturbing details had they looked beyond Texas' borders. A three-month
Dallas Morning News investigation found that private contractors housing
juvenile inmates in Texas repeatedly have lost contracts or shuttered operations
in other states after investigators uncovered mismanagement, neglect and
physical and sexual abuse. In Colorado, a suicide finally prompted state
officials to close a private youth prison that investigators said was plagued by
violence and sexual abuse. In Arkansas, former employees of a private juvenile
facility said inmates were shackled and left naked on the ground in sleeping
bags. And in Michigan, a private contractor was sued for allegedly allowing
mentally ill inmates to languish in solitary confinement. Last year, TYC spent
nearly $17 million of its $249 million budget to do business with these and
other private contractors. The agency houses about 450 young inmates with 13
private operators. Legislative reforms passed in the wake of the TYC sex abuse
scandal largely overlooked private contractors and focused instead on agency-run
prisons. "They are a much under-examined problem in the TYC system," said Scott
Medlock, a prisoners' rights attorney for the Texas Civil Rights Project, which
has filed a class-action lawsuit against TYC alleging widespread inmate abuse.
The News focused its investigation on three private contractors with the largest
number of TYC inmates and high numbers of complaints – GEO Group, Cornerstone
Programs Corp. and Associated Marine Institutes. Those contractors have been
dogged by problems in Texas strikingly similar to what led officials in other
states to take action. Such problems include difficulties in attracting
qualified employees, high turnover rates and inadequate care for inmates –
sometimes with tragic consequences. States that hire contractors with poor
performance records "obviously have a very low regard for our children," said
Isabelle Zehnder, director of the Coalition Against Institutionalized Child
Abuse, a child advocacy organization in Washington state. "They're letting money
or circumstances stand above children." But Michele Deitch, an expert on prison
privatization at the University of Texas at Austin, said research showed that
privatization did not save money and that "private facilities tend to have many
more problems in performance, such as higher levels of assaults, escapes,
idleness." TYC officials said they were reviewing the agency's policies on
contractors but could not comment about changes under consideration. However,
just days after detailed questioning by The News, TYC canceled bid requests for
new contract facilities. Bidders included contractors currently operating
facilities in Texas that had a history of problems in other states. The vetting
process -- TYC first turned to contractors in 1974 to relieve overcrowding.
Contract care facilities vary from group homes to large prisons, and over the
years contractors have come to provide specialized services not available at TYC
prisons, such as care for pregnant inmates. TYC's executive director makes the
final decision to hire a private contractor after a five-phase review process
that includes checks on the contractor's ability to provide adequate medical
care and educational and behavioral treatment. Companies with contracts
terminated in the last year "for deficiencies in performance" anywhere in the
country are ineligible to bid. And, under a new policy enacted in March as the
TYC sex abuse scandal unfolded, the agency reserved the right to declare
ineligible bidders with canceled contracts in the last three years. "We ask for
contracts [canceled] within 36 months, because this provides us with additional
information that might be important – [such as] funding, or lack of funding,"
said Mark Higdon, TYC's business manager for contract programs. "It might not be
performance. It might be something else, and we can look at that also." While a
contract cancellation would clearly be a red flag for TYC, there are many
loopholes through which worrisome contractors can pass. Arkansas officials, for
example, let an agreement with Associated Marine Institutes expire after an
audit found the contractor had mismanaged its billing and failed to provide
proper services to young inmates. Elsewhere, companies have negotiated deals
allowing them to withdraw from their contracts, or simply shut down after states
have removed youth from their facilities. Neither of these would constitute a
terminated contract as defined by Texas. Critics say that TYC requires private
contractors to provide less background information when bidding than it should.
For example, TYC does not request major incident reports or disclosure of
lawsuits against contractors, nor does it do any independent research. In
Florida, by contrast, companies must list and explain any "correctional facility
disturbances" – major incidents, such as escapes or deaths – in any of the
company's prisons. Such disturbances may be the result of inadequate staffing,
poor training or other factors and raise warnings about a company's practices.
TYC should require contractors to provide all incident reports, said Ms. Deitch,
a lawyer with 20 years' experience in criminal justice policy issues. "It is
absolutely important that the contracting agency has this kind of background
info," she said. "If problems occur, there can be liability concerns for the
state agency, and the costs of dealing with the problems can far exceed any
savings from going with a low-cost contractor." Elizabeth Lee, the new acting
coordinator for TYC contract care, acknowledged the agency has no "established
process for collecting information" on how its contractors performed in other
states. The important thing to consider, she said, is what they're doing in
Texas "and what we're doing to monitor the care of our kids." Correcting
contractors -- TYC regularly reviews contract facilities. It checks program
areas, such as staffing and security, at least once a year. It also uses
statistical information, such as rates of confirmed mistreatment and the number
of escapes, to evaluate operators. TYC quality assurance monitors also make at
least two unannounced visits per year. If a facility has significant problems,
it is put on a corrective action plan, which outlines improvements and deadlines
for them. The Coke County youth prison, for example, was placed on a corrective
action plan in February after Robert Schulze's suicide. The plan required Coke
to improve staffing and procedures in solitary confinement. Records show that
Coke was also placed on a corrective action plan in July 2006 for deficiencies
in case management, which includes inmate monitoring and record keeping. Earlier
this month, TYC monitors visited WINGS for Life in Marion, just outside San
Antonio, which houses female inmates and their babies, to follow up on a
corrective action plan necessitated by deficiencies in staff training and
documentation. "If a facility fails any critical measure, we have to come back
and check it," said Jim Humphrey, the TYC quality assurance supervisor for
WINGS. TYC has the authority to fine contractors for problems, but it has never
done so in 33 years of outsourcing, officials said. "If it comes to that, we
would just stop the contract," said Paula Morelock, who recently retired after
17 years as TYC's contract care coordinator. But it rarely does that. The News
could find only a few instances of TYC not renewing contracts because of poor
performance. TYC is required to retain contractor records for only a few years,
so a full review of the program was not possible. In 2001, TYC terminated its
contract with FIRST Program of Texas in Longview after repeated problems. One
young woman said that when she was at FIRST, it had chronic staff shortages. "A
lot of stuff took place that shouldn't have," said Michelle, a 22-year-old who
asked that only her first name be used. "There were lots of problems ... like
staff having sex with the youth there and improper restraints and lack of
supervision." In 2004, TYC removed its youth from the Hemphill County Juvenile
Facility, then run by Correctional Services Corp., a former state contractor,
because of "grave concerns for the safety of youth." The move followed a
December 2003 complaint signed by about 30 inmates. Still, an agency review
conducted shortly after the letter was sent gave the facility "above average"
scores on all performance measures. The facility was later placed on a
corrective action plan. A February 2004 update from TYC staff to Ms. Morelock
said: "Although they have not completed all items, the team does believe that
youth are safe and that the program is stable." But staffing shortages followed,
and in June 2004, TYC removed its youth from the facility. "We feel like we do a
lot of good monitoring and do our very best to ensure that the youth receive
quality services," Ms. Morelock said. When contracts expire, TYC determines
whether the facility met the terms of its agreement. The contractor completes a
renewal packet, and then youth commission officials visit the facility to
determine whether to extend the contract for another two years. More often than
not, Ms. Morelock said, contracts are renewed. Critics say that TYC needs to
change its policy and open the process to outside bidders each time a contract
comes up for renewal. A question of oversight -- TYC already has come under fire
for lax employment guidelines that allowed contractors to hire convicted felons
or even sex offenders. A Texas state auditor report in March urged TYC to ban
contractors from hiring employees with convictions and to require background
checks of applicants. Even with background checks, some workers with criminal
records have slipped through. A registered sex offender employed by the GEO-run
Coke County Juvenile Justice Center was fired in March. Ms. Morelock said the
facility told TYC that it ran a background check on the worker, but his criminal
records did not turn up. GEO said the correctional officer's prior record was
not uncovered because juvenile records in Texas are sealed. [See dallasnews.com
for further GEO comment.] The Texas Juvenile Probation Commission, which
licenses county facilities, found the Garza County Regional Juvenile Center in
Post out of compliance last year because it failed to do criminal background
checks on employees before they were hired. In a unique arrangement, TYC
contracts with the county, which in turn hired a private operator,
Colorado-based Cornerstone Programs, to run the Garza facility. TYC relied on
the county to vet the contractor's background, Ms. Morelock said. A Garza County
official said he did not know what, if any, backgrounding of Cornerstone had
been done. It's impossible to know whether other employees of private contract
facilities have criminal records because, unlike workers at state-run
facilities, their names are not public information. "The fact that [these]
facilities are private simply adds one more layer of opaqueness to the process,"
said Ms. Deitch, the UT adjunct professor. A few of the TYC legislative reforms
will carry over to private operators. Their guards' training hours must match
that of TYC employees, their younger inmates must be separated from older ones,
and contractors must now conduct fingerprint background checks on all employees
and volunteers in contact with youth. "Some of the contractors were already
doing that [fingerprinting], but just as a safeguard we're putting it in the
contract that they all have to do it now," said the TYC's Ms. Lee. TYC officials
say the most valuable part of the agency's monitoring is staff visits to
facilities. "They're looking at grievances, they're talking to kids, they're
talking to staff and they're reviewing incident reports," Ms. Lee said. In
general, though, TYC relies heavily on its contractors to police themselves.
Contractors are required to forward inmate abuse allegations, although agency
monitors have raised concerns that not all make it to TYC. Contractors also must
report serious incidents to local law enforcement, but TYC reviews found
facilities that failed to do so. Critics of privatized juvenile care think more
state oversight is necessary. "Child welfare and juvenile justice systems have
both a legal and moral obligation to protect kids from harm, which means they
have a responsibility to exercise due diligence when it comes to placing youths
in certain types of facilities," said Dr. Ronald Davidson, a university
psychologist frequently hired by the Illinois Department of Children and Family
Services to review juvenile care. "Whether we look at this situation in terms of
public policy or simple morality, the question we have to ask is whether our
society ought to be in the business of funding gulags for children."
July 29, 2007 The Dallas Morning News
The Coke County Juvenile Justice Center, run by the GEO Group Inc., is Texas'
largest private juvenile prison and has had the highest rate of alleged abuse
among TYC's contractors over the last seven years. The Florida-based GEO has
renewed, extended or renegotiated its contract with the Texas Youth Commission
at least seven times since it first won the contract to run the Coke facility in
June 1994. During that time, at least two other states have closed their GEO-run
juvenile facilities because of inadequate care of inmates and abuse allegations.
The U.S. Justice Department sued the company in 2000, when it was known as
Wackenhut Corrections Corp., alleging that juveniles at the company's Louisiana
facility were subjected to excessive abuse and neglect. Wackenhut agreed to a
settlement that provided for sweeping changes to Louisiana's juvenile justice
system and required the company to move all juveniles from its facility. The
former security chief pleaded guilty in 2001 to beating a 17-year-old handcuffed
inmate with a mop handle. In October 2005, Michigan closed the state's private
youth prison run by GEO after an advocacy group sued the prison over inadequate
inmate care. Budget shortfalls also played into the prison's closure. Tom
Masseau, director of government and media relations for Michigan Protection and
Advocacy Service Inc., said his watchdog group found juvenile inmates who needed
special education but were not receiving it and inmates who were not receiving
appropriate mental health care. The prison also managed problem juveniles by
putting them in solitary confinement, he said. Mr. Masseau said his group tried
to work with GEO and the state before filing a lawsuit, but the problems
remained unsolved and inmates faced reprisals. "The youth would report back that
they were retaliated against for meeting with us," Mr. Masseau said. "We said
enough is enough." The group's lawsuit against the state is pending, but GEO was
dropped as a defendant because it closed the facility and left the state. GEO
sued the state for alleged wrongful termination of the lease agreement, which is
also pending. TYC accolades -- In 1999, TYC named GEO's Coke County operation
its "contract facility of the year." The same year, former female inmates filed
several federal civil rights lawsuits alleging they were sexually abused by Coke
employees. (TYC had moved all girls from the facility a year earlier.) The
lawsuits – which eventually resulted in confidential settlements – were filed
four years after TYC confirmed allegations that some staff members coerced girls
into performing sexual acts or dancing naked, according to a court document and
a report by Michele Deitch, a prison privatization expert at the University of
Texas, and others. "Given GEO's track record generally and the general record of
these for-profit private prison companies, I have serious concerns about them
running any correctional institutions ... especially when such egregious
wrongdoing was going on," Scott Medlock, an attorney at the Texas Civil Rights
Project, said. The Coke County facility routinely hired unqualified workers,
said Isela Gutierrez, juvenile justice initiative director at the Texas Criminal
Justice Coalition. Former Coke County guard John Christman, who now lives in New
York, said he witnessed that problem firsthand. He worked there for nearly a
year and said he initially loved it. But he eventually grew frustrated with the
company's poor hiring standards and staff shortages. The company met its
guard-to-inmate ratios by making employees work extra shifts, he said. "I was
working five, six days a week, 12-hour days, overtime," Mr. Christman said.
"It's hard to get people to go into that line of work." He quit his post but
returned about 18 months later, in 2001, after he heard that working conditions
had improved. Unfortunately, he said, not much had changed and he left shortly
thereafter. TYC again named Coke County contract facility of the year in 2005.
And, during the past seven years, TYC quality-assurance monitors have awarded it
mostly good scores on planned and unplanned inspections there. But some recent
problems were reported: During an unscheduled visit in April, a TYC monitor
discovered that a staff member had falsified an accusation against an inmate.
The young man was put in solitary confinement on April 16. Two days later – on
the morning of the unannounced visit – his paperwork already noted that he'd
committed an infraction that would extend his stay in solitary confinement.
"This was alarming because it was only 9:30 a.m. and the incident had not
occurred yet," the monitor reported. The TYC monitor notified the warden, who
released the inmate from solitary and told the security director "that writing
incident reports prior to the incident was not allowed," the report said.
Suicide inquiry -- TYC's investigation into Robert Schulze's suicide offers a
bleak picture of the facility. "Robert's cries for help – to be assigned to a
dorm where he felt safe or to be transferred to Gainesville State School – were
never adequately addressed," a February 2007 report noted. A guard promptly
turned in Robert's note in which he threatened to harm himself unless his dorm
assignment was changed. Robert then asked to go to solitary confinement because
he felt unsafe, but he was not put on suicide watch. He stayed in solitary
confinement for nine days, refusing to return to his dorm because of safety
concerns. His case manager made only one documented visit with him during that
period. He was not given prescribed medication during his time at Coke and lost
23 pounds in two months. No one checked his food intake. None of that was
brought to the doctor's attention, and a medical review was never conducted, the
TYC investigation revealed. The nursing staff also "failed to discover three
original prescriptions for antidepressants and a mood stabilizer that had been
prescribed by a consulting psychiatrist ... on July 28," TYC later reported.
Eight days before Robert hanged himself on Sept. 28, 2006, "he filed a TYC
complaint form stating that he makes self-referrals to ... [solitary
confinement] to get away from harm and people who threaten him," TYC said in its
report. It's not clear anyone saw the complaint before his death. "The form got
lost in a stack of mail on the TYC staff member's desk," the investigative
report said. TYC's investigation found that Coke County's solitary cell unit had
only one staffer on the floor – in violation of the required two guards – at the
time of the hanging. The one guard on duty failed to make contact with each
inmate every 10 minutes, as required. For more than an hour, no one checked on
the despondent inmate. After Robert's dinner tray arrived, it sat for 28 minutes
before the guard took it to his cell and discovered him unresponsive. The guard
was disciplined with training and five days of unpaid suspension. TYC put the
facility on a corrective action plan, which required it to improve the
deficiencies that contributed to Robert's death. GEO spokesman Pablo Paez said
the company strives to provide high-quality service and conducts thorough
reviews after any serious incident to determine "what corrective actions, if
any, can be taken." An attorney for the family of the 19-year-old said they had
no comment.
March 13, 2007 KTRK
Two inmates discovered missing from a West Texas youth prison overnight were
captured Monday in Eagle Pass after a woman saw them in a convenience store and
thought they looked suspicious, authorities said. Coke County Sheriff Rick
Styles said the woman thought the two were illegal immigrants and called the
Maverick County Sheriff's Office, which arrested them. Styles said he expected
the two to be returned to Bronte in a few days. He said the two allegedly stole
a pickup in Bronte and left it in Eagle Pass. Two other inmates at the Texas
Youth Commission's Coke County Juvenile Justice Center were found hiding in the
attic after staff were told that a vent had fallen out of the ceiling, said TYC
spokesman Jim Hurley. Another inmate said insulation had fallen on his face.
Investigators searched both inside and outside the facility. No breach had been
found in the perimeter fence, he said. The 17- and-18-year-old missing inmates,
both Hispanic males, were not imprisoned for violent crimes, Hurley said. The
facility in Bronte drew attention last week after a convicted sex offender was
fired from his post as a correctional officer. David Andrew Lewis, 23, said he
told his employer of his background when he applied for the job. He was hired in
August 2006 by a private contractor. State officials have said the case
demonstrated that private prison operators don't always check employees'
juvenile records.
March 12, 2007 The Monitor
Two detainees of a Texas Youth Commission contract prison in West Texas are
missing. The boys, ages 17 and 18, were both non-violent offenders. One is
serving time in the high-security facility for burglary of a vehicle; the other
for violating conditions of parole, said Jim Hurley, TYC spokesman. They are
missing from the Coke County Juvenile Justice Center in Bronte, which is run by
GEO Inc. At about 3 a.m. Monday a vent fell from a ceiling dorm, prompting
guards to conduct a bed count, Hurley said. They discovered four youth were
missing, but two were later found, he said. Hurley said TYC would not release
the names or description of the missing youth because they were not considered
to be a danger to the public. It is possible the youth are still inside the
facility because there is so far no indication the razor-wire fence that
surrounds the Coke County center was breached, Hurley said. Monday’s discovery
at the 200-bed facility is another in a long line of problems at the TYC. The
agency that runs the Evins Regional Juvenile Center in Edinburg was placed
governor-appointed management in February among a sex scandal and wide reports
of youth abuse.
March 10, 2007 KRIS TV
A convicted sex offender who was fired this week from his job at a West
Texas youth prison said he told his employer of his background when he applied
for the job. David Andrew Lewis, 23, was fired from the Texas Youth Commission's
Coke County Juvenile Justice Center when state investigators discovered he was a
convicted sex offender. State leaders dispatched law enforcement officials to
all 22 commission facilities and its headquarters this week to investigate
claims of sexual abuse of inmates by employees. Lewis was fired by the GEO
Group, a Florida-based private company that runs the all-male facility in
Bronte, about 30 miles northeast of San Angelo. Lewis said Thursday that he
showed a sex offender registration card to his prospective employers when he was
being interviewed for a job as a correctional officer in August 2006. "They said
to wait for the background check to go through," Lewis said, adding that he also
presented other paperwork related to his offense. Lewis was 15 when he was
convicted in 1999 of indecency by exposure with a 5-year-old girl, according to
a Texas Department of Public Safety Web site listing sex offenders. He is
required to register annually as a sex offender. Pablo Paez, director of
corporate relations for the GEO Group, said the company conducts background
checks on new hires and re-runs the checks annually. The Texas Department of
Public Safety checks off on the company's employees, he said. "In this
particular case, we conducted a background check through DPS and received
clearance from DPS," Paez said. The Texas Department of Public Safety, which
does not make public the records of juvenile offenders, referred a call for
comment to Gov. Rick Perry's office. Perry spokesman Ted Royer said the case
highlights why the special master and new executive director "are going to
completely rewrite the playbook" for how the agency operates. "Having sex
offenders guard prisoners is totally unacceptable, and if an agency contract
prohibits the hiring of registered sex offenders then that needs to be
enforced," Royer told The Associated Press on Friday. "There needs to be a clear
delineation of consequences if a contractor goes against those rules." State
officials have said Lewis' case demonstrated that private prison operators don't
always check their employees' juvenile records. Texas Youth Commission spokesman
Tim Savoy said the agency's contracts with the private operators prohibit hiring
registered sex offenders, but the agency doesn't "have any control over who they
hire."
March 7, 2007 San Antonio Express-News
Law enforcement officers who earlier this week moved into the Texas Youth
Commission facilities to protect inmates from sex predators on Wednesday
discovered a registered sex offender working as a correctional officer in a
halfway house for juveniles. The sex offender had been allowed to stay on the
job despite an alert that had been sent months ago to TYC administrators in
Austin. David Andrew Lewis, 23, was discovered by investigators sent to TYC's 22
facilities after reports of sex abuse stunned lawmakers. Lewis was employed at
the Coke County Juvenile Justice Center, a juvenile halfway house 30 miles from
San Angelo run by the Geo Group, a private prison company. TYC's acting
executive director, Ed Owens, said a facility staff member had months ago warned
agency officials in Austin of Lewis' sex offender status, but was rebuffed. The
tipster “was told he was a company employee and that the company needed to deal
with their employee,” Owens said, adding that the incident was yet another
illustration of the systemic failures plaguing TYC. Owens said once he learned
of Lewis' background Wednesday, he called the Geo Group and they suspended him.
It was not clear if the Geo Group had learned months earlier of Lewis' sex
offender status. No one in its Florida headquarters could immediately be reached
for comment Wednesday evening. Owens said that there was no evidence Lewis acted
inappropriately with any juveniles. Lewis was 15 when he was forced to register
for 13 sexual indecency acts against a 5-year-old girl. His case is posted on
the Texas Department of Public Safety web site of registered sex offenders. With
that history, it remained a mystery how Lewis could have been hired to work with
juveniles in the first place. Criminal background checks are required for all
TYC employees and those hired by private contractors to work with TYC juveniles.
July 27, 2001
Inmate awards were upheld by an appeals court in a case where young inmates said
they were sexually abused by Wackenhut Corrections Corporation employees.
But the inmates' attorney was sanctioned for disclosing the terms of the
confidential agreement. Background: Several girls said they were sexually
and mentally abused by Wackenhut employees at the Coke County Juvenile Justice
Center in Bronte, Texas. Wackenhut owns and operates the facility.
The claims were settled in mediation for 1.5 million. Wackenhut was to prepare
the settlement papers by Oct. 8, 1999, and wire transfer the settlement funds to
the inmates' attorney by Oct. 15, 1999. However, Wackenhut failed to do so.
The attorney filed a motion to enforce the settlement agreement, but failed to
do so under seal, which exposed the terms of the settlement agreement and
resulted in a newspaper article about the deal. Wackenhut then moved to
set aside the settlement and sought sanctions against the inmates' counsel.
The court referred the matter to a magistrate judge who found the inmates'
counsel had acted in bad faith. However, he recommended upholding the
settlement. (Corrections Professional)
May 17, 2001
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a district court's decision to
levy a $15,000 fine and imposed a number of sanctions on attorneys representing
nine girls held at the juvenile detention facility in this West Texas city.
During mediation in 1999, the former detainees' attorneys reached a $1.5 million
settlement agreement with Wackenhut Corrections Corp. The girls had
alleged they were sexually, physically, and mentally abused by employees.
In an agreement reached in October 1999, Wackenhut did not admit liability and
said the payment was for "alleged personal injuries only." Details were
confidential and remained under seal until the detainees' attorneys disclosed
the terms when they filed a motion to enforce the settlement without sealing it,
Wackenhut claimed. Confidentiality was at the heart of the settlement
agreement. "The unsealed motion exposed the terms of the settlement
agreement and resulted in a newspaper article regarding the agreement," Judge
Carl E. Stewart wrote. (AP)
Cold Springs Correctional
Facility (Mansfield Boot Camp)
Fort Worth, Texas
Correctional Services Corporation
October 22, 2005 Sarasota Herald Tribune
Correctional Services Corp. has settled a $38.3 million judgment that held the
company responsible for the death of an 18-year-old inmate at a Texas boot camp.
Terms of the agreement are confidential, but the Sarasota-based prison manager
said Friday it will pay $2.7 million toward the settlement. The rest will be
covered by CSC's liability insurers, which initially balked at paying the award.
The agreement is contingent on the closing of CSC's previously announced sale to
The GEO Group Inc. for $62 million. CSC shareholders will vote on the sale Nov.
4. If that deal falls through, so does the settlement. A Texas jury in August
2003 found CSC and a nurse at the now-closed Mansfield boot camp responsible for
the death of Bryan D. Alexander. Alexander, serving a six-month sentence for a
misdemeanor driving conviction, died in 2001 of a rare penicillin-resistant form
of pneumonia. Trial testimony showed he was treated for a cold and flu even
though he had coughed up blood for five days before his death. His parents sued
CSC and nurse Knyvett Reyes for their loss and anguish. Reyes was convicted of
negligent homicide and was sentenced to four years of community supervision. She
also surrendered her registered nurse's license. The judgment against CSC and
Reyes included $35 million in actual damages, $750,000 in punitive damages and
more than $2.4 million in interest. The settlement will resolve all claims and
lawsuits against CSC and Reyes. It also will end a dispute between CSC and its
liability insurers over who should pay. Boca Raton-based GEO is paying $62
million in cash, or $6 a share, and assuming $124 million in liabilities to
acquire CSC. It will then sell the Youth Services International subsidiary to
CSC president James Slattery for $3.75 million. That unit manages programs at 17
centers with 1,300 beds. GEO will acquire the adult division that owns or
operates 15 facilities with 7,500 beds. GEO manages 41 prisons and jails with
36,000 beds in the United States, Australia, South Africa and Canada. Shares of
CSC were selling for $5.91 on the Nasdaq at the close of trading Friday, up 1
cent.
October 22, 2005 NEWS8 Austin
The corporate parent of a now-defunct Mansfield detention facility has reached
an out-of-court settlement with the family of a teenager who died while serving
time at its boot camp. Correctional Services Corp. announced the settlement
yesterday with the family of Bryan Alexander. The 18-year-old died in 2001 while
serving a six-month sentence for a drunken-driving arrest. Alexander's family
was awarded nearly $40 million in damages by a Tarrant County jury in 2003. But
the details of Friday's settlement have not been released. Under the agreement,
the boy's family will not file any new suits or pursue appeals against Tarrant
County or its criminal-court judges. The boy's parents sued the company and camp
nurse after he died from penicillin-resistant pneumonia. Although the teen
complained of weakness and was coughing up blood, the camp had waited several
days before taking him to a hospital. The suit claimed the camp and nurse failed
to provide the teen with adequate and timely medical care.
September 30, 2005 Star-Telegram
U.S. District Court Judge Terry Means on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit against
Tarrant County and its criminal court judges over the death of a teen-ager who
was serving a sentence at the former Mansfield boot camp four years ago. Means
left the door open for attorneys representing the family of Bryan Alexander to
sue the judges in state court. A lawsuit against the county has been thrown out
of state court. Alexander, 18, died in January 2001 while serving a six-month
sentence for drunken driving. While at the camp, he complained of feeling weak
and coughing up blood. Days later, he was taken to John Peter Smith Hospital,
where he was immediately put into intensive care. He died two days later. Tests
indicated that he had a rare, penicillin-resistant form of pneumonia. In the
federal lawsuit, Alexander's family said the county, and the judges
individually, should be held liable because they didn't properly monitor
Correctional Services Corp., the company contracted to run the camp. A year ago,
Means denied the judges judicial immunity, saying they were acting not as judges
but as managers of the facility. But in his ruling Wednesday, Means said public
officials do enjoy immunity from lawsuits for damages providing that their
conduct does not clearly violate an individual's rights.
February 10, 2005 Star Telegram
Several Tarrant County judges sued over a death at the defunct boot camp are
being accused of unethical behavior for considering cases involving the
attorneys who are suing them. Defense attorneys Charlie Smith and Bill Lane say
that state district judges Sharen Wilson and George Gallagher have decided
that they will not automatically transfer those cases to other
courts. Since January 2003, the judges have routinely transferred cases handled
by Smith and Lane to other courts after the attorneys filed a federal civil
rights lawsuit against them and the county. In the federal lawsuit, the
attorneys say that sloppy oversight by the judges allowed an array of problems
to continue at the former Mansfield boot camp, where 18-year-old inmate Bryan
Alexander died. Lane and Smith are among several attorneys representing the
Alexander family. U.S. District Judge Terry Means ruled in August that the
judges can be held liable individually, along with the county, because they were
acting as managers of the facility operated by Correctional Services Corp. Smith
filed a motion to remove Wilson from hearing a felony theft case on Tuesday. In
the filing, he described the judge's decision to deny a transfer as "clear
evidence" of hostility toward him. Denying Smith's motion "creates a reasonable
doubt as to Judge Sharen Wilson's capacity to act impartially as a judge in
connection with this case," court documents state.
August 27, 2004
Tarrant County's criminal court judges are not protected by judicial immunity in
a civil rights lawsuit stemming from the death of a teen-ager at the former
Mansfield boot camp, a federal judge ruled. U.S. District Court Judge
Terry Means said the judges can be held liable individually, along with the
county, because they were acting not as judges, but as managers of the facility
operated by Correctional Services Corp. The judges helped establish the
budgets and approved the selection of the private prison operator "in spite of a
significant history of operational deficiencies," attorneys for the teen-ager's
family have argued. "The court concludes that the defendant judges are not
entitled to judicial immunity," Means wrote this week. "It's huge," Mark
Haney, the family's attorney, said of Means' ruling. "The judges can be held
personally accountable for establishing policies and procedures ... that
routinely denied access to medical care to the detainees." In July, Means
denied a claim by Northland Insurance Co., CSC's insurance carrier, stating that
its policies do not cover the judgment against them. (Star-Telegram)
February 25, 2004
Mid-States Services - the Hurst company in line to take over Tarrant County's
jail food contract if the current company fails to do a better job -- has its
own food-quality problems, a former Mid-States manager told commissioners
Tuesday. Emilio Gonzalez, who until January was director of operations for
Mid-States, said the former jail contractor often took outdated food from its
commissary operations and served it to inmates after removing packaging that
listed the freshness dates. "Vendors need to make a profit, but it doesn't
need to be at the county's expense," Gonzalez told county commissioners Tuesday
during their meeting. Mid-States Chief Executive John Sammons said the
allegations are untrue and blamed them on a competitor that he declined to name.
Sammons said some boxes of outdated food were found in Mid-States' stocks when
the company provided food service to the jail, but he said those boxes had
already been designated for disposal when jailers told the company to remove
them. "This is another desperate attempt by those who would like to cause
Mid- States problems, at a time when the commissioners are looking at us as a
back-up supplier," he said. Last week, commissioners put current
contractor Aramark Correctional Services on 30 days' notice to improve the
quality of food and service or be removed from the contract. Mid-States,
which held the jail food contract until December, was designated as a backup
supplier if Aramark failed to meet the terms. Sheriff Dee Anderson said
Tuesday that in the week since the commissioners issued the ultimatum, Aramark
has made improvements and inmate complaints are declining. Checks of the
food service have found improved food temperatures and larger portions, he said.
But the company still has a long way to go to be acceptable, he said. "If
I had to make a recommendation today, I'd cancel the contract," Anderson said.
As to Gonzalez's allegations about Mid-States, Anderson said he would discuss
them with commissioners. "If any of it is true, it's disturbing," he said.
Gonzalez apologized to commissioners for not coming forward sooner, and said
that during contract deliberations last fall he was still employed by Mid-States
and feared retaliation. He said he resigned because of concerns about
Mid-States' operations. Sammons said that Gonzalez left Mid-States on good terms
to take another job and that he was disappointed by the comments. An
Aramark spokeswoman did not return a phone call seeking comment Tuesday but has
said Aramark officials believe they are meeting contractual obligations.
Commissioners did not discuss Gonzalez's comments at the Tuesday meeting because
the issue was not posted as an item for consideration. After the meeting,
however, commissioners questioned the timing of the comments. "I'm always
grateful for people to come forward, but it's odd that he would come forward at
this time," Precinct 1 Commissioner Dionne Bagsby said. Precinct 3
Commissioner Glen Whitley said he gave no credence to Gonzalez's comments and
would vote to bring in Mid-States if Aramark did not improve its service.
"It just amazes me that this guy shows up to speak against Mid-States a week
after we put Aramark on 30-days' notice," he said. Mid-States was the food
service operator that served meals to inmates in the Tarrant County Jail until
Aramark won a $3.3 million contract over Mid-States, Mid-America and Canteen
Correctional Services. Mid-America -- run by former Mid-States executive
Jack Madera -- operates the jail commissary, which sells toiletries and snack
items to jail inmates. Madera has been indicted along with two other men on
charges that they used a forged document to win a jail food-service contract in
Kaufman County. The indictments stem from an investigation into whether
Madera influenced Dallas County Sheriff Jim Bowles with thousands of dollars in
favors before Bowles picked Madera's company for a $20 million jail commissary
contract. The scope has widened to include Madera's dealings with other
counties, including Tarrant and Denton. (Lawyer Texas Parole)
February 19, 2004
It would be easy to dismiss inmates' complaints about jail food simply as
whining -- not worthy of serious attention because incarceration is not meant to
be a pleasant experience. But in the case of the Tarrant County Jail and
the meals being served by its newly contracted food service provider, Aramark
Correctional Services, the food being distributed to prisoners not only does not
meet the taste test -- it may actually pose health risks. Inmates have
been complaining about the quality of the food since Aramark began serving the
county's four jail sites in December under a $3.3 million annual contract.
In response to the complaints and boycott of the meals by some prisoners, county
purchasing director Jack Beacham and other county officials went to inspect the
food service operation. Beacham said they saw 17 pans of soured pinto
beans, discovered foods that were being kept at improper temperatures, and
witnessed one employee drop tortillas on the floor and then place them back on
the service line. (Lawyer Texas Parole)
December 3, 2003
Visiting State District Judge Roger Towery has ruled that Sarasota, Fla.-based
Correctional Services Corp. must pay a $38 million judgment that was awarded
earlier this summer to the parents of a young man who died at a Mansfield, Tex.,
boot camp in 2001. In August, a jury in Fort Worth's 236th District Court
awarded the family of Bryan Alexander $35 million in actual damages and $5.1
million in punitive damages following an eight-week trial. Alexander died
from a penicillin-resistant form of pneumonia he contracted while participating
in a six-month boot camp program as a condition of his misdemeanor probation.
Evidence in the case showed that Alexander, who was 18 years old, died after CSC
employees ignored his pleas for medical attention for days. In September,
Judge Towery set the actual damages at $37.4 million, including interest, and
reduced the punitive damages to $750,000. CSC responded by asking the court to
reduce or set aside the entire judgment, arguing that there was "no legally or
factually sufficient evidence to support the jury's findings." CSC President
James Slattery told CSC investors during a recent conference call that the
company expected the court to reduce the $38 million judgment. In his ruling
issued yesterday, the judge denied all of CSC's motions. "We are pleased
that once again the jury's verdict in this case has been upheld," says attorney
Jeff Kobs, a partner in Fort Worth's Kobs & Haney, who represented the Alexander
family along with Fort Worth attorney Bill Lane. "We are confident that the
Courts will continue to deny CSC's repeated attacks on the jury's decision."
As a result of this ruling, CSC has until Dec. 16, 2003, to file its notice of
appeal, and the company must also post a $25 million bond by Dec. 28, 2003, in
order to prevent the Alexander family from attempting to collect the judgment
amount. Interest has been accruing at a rate of $5,250 per day since the
original judgment was entered in September. In a related federal court
action, CSC's insurance carrier, Northland Insurance Co., is seeking a
declaration that its policies do not cover the $38 million judgment. CSC is
arguing that the Northland policies should cover the judgment amount, and that
Northland acted improperly in failing to settle the claims prior to the jury's
verdict. For more information on the court's ruling, please contact
attorney Jeff Kobs at 817.332.5956, attorney Bill Lane at 817.625.5570, or Bruce
Vincent at 214.559.4630 or pager 888.361.8452. (yahoo.com)
October 10, 2003
Day in and day out, workers sling hash to feed the
3,500 Tarrant County Jail inmates three hot meals a day.
But as companies line up this month to bid for a multimillion-dollar
food-services contract, the focus has shifted from slinging hash to slinging
mud.
Two of the companies expected to bid on the contract
are run by former business partners turned bitter rivals.
Sealed bids are due to the Tarrant County purchasing department by Oct. 27. The
contract, now held by Hurst-based Mid-States Services, is worth about $4.1
million a year. Among the companies
expected to bid is Dallas-based Mid-America Services, run by Jack Madera. He has
a long history of winning lucrative contracts and maintaining friendships with
elected officials who have a say in whether the company gets public business.
Mid-America will compete for the contract against
Mid-States, which Madera started in 1970 and sold in February 1999.
John Sammons, chief executive of Mid-States and one
of the investors who bought the company from Madera, said there is more to the
bid than just a second helping of cafeteria business.
"Our group is committed to running this company with integrity," Sammons said.
"There is a clear-cut delineation between the Mid-States of the past and the
Mid-States of today. "The kind of
customer base we want is the kind who embraces integrity in government."
Business and pleasure
Many in Texas law enforcement consider Madera a
friend, including Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson, whose office oversees
jail operations including the kitchen.
"The relationship began when I was elected," Anderson said. "Jack was, at that
point, a consultant for Mid-States.
"Both he and John [Sammons] became friends of mine and supporters."
Sammons says Madera's ties to law-enforcement officials prompted him to keep
Madera on board as a consultant after Madera sold Mid-States in 1999.
Madera and Sammons parted ways in March 2002, when Madera started Mid-America
after a three-year non-competition agreement expired with Mid-States.
Madera looked to his old friends to help his new business and promptly won
contracts in Dallas and Denton counties.
There are two types of contracts: food-services contracts, under which the
county pays companies to provide meals to inmates, and commissary contracts,
under which companies sell snacks and other items to inmates and return a
portion of the proceeds to the county.
Sheriffs control jail commissaries, including selection of the companies that
handle the services. Bids are required, and county proceeds must be used to
benefit inmates. A provision applying
only to Tarrant County requires commissioners court approval of commissary
contracts.
Some of Madera's contracts have raised eyebrows. In
Dallas, Madera's relationship with Sheriff Jim Bowles has been criticized since
Bowles awarded the commissary contract to Mid-America in June 2002.
One Dallas County official labeled the contract a
"bad business decision," and questions have been raised about whether Madera
exerted undue influence through his friendships. But no specific allegations of
wrongdoing have been voiced publicly.
Madera's bid in Dallas County gave the sheriff's department about $600,000 a
year, less than what was offered by two other competitors, including Mid-States.
In Tarrant County, Anderson awarded Madera's
Mid-America the contract for commissary services in April. The company sells
aspirin, snacks, soap and other items from carts, dubbed "banana wagons," that
workers wheel through the jail. Under
the commissary contract, Madera will pay the sheriff's office at least $750,000
a year. As was the case in Denton and Dallas counties, Madera won the Tarrant
County business by beating out Mid-States, which held the existing contracts.
'No hidden agenda'
Anderson says he is confident that the bidding will
be above board, as he says it was when he awarded Mid-America the commissary
contract. Tarrant County commissioners
are expected to vote on the food-services contract by Dec. 31. Six companies are
expected to submit bids, which will be analyzed by an evaluation committee.
Anderson said the current commissary contract shows
that local officials are committed to hammering out the best deal possible.
"I believe we have the most lucrative contract for
any county in the state," Anderson said. "It is second to none."
Anderson said he has lunched regularly and dined occasionally with Madera and
has dined with Sammons, played golf at his country club and seen a Dallas Stars
game from a luxury box, all at Sammons' expense.
"I don't do anything in secret," Anderson said. "There is no hidden agenda.
"Because we are clients, we have a relationship with
those people," he said. "Certainly, nothing improper has taken place."
Sammons also said there is nothing improper about his relationship with
Anderson. "Building relationships is
part of doing business in the public and the private sector," Sammons said. "It
is hard to develop trust."
Madera would not comment to the Star-Telegram
except to say he intends to bid on the jail food-services contract and that he
denies any inappropriate relationships with Tarrant County officials.
"There is nothing inappropriate going on in Dallas,
either," Madera said. Commissioner J.D.
Johnson, who represents Precinct 4, in the northwest part of the county, said
his 15- to 20-year friendship with Madera has not influenced county business.
"I've always tried to vote for what I thought was the best deal, and it's what
I'll do this time," Johnson said.
Sammons, however, said he'll watch the bidding closely to ensure that he's
treated fairly. He won't be alone.
Patrick Turner, regional sales director for Aramark Corp., which also expects to
bid on the contract, said: "On a level playing field, we have always been able
to compete. But that's always been the question, whether it has always been a
level playing field." (Star-Telegram)
September 18, 2003
Visiting State District Judge Roger Towery has signed a $38.3 million judgment
against Sarasota, Fla.-based Correctional Services Corp. in a lawsuit over the
death of an 18-year-old man who died at a Mansfield boot camp in 2001. The
judgment, entered yesterday in Tarrant County's 236th District Court, includes
$37.4 million in actual damages plus interest and $750,000 in punitive damages.
In August, a Fort Worth jury awarded $35 million in actual damages and $5.1
million in punitive damages to the family of Bryan Alexander. The punitive
damages were reduced in the judgment under Texas punitive damage caps.
According to the lawsuit, Alexander died on Jan. 9, 2001, from a
penicillin-resistant form of pneumonia while participating in a six-month boot
camp program as a condition of his misdemeanor probation. Alexander chose the
boot camp over jail time. He died after his pleas for medical attention were
ignored for days. "This judgment sends a clear signal that the original
verdict in this case was sound," says Jeff Kobs, a partner in Fort Worth's Kobs
& Haney, who represented the Alexander family along with Fort Worth attorney
Bill Lane. During trial, Kobs and Lane argued that Alexander's medical
condition should have triggered a response from the boot camp nurse or other
employees of CSC. Evidence in the case showed that Alexander experienced
difficulty breathing and began coughing up blood at least five days before his
death. CSC eventually transferred Alexander to a local hospital, but he died
less than 36 hours after being admitted. "Bryan's was a senseless death
that should never have happened," Lane says. "The Alexander family hopes this
judgment will send a clear message to CSC and other for-profit correctional
companies, and that no other families are forced to suffer a similar ordeal."
Under Texas law, CSC has 30 days to appeal the judgment, ask for a new trial, or
pay the $38.3 million judgment. If CSC appeals the judgment, state law would
delay the payment of the judgment if CSC posts a $25 million bond. For
more information on the judgment in this case, please contact attorney Jeff Kobs
at 817.332.5956, attorney Bill Lane at 817.625.5570, or Bruce Vincent at
214.559.4630 or pager 888.361.8452. (Yahoo Finance)
September 6, 2003
A state judge in Montague County is set to hear arguments today to finalize
$40.1 million in damages that a jury awarded last month to the parents of an
Arlington man who died while at the former Mansfield boot camp. Correctional
Services Corp. and its nurse Knyvett Reyes were found responsible for the Jan.
9, 2001, death of Bryan Alexander. The 18-year-old probationer died of a rare
lung infection after his complaints of feeling weak and coughing up blood went
ignored for days. A Tarrant County jury decided that the Florida-based company,
which contracted to run the camp, and its nurse should pay $35 million for
Alexander's death, his suffering and his parents' loss. The jury then added $5.1
million in punitive damages, with CSC to pay most of the judgment. Attorneys for
CSC and Reyes are expected to appeal the verdict. CSC Chief Executive James
Slattery said his attorneys intend to "request that the court set aside the
jury's verdict." "Mr. Alexander died from an extremely rare form of
antibiotic-resistant pneumonia, which is not normally contracted outside of a
hospital setting," he said in a statement last week. "Even the plaintiffs'
experts testified that this condition would have been extremely difficult to
diagnose." Plaintiffs' attorneys say CSC's position shows an "ongoing
unwillingness to take responsibility" for Alexander's death. "The defendants
said they plan to fight us tooth and nail," said Mark Haney, one of seven
attorneys representing Alexander's parents, Rickey Alexander and Judy Schumpert.
"They want to try and disregard the verdict that addressed their bad behavior,"
he said. "It is a slap in the face to the Alexander family and the jury's
verdict." CSC's Fort Worth attorney, Vic Anderson, declined to comment on the
case. Reyes' attorney, Michael Wallach, could not be reached to comment. CSC has
$35 million in insurance to cover the jury award in Alexander's death. But the
company's insurer has sued, saying it is not obligated to pay because Reyes was
convicted last year of negligent homicide. That conviction is being appealed.
Under Texas law, punitive damages in the Alexander case are limited to $750,000
for CSC and $100,000 for Reyes. The jury had set punitive damages at $5 million
to be paid by CSC and $100,000 from Reyes. (Star-Telegram)
September 2, 2003
Jail operator Correctional Services Corp. on Friday said a Texas jury awarded
plaintiffs $5.1 million in punitive damages in a wrongful death suit against the
company and a former employee, but recovery is limited to $850,000 under Texas
law. The company said its primary liability insurance carrier has recently
taken the not uncommon step of disclaiming coverage, but it believes the carrier
has no legitimate basis for the decision and has retained counsel to enforce its
rights under the policies. (Yahoo Finance)
August 29, 2003
With no prior criminal record, the 18-year-old Arlington man hoped that the
former Mansfield boot camp would set him straight after a drunken-driving
arrest. He chose the regimented, low-security corrections facility over
jail time. But a rare, penicillin-resistant form of pneumonia killed Bryan
Alexander on Jan. 9, 2001, while he served his six-month sentence. His pleas for
medical attention had been ignored for days. "He wanted to get some
discipline at the camp and a chance to get his GED. It turned out to be a death
sentence for a DWI," said Charlie Smith, who represented the teen-ager in the
criminal matter and his family in a civil lawsuit. On Thursday, a Tarrant
County jury added $5.1 million in punitive damages to its award Wednesday of $35
million in actual damages for Alexander's death, his suffering and his parents'
mental anguish and loss of their son. Jurors blamed the camp's nurse,
Knyvett Reyes, and Florida-based Correctional Services Corp., which contracted
to run the 370-bed facility. CSC must pay $26 million of the judgment,
Reyes $14.1 million. Reyes' attorney, Michael Wallach, and CSC's attorney, Vic
Anderson, declined to comment. The lawsuit brought by Alexander's parents,
Rickey Alexander and Judy Schumpert, said Reyes and CSC failed to provide
Alexander with adequate and timely medical care. He had complained of
feeling weak and coughing up blood days before he was taken to John Peter Smith
Hospital in Fort Worth. Alexander was immediately placed in intensive care but
died two days later. The boot camp and residential drug-treatment programs
at the Mansfield facility were closed six months after Alexander's death. CSC
had been paid $2.9 million a year by the state to run the facility. On
Thursday, attorneys for the Alexander family asked the jury of five women and
seven men to further punish CSC and Reyes to send a message to other correction
facilities and nurses. "You did listen to Bryan's pleas for help.
Unfortunately for Bryan, you are 2 1/2 years too late," Bill Lane, one of the
plaintiffs' attorneys, told the jury in closing arguments Thursday in the
punitive-damage stage of the trial. "But you are not too late to send a message
to this private corporation that we will not accept the lowest bidder or that
the bottom line is worth more than a human life." Attorneys for the
defendants argued that their clients were unaware of the seriousness of
Alexander's illness. Reyes testified that she treated Alexander for a cold, flu
and strep throat based on her evaluation of his symptoms. Fort Worth
accountant L. Andrew McCartney said CSC is worth more than $50.8 million, based
on recent financial reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
CSC has about $25 million in insurance coverage that could be used to cover the
judgment, said Anderson, CSC's attorney. "If the company is closed down,
there are going to be a lot of people out of jobs," he said. Reyes'
attorney, Wallach, said: "I think we all know Knyvett Reyes is not a
corporation. I would ask that you punish her no further." (Fort Worth
Star-Telegram)
August 28, 2003
A former nurse and a Florida-based private
corrections company that operated the defunct Mansfield boot camp were
responsible for the death of an 18-year-old inmate, a Tarrant County jury
decided Wednesday. The jury of five
women and seven men ordered the nurse and company to pay $35 million for the
death of Bryan Alexander, his suffering, and his parents' mental anguish and
loss of companionship. Alexander died of
a rare penicillin-resistant form of pneumonia at John Peter Smith Hospital in
Fort Worth, two days after being transported from the camp for probationers.
Arlington lawyer Charlie Smith, who represented
Alexander in his criminal matter and the Alexander family in the wrongful-death
lawsuit, said he was not surprised by the jury's verdict.
"This case was more like a homicide case than a wrongful-death lawsuit because
of the way this young man died," said Smith, one of seven attorneys representing
the Alexander family. "Bryan's family was hopeful that this jury would speak
loud about the conduct of these defendants so it will not happen to another
child in the same circumstances as Bryan Alexander."
The lawsuit asserted that Correctional Services Corp., and its nurse at the
camp, Knyvett Reyes of Arlington, did not provide Alexander with adequate and
timely medical care. Alexander had complained of feeling weak and was coughing
up blood days before he was taken to JPS Hospital.
But Reyes testified during the seven-week trial that, based on her evaluation of
his symptoms, she treated Alexander for a cold, flu and strep throat. Witnesses
testified that Reyes thought the inmate was faking his illness.
Reyes' attorney, Michael Wallach, declined to comment after the jury's verdict.
Correctional Services Corp.'s attorney, Vic Anderson, also declined to comment.
Attorneys for Alexander's parents, Rickey Alexander
and Judy Schumpert, said Reyes' skepticism cost Alexander his life. He was
serving a sentence at the facility for a drunken-driving conviction and had no
prior criminal record, according to testimony.
Correctional Services Corp., which was paid about $2.9 million a year to run the
camp, must pay 60 percent of the $35 million judgment, while Reyes was ordered
to pay 40 percent. The jury also decided
that Reyes and Correctional Services Corp. acted with malice in ignoring
Alexander's pleas for help, which means the defendants must pay punitive
damages. Closing arguments are scheduled for today to determine punitive
damages. Fort Worth accountant L. Andrew
McCartney said Correctional Services Corp. is worth more than $50.8 million,
based on recent financial reports filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. "They are currently making a
profit," he testified. Reyes' financial
condition was not brought up.
Plaintiffs' attorneys are seeking $40 million in punitive damages for the
Alexander family.
Correctional Services Corp. has about $25 million in
insurance coverage that could be used to cover the lawsuit judgment, said
Anderson, the company's attorney.
"In this case, the plaintiffs are asking the jury to punish the company. If the
jury punishes the company, they are probably going to be punishing the
stockholders of this company," Anderson said. (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
August 28, 2003
A former nurse and a Florida-based private corrections company that operated a
defunct Mansfield boot camp were responsible for the death of an 18-year-old
inmate, a Tarrant County jury decided Wednesday. The jury of five women
and seven men ordered the nurse and company to pay $35 million for the death of
Bryan Alexander, his suffering, and his parents' mental anguish and future loss
of companionship. Alexander died of a rare penicillin-resistant form of
pneumonia at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, two days after being
transported from the camp for probationers. Arlington lawyer Charlie
Smith, who represented Alexander in his criminal case and the Alexander family
in the wrongful-death lawsuit, said he was not surprised by the jury's verdict.
"This case was more like a homicide case than a wrongful-death lawsuit because
of the way this young man died," said Smith, one of seven attorneys representing
the Alexander family. "Bryan's family was hopeful that this jury would speak
loud about the conduct of these defendants so it will not happen to another
child in the same circumstances as Bryan Alexander." The lawsuit asserted
that Correctional Services Corp. and its nurse at the camp, Knyvett Reyes,
failed to provide Alexander with adequate and timely medical care. Alexander had
complained of weakness and was coughing up blood days before he was taken to JPS
Hospital. But Reyes testified during the seven-week trial that, based on
her evaluation of his symptoms, she treated Alexander for a cold, flu and strep
throat. Witnesses testified that Reyes thought the inmate was faking his
illness. Attorneys for Alexander's parents, Rickey Alexander and Judy
Schumpert, said Reyes' skepticism cost Alexander his life. He was serving a
sentence at the facility for a drunken-driving conviction and had no prior
criminal record, according to testimony. Correctional Services Corp.,
which was paid about $2.9 million a year to run the camp, must pay 60 percent of
the $35 million judgment; Reyes was ordered to pay 40 percent.
(Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
August 27, 2003
Correctional Services Corporation today announced that a Tarrant County, Texas
jury has returned a $35 million verdict against the Company and its former
employee in the wrongful death suit by the parents and estate of Bryan
Alexander. Mr. Alexander died of a rare penicillin-resistant form of pneumonia
while incarcerated at the Tarrant County Community Correctional Facility, which
was operated by the Company at the time. The jury will now be asked to consider
whether punitive damages should also be awarded against the Company and/or its
former employee. (Yahoo Finance)
August 27, 2003
A Tarrant County jury is expected to continue deliberations today in the
wrongful-death lawsuit in the case of an Arlington teen-ager who died while
serving a sentence at the former Mansfield boot camp. Bryan Alexander, 18,
died of pneumonia at John Peter Smith Hospital on Jan. 9, 2001 -- days after he
complained of feeling weak and coughing up blood. He had a rare
penicillin-resistant infection, hospital tests later revealed. Attorneys
for his parents, Rickey Alexander and Judy Schumpert, said Florida-based
Correctional Services Corp., the private company that operated the boot camp,
and its nurse, Knyvett Reyes, ignored Bryan Alexander's pleas for medical
attention and could have saved his life. The attorneys are asking for at
least $75 million for Alexander's death, his suffering and his parents' mental
anguish. (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
August 26, 2003
A Tarrant County jury began deliberations Monday in
the wrongful-death lawsuit in the case of an Arlington man who died while
serving a drunken-driving sentence at the former Mansfield boot camp.
Bryan Alexander, 18, died of pneumonia at John Peter
Smith Hospital on Jan. 9, 2001 -- days after he complained of feeling weak and
coughing up blood. He had a rare penicillin-resistant infection, hospital tests
later revealed. Attorneys for his
parents -- Rickey Alexander and Judy Schumpert -- said the Florida-based private
company that operated the boot camp and its nurse, Knyvett Reyes, ignored his
pleas for medical attention and could have saved his life.
"They don't believe they did anything wrong," said Jeff Kobs, one of seven
attorneys representing the Alexander family. "No one has come to this courtroom
to say they were sorry or regret what they did. I want you to tell these people
they are responsible and what happened was wrong."
Alexander's parents are suing Reyes and Correctional
Services Corp., which contracted to run the 370-bed facility for probationers
and drug treatment. Plaintiffs' attorneys suggested an award of $75 million for
Alexander's death, his suffering and his parents' mental anguish.
A jury of five women and seven men listened to nearly eight hours of closing
arguments Monday in the trial that began July 7. They are expected to resume
deliberations this morning. The
defendants' attorneys argued that Alexander was provided with adequate medical
care and that he was the only one to blame for his death because he failed to
provide the camp's nurse with enough information about his illness.
"It wasn't going to make any difference on the
ultimate outcome if he had been seen by a doctor on Jan. 5," Reyes' attorney,
Michael Wallach, said. "Alexander never proved he was coughing up blood until
Jan. 7. He had every opportunity to bring nurse Reyes the proof."
Attorney Vic Anderson, who represents CSC, said the plaintiffs' witnesses were
not credible because they were mostly former inmates at the boot camp, and he
frequently called them "criminals."
Anderson also said that Alexander showed signs of having a cold or the flu but
that he was not seriously ill until he was transported to JPS.
"We believe nurse Reyes did not think there was an extreme risk involved with
Alexander," Anderson said. "She was treating him for strep throat."
Reyes was convicted of negligent homicide last year in Alexander's death and
sentenced to four years' probation. But attorneys for the Alexander family could
not present her conviction to jurors because the case is under appeal.
The county's 19 criminal court judges closed the boot camp in July 2001 amid an
array of problems at the facility. Attorneys for the Alexander family are also
suing the judges who oversaw the facility in 2000 and 2001 and the probation
department. Reyes surrendered her
nursing license in 2001 during a state nursing board investigation.
CSC still has two contracts with Texas. The publicly
traded company is paid about $7 million to run a halfway house in Fort Worth and
an intermediate-sanction facility in Houston, state prison spokesman Larry Todd
said. Alexander's attorneys said a
judgment in the lawsuit is important to prevent similar incidents at other
facilities operated by CSC. "We're
talking about a for-profit corrections company that houses our youths. They do
it for the money. And it's the bottom line they are concerned about, not about
responsibility," said Bill Lane, one of the plaintiffs' attorneys. "It is wrong
what happened to Bryan Alexander, and they should pay for what happened."
(Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
July 21, 2003
A Texas Rangers' investigation into the death of an inmate at the former
Mansfield boot camp determined that the 18-year-old probationer had to take cold
and flu pills for days before he was allowed to visit a nurse. Attorneys blamed
a nurse's skepticism and poor staffing by a Florida-based private company that
ran a Mansfield boot camp for the death of an inmate who had been serving a
drunken-driving sentence at the facility. The attorneys, who represent the
parents of Bryan Alexander, made the accusations Thursday during opening
statements of a wrongful death trial. Alexander, 18, of Arlington died Jan. 9,
2001, two days after being transferred to a Fort Worth hospital. He had a form
of pneumonia that was resistant to penicillin. Plaintiffs' attorneys contend the
camp's nurse and Correctional Services Corp., which contracted to run the camp
for the county's judges and probation department, failed to provide Alexander
with timely and adequate medical care. "They watched him die," Charlie
Smith said in opening statements. He is one of seven attorneys representing
Alexander's parents, Rickey Alexander and Judy Schumpert. Visiting State
District Judge Roger Towery is presiding over the trial, and a five-woman,
seven-man jury will decide the case. The plaintiffs' attorneys contend
Bryan Alexander tried to get medical attention as early as Dec. 31 but was not
seen until Jan. 5. Alexander had been given over-the-counter medication to treat
a cold or flu. Alexander's parents are suing CSC and the camp's former
nurse, Knyvett Reyes, who was hired by the company. Reyes was convicted of
negligent homicide last year in Alexander's death. Attorneys on both sides are
awaiting clarification from the 2nd Court of Appeals in Fort Worth on whether
that conviction is final or under appeal. Vic Anderson, an attorney for
CSC, said Reyes acted appropriately in treating what she believed was the flu or
strep throat and could not have known the severity of Alexander's illness.
"We do not deny the fact that Mr. Alexander was ill and began feeling bad
sometime in late December or early January," Anderson said in opening
statements. "But a lot of people at the facility were feeling bad," he said.
"There was an outbreak of flu. It was not an unusual thing for someone at the
camp to say they are sick to get out of work or to get a trip to the hospital."
Alexander died two days after being taken to John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort
Worth on Jan. 7, 2001. "Just because there is a death doesn't necessarily mean
there is someone at fault," Anderson said. Texas Rangers Sgt. Alvin Alexis
testified that the boot camp had a policy of requiring probationers at the
370-bed Mansfield facility to take over-the-counter drugs for three days before
they could request a visit to the camp's nurse. Alexis said Alexander
complained of coughing up blood but had to take cold and flu pills for three
days and then tried for another three days to visit the camp's nurse. Alexis
based his conclusions on CSC records and interviews with CSC employees and boot
camp inmates. Reyes' attorney, Michael Wallach, told jurors they should
question the reliability of inmates' statements, even Alexander's. "You
will have to determine whether Bryan Alexander was a reliable historian of his
own health problems," he said. The civil lawsuit, which initially sought
more than $700 million in damages, is expected to last more than a month, court
officials said. Attorneys for Alexander's parents are not disclosing how much in
damages they'll seek at the conclusion of the trial. (Fort Worth Star
Telegram)
July 14, 2003
Jury selection begins today in the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the parents
of an 18-year-old Arlington man who died after becoming ill at a former
Mansfield facility for probationers. While serving a sentence for drunken
driving, Bryan Alexander developed a rare lung infection and died Jan. 9, 2001,
two days after being transferred to a Fort Worth hospital. Alexander's
parents, Rickey Alexander and Judy Schumpert, are suing Correctional Services
Corp., the Florida-based private contractor that operated the camp, and its
former nurse, Knyvett Reyes, who was convicted in Alexander's death last year.
The lawsuit, which initially sought $755 million, contends that the camp and its
employees ignored warning signs of Alexander's failing health. Attorneys
for Correctional Services and Reyes did not return phone calls Friday. The
lawsuit may help prevent other inmates' medical concerns from being ignored,
attorneys for Alexander's parents say. Last year, Reyes, the camp's former
nurse, was sentenced to two years in jail, but a probationary sentence was
imposed in lieu of jail time. She was also ordered to pay $10,939.74 in
restitution. The attorneys for the state and for Reyes negotiated the sentence.
Reyes' attorney, Jack Strickland, is trying to appeal the conviction. But the
special prosecutor in the case is fighting the request, meaning that Reyes'
conviction can be used as evidence in the civil case, attorneys say.
Plaintiff attorneys said they will focus on Reyes' actions in Alexander's death
and how the private contractor limited inmates' access to medical attention.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office ruled that Alexander died of
pneumonia caused by an antibiotic-resistant infection. Doctors at John Peter
Smith Hospital in Fort Worth could not detect and treat the infection in time to
save his life. Six months after Alexander's death, the county's 19
criminal-court judges voted to close the boot camp and residential
drug-treatment programs at the 370-bed facility. The judges also voted to end
the county's $2.9 million annual contract with Correctional Services Corp.
(Star-Telegram)
January 22, 2003
A former Mansfield
boot camp nurse convicted of negligent homicide in the 2001 death of an inmate
is appealing and asking for a new trial.
Knyvett Reyes, 36, was sentenced in August to four years of community
supervision for the death of boot camp probationer Bryan Alexander, 18, of
Arlington. Reyes struck a deal with prosecutors to avoid serving two years in
state jail.
The judge who presided over the non-jury trial in June found that Reyes
failed to provide timely and adequate medical care to the teen-ager, who died of
a rare lung infection that was resistant to antibiotics. Alexander's parents are suing Reyes, the boot camp's doctor
and a Florida-based private contractor that ran the facility. The suit contends
that Alexander's pleas for medical help were ignored and his death could have
been prevented. The civil case is
scheduled to begin July 7 in Judge Tom Lowe's 236th District Court.
(Star_Telegram)
December 31, 2002
Attorneys for parents of an 18-year old who died after falling ill at a
Mansfield boot camp filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against Tarrant County and
its 19 judges who managed the correctional center. The lawsuit contends
that the judges who supervised the Tarrant County Community Correctional
Facility failed to ensure that its staff provided proper medical care for Bryan
Alexander, 18, of Arlington. The boot camp's former nurse, Knyvett Reyes,
was sentenced in August to four years of community supervision. She was
convicted of negligent homicide in Alexander's death for failing to provide the
teen-ager with timely medical care. A $755 million wrongful death lawsuit
filed by Alexander's family is pending. (Star-Telegram)
August 31, 2002
FORT WORTH - Former Mansfield boot camp nurse Knyvett Reyes was sentenced Friday
to four years community supervision for negligent homicide and ordered to pay
restitution to Bryan Alexander's family. Alexander, an 18-year-old probationer
at the boot camp, died in 2001 of a lung infection that led to pneumonia after
leaving her care. During her trial, the prosecution accused Reyes of failing to
provide adequate and timely attention. Reyes was sentenced to two years in jail,
but the probationary sentence was imposed in lieu of jail time. Reyes was also
ordered to pay $10,939.74 in restitution. The attorneys for the state and Reyes
negotiated the sentence. Alexander, who was in the boot camp because of a
drunken-driving conviction, died after being taken from the camp to John Peter
Smith Hospital in Fort Worth. Reyes is also barred from performing any nursing
duties involving direct patient care during her probation. She is working as a
hospital clerk. Barring an appeal, criminal proceedings are now concluded. But
family members have filed a $755 million wrongful death civil lawsuit. The
family two weeks ago moved to add Tarrant County's 19 criminal judge to the
suit. (Star-telegram)
June 29, 2002
A nurse accused in the death of a probationer at the former Mansfield boot
camp was convicted Friday of negligent homicide. Knyvett Reyes, 36, of
Arlington, faces up to two years in state jail in the death of 18-year-old Bryan
Alexander, a probationer at the camp. "It's kind of difficult to feel sorry for
nurse Reyes because she didn't show any empathy for Bryan," the teen's father,
Rickey Alexander, said outside the courtroom. "The important thing for us was we
didn't want her in a position where she could do the same thing to some other
person." "Bryan Alexander died as a result of being ignored," special prosecutor
Bill Turner said during closing arguments. A pending $755 million wrongful death
lawsuit in Alexander's death kept the courtroom packed throughout Reyes'
two-week trial. Alexander's parents are suing Florida-based Correctional
Services Corp., the private company that ran the 370-bed Mansfield facility for
probationers. (The Star-Telegram)
June 28, 2002
A former boot camp nurse thought an inmate who died after complaining of
coughing up blood had a cold or strep throat, she testified Thursday. Knyvett
Reyes, 36, of Arlington, is being tried on charges of manslaughter and negligent
homicide in the death of Bryan Alexander, a probationer at the Mansfield camp.
Prosecutors contend Reyes failed to provide Alexander with adequate and timely
medical attention. Witnesses for the prosecution have said Reyes was skeptical
of inmates' illnesses, and that she did not provide physicians with enough
information to detect Alexander's infection. During Reyes' cross-examination,
special prosecutor Bill Turner accused her of altering Alexander's medical
records, ignoring his complaints and failing to take some vital signs that could
have helped doctors save the teen-ager's life. Turner accused Reyes of creating
records after Alexander died to help in her defense. Original boot camp records
and inmate's files have not been located, he said. (The Star-Telegram)
June 25, 2002
A Colorado prison warden testified Monday that a Mansfield boot camp nurse
could not have known an inmate under her care had a fatal illness based on his
written request for medical treatment. The nurse, Knyvett Jane Reyes, is on
trial on negligent homicide and manslaughter charges in the death of 18-year-old
Bryan Alexander, a probationer at the camp who medical examiners determined died
of a form of pneumonia. Prosecutors have argued that Reyes did not thoroughly
examine Alexander. They contended she should have taken several vital signs,
such as his blood pressure and heart rate, which would have revealed a rare
infection that eventually caused his death Jan. 9. An official with the state
nurse licensing agency testified last week that Reyes should have sent Alexander
to a doctor Jan. 5. Alexander was taken to the hospital Jan. 7 and died two days
later. Special prosecutor Lindsey Roberts said Alexander's weight loss - about
25 pounds during his two months at the camp - and claims that he was coughing up
blood should have been red flags. Roberts said Alexander was 6 feet tall and
weighed 150 pounds when he died. (The Star-Telegram)
September 27, 2001
The boy knew rage. A troublemaking, dope-smoking misfit, "Brad" was in and out
of trouble with the law, and more in than out. He ran away from home, stayed out
all night, stole. Help came in the form of confinement to a juvenile "boot camp"
run by Correctional Services Corp., a private company that manages two Dallas
County juvenile facilities. Sent to CSC's program for emotionally disturbed
youths in Southern Dallas, Brad's condition quickly deteriorated. Privately, the
boy's group counselor told his grandmother, "I am not qualified. I do not have
the education. He needs more than I can give him." Those words, from one of
CSC's own employees, might be used to sum up the company's long and troubled
history of running juvenile and other jail facilities here and nationwide with
what one critic calls a "Costco" approach to juvenile treatment. It is a track
record that includes chilling episodes of sexual abuse, gross mismanagement and,
in one Tarrant County case, the death of an 18-year-old. In the past decade, in
New York, Florida and Texas, local authorities and the federal government have
canceled contracts with CSC, following a host of complaints from former CSC
inmates and their families. One top Texas government official in the juvenile
justice system, who declined to be named, says CSC has a two-pronged pitch when
it sells its services. First, it promises much lower costs. The Texas Youth
Commission, for instance, budgets $129 per day per juvenile at its facilities,
compared with the $80 or $90 a day CSC charges. In other instances, CSC pledges
to help counties make money. At CSC boot camps in North Texas, drill instructors
are hired at $7.46 an hour. Their training consists of observing other
instructors for a week, before being put to work. "There were a whole lot of
people hired to do jobs they didn't know how to do," says one educator who
taught at the facility, speaking on the condition that she not be identified.
She worked for another company hired by the county to provide schooling at the
CSC facility but quit after six months because she believed she and her staff,
who went for weeks without offices or phones, were ill-equipped to handle their
responsibilities. One fresh-out-of-college education major, she recalls, was
handed the responsibility of developing a special education program. After the
July 1999 attack on his grandmother, Brad was taken to the Dallas County
juvenile detention center. A month later, state District Judge Hal Gaither
committed him to the CSC boot camp. Initially, his grandmother welcomed the
development. She believed the help she had sought had finally arrived. But even
behind bars he continued to misbehave and spent countless hours, sometimes
shackled and handcuffed, seated on a concrete bench in a small confinement room
that reeked of urine. Brad, like many of his peers, did not meet with an
individual counselor, family counselor or psychiatrist for months. When he did
see a doctor, the juvenile simply told the psychiatrist to halt his prescribed
drugs, and the physician agreed, according to records. The lack of promised
counseling wasn't unique to Brad's case. Attorney Craig Sargent represented a
mentally retarded client sent to CSC's unit for emotionally disturbed kids. His
client, he says, was also denied the family counseling he had been promised. At
a hearing to determine whether the boy should be sent to a Texas Youth
Commission facility, Sargent grilled a CSC drill instructor and program director
Brown. The instructor testified that despite working with the youth every day,
she had not realized he was mentally handicapped. "That would be important to
know when you're addressing someone as far as their mental capacity and their
ability to follow your directive, if they have any defect. Would you agree with
me?" Sargent asked. "Yes, sir," the employee replied. For four months, CSC had
been receiving $82 a day to treat the boy, Sargent notes. "It pissed me off as a
taxpayer," he recalls. In the late '90s, the company ran into similar problems
in Florida. Dade County officials terminated contracts when they discovered CSC
had deliberately kept delinquents beyond their release dates to pocket extra
money. The local school district paid the company to teach kids in its custody;
CSC was accused of collecting money for days when it provided no schooling.
"They are a completely greedy company. They have a Costco approach to meaningful
intervention," says Marie Osborne, an assistant public defender in Dade County
who went to court to get 11 of her indigent clients removed from a CSC facility.
The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice conducted a study of the facility and
found a lack of training, inadequate background checks on employees and
inadequate food service. Employees had even helped stage fights between 13- and
14-year-olds while their peers watched and referred to these bloody scrabbles as
"The Main Event" in memos, according to CSC employees' testimonies. The lawsuits
against CSC are mounting to the point analysts say that they are threatening the
corporate bottom line. Once a Wall Street darling, CSC has fallen on hard times.
(Dallas Observer)
July 13, 2001
Five former Mansfield boot camp inmates filed a civil lawsuit Thursday, alleging
that they were sexually harassed or given inadequate medical care while housed
there. Two female plaintiffs allege that a male guard fondled them and
repeatedly made sexually suggestive comments. Three former male inmates
allege that they suffered long-term physical problems after failing to receive
prompt and adequate medical attention. Arlington attorney Howard
Rosenstein, who filed the suit Thursday, represented three female former boot
camp inmates who won a $2.8 million award in a sexual harassment suit against
Correctional Services Corp. in March. "Again, we find ourselves in the
situation where, due to the absence of enforcement of a security policy at CSC,
instructors and guards were allowed to isolate, torment and sexually abuse these
women," Mr. Rosenstein said. The suit is the latest in a series of legal
battles facing the company, which operates more than a dozen facilities in Texas
and runs facilities in 18 states. A $ 755 million lawsuit alleging
inadequate medical care was filed by the parents of Bryan Alexander, who died
Jan. 9 from pneumonia while an inmate at the boot camp. The company also
faces a civil lawsuit by a former operations manager who alleges that he was
improperly fired for reporting staffing shortages. The company has
repeatedly denied the allegations in those cases. (The Dallas Morning
News)
June 21, 2001
A panel of judges voted unanimously Wednesday to close the Mansfield boot camp
and residential drug treatment facility July 6 and reopen it as a day treatment
program for probationers. The Board of Criminal Judges, with 11 of its 19
members in attendance, decided to move up the closure date from Aug. 31. A
contract with Florida-based Correctional Services Corp. to operate the 370-bed
facility ends Aug. 31, but the company has agreed to end its obligations sooner.
The judges voted this year not to renew the contract with Correctional Services
Corp. The company came under scrutiny after some female inmates were
sexually assaulted by employees and because of questions about the quality of
health care for inmates. Probationer Bryan Alexander, 18, of Arlington
died of pneumonia Jan. 9, two days after being transported to a Fort Worth
hospital. Alexander's parents have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against
the nurse who treated him, the company and others. (The Fort Worth
Star-Telegram)
May 19, 2001
Two Tarrant County judges pulled about a dozen probationers from
drug-rehabilitation programs at the Mansfield boot camp facility Thursday after
reports that a guard had consensual sex with an inmate. Boot camp
administrator Randy Tate declined to discuss details of the allegations, other
than saying that the reports are being investigated and that the guard has been
suspended. State District Judges Jamie Cummings and Sharen Wilson removed
probationers from the substance-abuse treatment program at the facility Thursday
after officials notified the county's probation department of the reports.
(Arlington Morning News)
May 17, 2001
A privately operated prison that was the subject of a Texas Rangers
investigation over prisoners' treatment will now be shuttered. The 370-bed
Tarrant Community Corrections Facility will close in less than three months due
to a $2.8 million budget shortfall. Earlier this year, the judges voted to
not renew a contract with Florida-based Correctional Services Corp. to operate
the facility. The company, which has run the center since 1992, has been
criticized because of escapes, sexual assaults by employees and questions about
the health care inmates have received. Earlier this month, a Tarrant
County grand jury indicted a nurse who provided medical treatment for a boot
camp probationer until two days before he died of pneumonia. (AP)
May 4, 2001
Rick Alexander, hat clutched in hand, sat for nearly 50 minutes as a lawyer
defended the woman the Arlington resident is convinced helped kill his
18-year-old son. Mr. Alexander listened intently as Fort Worth attorney
Jack V. Strickland lambasted the Tarrant County grand jury's indictment on
charges of manslaughter and negligent homicide against Knyvett Jane Reyes, a
nurse at the Mansfield boot camp where Bryan Alexander was an inmate. " I
don't think that Nurse Reyes is a victim," Mr. Alexander said in a hallway at
the Tarrant County Justice Center. "Bryan told me he filled out three
requests, not to see the doctor, but to go to the hospital. But he said, '
She's real mean and she doesn't like me. ' He told me that himself." Bryan
Alexander died Jan. 9 at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth. He was
sentenced to the camp for assault and drunken driving. The teen filed a
written request for medical attention Jan. 4. Camp officials contend that
he was seen by Ms. Reyes the next day and given antibiotics, but the teen was
required to continue a workout regimen through Jan. 6. James Slattery,
chief executive officer of Sarasota, Fla.-based Correctional Services Corp., was
out of town Thursday and was unavailable for comment on the pending court case.
(Arlington Morning Star)
May 4, 2001
A 35-year-old nurse at the Mansfield boot camp was indicted Thursday on charges
of manslaughter and negligent homicide in connection with the death of an
18-year-old inmate. The indictment alleges that Knyvett Jane Reyes
recklessly and negligently caused the death of Bryan Alexander of Arlington by
failing to adequately assess his condition, report his illness and provide
adequate care at the Tarrant County Community Correctional Facility. The
two-page indictment states that Ms. Reyes failed to adequately assess and
evaluate Mr. Alexander's medical status, failed to accurately report his status
to the boot camp's attending physician, and failed to stabilize Mr. Alexander's
medical condition and prevent complications. The indictment also says Ms.
Reyes did not order bed rest, and did not prohibit strenuous physical exertion
or transfer Mr. Alexander to the hospital in a timely manner.
Florida-based Correctional Services Corp. has operated the Mansfield facility
since 1992. The boot camp is part of the Tarrant County Community
Correctional Facility. (Arlington Morning News)
May 4, 2001
The parents of a Mansfield boot camp inmate, who died of pneumonia days after
complaining of being ill, filed a $755 million wrongful death lawsuit Friday
against the company that runs the camp and others. Bryan Alexander, 18, of
Arlington, died Jan. 9, two days after being transferred from the camp to Fort
Worth's John Peter Smith Hospital. The lawsuit contends the camp and its
employees ignored signs of Alexander's "falling health" and were grossly
negligent in providing medical treatment. Defendants in the lawsuit are
Correctional Services Corp., a private, Florida-based company that runs the
camp; CSC attorney Tony Schaffer; the Tarrant County Community and Corrections
Department; CSC nurse Knyvett Reyes; and Dr. Samuel Lee, who was employed by the
company. Reyes was indicated Thursday on a charge of manslaughter and
negligent homicide in Alexander's death. An Austin administration law
judge, who suspended Reyes' nursing license in March, wrote that Alexander
"would most likely have been" cured if his illness was diagnosed earlier and
treated with other antibiotics. In February, three former inmates were
awarded $2.8 million by a Tarrant County judge for sexual harassment the women
suffered at the facility. (Star-Telegram)
April 20, 2001
Members of Tarrant County's judiciary have voted to stop sending probationers to
the Mansfield boot camp out of concerns that there won't be enough money to keep
the camp open long enough for the next platoon to graduate. Under the
contract with Florida-based Correctional Services Corp., the county pays $21.94
a day per bed, regardless of whether the beds are occupied. This arrangement
will continue until the contract expires Sept. 1. The judges voted in
February to manage the facility after the private contractor's contract expires
in September. Allegations of sexual harassment by guards and the death of
a probationer in January have plagued the boot camp. (The Fort Worth
Star-Telegram)
April 6, 2001
A Tarrant County grand jury will decide whether to indict officials at the
Mansfield boot camp in connection with the death of a former inmate, a special
prosecutor said Thursday. Grand jurors will hear evidence April 25 from
witnesses and the Texas Ranger's investigation into the death of 18-year-old
Bryan Alexander of Arlington, who was an inmate at the boot camp, also known as
the Tarrant County Community Correctional Facility. Mr. Smith has notified
Correctional Services Corp., which has run the boot camp since it opened in1992,
that the Alexander family may file a civil lawsuit. A Correctional
Services Corp., official said Thursday that a grand jury was the proper venue
for consideration of the investigation. The Texas State Board of Nurses
Examiners on March 2 indefinitely suspended the license of Knyvett Jane Reyes,
the boot camp nurse who provided medical care to the teenager. Two other
inmates have alleged that they received inadequate medical care at the camp,
charges facility officials have denied. The Board of Criminal Court Judges
voted Feb. 21 to assume management of the 370-bed facility when Correctional
Services' operating contract ends Aug. 31. On March 5, a Tarrant County
judge awarded $2.8 million in damages to three female former inmates who sued
Correctional Services Corp. and a former drill instructor for sexual harassment.
(The Dallas Morning News)
March 21, 2001
A Tarrant County criminal justice task force has recommended that the Mansfield
boot camp program be discontinued and its beds used for housing probation
violators. If approved, the program would occupy the 120 beds currently
used for the boot camp. (Dallas Morning News, March 21, 2001)
March 6, 2001
Bryan Alexander's medical treatment while incarcerated at the Mansfield boot
camp was so poor that one official compared it to "modern day torture," and the
nurse supervising him has her license temporarily suspended. Knyvett Jane Reyes'
nursing license by the Texas State Board of Nurse Examiners was suspended Feb.
13, according to documents released Monday by State Sen. Chris Harris' office.
Mr. Alexander died Jan. 9 at John Peter Smith Hospital of antibiotic-resistant
pneumonia caused by a staphylococcus inflection. Charles Smith, attorney for
Rick Alexander, Bryan Alexander's father, said the nurse's suspension validates
his client's claims. "This is what we've been saying all along, that medical
service was substandard," he said. On Jan. 3, Mr. Alexander first notified
medical staff through a locked drop box that he was not feeling well. Inmates at
the boot camp submit sick forms into a locked box. In the case of Mr. Alexander,
his form was not read until Jan. 4.Documents show Mr. Alexander was not assesses
by Ms. Reyes until Jan.5, two days after he filled out a report detailing his
complaints of flu-like symptoms. "I caught the flu or something from somebody.
My whole body is sore. It hurts real bad when I cough," Mr. Alexander wrote on
Jan. 3. "My nose gets closed up to where I can't even breathe and the pills I've
been taking are not working. Mr. Reyes, who had been on Christmas vacation,
returned to work Jan. 3. According to the drill instructor's testimony, Ms.
Reyes was aware of the ailing teen's symptoms Jan. 4. On Jan. 5, he filled out
another form. According to registered nurse carol Dobrich, an independent expert
hired by the board to review the case, the treatment of Mr. Alexander, who died
at John Peter Smith Hospital on Jan. 9, amounted to "modern day torture." "By 2
p.m. on January 5th, once she knew Bryan Alexander had as temperature of 101,
and a red, sore throat, respondent knew he had an infection," according to Ms.
Dobrich's testimony, outline in the order suspending the license. "And her
failure to have him seen by a doctor or send him immediately to the emergency
room was an inappropriate nursing response. (Arlington Morning News)
March 1, 2001
Three women who allege they were sexually harassed while inmates at the
Mansfield boot camp asked a state judge Wednesday for up to $4 million in
damages. "If this court does not dress down and discipline this attitude every
women, everyone else, is subject to the same consideration these women got,"
Brice Cottongame, the attorney representing the three women, said in closing
arguments. But the attorney for Correctional Services Corp., the Florida-based
company that operates the boot camp, said employees, not the company, are at
fault. the civil trail's final day included testimony from a Correctional
Services executive, who refuted earlier testimony from a state senator. On
Wednesday, Mr. Rau suggested that the senator misinterpreted a comment he made.
"I did not make any statement like that," Mr. Rau said. "There was point in the
conversation where I said I would like to get all the facts and hear both sides
of the story. "The senator said, "What could the other side of the story be?'
which is when the statement was made. That is the other side of the story." "We
stand of Senator Harris' credibility," Mr. Cottongame said. "Sen. Harris has no
ax to grind, no interest in this lawsuit." (Arlington Morning News)
February 27, 2001
In the latter dated Jan. 30, 2000 - 11 days after Kari Echels Chattha graduated
from the boot camp - she wrote to Joseph Fonville telling him she missed him and
she was worried about him. She used the term of endearment "honey." Tony
Schaffer, an attorney representing Correctional Services Corp., which runs the
boot camp, said Mrs. Chattha 's letter proves she was involved romantically with
Mr. Fonville. Mrs. Chattha, 19, and two other plaintiffs, Karen fowler, 21, and
Annawaynette Creek, 33 allege in their suit they were fondled and sexually
harassed by boot camp workers during their incarceration at the Mansfield boot
camp over a seven-month period in 1999. Ms. Fowler and Ms. Creek also are suing
former boot camp maintenance worker Michael Zahn. Fred Bagely, a former vice
president of CSC, testified in a videotaped deposition that sexual harassment
was a problem at the Mansfield Facility. he initially learned of the allegations
made by Mrs. Chattha, Ms. Fowler and Ms. Creek in 1999. he said. (Arlington
Morning News)
February 26, 2001
The county's 19 criminal court judges voted unanimously last week to stop using
a private contractor at the Tarrant County Community Corrections Facility, which
houses the boot camp and three substance abuse programs. Three former female
inmates are suing Florida-based Correctional Services Corp., alleging sexual
abuse at the 370-bed facility. The company's contract expires Sept. 1. The
lawsuit's allegations are among recent criticisms of the facility. Accusations
of sexual misconduct by male guards against female inmates have plagued the camp
since it opened in 1992. The facility has also endured accusations of the staff
shortages and questions of proper medical care. Bryan Alexander, 18, a boot camp
inmate, died of pneumonia Jan. 9. Relatives allege he didn't receive timely
medical care. "I don't think any of us want to see CSC or any private company
run this camp any longer," Judge Gallagher said last week. State Sen. Chris
Harris, R-Arlington, who testified against Correctional Services Corp. on Friday
in civil trail, said the company's problems may be a result of paying many of
its employees near the minimum wage. Last year, 50 of 77 employees at the
facility were paid less than $17,000 per year, according to company records.
"They are in business of making money," Harris said. "As result, they are out
there cutting corners." Attorneys for the plaintiffs have alleged that a
corporate culture exists at the company. On Friday, Harris testified that a
company executive vice president told him in a telephone conversation that the
women at the boot camp "got what they wanted." He said the company "seemed to
have no concern about what happened to the women." According to the company's
contract, a female inmate cannot be alone with a male guard unless a female
guard is present. Testimony during the first three days suggested that staff
shortages prevented the company from following its policy of female inmate
supervision, which is part of its contract with the county's probation
department. "They are allowing employees to work 16-hour shifts, and sometimes
more than that," Harris said outside the court after his testimony Friday. "It
obviously came down to the corporate bottom line." (Star-Telegram)
February 23 , 2001
The private company that operates the Mansfield boot camp filed false reports
about staffing hours to Tarrant County officials, the facility's former manager
testified Thursday. John Renfroe, a former U.S. Army lieutenant colonel who
worked for the Florida-based Correctional Services Corp. between June 1994 and
June 2000, testified that he had reported the practice to his supervisors since
1995. "The data that had been in the monthly reports indicated that CSC as
meeting or exceeding contract hour requirements," said Mr. Renfroe, a witness in
a civil trail in which three women are suing the company because of sexual
harassment at the facility. "If you did the math, what was being reported
included extraneous, inappropriate figures." (Arlington Morning News)
February 22, 2001
Tarrant County criminal judges agreed Wednesday to assume management of
the Mansfield boot camp when a contract with Correctional Services Corp. ends in
August. the 19-member Board of Criminal Judges cited a $2.5 million budget
shortfall in its decision not to renew the private company's contract. The
facility could close by Sept. 1 if the legislature does not approve additional
funding, the judges said. Recent controversies - including the death of an
inmate, the hospitalization of two others and allegations of sexual exploitation
of female inmates - were factors in the decision. State Sen. Chris Harris,
R-Fort Worth, who has strongly criticized the boot camp's operation, praised the
judges' decision and said he will ask other state agencies funding. "I think the
judges are the ones who are accountable on that since they're the ones with the
oversight," Mr. Harris said. "I think this is smartest thin they can do."
(Dallas Morning News)
February 22, 2001
The private company that runs the Mansfield Boot Camp was negligent in allowing
two former workers to sexually harass women at the facility. an attorney for the
three former inmates said in court Wednesday. An attorney for Florida-based
Correctional Services corp. apologized for the incidents and defended the
company's record of quality management. Ms. Fowler and Ms. Creek allege former
maintenance worker Michael Zahn sexually harassed and exploited them during
their several month stays in 1999 at the boot camp. Mrs. Chattha alleges Joseph
Fonville forced her to participate in improper sexual activity during her 1999
stay. In July, Mr. Zahn received two years' probation after he pleaded guilty to
two counts of official oppression in connection with both incidents. "The
attitude of this corporate defendant will outrage you." (Arlington Morning
News)
February 22, 2001
As compliance officer at the Mansfield boot camp, John Renfore spent six years
faulting the private contractor that runs the facility, citing staff shortages
and a failure to protect female inmates from sexual abuse. That testimony
Thursday before 141st District Court Judge Paul Enlow bolstered the case of the
three former female inmates who are suing Florida-based Correctional Services
Corp., which runs 370-bed facility for probationers. The women assaults contend
CSC employees sexually abused then while they were serving sentences at the
Tarrant County Community Corrections facility in Mansfield. On Thursday, Renfore
said he outlined staffing shortages and inadequate supervision of female inmates
in numerous memos that he sent to CSC officials and his bosses with Tarrant
County Community Corrections Department. those complaints began in 1995 and
continued until the probation department fired him in June, he said. Fort Worth
lawyer W. Brice Cottongame, who is representing the women, said the incidents
were caused by a corporate culture in CSC that does not protect female inmates
and ignores their complaints of abuse. Sherry Johnson, who worked as a drill
instructor at the camp last year, said grievances filed by inmates are often
thrown away or shredded by CSC supervisors. She also said CSC employees
retaliate against inmates who file grievances. "They would read them out loud
and laugh, then throw them in the trash," she said. "They would be disregarded
for misspelling a CSC employee's name." (Star-Telegram)
February 07, 2001
The former operations manager of a Mansfield boot camp filed a lawsuit Tuesday
charging he was unjustly fired after pointing out deficiencies at the camp. Mr.
Renfore says his relationship with Correctional Services and Ms. Calaway soured
1999 after he began filing critical reports with boot camp administrators. The
reports said that because of staff shortages, the company was not keeping the
facility properly cleaned and maintained, and not adequately supervising its
staff and did not have enough drill staff on duty to properly supervise
probationers.
(Arlington Morning News).
January 23, 2001
The Texas Rangers agreed Wednesday to act on a local judge's request for an
independent investigation into the death of an 18-yeat old former Mansfield
inmate. Mr. Harris, who called for wholesale changes at the boot camp five
months ago in the wake of the alleged sexual abuse of three former inmates.
since the Mr. Alexander's death, various judges have removes more the 50 of the
camp's 120 inmates. (Arlington Morning News)
December 14, 2000
A former employee of the private company that operates a North Texas
correctional facility is denying a lawsuit's claims that female inmates were
sexually harassed. Zahn, in deposition released this week, said his behavior was
limited to peeping through an attic vent while one of the women performed
unsolicited sexual acts. (Arlington Morning News)
October 2, 2000
Three teenagers ran from security officers and scaled a seven foot fence in a
recreation yard at the minimum-security center for non-violent offenders. (Fort
Worth Star-Telegram, Oct.6, 2000)
January 16, 2000
Accusations that neglect caused the death of an inmate at a Mansfield boot
camp last week may slam the door on a million-dollar deal for Tarrant County to
lease its long-shuttered Cold Springs Correctional Facility, officials said
Tuesday. The contract to operate the 384-bed Cold Springs facility for state
inmates. After months of negotiations and some last minute changes, the
contract, signed by CSC officials, was received by county officials Tuesday.
But all five members of Commissioners Court and the sheriff now say they won't
approve it unless the investigation into the death last week of 18-year old
Bryan D. Alexander -- whose family says boot officials failed to get him proper
medical care for pneumonia -- shows that CSC was not at fault. County officials'
concerns about contracting with CSC for new prisoners were heightened last week
when several district judges began pulling offenders out of the facility after
Alexander died. The boot camp has gone through a year of turmoil, including
escapes and allegations of drill instructors sexually assaulting female inmates,
and has struggled with staffing. Similar issues plagued the facility in the
mid-1990's, said James Slattery. Commissioners Dionne Bagsby and Marti
Vanravenswaay voted against the CSC contract last year, saying they were
concerned about problems at the boot camp. (Star-Telegram)
Colorado County Juvenile Facility
Eagle Lake, Texas
Correctional Services Corporation
February 7, 2006 The Victoria Advocate
Colorado County officials are expected to decide today if the county will
close the Eagle Lake Juvenile Detention Facility Boot Camp. The decision will be
made during a special commissioners court meeting at 9 a.m. The only item on the
agenda is to consider authorizing County Judge Al Jamison to close operation of
the boot camp. The county has been operating the facility since Sept. 1 after
the previous operator, Florida-based Correction Services Corporation, notified
the county it would end its contract on Aug. 31. The court conducted a six-month
review, Jamison said in a Monday phone interview. "We're losing money on the
facility and I would like to shut it down and quit the bleeding."
September 5, 2002
A juvenile sent to a military-style correctional boot camp in Eagle Lake died
Saturday from what officials there said was a "clear case of suicide." Police in
Eagle Lake were contacted after the young man's death and are conducting an
investigation, MacIntyre said. They could not be reached for comment Sunday. The
Colorado County facility, operated by the Sarasota, Fla.-based Youth Services
International, is part of a growing trend of private correctional centers. (The
Houston Chronicle)
Community House Arrest Program
Wichita County
September 20, 2003
Since the Community House Arrest Program started
six months ago in Wichita County, the program has led to a hotbed of
controversy, confusion and hard feelings.
But, for better or worse, CHAP is flat-lining this month.
The program, designed to monitor people charged with non-violent crimes with
electronic ankle bracelets until they are sentenced or charges are dropped, is
expected to shut down by Oct. 1, program administrators said Thursday.
"Although the commissioners, several judges and many in
the Sheriff's Department are behind the concept of the house arrest and its
potential benefits, there can be no such program without a concerted effort from
the staff of the District Attorney's Office,"
(Times Record News)
Cornell Companies
(bought by GEO Group)
Houston, Texas
How The
Recession Hurts Private Prisons Nancy Cook, Newsweek June 30, 2010
October 25, 2011 AP
The management company that formerly ran a Rhode Island prison is suing the
facility's governing body, saying it is owed more than $671,000, according to a
complaint filed in federal court. In a lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District
Court in Providence, Cornell Corrections of Rhode Island, Inc. says the
corporation running the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls
still owes money it agreed to pay the firm in 2008. The prison is run by the
Central Falls Detention Facility Corporation, a quasi-public agency. Cornell
Corrections operated Wyatt from its opening in 1993 to July 31, 2007, when the
corporation took over, according to a 2009 report on the facility. Cornell
Corrections says it reached a deal in 2008 with the corporation over the amount
of money it was owed under an earlier agreement. The lawsuit says Wyatt's
governing board still hasn't paid. The suit seeks $671,808, plus interest, costs
and attorneys' fees. The corporation stopped making full payments to Cornell
Corrections in 2006, according to a report released last month by former R.I.
Auditor General Ernest A. Almonte. As of August 2007, the corporation owed
Cornell Corrections more than $3.9 million, Almonte's report found. The 776-bed
facility houses medium- and maximum-security federal detainees awaiting trial or
transfer to federal Bureau of Prisons facilities. It lost a contract to house
federal immigration detainees after one died in its custody in 2008. The jail
has been beset by financial problems in recent years, having lost $6.2 million
and taken on $3.5 million in additional debt from 2007 to 2009, Almonte's report
said. The city of Central Falls once banked on revenue from the prison, but
hasn't been paid in three years. The city filed for bankruptcy earlier this
year. Attorneys for Cornell Corrections and the corporation did not immediately
return messages on Tuesday.
September 1, 2010 Smart Money
Owners of municipal bonds issued to pay for jails might not get to pass
Go--and could have trouble collecting interest payments as well. These
tax free bonds don't have a monopoly on defaults, but they're well
represented among failures and troubled issues among the more
speculative classes of municipal bonds. Data from Municipal Market
Advisors reveals a slew of tax-free bonds issued to fund construction of
privately run prisons and detention facilities in states from Texas to
Rhode Island to Montana. The most recent example is Littlefield, a West
Texas town of about 6,500 people. Located between the New Mexico border
and Buddy Holly's hometown of Lubbock, Littlefield had to dip into
reserves to cover payments for about $1.2 in bonds and other debt used
to finance the Bill Clayton Detention Center. The bonds were issued in
2000, but the expected revenue stream evaporated when, after a prisoner
suicide in 2008, the 310-bed private prison lost its contract to house
out-of-state inmates. In 2009, the Geo Group (GEO), formerly known as
Wackenhut Security, ended its operating agreement with the detention
center, leaving it unoccupied. In April, Fitch Ratings, which in 2009
lowered the bonds to BB from BBB, affirmed a negative rating outlook.
Littlefield city manager Danny Davis says the city is scrambling to
avoid default on the $780,000 worth of annual payments and plans to cut
police and fire service while dramatically raising property taxes when
the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1. The property could be sold or could
be taken over by the state, though neither option is certain. "It's
going to be difficult," he says. "In the meantime, we're just trying to
keep our heads above water until we get to a solution." Bob Libal is the
Texas campaign coordinator for Grassroots Leadership, a lobbying group
which opposes for-profit prisons, and the editor of the blog Texas
Prison Bid'ness. He says many small towns agree to build "speculative
prisons" to be run by private contractors using municipal bond financing
but that many of these projects in a post-Sept. 11 boom have had
trouble. Libal criticizes the development groups that get paid up front
for building detention centers thus saddling the bond-issuers (usually
special public facilities corporations created solely for those
projects) with risky debt. "They go after a lot of towns without a lot
of sophistication and resources to do the due diligence," Libal says.
"If they let the bonds go under, it's very difficult for them to issue
any more debt." Matt Fabian, director of research at Municipal Market
Advisors, cites similar bond woes in Central Falls, R.I.; Hardin, Mont.;
and Baker County, Fla., where about $105 million in total debt has run
into trouble because the prison projects haven't worked out as expected.
"The incarceration rates drives speculation," he says. "There's an idea
that you can profit from this prison trend." Investors in these
increasingly-insecure jail bonds have certainly had to assume more risk,
even though they get higher yields. The $99 million Central Falls
Detention Facility bond issue of 2005 entered technical default in 2009
when it drew on its reserves to make payments. The bonds, issued at par
with a yield of 7.25%, last traded at the end of 2009 at 85.3 cents to
the dollar, with a yield of 8.69%. Municipal revenue bonds issued in
2002 that funded the West Alabama Youth Services detention facility
defaulted in 2005. The bonds last traded in February at 9 cents to the
dollar with a yield of 73.6%. Fabian says some of the biggest private
prison busts are unlikely to have simple resolutions. A shopping center
is easy to repurpose; a detention center is not. "It's hard to
restructure," he says. "Even the land underneath a prison isn't worth as
much as it was." Even with a resurgent effort by the private prison
industry to use their facilities to detain illegal immigrants and an
attempt by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to
overhaul detention procedures, problems persist. The Baker Correctional
Development Corporation, created to finance a correctional facility and
immigration detention center west of Jacksonville, Fla., dipped into
reserves for its August payment to holders of bonds issued in 2008. With
those bonds trading last at 71.25 cents to the dollar with a yield of
20.73%, investors looking to lock up their money should probably seek
less risky types of municipal bonds.
August 17, 2010 Market Watch
The GEO Group, Inc. (GEO 22.20, -0.17, -0.76%) ("GEO") announced today the final
results of the elections made by former stockholders of Cornell Companies, Inc.
(NYSE: CRN) ("Cornell") as to the form of merger consideration they wish to
receive in connection with the acquisition of Cornell by GEO. GEO closed the
acquisition on August 12, 2010, after Cornell stockholders approved the
transaction at a special meeting and GEO shareholders approved the issuance of
shares of GEO common stock issuable as merger consideration at a special
meeting.
August 12, 2010 AP
Private prison operator Geo Group Inc. on Thursday disclosed preliminary results
of a vote by shareholders of Cornell Companies Inc. on that company's proposed
sale to Geo Group. In all, holders of some 15.2 million shares of Cornell common
stock voted on Wednesday on how they would like to receive their payout once the
company is sold. Holders of about 54.5 percent of the shares elected to receive
Geo common stock; 21.5 percent want cash. Another 24 percent didn't make a valid
election, Geo Group said. Under the terms of the deal, Cornell shareholders had
two options: Receive 1.3 shares of Geo common stock for each Cornell share held,
or cash equal to the market value of one Geo share plus $6 or the fair market
value of 1.3 shares of Geo common stock, whichever is greater.
July 27, 2010 Charlton County Herald
For years Charlton County Schools got well over $1 million annually in state
funds to make up for the county's low tax base. Those dollars have fallen
dramatically this year, however to just $27,000. Superintendent Steve McQueen
believes local system funding has changed because of errors in the county tax
digest. Because of the drop, the Charlton County Board of Education voted
unanimously last week to appeal the digest to the state auditor’s office.
“Ultimately, what we’re trying to do is get the equalization board to exercise
their discretion and adjust our funding,” explained BOE Attorney Kelly Brooks.
“When the state auditor’s office receives our appeal, they will notify the state
department of education to hold off on the final determination of our funding
for 2011.” The lawyer says this will buy the school system 45 more days, time
enough the school board hopes, for the Charlton County Tax Assessor’s office to
come up with an accurate tax digest. “There have been substantial post-levy
reductions in the digest through timber tax appeals and Cornell’s appeal [on the
D. Ray James Prison valuation],” said Brooks. “Call me skeptical but for six
years in a row the county’s certified digest has meant nothing.” Last year for
example, Charlton County’s certified digest was $332 million but the county,
school board and cities never collected taxes on that amount. After the state
approved the digest, but before payments started coming in, the digest dropped
by $16.5 million because of the prison appeal. That one reduction amounted to a
loss in property tax revenues to the school system last year of $252,000.
June 22, 2010 DOJ Press Release
ROBERT B. SURLES, 64, of Chicago, Illinois, was sentenced today by United States
District Judge Clarence Cooper to federal prison on charges of conspiracy and
wire fraud for his part in a scheme to defraud the operator of a California
corrections facility of almost $13 million. United States Attorney Sally
Quillian Yates said, “This defendant was part of an elaborate fraud scheme that
ironically involved the construction of a prison. He will now experience how
business is conducted inside a real prison.” SURLES was sentenced to 10 years in
prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay
restitution in the amount of $5,417,500. SURLES was found guilty of one count of
conspiracy and 15 counts of wire fraud by a federal jury at the conclusion of a
two-week trial on February 19, 2010. SURLES’ co-defendants, EDGAR G. BEAUDREAULT,
JR. and HOWARD A. SPERLING, were sentenced to federal prison terms on April 29,
2010, following their pleas of guilty. Both cooperated with the government and
testified in SURLES’ trial. BEAUDREAULT is currently serving a prison sentence
of three years, one month. SPERLING is currently serving a prison sentence of
five years, 10 months. According to United States Attorney Yates, the charges
and other information presented in court: From August 2003 through January 2004,
BEAUDREAULT, SPERLING and SURLES conspired to defraud Cornell Corrections of
California, Inc., a private company that operates corrections facilities for
various governmental units. In June 2003, Cornell Corrections contracted to have
a corrections facility built in Canon City, Colorado for $13 million. The $13
million purchase price was to be held in an escrow account until the facility
was completed. In August 2003, the defendants induced Cornell Corrections to
transfer its $13 million to an account in Atlanta, which they controlled, by
falsely representing to Cornell that the account was an escrow account that was
administered by a reputable bank. Upon receipt of Cornell Corrections’ $13
million, the defendants wire transferred the majority of Cornell’s $13 million
to other accounts, to be used for their own purposes. Under the terms of their
contract, the defendants were also to obtain a construction loan on behalf of
“Western Comfort, Inc.” the general contractor who began construction of the
facility. No loan was secured, making Western Comfort another victim of this
scheme. This case was investigated by special agents of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation. Assistant United States Attorneys Bernita B. Malloy and David E.
McClernan prosecuted the case.
June 2, 2010 Yahoo Business Wire
The GEO Group (NYSE: GEO - News) and Cornell Companies (NYSE: CRN - News)
announced today that the waiting-period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust
Improvements Act of 1976 with respect to the previously announced proposed
merger of GEO and Cornell Companies (NYSE:CRN - News) has expired as of 11:59 pm
on Tuesday, June 1, 2010, effectively clearing the transaction by the United
States Federal Trade Commission and the United States Department of Justice
Antitrust Division. The closing of the transaction remains subject to GEO and
Cornell stockholder approval, and other customary conditions to closing. GEO and
Cornell continue to expect that the transaction will close in the third quarter
of 2010.
April 29, 2010 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
An Alpharetta man was sentenced Thursday to three years and five months in
prison for bilking a Colorado corrections facility project out of nearly $13
million. Edgar J. Beaudreault Jr. pleaded guilty in December to charges of
conspiracy to commit wire fraud. In 2003, Beaudreault, 61, and San Diego
co-defendant Howard Sperling tricked Cornell Corrections of California Inc. into
transferring $13 million into an Atlanta account that was supposed to be an
escrow account for the purchase price of a Canon City, Colo., facility under
construction, court authorities said. Rather than having the escrow administered
by a reputable bank, Beaudreault and Sperling wired the money to other accounts
for their own personal use. Under the same contract, the two men and another
defendant also were supposed to obtain a construction loan on behalf of the
general contractor on the project, but didn’t. “These defendants were part of an
elaborate fraud scheme that ironically involved the construction of a prison,”
U.S. attorney Sally Quillian Yates said. “They will now experience how business
is conducted inside a real prison.” In addition to the federal prison sentence,
Beaudreault is required to serve three years on supervised release and pay $5.4
million in restitution.
April 29, 2010 PR Log
An investor in CRN shares filed a lawsuit in Texas State Court on behalf of
current investors in Cornell Companies, Inc. (NYSE:CRN) alleging breaches of
fiduciary duty by the Cornell board of directors for selling Cornell Companies
too cheaply to The GEO Group. If you currently hold shares of Cornell Companies,
Inc. (NYSE:CRN), you have certain options and you should contact the
Shareholders Foundation, Inc by email at mail@shareholdersfoundation.com or call
+1 (858) 779 – 1554. Cornell Companies, Inc., located in Houston, Texas, is a
provider of correctional, detention, educational, rehabilitation and treatment
services outsourced by federal, state, county and local government agencies for
adults and juveniles. On April 19, 2010, Cornell Companies (NYSE:CRN) and the
GEO Group (NYSE:GEO) announced a merger agreement pursuant to which The GEO
Group will acquire Cornell Companies for stock and/or cash at an estimated
enterprise value of $685 million based on the closing prices of both companies'
stocks on April 16, 2010, including the assumption of approximately $300 million
in Cornell debt, excluding cash. Under the terms of the definitive agreement,
stockholders of Cornell will a value of approximately $24.96 per Cornell (CRN)
share. According to Cornell Companies the Boards of Directors have approved the
merger agreement and the offer represents a 35 percent premium over the closing
price of Cornell's stock (CRN) on April 16, 2010. Shares of Cornell Companies,
Inc. (CRN) traded after the takeover announcement at $24.74 per share, and at
$18.62 per share the trading day before the news. CRN shares were down from its
52weekHigh of $25.13 per share, and from $27.71 per share in 2008. At least one
analyst set a price target for Cornell stock at $29.00 per share. On April 27,
2010, an investor filed a lawsuit against members of the board of directors,
Cornell Companies Inc and The Geo Group over breaches of fiduciary duty arising
out of the attempt to sell Cornell Companies, Inc. (NYSE:CRN) to the GEO Group.
According to the complaint the plaintiff alleges, among other things, that the
proposed acquisition is intended to take advantage of Cornell’s temporarily low
current valuation and that the agreement contains certain provisions, like the
$12million termination fee and “no shop” provision that unduly benefit GEO Group
by making an alternative transaction either prohibitively expensive or otherwise
impossible.
April 24, 2010 Grits For Breakfast
Texas Prison Bidness brings word that the Geo Group gobbled up yet another
competitor, adding to its already enormous debt load and making it the second
largest private prison company on the planet, behind Corrections Corporation of
America. Reported the Financial Times: The Geo Group offered about $385m for
Cornell Companies in a mixture of cash and stock, valuing the company at about
$24.96 a share. The company will also take on about $300m of Cornell debt. The
Geo Group's most recent 10K statement is really quite an amazing read, for
anyone interested, particularly the lengthy section on risk factors, where the
possibility is raised that a quarter-billion dollars in unsecured bonds issued
privately last fall might be considered a "fraudulent conveyance" if the company
defaults and a bankruptcy judge ever takes a close look at the deal. Facing a
mountain of debt, mostly from acquiring competitors, this appears to be a pretty
critical year for the Geo Group, with contracts up for renewal on almost one in
five beds they operate. According to the 10-K: "As of January 3, 2010, eleven of
our facility management contracts representing 10,407 beds are scheduled to
expire on or before December 31, 2010, unless renewed by the customer at its
sole option. These contracts represented 19.3% of our consolidated revenues for
the fiscal year ended January 3, 2010." Other risks identified in Geo's 10-K
include: •Our significant level of indebtedness could adversely affect our
financial condition and prevent us from fulfilling our debt service obligations.
•A decrease in occupancy levels could cause a decrease in revenues and
profitability. •State budgetary constraints may have a material adverse impact
on us. •Public resistance to privatization of correctional and detention
facilities could result in our inability to obtain new contracts or the loss of
existing contracts, which could have a material adverse effect on our business,
financial condition and results of operations. •Adverse publicity may negatively
impact our ability to retain existing contracts and obtain new contracts. •We
may face community opposition to facility location, which may adversely affect
our ability to obtain new contracts. •We may not be able to obtain or maintain
the insurance levels required by our government contracts.
April 19, 2010 Palm Beach Post
Private prison operator The GEO Group Inc. (NYSE: GEO, $18.91) has agreed to buy
rival Cornell Cos. in a deal worth about $685 million, including the assumption
of about $300 million of Cornell's debt. The merger is a move to expand to meet
increasing demand for private correctional facilities and services, the
companies said in a release.
February 26, 2010 AP
Cornell Cos. Inc.'s sales and profit will decline if
the state of Arizona removes inmates from the company's Oklahoma prison, an
analyst said as he downgraded the prison operator's shares. First Analysis
Securities analyst Todd Van Fleet downgraded the Houston company to "equal
weight" from "overweight." The January budget proposals from Arizona's governor
and legislature would phase out the use of private out-of-state beds. Arizona is
struggling to close budget shortfalls. Van Fleet said there was less than a 25
percent chance that Cornell would be able to persuade legislators to keep
Arizona inmates in the company's Oklahoma prison. The loss of the Arizona
prisoners which could cut into Cornell's annual earnings by 35 cents to 45 cents
per share. Van Fleet cut his estimate for 2010 profit to $1.09 per share from
$1.69 per share, and his 2010 sales estimate to $398 million from $440.6
million. On Wednesday, when it released fourth-quarter earnings, Cornell
predicted it would make $1.31 to $1.41 per share in 2010. The guidance assumed
that Cornell would continue to keep all its Arizona inmates for the rest of the
year. The contract for the Arizona prisoners ends in mid-September, Van Fleet
said. Cornell shares slipped 13 cents to $18.61 in midday trading. They have
dropped about 25 percent since Arizona proposed its budget in mid-January.
February 23, 2010 Pueblo Chieftain
A Chicago man who pocketed $605,000 in construction funds during the building of
a youth treatment facility here was convicted Friday of conspiracy and wire
fraud. A federal jury in Atlanta found Robert B. Surles, 64, guilty of
conspiracy and 15 counts of wire fraud in connection with a scheme to steal
nearly $13 million from Cornell Co., which built the Southern Peaks Regional
Treatment Center in 2003. From Aug. 2003 to Jan. 2004, Surles, along with Edgar
Beaudreault, 60, of Georgia, and Howard Sperling, 45, of San Diego, conspired to
defraud Cornell of construction funds. Surles was to obtain a $12 million
construction loan, but he and his co-defendants never obtained financing for the
project and instead led the contractor to believe they had. The trio falsely
represented that the funds were in an escrow account, but instead the money was
transferred to other accounts. Although some money was used to get the
construction started, the majority of funds was taken by the trio for personal
purposes. The evidence at trial showed Surles took $605,000 of the funds,
according to Patrick Crosby, public affairs officer for the United States
Attorney's office in Atlanta. "This defendant fraudulently induced a company to
transfer approximately $13 million into an ‘escrow account’ that turned out to
be nothing but a piggy bank for the defendant and his co-conspirators," said
Sally Quillian Yates, acting U.S. Attorney in Atlanta. "A federal jury was not
fooled by the story he told when he testified and convicted him on conspiracy
and multiple counts of fraud." Both Beaudreault and Sperling pleaded guilty to
conspiracy to commit wire fraud and testified against Surles. All three are
awaiting sentencing for the crime and Surles is slated to be sentenced April 27.
January 22, 2010 Times-Union
The Charlton County Commission, the county school system and Folkston are all
hastily adjusting their budgets after a single successful appeal of a property
assessment. Commissioners are expected to approve an "error and relief"
agreement in February to reduce the assessed value of privately owned D. Ray
James Prison from $97 million to $55 million. The successful appeal by Cornell
Companies, owners and operators of the prison, will cost the city, county and
school system at least $730,000 in anticipated tax revenue. County Manager Steve
Nance said Cornell appealed the assessed value of the prison after it nearly
doubled in 2009. Two new structures - an addition that will house 700 inmates
this year and another facility for 300 prisoners from both Charlton County and
the U.S. Marshals Service - were on the tax rolls for the first time this year,
likely leading to the increase in value, Nance said. During the appeal, Cornell
officials didn't dispute the accuracy of the appraisal of the facility. Instead,
they argued it would be impossible to sell the sprawling prison complex for what
the company invested because the structures are for very specialized purposes -
to securely house inmates. They also claimed the original part of the prison,
more than a decade old, had depreciated in value, Nance said. "They contended
the value did not equal the cost," he said. The property appraiser who
determined the appraised value never visited the prison until after Cornell
filed an appeal, Nance said. Instead, the appraiser determined the value from
manuals, he said. "She did not actually tour the facility until the appeal was
made," he said. "After the tour, she agreed the value was too high. It was a lot
more austere than she thought." Despite the hardship losing an estimated
$334,000 in anticipated tax revenue, Nance said county officials have no plans
to contest the ruling by the Board of Assessors. "It would be difficult for us
to appeal our own valuation," he said. Also, there is no appeal process unless
the complaint is taken to the Board of Equalization by the property owner, Nance
said. "Is there any recourse [for Folkston and the school district]?" Nance
asked. "I don't think they have the right to challenge this." Now, the already
cash-strapped county will maintain a "continuous evaluation process" to cut
spending to make up for the shortfall, Nance said. Folkston City Manager Pender
Lloyd said the appeal will cost his city at least $108,000 in anticipated tax
revenue - nearly a 5 percent cut to the city's $2.4 million budget. "We knew
Cornell was probably going to appeal," Lloyd said. "We certainly had no idea it
[the prison's value] would drop by $42 million." Lloyd criticized the timing,
saying one appeal should not have so much impact to local governments. An appeal
of the magnitude of Cornell's should have been resolved before the county digest
was completed to give local governments an accurate estimate of how much revenue
would be generated in taxes. The city will delay some projects planned this
year, including construction of a new park, he said. Travel to conferences and
training is also canceled, unless it is required by law, Lloyd said. "We have
some revenues built up, so we can handle it," he said. "We're all affected and
we've got to work through this thing. We've got to deal with it."
May 20, 2009 Yahoo.com
Cornell Companies, Inc. (NYSE:CRN) today announced that it has been informed
by the Georgia Department of Corrections that the Department will not start
using the Company's recently completed expansion at its D. Ray James Prison in
Georgia. The Company's previous guidance, included in the first quarter earnings
release, provided a base case that assumed that the 700-bed expansion at D. Ray
James Prison would begin to ramp at the beginning of the third quarter of 2009,
and an alternate case that, if the expansion was to remain empty for all of
2009, earnings for the full year would be reduced by up to approximately $0.08
per share. Today's updated guidance assumes that the expansion will remain empty
for the remainder of the year. As a result, the Company now expects earnings per
share for the full year of $1.62 to $1.70. The Company also reaffirmed the
earnings guidance range for the second quarter of $0.42 to $0.46 per share.
February 2, 2009 Ledger-Enquirer
A California man pleaded guilty Monday to taking part in a plot to defraud a
prison construction firm out of almost $13 million. Howard A. Sperling, 44, of
San Diego entered the plea to a charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Sperling could receive up to 20 years in prison when sentenced April 30 by U.S.
District Judge Clarence Cooper. Sperling and two others conspired to defraud
Cornell Corrections of California Inc., which operates 71 private corrections
facilities in 15 states, federal prosecutors said. In 2003, Cornell was hired to
build a prison in Canon City, Colo., and the $13 million purchase price was to
be placed in escrow until completion. Cornell was induced to transfer the money
to an Atlanta account controlled by co-defendant Edgar J. Beaudreault that was
supposed to be administered by a reputable bank. Prosecutors say most of the
money was transferred to other accounts, and Sperling withdrew $365,000 in cash,
transferred $400,000 to personal and family members' accounts, paid $215,000 to
banks and credit card companies, $85,000 to a Harrah's Casino and $60,000 for a
Mercedes Benz. Beaudreault, 60, of Alpharetta, Ga., pleaded guilty Dec. 17 to
conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Charges against the third defendant, Robert B.
Surles of Canon City, are pending. A motion hearing is set for later this week.
December 17, 2008 AP
A Georgia businessman has admitted taking part in a scheme to defraud a
California construction company of nearly $13 million. Edgar J. Beaudreault of
Alpharetta pleaded guilty Wednesday in Atlanta to conspiracy to commit wire
fraud. Federal prosecutors say Beaudreault, 60, and two others conspired to
defraud Cornell Corrections of California Inc., which operates private
corrections facilities. In 2003, Cornell was hired to build a prison in Canon
City, Colo., and the $13 million purchase price was to be placed in escrow until
completion. Cornell was induced to transfer the money to an Atlanta account, and
most of it was then diverted to other accounts. Beaudreault could receive up to
20 years in prison and be fined $250,000 at sentencing March 18.
August 26, 2008 Atlanta Business Chronicle
An Alpharetta, Ga., man is among a group indicted Tuesday on charges of fraud
related to a prison-building contract in Colorado. Edgar J. Beaudreault Jr., 60,
of Alpharetta, Howard A. Sperling, 43, of San Diego, and Robert B. Surles, 62,
of Canon City, Colo., were indicted by a federal grand jury on multiple charges.
The indictment alleges from August 2003 through January 2004, the men concocted
a scheme to defraud Cornell Corrections of California Inc., a private company
based in Ventura that operates corrections facilities for governmental units. In
June 2003, Cornell Corrections contracted to have a corrections facility built
in Canon City, Colo., for $13 million. The money was to be held in an escrow
account until the facility was completed. But in August 2003, the men allegedly
got Cornell Corrections to transfer the $13 million to an account in Atlanta
controlled by Beaudreault, and allegedly told Cornell the account was an escrow
account administered by a reputable bank. After the transfer was made into the
Atlanta account, the indictment claims the men then transferred the $13 million
to other accounts to be used for their own purposes. The indictment charges 20
counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy. The charges carry a maximum
sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for each count.
July 15, 2008 The Daily Cougar
As Sen. Barack Obama wages his presidential campaign across the United
States with political gusto, he's attracted names such as Vice President Al Gore
and Sen. John Edwards. University of Houston Associate Professor of Law Tony
Chase has also temporarily shifted his duties as a professor to become a member
of the National Finance Committee of Obama's campaign. "I've known (Obama) for
quite some time, and I was one of the people he asked whether if he should run,"
Chase said. "Because of that, this is very personal, and I genuinely believe he
is best for this country." Aside from teaching, Chase is chairman and CEO of
ChaseCom L.P. and Chase Radio Partners. He is also chairman and co-founder,
together with SBC Communications Inc., of The Telecom Opportunity Institute, an
organization that provides technical literacy training at no cost to at-risk
communities. He serves as a director of Leap Wireless International Inc. and
Cornell Companies Inc., and is chairman of the Houston Zoo Development Board. He
is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves as a director of the
United Way of the Texas Gulf Coast and Houston Parks. Chase began teaching
communications law and contracts at the UH Law Center in 1990 and received the
Edith Baker Faculty Award in 1994. On July 8, he stepped down as the director of
the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank to dedicate more time to the campaign. "I can't
pick out a certain experience, but teaching graduate law and undergraduate
classes has been particularly helpful in preparing me, because students are the
future and full of ideas that in turn help me think about today's issues," Chase
said. "My experience at the University helps me by being part of the excitement
and interest among young and potential voters." As for his motives, he believes
that the nation, in its current state, needs Obama as president. "I've known
Barack and Michelle for a long time, and based on that, I believe he is a
transcendent political figure," Chase said. "I know him well and his integrity
and how he responds to pressure, but also how he will be an excellent leader."
As the member of the National Finance Committee for the campaign, he helps make
decisions on how the campaign will utilize its funds and how the fundraising
will be run. He also performs special projects such as arranging meetings with
constituents and senior advisors. "The experience I gain from the campaign will
only help the way I try to bring practical experience to the classroom, and this
is actually quite relevant to what I teach at the University," Chase said. Chase
will return to teach in the fall and resume his usual duties for his
organizations. "I will still do what I can to accommodate my teaching
responsibilities and campaign duties and continue to voice my support for Barack
Obama," Chase said.
January 23, 2007 Market Watch
Cornell Companies, Inc. announced that, at a special meeting of its
shareholders held earlier today, a proposal to merge with the Veritas Capital
Fund III, L.P., was rejected. As a result of this vote by shareholders, Cornell
will continue to operate as a stand-alone publicly-traded entity. Although the
company has not yet announced the timing of its fourth quarter earnings
conference call, management intends to use such forum to provide further
commentary on the transaction, as well as to discuss any changes to the
previously-released 2007 guidance that was made public as a result of the
transaction process.
January 19, 2007 AP
Alpine Associates, a Cornell Cos. (CRN) shareholder, plans to vote against
Cornell's plan to be acquired by Veritas Capital Fund for $18.25 a share. Alpine
and related entities own 631,700 shares, representing a 4.49% stake. Thursday,
shares of private-prison operator Cornell closed at $18.90, up 16 cents. Alpine
said "the current transaction does not fairly value Cornell's shares." Other
shareholders have expressed opposition to the deal.
October 9, 2006 Market Watch
Cornell Companies, Inc. (CRN : news, chart, profile ) announced today the
execution of a definitive merger agreement with Veritas Capital, under which
Veritas will acquire Cornell in a transaction valued at approximately $518.6
million, including the assumption or repayment of approximately $273.6 million
in debt. Under the terms of the agreement, Cornell stockholders will receive
$18.25 in cash for each share of common stock they hold. The Company's Board of
Directors has unanimously approved the agreement and will recommend that
Cornell's stockholders approve the merger. James E. Hyman, Cornell's chairman
and chief executive officer, said, "The Board of Directors has completed a
comprehensive review of the strategic alternatives available to the Company, the
result of which we are pleased to announce today. The Board endorses this
transaction and believes it to be in the best interest of Cornell's
shareholders. Veritas Capital is a private equity investment firm headquartered
in New York. Founded in 1992 by Robert B. McKeon, Veritas invests primarily in
companies specializing in outsourcing services to the government, primarily in
the areas of defense and aerospace, security and infrastructure. Veritas'
portfolio of companies includes, or has included, DynCorp International,
Integrated Defense Technologies, Vertex Aerospace, McNeil Technologies, The
Wornick Company, and TRAK Communications, among others. Veritas is dedicated to
providing the highest level of critical services and equipment to the defense
and federal sectors around the world. For more information, please visit
www.veritascapital.com.
September 29, 2006 New York Times
Pirate Capital, a $1.7 billion fund based in Norwalk, Conn., lost half its
investment team this week, according to a letter from the founder and portfolio
manager, Thomas Hudson. In addition, Pirate, an “activist” fund that pressures
management to increase shareholder value, is being investigated by the
Securities and Exchange Commission on suspicion of failing to alert the
commission when it was selling stock, according to one person briefed on the
inquiry. Mr. Hudson’s letter, dated Sept. 28 and on stationery with a pirate
ship logo, said that Pirate would close to new investors Sunday, to focus on
delivering returns rather than collecting more money. “I’ve decided to return
the firm to its roots,” Mr. Hudson wrote. “The goal is to focus on returns and
not the size of the assets we manage.” Pirate Capital has had a difficult year:
its flagship Jolly Roger Fund is up only 3.3 percent, while its activist fund is
up 2.86 percent, according to materials sent to investors. Those returns are
well below the average activist fund. Hedge Fund Research in Chicago tracks the
returns of 44 funds that operate solely activist strategies; through August
those funds have returned 10.39 percent. An S.E.C. spokesman, John Nester,
declined to comment. Isa Bolotin, head of investor relations at Pirate Capital,
did not return calls seeking comment. Pirate is known for its unusually brash
tactics and unabashed style. A New York magazine cover article reported that
Zachary George, 27, an analyst with the firm and former competitive snowboarder,
told the chief executive of the Cornell Companies, a prison operator, that “You
work for us,” and that Mr. George and Pirate wanted Cornell sold and the chief
executive sacked. “Next year we’re going to be here, and you won’t,” Mr. George
told the chief executive, according to the article. Mr. Hudson said two
investment professionals, including Mr. George, resigned on Monday. On
Wednesday, Carl Klein, a portfolio manager, resigned, and Mr. Hudson asked two
more analysts to leave. Five people, including Mr. Hudson, remain. The S.E.C. is
investigating whether Pirate was late in reporting to the commission material
changes in its holdings. Investors with at least a 5 percent stake must report
any changes to those holdings.
September 1, 2006 Alaska Report
The FBI served four more search warrants today in its
investigation of the relationship between lawmakers and oilfield services
company VECO Corporation, an Anchorage-based oil field services and construction
company whose executives are major contributors to political campaigns. Bill
Allen, owner of VECO, and his firm, were involved in a renovation of Alaska
Senator Ted Stevens' chalet in Girdwood in the recent past. The Associated Press
is reporting that the search warrants seek "from the period of October 2005 to
the present, any and all documents concerning, reflecting or relating to
proposed legislation in the state of Alaska involving either the creation of a
natural gas pipeline or the petroleum production tax." An Anchorage FBI
spokesman says that about two dozen search warrants have been executed so far,
including three today in Anchorage and one in Willow. No arrests have been made
as of yet. AlaskaReport has learned that a staffer in one of the offices raided
has been providing information to federal authorities. In an interview with KTUU-TV
in Anchorage, Wev Shea, a former U.S. attorney for Alaska says he knows who
created the climate that he alleges allowed corruption to flourish. "The
Republican Party is going to rue the day in this state for allowing Randy
Ruedrich (chairman of the Republican Party of Alaska) to remain as a chair. He's
bringing this party down and it's bad." KTUU also interviewed Rep. Eric Croft.
He says he saw this coming two years ago, during a legislative committee meeting
concerning VECO’s pitch for a sole-source contract award for a private prison.
"I said at the time, in 2004, on the Whittier proposal, someone's going to jail
over this 'cause I could see how corrupt the process was," said Croft,
D-Anchorage.
August 31, 2006 Anchorage Daily News
Federal agents swarmed legislative offices around the state Thursday,
executing search warrants in a coordinated series of raids that appeared to
target the longstanding relationship between the oil-field service company Veco
and leading lawmakers. Above Anchorage’s 4th Avenue, FBI agents spent most of
the afternoon behind the closed doors and drawn blinds of the fifth-floor
offices of Senate President Ben Stevens and Senate Rules Committee Chairman John
Cowdery, both Anchorage Republicans. Through slits in the blinds, one agent in
Stevens’ office, wearing rubber gloves, could be seen packing away evidence in a
container. In Juneau, tourists and residents were greeted with the extraordinary
sight of FBI agents hauling out files form the Alaska State Capitol after
searching offices there. After the FBI searched his Wasilla office and
questioned him, Rep. Vic Kohring, R-Wasilla, the chairman of the House Special
Committee on Oil & Gas, said the investigation was focused on Veco. Other
legislative offices known to have been searched Thursday included those of Reps.
Pete Kott of Eagle River and Bruce Weyhrauch of Juneau, and Sen. Donny Olson of
Nome. Kott, a former House speaker, and Weyhrauch are Republicans. Olson is the
only Democrat in the group. FBI spokesman Eric Gonzalez said federal agents
executed about 20 search warrants Thursday, not all in legislative offices. The
warrants were executed in Anchorage, Juneau, Wasilla, Eagle River and Girdwood,
he said. Ray Metcalfe, a former legislator and the founder of the independent
Republican Moderate Party, said he has been trying to get the authorities
interested in what he described as the “corrupt” relationship between Veco and
the Republican-lead legislature, principally Ben Stevens. “I put all the stuff
in front of federal prosecutors a year and a half ago,” Metcalfe said Thursday,
clearly relishing the turn of events. “I laid hundreds of pages of detailed
information alleging bribery, and I distributed it to federal authorities, I
distributed it to the U.S. Attorney’s office, I distributed it to the (state
attorney general’s) Office of Special Prosecutions, and we held a demonstration
in front of the attorney general’s office that hardly anyone showed up for.”
Metcalfe attempted to initiate a recall campaign against Stevens, but his effort
was rejected by Lt. Gov. Loren Leman on legal grounds. After first announcing
he’d run for re-election in November, Stevens changed his mind in June and opted
to retire.Tamara Cook, a lawyer who heads the nonpartisan legal services
division of the Legislature, said Thursday evening that she reviewed a couple of
the search warrants at the request of legislators or aides upon whom they were
served. The search warrants allowed the FBI to search computers and office files
including financial records, she said. The warrants named Veco Corp., she said,
but could not say whether Veco was a target or whether the investigation
concerned oil taxes, its failed push to build a private prison in Alaska or
something else.
August 28, 2006 Yahoo.com
Cornell Companies, Inc. (NYSE:CRN - News) announced today that Mark S. Croft,
the General Counsel and Secretary of the Company, resigned on Saturday, August
26, 2006, to attend to personal matters unrelated to his role as an officer of
the Company. Patrick N. Perrin, Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative
Officer, has been appointed to the office of Secretary of the Company to succeed
Mr. Croft.
June 5, 2006 Houston Business Journal
Cornell Companies Inc. on Monday afternoon said it has retained a financial
advisor to assist the Houston operator of prisons in analyzing ways "to maximize
shareholder value." The announcement, which came in a brief news release
distributed Monday after the regular session of the stock market closed,
essentially puts Cornell (NYSE: CRN - News) on the block as a candidate to be
acquired. Beyond making the brief statement about hiring a financial advisor,
Cornell in the Monday release said the prison operator does not intend to make
further announcements on the matter until the NYSE-listed company "has made
definitive decisions on its future strategic direction." No assurance can be
given that any transaction will be pursued," according to the Cornell press
release.
February 10, 2006 Yahoo
Cornell Companies, Inc. announced today the settlement of a securities class
action lawsuit. In re Cornell Companies, Inc. Securities Litigation was
originally filed by certain Cornell stockholders in March 2002 on behalf of all
purchasers of Cornell's common stock from March 6, 2001 to March 5, 2002. The
Company has agreed to settle this class action lawsuit for $7.0 million to avoid
further protracted and expensive litigation. The settlement amount will be
funded through the Company's directors' and officers' liability insurance and
will have no impact on the Company's financial position, results of operations
or cash flows. Under the terms of the settlement, Cornell has not admitted to
any wrongdoing.
September 29, 2005 Baltimore Sun
Two Maryland judges said yesterday that the Ehrlich administration's decision to
close the Charles H. Hickey Jr. School without a clear plan to replace it is
jeopardizing the welfare of youths and putting public safety at risk. Baltimore
County Circuit Judge Kathleen Cox and Anne Arundel Circuit Judge Pamela North
told legislators that with Hickey preparing to close, there are not enough
places to send tough young offenders who need to be removed from their homes to
protect their safety and the community. The department said some Maryland youths
will be sent to programs in Texas, Iowa, Indiana, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and
Ohio with rates ranging from $47,450 to $116,800 per child per year. The list
includes three facilities run by a for-profit Texas-based company that,
according to published reports, was forced to close one of its centers amid
complaints of abuse. Under pressure from Pennsylvania authorities, a company
operating as Cornell Abraxas closed its New Morgan Academy near Reading in 2002
after about a dozen children were sexually assaulted by adults over the span of
less than two years, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The same company
runs programs that the Department of Juveniles Services plans to use in Shelby,
Ohio; Marienville, Pa.; and South Mountain, Pa., according to a list provided to
legislators yesterday. Another facility on the list has had a more recent, but
less severe, incident of violence. The Summit Academy reform school in Herman,
Pa., has said that four workers were fired in July over a June 18 incident in
which a 17-year-old male student suffered cuts to his face and ear.
September 29, 2005 Star-Telegram
In a move denounced as a political witchhunt, Rep. Tom DeLay was indicted
Wednesday with two associates on a felony charge of conspiring to circumvent
Texas' prohibition of corporate campaign donations to secure the Republican
takeover of the Texas House in 2002. Shortly after Travis County District
Attorney Ronnie Earle announced the indictment, the Republican congressman from
Sugar Land resigned his powerful majority leader post in Washington, at least
temporarily. DeLay, 58, is accused of conspiring with two associates to convert
$190,000 in donations from several corporations into campaign contributions on
behalf of seven Republican candidates who were involved in what many had
believed would be close contests for seats in the Texas House.
September 28, 2005 Bloomberg
U.S. Representative Tom DeLay, the No. 2 Republican in the House, was indicted
by a Texas grand jury for criminal conspiracy in connection with illegal
corporate political donations, prompting him to give up his leadership post. Two
former campaign aides, John Colyandro and Jim Ellis, were also charged with
conspiracy by the state grand jury in Travis County, according to the
single-count indictment. The charge stems from an investigation into alleged use
of illegal corporate contributions by DeLay's political action committee, Texans
for a Republican Majority, in the 2002 races for the state House of
Representatives. The four-page indictment charges that DeLay conspired with
Ellis and Colyandro to use donations from companies including Williams Companies
Inc. and Sears, Roebuck and Co., now Sears Holdings Corp., to help finance the
election campaigns of seven members of the Texas House in 2002. Under Texas law,
corporations aren't permitted to donate to candidates. Other companies named,
but like Williams and Sears, not charged in the indictment were Diversified
Collections Services Inc., Cornell Companies Inc., Bacardi U.S.A. Inc. and
Questerra Corp.
September 22, 2005 Texas Lawyer
A private corrections company seeks to hold Locke Liddell & Sapp liable for more
than $5 million that's allegedly missing from an account set up for a land deal.
Houston-based Cornell Companies Inc. sued Locke Liddell and David Montgomery, a
partner in the firm, alleging malpractice, among other things. The company filed
Cornell Companies Inc. v. Locke Liddell & Sapp, et al. on Aug. 26 in Houston's
333rd District Court. In its petition, Cornell alleges that the defendants
"dropped the ball" by failing to ensure that a proper escrow account was set up
in 2003 to hold the company's funds. Those funds were intended to be used to buy
land in Colorado on which to develop a regional correctional rehabilitation
center. As alleged in the petition, the defendants gave Cornell the "green
light" to wire almost $13 million into an account that was purported to be an
escrow account. "There was no escrow agent; there was no escrow account,"
alleges Scott Hershman, one of the attorneys representing Cornell. The suit
against Locke Liddell is related to a suit that a Cornell subsidiary filed last
year in the Superior Court of Fulton County in Atlanta. Cornell alleged in its
second amended complaint in Cornell Corrections of California Inc. v. Longboat
Global Advisors, et al. that attorney Edgar J. Beaudreault of Roswell, Ga., a
defendant in the suit, handled the construction loan transaction on behalf of
Longboat, which was providing financing for the corrections facility project.
Cornell Corrections alleged in the Georgia complaint that Beaudreault, who is
also Longboat's vice president and managing director, arranged for the escrow
account but it turned out to be a regular bank account. Cornell Corrections
further alleged in the complaint that, although the company wired the funds to
Bank of America in August 2003, it didn't learn until November of that year that
the bank was not holding money in escrow and that a withdrawal never authorized
by Cornell Corrections had been made. Hershman, a partner in Lackey Hershman in
Dallas, says he doesn't expect Cornell Corrections will be able to collect the
damages awarded in the Georgia case, because he thinks the money is gone.
Michael Shaunessy, an Austin, Texas, attorney who represents plaintiffs in legal
malpractice cases but is not involved in Cornell's suit against Locke Liddell,
says the fact that a company hires lawyers to handle this type of transaction
doesn't eliminate the company's responsibility to exercise due diligence in the
matter.
Shaunessy, a partner in Shaunessy & Burnett, says he expects Locke Liddell and
Montgomery to raise a causation defense, arguing that those who took the money
out of the account caused Cornell's loss. Cornell can argue that, if the
defendants had set up the account so that the money couldn't be moved without
the company's authorization, Cornell would not have suffered the loss, he says.
September 13, 2005 American-Statesman
A Travis County grand jury today added new felony charges against two officials
with Texans for a Republican Majority who first were indicted last fall. The
grand jury re-indicted political consultants John Colyandro and Jim Ellis on
first-degree felony charges that the two laundered a $190,000 corporate check
into campaign donations during the 2002 elections. It added lesser felony
charges of unlawfully making a contribution to a political party and criminal
conspiracy involving the $190,000 transaction. Just weeks before the 2002
election, Colyandro, who was executive director of the political committee
created by U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, sent a blank
check to his counterpart, Ellis, in Washington.
September 9, 2005 Houston Chronicle
A
Travis
County
grand jury indicted a business organization and a political committee founded
by U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay on Thursday on felony charges of
violating election laws by using corporate money to influence state elections.
The indictments accuse the DeLay-founded Texans for a Republican Majority
Political Action Committee of two counts of illegally soliciting corporate money
for political campaigns. The indictment of TRMPAC is significant because it
reflects on DeLay's role in overseeing the committee. DeLay served on its board
of advisers and helped raise some of the corporate money at the core of the
controversy.
Texas
election law prohibits the use of corporate or labor-union money to influence
races for elective office. TRMPAC could face a fine of up to $40,000, but the
committee filed articles of dissolution with the Texas Ethics Commission in
July. Earle said the dissolution does not matter because TRMPAC's management or
board of advisers can be held liable for its criminal conduct.
August 9, 2005 Houston Chronicle
A state district judge refused Tuesday to dismiss charges of
money laundering and accepting illegal political contributions against two
associates of U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land. Judge Bob
Perkins denied arguments from John Colyandro and Jim Ellis that the charges were
based on an unconstitutionally vague law and that the indictments were
improperly worded. Lawyers for Colyandro, who worked for DeLay's fundraising
committee Texans for a Republican Majority, and Jim Ellis, who worked for
Americans for a Republican Majority, have said they will appeal, likely delaying
any trial for at least several months. The charges stem from the 2002 Texas
legislative elections. The money-laundering charges are based on $190,000 in
corporate money that was sent to the Republican National State Elections
Committee.
June 3, 2005 Houston Business Journal
Insurgent shareholder Pirate Capital LLC has captured the board of Cornell
Cos. Inc. Pirate gained control of the Houston-based prison operator last month
after setting sail on a proxy fight that originated a year earlier. Toting a
treasure trove of Cornell common shares -- a 14.8 percent stake as of mid-May --
the Connecticut-based investment firm emerged with the right to put seven
directors on Cornell's nine-member board. Cornell controls the remaining two
seats on the board, which increased from seven to nine members as part of a new
agreement with Pirate. "It appeared that (Cornell) had been heading for a
distracting and costly proxy battle," notes Scott Schneeberger, a stock analyst
at Lehman Brothers. Cornell also got Pirate to concede that the investment firm
will not pursue a transaction to take the publicly traded Houston company
private for at least the next two years. At the same time, Cornell Chairman
James Hyman will no longer steer the board of directors after the end of this
month. Despite 20 years of experience in operations, finance, process
management, mergers and acquisitions, Hyman's name is conspicuously missing from
the slate of nominees for the new board.
July 13, 2005 Houston Chronicle
A state district judge declined Tuesday to dismiss charges of accepting illegal
political contributions against an associate of U.S. House Majority Leader Tom
DeLay.
Lawyers for John Colyandro, who worked for DeLay's fund-raising committee
Texans for a Republican Majority, had claimed that the indictment against him
was based on an unconstitutionally vague law. Judge Bob Perkins also
declined to dismiss a charge of money laundering against Colyandro, although
that issue remains technically alive. The charges stem from the 2002 Texas
legislative elections.
The money-laundering charges are related to $190,000 in corporate money
sent to the Republican National State Elections Committee.
The committee then gave the same amount to seven Texas House candidates.
March 11, 2005 The Deal
True to its swashbuckling name, hedge fund Pirate Capital LLC is preparing to
make a run at struggling Cornell Cos., a prison and juvenile-facilities
operator. Since last year, Houston-based Cornell has been under pressure from
Thomas R. Hudson Jr., portfolio manager at the 2-year-old Norwalk Conn.-based
hedge fund, to seek a buyer. After a series of missteps by Cornell, Pirate's
Jolly Roger Fund LP launched a proxy contest on Feb. 24 to take over all seven
seats on Cornell's board at an annual meeting expected in June. "You can just
see the shots being fired across the bow of Cornell," says Sheryl Skolnick, an
analyst at Fulcrum Global Partners LLC in New York. Skolnick says a strategic
acquirer would pay roughly $20.50 a share for the assets — $270 million in
equity plus $112 million in debt. Cornell traded early last week at around
$14.40 a share. Anton Hie, an analyst with Jefferies & Co. in Nashville, says a
strategic acquirer would value Cornell at $16 to $18 a share, and would cut
costs by eliminating overhead and other administrative expenses. A financial
buyer could break up the company and sell various facilities "in pieces," Hie
says. Skolnick, whose firm does not do work for Cornell, cites Nashville-based
Correction Corp. of America and Geo Group Inc. of Boca Raton, Fla., the two
largest private providers of adult-prison management services in the U.S., as
likely buyers. Hie, whose firm does not own Cornell stock, says CCA and Geo
might be more interested in Cornell's adult facilities, but he would not
estimate a valuation on these assets. Privately held Management and Training
Corp. of Centerville, Utah, could also be interested, Skolnick says. She and
other analysts say the other major player in the industry, Sarasota, Fla.-based
Corrections Services Corp., is smaller than Cornell and unlikely to make a bid.
"These publicly traded companies are interested in growing, and acquiring
Cornell would help them improve their bottom line," says a corrections
consultant. Officials for CCA and Geo did not return calls seeking comment.
Cornell posted a loss of $897,000 for the third quarter of fiscal 2004, the
latest results available, compared with a profit of $1.4 million a year earlier,
even as sales rose to $74.7 million from $68.6 million. The company has made
some internal changes. In January it hired James Hyman to replace outgoing CEO
Harry Phillips. Skolnick says Hyman has some real estate experience but "may not
know what he's gotten himself into." Pirate Capital, which has a 14.8% Cornell
stake, has yet to offer an opinion of Hyman. As part of a broad strategy to
learn shareholder concerns, Hyman has met with numerous investors, including
activist hedge fund managers, since he took over in January. He has also huddled
with Pirate officials several times in the past month, and says he plans to do
so again. "It's part of an ongoing process," Hyman says. "I asked [investors] to
be very frank and tell me as straight as they can how they view Cornell." He
says Cornell would consider any offer, but that the company is not seeking a
buyer. Cornell also recently replaced director Marcus Watts with Isabella
Cunningham, a communications professor at the University of Texas. That move,
says a shareholder, suggests "creeping compliance" with Pirate's wishes.
Shareholders had repeatedly asked the board to replace Watts, a partner at law
firm Locke Liddell & Sapp LLP, who they argued lacked sufficient independence.
Locke Liddell & Sapp has a business relationship with Cornell. Cunningham,
considered independent, developed a criminal-justice program at St. Edward's
University in Austin, Texas. Skolnick says Hyman will have his work cut out for
him. He acknowledges that Cornell has made some major mistakes lately. For
example, it leased an abandoned jail in Bernalillo County, N.M., and announced
in spring 2003 that the facility would house roughly 1,000 inmates by the end of
that year and generate $25 million in annual revenue. But after lease problems
and poor planning, Skolnick says, the facility held only 300 inmates by the end
of 2004 and brought in significantly less revenue than promised. Cornell's
acquisition of an abandoned training school in Plankinton, S.D., was another
botched purchase. The company turned the school into a juvenile-detention center
with an investment of $200,000. For the program to be profitable, Cornell needed
the state to pay $175 a day per inmate. But the state agreed to pay only $125.
After three months, Cornell closed the operation. "What this points out is how
Cornell generally does not complete the necessary due diligence before going out
and opening facilities," Skolnick says. "They do a terrible job of completing
projects and ramping up occupancy in their facilities." On Feb. 1 Cornell
announced plans to buy San Diego-based Correctional Systems Inc. for $10
million, an acquisition Hyman says is complementary. Other shareholders have
risen to Pirate Capital's support. "We believe that the board's attempt to
simultaneously replace the company's CEO and CFO without reaching out to Pirate
Capital, its largest shareholder, represents another example of poor judgment,"
says Nelson Obus, president of New York hedge fund Wynnefield Capital LLC in a
January Securities and Exchange Commission filing. People familiar with Pirate
say its nominees have vastly more experience in corrections-facility management,
restructuring and turnarounds than Cornell's current board. Pirate nominee
Richard Crane, a corrections-project consultant, is a former general counsel to
CCA, one of the companies that might consider acquiring Cornell. Then there's
Sally Walker, president of Encourage Youth Corp., a consulting firm specializing
in programs for juvenile offenders. Pirate is also nominating two people from
within its own ranks: portfolio manager Hudson and investment analyst Zachary
George. Says Skolnick: "Shareholders would be well-served to have a professional
management team that is focused on returns instead of revenue growth."
March 10, 2005 Dow Jones
Cornell Cos.' (CRN) fourth-quarter loss ballooned as the company took a number
of charges and announced that it will eliminate two layers of management and
close underperforming programs. In a press release Thursday, the prison operator
said that among the jobs eliminated was that of President and Chief Operating
Officer Thomas R. Jenkins. Chief Executive James Hyman will assume the chief
operating officer responsibilities. In a bid to improve its operations, Cornell
said it was trimming its management, cutting Jenkins' job as well as a number of
vice president and director-level positions that "interfered" between business
unit managers and their programs. The shakeup is just the latest in a slew of
management changes at Cornell. Hyman himself was named chief executive in
January. John Nieser, the chief financial officer, was named in February.
Meanwhile, a group of shareholders including Pirate Capital LLC, which hold
about 15% of the company, have called for the entire board to step down. Apart
from changes to its management, Cornell said Thursday it will close a number of
its programs that consumed cash and managerial talent that could better be spent
elsewhere.
The programs, set to be shuttered in the first and second quarters, include the
Joz-Arz program in the District of Columbia, the Residential School in Illinois,
which is owned by the company, and behavioral health programs in Pennsylvania.
November 9, 2004 PRNews
Cornell Companies, a leading provider of privatized adult and juvenile
correctional, treatment and educational services, announced today that the
Company has commenced a search for a new chief executive officer.
Harry J. Phillips, Jr. will continue to serve as chief executive officer
until a successor is named and, thereafter, will continue as chairman of the
board of directors.
October 22, 2004 AP
Two associates of U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay who have been indicted
for alleged campaign finance violations will be allowed to put off answering a
civil lawsuit until their criminal charges have been resolved.
State District Judge Joe Hart on Thursday postponed a civil lawsuit against John
Colyandro and Jim Ellis, who were charged last month with laundering corporate
donations during the 2002 elections.
September 22, 2004 AP
The money laundering allegation in a congressional ethics complaint filed
against House Majority Leader Tom DeLay involves the same $190,000 in political
contributions that led to indictments of the Texas congressman's aides on
similar charges. DeLay is accused in an ethics complaint of misusing the Texans
for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee to launder $190,000 in
illegal corporate contributions through the Republican National Committee for
use in Texas legislative races. On Tuesday, a grand jury in Texas indicted Jim
Ellis, a paid consultant to Texans for a Republican Majority, and John
Colyandro, former executive director of the Texas committee, on money laundering
charges involving the same $190,000 check. A third aide was indicted on separate
charges. The indictments allege that on Sept. 13, 2002, Ellis delivered a check
for $190,000 to the Republican National Committee. The check was signed by
Colyandro and made out to the Republican National State Elections Committee.
Accompanying it was a list of several GOP Texas legislative candidates and the
amount of money that each should get from the RNC, according to the indictment.
The indictments said the $190,000 came from corporate contributions to Texans
for A Republican Majority. Givers included Diversified Collection Services Inc.,
$50,000; Sears, Roebuck and Co., $25,000; Williams Companies Inc., $25,000;
Cornell Companies, $10,000, Bacardi USA, $20,000 and Questerra Corp., $25,000,
the indictments said. They did not account for the remaining contributions. The
Republican National State Elections Committee subsequently wrote checks totaling
$190,000 to seven Texas candidates, the indictment alleges.
Texas law prohibits the use of corporate money for direct political purposes.
August 15, 2004
Rarely does the siren of shareholder revolt sound as loudly as it has at Cornell
Cos., a Houston-based operator of adult and juvenile corrections centers and
treatment facilities. During a conference call last week, investors irate over
the company's performance blasted Chairman Harry Phillips. "Our capital is being
wasted here, and our company is being undermanaged," said Zachary George with
Pirate Capital, a Connecticut hedge fund that owns 7.5 percent of Cornell's
shares, making it one of the company's biggest investors. "We are not going to
let you guys destroy this company. Your time at Cornell is limited." Pirate,
which began buying Cornell shares in May, targets companies it believes are
undervalued. It isn't alone in its displeasure: Thirty-five percent of the
company's investors withheld their votes for directors at the last annual
meeting, and that was without any organized effort. Investors have ample reason
to be ticked off. Net income was almost $8 million in 2000, but the company
hasn't seen a profit like that since. Last year, earnings were less than $4
million. Profit margins have been halved during the same period. Cornell's
market value has tumbled to $166 million from $228 million in 2001. For
Cornell's management, the hour of reckoning is nigh. Promises of a prosperous
future will no longer quell the discontent. The sirens are sounding, and the
message for management is clear: The future is now.
(Houston Chronicle)
August 14, 2002
Prison builder and operator Cornell Cos. Inc. said on Tuesday its second quarter
profit fell, in part from a one-time charge for a federal prison contract in
Mississippi that it failed to win. The company, which operates 69 prisons,
detention and substance treatment centers across America, said short-term
prospects for new contracts were uncertain as federal funds were diverted to the
new Homeland Security Department. But Cornell also said it was optimistic
about the growth in the future as prison recidivism rates increase, along with
demand from Immigration and Naturalization Service detention centers. In
addition, increasing budgetary restraints on states should drive demand for
prison privatization. Cornell said unusual items, including about $1
million in costs of the failed bid for the Southeast Federal Bureau of Prisons
project in Mississippi reduced earnings by 5 cents per share. (Yahoo
Finance)
August 13, 2002
Prison builder and operator Cornell Cos. Inc. on Tuesday said net income fell in
the second quarter, pressured in part by a one-time charge after it failed to
win a federal prison contract. (Yahoo Finance)
June 2, 2002
Cornell Companies Inc. (NYSE:CRN - News) updated today its outlook following the
announcement of results from a recent federal procurement process. The Company
previously submitted a response to a request for proposal from the Federal
Bureau of Prisons (FBOP) for a potential new prison in the Southeast U.S. The
Company did not receive this award. Since these awards require construction to
be completed within 365 days, the Company had successfully pre-arranged and
received bank commitments for a construction and lease-financing vehicle that
would allow it to meet this schedule. As a result, the Company has elected to
expense approximately $530,000 in after-tax costs in the second quarter, or
$0.04 earnings per share, representing bank commitment fees and related
accounting and legal costs. (Yahoo Finance)
May 31, 2002
Shares of prison builder and operator Cornell Cos. Inc. dropped more than 19
percent in intraday trading on Friday, a day after the Federal Bureau of Prisons
awarded a contract to a Cornell rival, analysts said. The 1,500-bed
contract went to Corrections Corp. of America, the No.1 prison operator, on
Thursday. Cornell was the other finalist for the $109 million contract.
"It's a disappointment. There's a chance they could have gotten it," said
Jim McDonald, an analyst with First Analysis. But the chances were slim,
he added, because Corrections Corp. had an empty facility in Georgia, whereas
Cornell would have had to build a new facility. Lehman Brothers downgraded
Cornell's stock on Friday morning to "buy" from "strong buy." Cornell's
troubles may not be over, said Matt Hull, an analyst at Avondale Partners, who
has the stock at an "accumulate" rating. The prison bureau's move "removes
growth from the picture at the federal level, and state budgets have less money,
so you don't see a lot of prison expansion at the state level," he said.
"These stocks sell on growth, and that's what were missing," Hull said.
"Now there's no near-term catalyst." (Yahoo Finance)
May 1, 2002
At the D. Ray James Prison in south Georgia, the inmates have
been kept behind bars by all types of lawmen: sheriffs, chiefs of police and
more than a few wardens. But never, until now, have they been kept in jail by a
charity. In August, a partnership headed by Provident Foundation Inc., a
not-for-profit group based in Baton Rouge, La., bought the prison, a 1,500-man
compound on the edge of the Okefenokee Swamp. Corrections experts say they don't
know of another example in recent times of a charity owning a prison. Provident
isn't a conventional charity. It is run by a group of lawyers, investment
bankers and financial consultants. Lehman Bros. Holdings Inc. and other Wall
Street titans do its financial work. With that impressive firepower, Provident
is trying to carve a unique niche for itself in the corrections world, offering
off-the-books financing for public and private prison operators. It has helped
the state of North Carolina and Cornell Cos., a for-profit prison company, buff
their financial profiles. Provident does this by creating special subsidiaries
and partnerships that take advantage of controversial accounting rules and allow
its clients to keep debt off of their balance sheets. As scrutiny of complex
accounting grows in the wake of the Enron Corp. collapse, Provident offers the
unusual twist of a nonprofit playing the off-the-books game. The foundation's
major deal with Cornell sparked an embarrassing restatement of the Houston-based
company's financial figures last month. The company's top official has been
stripped of his titles as chairman and chief executive. In April 2001, Provident
formed a subsidiary, Carolina Corrections LLC, to bid for a contract to build
three 1,000-bed prisons for North Carolina. This arrangement allows North
Carolina to avoid borrowing more money itself at a time when its budget deficit
has grown. But in the long run, renting could cost the state more than simply
building the prisons itself. North Carolina's nonpartisan fiscal-research
division has estimated the 20-year-lease expense as $370 million. That's $146
million more than the $224 million purchase price. Early this year, Cornell's
stock continued to rise. But on Jan. 31, its auditor, Andersen, sent a troubling
letter to members of the Cornell board's audit committee. Acting after it had
come under fire for its auditing of Enron, Andersen questioned the purpose of an
unusual $3.7 million retainer Cornell last August had agreed to pay Lehman. The
retainer wasn't linked to a specific assignment but was supposed to pay for work
Lehman might do in the future. Six days after receiving the letter, Cornell
announced plans to review its accounting of the August sale-leaseback. Its stock
fell 43% in one day. (The Wall Street Journal)
April 29, 2002
Cornell has announced that it will establish a memorial to American ideals at
the Shanksville-Stonycreek school, near the Pennsylvania site of the crash of
United Flight 93 on September 11th. (Cornell Companies/Yahoo! Finance)
March 8, 2002
Milberg Weiss, Levy and Levy, P.C., Cauley Geller Bowman and Coates, LLP, and
Schiffrin and Barroway, LLP announced that a class action has been commenced in
the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas on behalf of
purchasers of Cornell Companies, Inc. The complaint charges Cornell and
certain of its officers and directors with violations of the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934. The complaint alleges that during the Class Period,
defendants issued favorable but false statements and made false and misleading
statements about the Company's business. (Press Releases from Milberg
Weiss Bershad Hynes and Lerach, LLP, Levy and Levy, P.C., Cauley Geller Bowman
and Coates, LLP, and Schiffrin and Barroway, LLP)
April 25, 2002
This isn’t a good time to be CEO of a Houston company audited by Arthur
Andersen. Especially if you are a former Arthur Andersen accountant. And most
especially if you may have to restate your earnings because the “innovative”
off-the-books transaction you arranged six months ago could violate the same SEC
rules that exposed Enron’s partnerships. In August, Steve Logan completed a deal
that he boasted would enable Cornell Cos., the country’s third-largest builder
and operator of prisons, to double the industry’s growth rate. His deal involves
a sale/leaseback transaction, in which facilities are sold to a bond-issuing
special-purpose company, Municipal Corrections Finance, or MCF, and leased back
to Cornell at a favorable rate. “We’ve changed the industry,” the CEO declared
last summer. “This is something that competitors have been trying to do for a
decade. No one else has been able.” On Jan. 31, auditors alerted Cornell of a
possible conflict with SEC rules, which require that the equity owner of MCF—in
this case affiliates of Lehman Brothers—own at least 3 percent of MCF for it to
qualify as a separate company. Cornell’s shares fell 43 percent on the news, to
$9.96 from $17.48. At issue is $3.65 million Cornell paid to Lehman Brothers in
September. The fee was reported as a retainer to Lehman Brothers for future
financial advisory services. However, it could also be seen as a belated payment
for Lehman Brothers’ role in setting up MCF, which would reduce Lehman Brothers’
equity below the required level. Outside ownership was the missing ingredient in
Enron’s partnerships. (The e-Network for CEOs)
March 6, 2002
Prison builder and operator Cornell Cos Inc. said Wednesday it will
restate its earnings for 2000 and for three quarters of 2001 after reviewing two
off-balance-sheet transactions, a move that will reduce previously reported
earnings. Last month Cornell said its board of directors -- acting on the
recommendation of its independent auditor -- had formed a special committee to
review an August off-balance-sheet transaction in which Cornell sold 11
facilities and then leased them back. It also said it was reviewing what it
called a ``synthetic lease transaction'' which occurred in 2000. The facilities
were sold to affiliates of an unnamed investment bank. Cornell said Wednesday
that it has decided to consolidate the transactions, moving them back onto the
company's income statements and balance sheets. The effect of the restatement
will require waivers of certain covenants under the company's senior credit
facility, Cornell added. Based on discussions with its lenders, Cornell expects
to reach agreement to waive and/or restructure the covenants. (Reuters)
February 11, 2002 Last Wednesday, Cornell Cos. , a Houston-based prison
builder and operator, announced that it is reviewing its books - or rather,
reviewing an off-book transaction that it entered into during 2001. Not
surprisingly, in this post-Enron environment, the market reacted very
negatively. However, from the Sleuth's point of view, there are several
"disconcerting" aspects to all of this: Even though this "retainer agreement"
was reportedly entered into during the third quarter, the Sleuth was unable to
find references to any "retainer agreement" in CRN's third quarter 10-Q Report,
and there was no evidence that the company had either paid this $3.65 million to
Lehman Brothers or had recognized this debt as a liability. Likewise, this $3.65
million "retainer" does not appear to have been used to pay for any of the costs
of the company's secondary offering, announced on November 27, 2001, for which
Lehman Brothers was the lead underwriter. A review of the Company's filings with
the SEC for this offering fails to show that any of CRN's expenses from this
secondary offering were paid out of any "retainer agreement." And then, the
company also announced a changing of the guard. One of its outside directors
would become chairman, while the now-former chairman would remain president and
chief executive of the company. This press release came only eleven minutes
after the announcement of the investigation. (Securities Sleuth)
February 6, 2002
Prison builder and operator Cornell Wednesday said it was reviewing accounting
issues raised by its auditor related to an off-balance-sheet transaction, in one
of the clearest signs yet that accountants are increasingly questioning such
deals after Enron's collapse. Cornell said its board of directors had formed a
special committee to review an August transaction in which Cornell sold 11
facilities and then leased them back. Accounting firm Andersen, under fire for
blessing Enron's books, was Cornell's auditor, according to its most recent
quarterly report. Cornell, which said the review could have material financial
consequences, also said its president and chief executive will no longer be
chairman. The news sent Cornell shares plunging on the New York Stock Exchange,
where they lost more than half their value before recouping some losses. Cornell
shares were down 40 percent, or $7.03 to $10.45 on the New York Stock Exchange
in late afternoon trading, making it the largest percentage loser on the NYSE on
Wednesday. Cornell said the facilities were sold to an entity owned by
affiliates of an unnamed investment bank for net proceeds of $173 million.
Cornell is focusing on a $3.65 million non-refundable fee it paid to the
investment bank and whether that fee affected the previously reported accounting
treatment for the transaction, the company said. It also is looking at whether
its financial statements appropriately reflected the amount paid to the
investment bank. The fee was for financial advisory services concerning future
financing vehicles and strategic development. Depending on the results of the
accounting review, the company could be forced to put the facilities back on its
balance sheet as assets and take on the debt of Municipal Corrections Finance
L.P., the entity formed to buy the facilities, as a liability, Cornell said.
Municipal Corrections Finance is a completely independent entity from Cornell
and involves no Cornell employees, the spokesman said. Cornell, which provides
prison, treatment and educational services to government agencies, also said it
had installed an outside director, Harry Phillips Jr., as its new chairman.
Phillips succeeds Steve Logan, who remains president and chief executive of
Cornell. (Reuters)
February 7,
2002
Shares
of private prison operator Cornell Cos. fell 43 percent Wednesday after the
company disclosed it is reviewing its accounting of a real estate deal in
August. Also Wednesday, Houston-based Cornell named Harry Phillips chairman,
replacing Steve Logan, who remains president and chief executive officer. The
special committee is reviewing whether the retainer amount paid by Cornell to
the investment bank would reduce the previously established equity of the
investment bank affiliate in Municipal Corrections Finance. If that happened,
Municipal Corrections Finance's assets, liabilities and operating results would
have to be reported as part of Cornell's financial statements going back to
2001's third quarter. (Houston Chronicle)
Corplan,
Argyle, Texas
June 9, 2010 Arizona Silver Belt
At two consecutive city council meetings in April, the Globe council
members heard from a group of men representing three corporations:
Emerald Correctional Management, Corplan and Cuny Corporation. These men
addressed the council regarding their desire to put in a bid with the
Arizona Department of Corrections to construct a private, 1,000-bed
prison in the City of Globe. The men presented estimates of economic
growth that sounded almost too good to be true. According to Mike Moore
of Emerald Corrections, “the city could get a monthly revenue check per
inmate per month but it would depend on the monthly per diem that the
state pays. It does pay and it’s a sizable number.” The group of
business men went on to say the entire project would be $60 to $100
million in construction, and the goal would be to hire local workforce
for 70 percent of the construction. They also promised to help the city
with expansion of the sewer infrastructure. The city council took two
hours to reach a decision, but in the end, a 4-2 vote in favor of
supporting Emerald Corrections’ bid to build the prison was approved. A
deal too good to be true? Well, there might be more than meets the eye.
Case Study: Hardin, Mon. In 2004, Mr. James Parkey of Corplan - the same
James Parkey who spoke to the Globe city council - proposed the
construction of a private prison in Hardin, Mon., a small rural city
suffering from economic stalemate. A team of experts spoke to the city
officials, selling them hope of economic prosperity through the private
prison business. The 450-bed prison was supposed to generate 150 secure
jobs and at least $100,000 in annual per-prisoner revenue. The companies
involved, Corplan as the developer, Cuny Corporation as the civil
engineer of the project, and Civigenics as the prison operators,
promised to realize the project from start to finish. To pay for the
prison, the city of Hardin would have to conduct a bond sale. Prior to
the construction, Parkey promised the city officials an economic
feasibility study, which was carried out by Howard Geisler, a consultant
specializing in prisons, and who had worked together with Parkey in a
number of other cities. The study presented facts and figures that a
Montana state auditor later described as providing “little methodology”
and lacking “historical data to support anticipated prisoner counts.”
The auditor went on the say the report made “a number of assumptions
made related to financial viability that appear to be unfounded.” The
prison was built, and the three companies involved received their
payments and Hardin prepared itself for its first prisoners. In this
case, however, they built it, but no one came. Hardin became so
desperate to get prisoners in their prison, that they requested taking
sex-offenders and later even Guantanamo Bay prisoners. Since the prison
had been built for less high profile inmates, with 24-bed cells,
Hardin’s requests were turned down. Hardin’s detention center never
received the expected prisoners and the city has been in bond default
for the last two years. A post on the detention center’s website reads,
“any person or parties interested in operating or leasing space in the
Hardin Detention Facility should contact...” “Do a lot of research” --
The pain is still throbbing in Hardin, Mon. After contacting the
executive director of economic development and the mayor, the only
comment given was “do a lot of research.” Hardin, Mon. is one of the
most prominent cases, where Corplan and its partners have left a city
with an empty prison. Corplan’s website lists a number of sample prisons
that they have built that are surviving. However, it does not list
Hardin. Neither are a number of other cases, where things ‘went wrong,’
including facilities in LaSalle County, Texas, Pioche, Nev., Lindsay,
Okla., McLennan County, Texas, Las Cruses, N.M., and St. Luis, Ariz. In
Willacy County, three county commissioners who were working very closely
together with Corplan were indicted on bribery charges. Parkey’s and
Corplan’s actions have caught attention in the media. Dan Rather
reported on a few cases, especially the prison in LaSalle, Texas. Frank
Smith, of the non-profit organization Private Corrections Working Group,
has been following Parkey and Corplan over the years. Smith warned that
the economic feasibility report must be read very closely and to expect
that there may be exaggerations or left out aspects. The economic
feasibility study “sells” the project more than examines it in some
cases. When asked why nothing has been done legally against Corplan,
Smith named a number of small factors that may be reasons why is some
cases nothing was done. In Globe’s case, Corplan, Emerald Corrections,
and Cuny Corporation have asked for support for a bid in response to a
request for proposals put out by the Arizona DOC. In Hardin, the three
partner corporations told the city that the prison operator, Civigenics,
would provide the service of having prisoners housed in the facility.
This could be a major difference in the success or failure of the
proposed Globe project. The Arizona DOC will be awarding the contracts
for the prisons by June 30, 2010.
April 28, 2010 San Pedro Valley News-Sun
Allowing a private detention center to operate in Benson is not in
the city's best interest said Michelle Brane, the director of the
detention and asylum program for the Women's Refugee Commission. In
fact, Brane said private prisons like the proposed 200-bed facility are
"horrible for rural communities." Corplan Corrections, a Texas Company,
wants to build a 104,000-square-foot facility to house mostly women and
children who are in the country illegally. The company known for
building prisons and detention centers in the U.S., has promised the
city big payouts if they sponsor the $27 million bonds needed to pay for
the prison construction. Representatives of Corplan, including Toby
Michael and James Parkey, have told city officials and council members
that the bond is paid for through federal funding. Corplan Corrections
has already selected a 25-acre parcel that would hold the facility, that
they are calling a "Family Residential Center of the Southwest," near
Benson Municipal Airport. However, Brane said the promise of federal
funding is not a true statement. "I have spoken to the Department of
Homeland Security, and the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement because
if Corplan were to get funding, it would be from them," she said. "At
this point there are not any (request for proposals); there have been no
discussions with the federal government. Nothing is a sure thing and in
fact I would say highly doubtful." City Manager Glenn Nichols said city
staff has moved forward with investigating whether this would be a good
economic move for the city, and it will be discussed by the City Council
during the May 10 regular meeting. Nichols said the biggest concern
remains accountability. "We have seen nothing in writing from the
Department of Corrections that this would definitely be funded," he
said. The second concern is the city's liability if the bond were to go
into default. Corplan Corrections says there is no liability on the
city's part, but Nichols said they are not completely sure. Nonetheless,
the direction the city will take will depend on how the council votes on
May 10. Nichols said the council will be presented the information,
discuss it and vote to either move forward with the process or stop it.
Corplan Corrections has painted a picture of great economic promise if
Benson moves ahead with the project. In closed-door meetings with
council members, Corplan has promised a federally funded facility that
would house 500 women and children in the country illegally and would
create up to 150 jobs. The city has also been told they would get an
increased revenue stream of $218,000 a year. Similar facilities have
been proposed in New Mexico and Texas, and one became a failure in
Hardin, Mont., where the city signed off on $27 million in bonds in 2007
for a 200-bed facility. The facility was constructed, but to this day
sits empty with no federal grant funding or per diem fees as promised by
Corplan Corrections. Kim Hammond, mayor of Hardin, has warned cities
like Benson to tread lightly when considering the proposals brought
forth by private companies like Corplan.
April 23, 2010 Texas Observer
State Rep. Eddie Lucio III, a Brownsville Democrat, is following in his
father's footsteps by joining forces with Corplan Corrections, a
scandal-plagued prison development company. Lucio is representing
Argyle, Texas-based Corplan Corrections in its bid to build an
immigration family detention center in Weslaco, a Rio Grande Valley town
that is in Rep. Lucio's district. State Sen. Eddie Lucio, Jr., also a
Democrat Brownsville, “consulted” for Corplan in 2003 and 2004. Corplan
and its CEO, James Parkey, specialize in selling desperate communities
on risky government-financed prisons with promises of jobs and economic
development. Typically, the company talks local governments into
financing speculative jail facilities and then leaves the community to
figure out how to keep them open. In recent years, Corplan has been at
the center of numerous controversies, including a bizarre
prison-building scheme in Hardin, Montana that involved a private
military force called American Police Force run by an ex-con. The prison
cost the small town $27 million but never housed any prisoners. In one
of his latest gambits, Parkey has approached city officials in several
towns across the U.S. – Benson, Arizona; Las Cruces, New Mexico; and
Weslaco, Texas – with a proposal to build a new detention center for
immigrant families. Parkey’s reputation, however, has caught up with him
in Las Cruces and Benson, where officials have nixed the deal. That’s
not the case in Weslaco. Weslaco Mayor Buddy de la Rosa told me that he
was first introduced to Parkey two or so years ago and the project has
been in the works ever since. Corplan, he said, is handling all the
details. The company recently brought Rep. Lucio on as an attorney for
the project. Weslaco is in Lucio’s district. In February, Lucio and
Parkey spoke to the Weslaco City Commission and urged the commissioners
to pass a resolution giving Corplan authorization to file a “grant
application” for the facility, according to minutes from the meeting.
(De la Rosa said he has not seen the application and doesn’t know to
whom it will be submitted.) It might be a lousy deal for the city – if
it's a deal at all. "James Parkey and Corplan are prison developers who
get paid when a prison is built," said Bob Libal, an anti-private prison
organizer with Grassroots Leadership. "It's not necessarily in their
interest to make sure the prison project is successful." The Weslaco
project is particularly fraught with risk, Libal says, because the Obama
administration has all but done away with detaining immigrant families.
In August 2009, federal officials removed immigrant families from the T.
Don Hutto Residential Center, a privately-operated jail near Taylor that
attracted international attention after advocates and detainees reported
inhumane conditions. The Obama administration has also let Bush-era
plans to add new family facilities expire, said Michelle Brane, director
of detention and asylum programs at the Women's Refugee Commission. “To
my knowledge – and I spoke specifically with Immigration and Customs
Enforcement about this – they insist they don’t have any requests for
proposal out there or any plans for building a new family detention
facility,” said Brane. “I think they’re being duped frankly.” Mayor de
la Rosa said that he wasn’t aware of the shift in federal policy but
said it may explain why he hasn’t heard from Parkey or Lucio recently.
“They have been remarkably quiet for the past several weeks,” he said.
Representing Corplan appears to be a Lucio family business. According to
Texas Ethics Commission filings, state Sen. Eddie Lucio, also a
Brownsville Democrat, worked as a “consultant” for Corplan in 2003 and
2004 at a time when the company was part of a consortium of private
prison interests seeking to build a 2,000-bed immigrant detention center
in Raymondville, the seat of Willacy County. (I did a feature story on
Raymondville's prison boom in 2006. You can read the whole gruesome
story here.) During that time, Lucio also represented other corporate
entities involved in the bid: prison construction company Hale-Mills,
prison operator Management and Training Corp., and Aguirre, Inc. Here's
what I wrote in 2006: The consortium needed a deal closer and found one
in state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr. The Brownsville Democrat had worked as a
"consultant" for Corplan and Management & Training in 2003 and 2004,
according to records filed with the Texas Ethics Commission. He had
suspended his consulting work in 2005 in the aftermath of the bribery
scandal, but Hale-Mills hired him this year for the federal detention
center project. Lucio says Hale-Mills paid him "to figure out what kind
of impact this will have on the community, to talk to the general public
to see what their feel is." [Former Willacy County Attorney Juan] Guerra
alleges that Lucio made multiple appearances in Raymondville pressuring
the commissioners to select Management & Training over Corrections Corp.
"As far as I'm concerned, had it not been for Eddie Lucio the
commissioners would not have gone and put the county in a $60 million
debt," Guerra says. "In my opinion, in his position as a senator he let
our commissioners, including me, know where he stood... Once your
senator lets you know what he wants, it's hard to go against [him]." In
2005, Lucio ended his consulting work with Corplan after two Willacy
County commissioners pleaded guilty to accepting cash bribes in exchange
for their votes to award a contract for another Raymondville prison.
Amazingly, no one was ever indicted for supplying the bribe. Sen. Lucio
no longer appears to be working for Corplan, at least according to
personal financial disclosure statements for the last four years filed
with the Ethics Commission. Rep. Lucio’s involvement with Corplan is not
disclosed on his latest disclosure filing. The form was turned in on
February 16th, the same day Lucio appeared at the Weslaco City
Commission meeting. It's not clear why Corplan is not listed as a source
of occupational income. For some, the whole thing stinks. “I think that
raises some pretty serious questions especially when he’s presenting
false information to a local body that’s in his district,” said Libal.
“Does it break any law? I don’t know. Does it seem like a big conflict
of interest? Yes.”
Coryell County Jail
Gatesville, Texas
Corplan, CiviGenics
November 13, 2006 Killeen Daily Herald
A Willacy County official has a word of caution for the Coryell County
Commissioners' Court as it considers a private prison vendor as a remedy for its
overcrowded jail facility. "Have your sheriff talk to our sheriff. He will let
you know what kind of problems he is having," said Juan Guerra, who pulls double
duty as both county and district attorney in Willacy County. Guerra said his
county has struggled through criminal investigations that saw two of its county
commissioners convicted, and it is also is in danger of defaulting on a bond
payment because it hasn't received enough federal prisoners to generate the
needed revenue to sustain the facility. Coryell County Commissioners are
expected to open a proposal from Innovative Government Strategies to construct
and operate a jail facility when they meet in regular session at 10 a.m. Monday
in the Coryell County Courthouse. According to the documents turned in by
Innovative Government Strategies, the proposed project team includes James
Parkey, with Corplan Corrections Inc., for developer, Hale-Mills for
construction company, Municipal Capital Markets Group for financing, Deborah L.
Williams for architecture and engineering and CiviGenics-Texas Inc. for
management and operations. Coryell County Attorney Brandon Belt previously
expressed concern about the proposed operator, saying that CiviGenics had been
at the center of controversy recently. However, it is not just CiviGenics that
has a troubled past. The commissioners' consideration of the group comes just
days after a federal judge sentenced former Willacy County Commissioner Israel
Tamez to six months in jail for his role in a bribery scandal connected to a
$14.5 million prison project to construct a U.S. Marshals Service jail. On Nov.
9, U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen handed down the sentence and also gave Tamez
three years' probation and imposed a $25,000 fine. Tamez and former Commissioner
Jose Jimenez, who died of cancer before being sentenced, pleaded guilty in
January 2005 to taking more than $10,000 in kickbacks, Guerra said. Former Webb
County Commissioner David Cortez also was involved in the scandal and was
convicted in March 2005 of funneling the bribes to the Willacy County
commissioners in exchange for their votes to hire a consultant in the prison
project, Guerra said. Cortez is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 20. "My
understanding was, as far as implicating the company, it has not been
implicated, but the commissioners have been convicted," Guerra said. "Our
records indicate that when (Cortez) came before the commissioners when this
happened four years ago, he represented himself as a private consultant for
Corplan." In May 2005, Willacy County, on Guerra's instructions, filed a civil
suit against Corplan and Hale-Mills alleging that the two companies were parties
to the bribery. The suit later was dismissed, Guerra said. Guerra said he could
not say whether a federal investigation was still pending, and U.S. District
Court offices were closed Friday for the federal holiday. Willacy County Sheriff
Larry Spence could not be reached either. Guerra said the lack of competitive
bids when Willacy was building its third federal facility – against his advice
and despite the criminal implications – was not only suspect, but something that
possibly lost Willacy County millions. "No one is checking to see if you are
getting your money's worth," he said. "Because we don't know if that facility
cost $50 million to construct." In fact, Guerra said according to information he
received from experts, the project, which was for a facility to house
Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees, could have been done for between
$30 and $35 million. "The information that I got, from experts that reviewed the
expenses, says they could not justify the $50 million. They padded the
construction costs by an extra $20 to $15 million," Guerra said. "What is funny
you get commissioners that are indicted for taking $10,000. I am just wondering
who are the real crooks?"
Crystal City
Bobby Ross Group
June 4, 2003
City librarian Annette Lehmann doesn't really mind the FBI agents and Texas
Rangers using her conference room day after day for interviews, but she wishes
they'd check in with her first. "It's during the day when there is really
nothing going on, so it doesn't bother me. I'd just like to be told," she said.
"The Texas Rangers wear guns. That's how you can tell them apart," she added.
A little over a month after voters here gave the boot to a City Council faction
that some accused of running the city like a totalitarian state, the winds of
rumor and reform are both blowing hard. The Rangers and federal agents are
busy trying to make sense of a $14 million detention centers purchase the old
administration rushed through with great secrecy early this year. They also are
following other money trails at City Hall and at the city's economic development
corporation. The $14 million purchase of a pair of prison facilities from the
Bobby Ross Group in Austin remains the big mystery. "We still don't know
exactly where the money went," Mayor Raul Gomez said of the mammoth deal.
"People are just waiting to find out what happened. It's like they say, 'I hope
they (the investigators) don't find anything, but if they do, I hope something
is done about it,'" he said. Both the FBI in Del Rio and District Attorney
Roberto Serna in Eagle Pass have declined to discuss their investigations in
Crystal City. Sources say that so far nearly a dozen people have been
interviewed and numerous records have been subpoenaed. The sale was financed by
high interest bonds sold without a referendum through a public facilities
corporation, and the closing was at a title company in Austin. An
enigmatic key figure in the detention centers deal was Mario Hernandez, 64, a
former city councilman whose name is on the bronze dedication plaque on City
Hall dated 1963. Hernandez earned thousands in Crystal City as a
consultant to the economic development corporation for cheese factory and tire
recycling deals that have yet to bear fruit. But when he hit the jackpot on the
detention centers deal, he was working for someone else. Acting as a
representative of the Bobby Ross Group, which sold the detention centers to the
city, Hernandez made hundreds of thousands of dollars when the deal closed.
"He was paid $300,000 when the bonds were sold," said Tim Kurpiewski, a Bobby
Ross vice-president in Austin, who said Hernandez made additional money on the
deal that he would not disclose. After the prison facilities were sold to
the city, Hernandez sought to be hired to a $120,000-a-year city job overseeing
the operating contract with Bobby Ross Group. However, since the change on
the City Council, he has dropped out of view. Contacted by telephone this
weekend, Hernandez declined to be interviewed. Hernandez's background is
of special interest to authorities. In the early 1990s he served 32 months
in federal prison for convictions in a credit card scam in Wisconsin and for
harboring undocumented immigrants in San Antonio. In that case,
authorities accused him of keeping Mexican immigrants locked in a shed on Rigsby
Avenue and releasing them in the daytime to work as laborers. According to
the Bexar County Sheriff's Department, Hernandez is wanted on an active
misdemeanor warrant for theft of service under $500. Former Crystal City
Mayor Frank Moreno, who last fall asked the FBI to look into the city
government's activities, was elected to the council this spring. He said
the outside probes are essential to clear the air. "The people are glad
that finally some type of investigations are started, and they are definitely
glad that both the FBI and the Rangers are involved," Moreno said. (San
Antonio Express-News)
February 25, 2003
The forced removal of a council member from a City Council meeting has
ignited a political battle over whether Crystal City's government is operating
in the open. At the recent February meeting of the council, member Raul
Gomez began questioning City Manager Eleazar Salinas about city expenditures.
Mayor Jody Cerda told him he was out of order. "I was told by the mayor I
should not be asking those questions, and I said, as a councilman, I have the
right to ask about bills and invoices," Gomez told the San Antonio Express-News
for a story in Monday's edition. Gomez refused to be silenced. "If
someone from the public wants to talk about something, they need to give 10-day
notice to the city manager, and if he thinks it's fit, he'll put it on the
agenda," Gomez told the Express-News. The newspaper reported that Cerda's
critics were worried by the recent sale of $14 million in bonds to buy two
detention centers near Crystal City from the private company that operates them.
It reported the council approved the deal with the Bobby Ross Group last month
with almost no public comment or release of information. The council also turned
away questions from the public. Gomez and Macias, who opposed the
detention center deal, said they were given no information before the purchase.
Even now, more than a month later, they said they haven't seen complete
financial documentation. The purchase was done through a recently created,
Cerda-led public facilities corporation that sold the high-interest bonds.
Documents examined by the Express-News showed the facilities corporation paid $9
million for the centers, plus the surrounding 75 acres. The Zavala County
appraiser values the centers at $6 million, the newspaper reported. The
lease-purchase deal included a $1.1 million payment back to Crystal City, with
$300,000 apparently going to the city and $800,000 to the city's economic
development corporation - also led by Cerda, the newspaper reported. In a
separate contract, the Bobby Ross Group will still operate the centers, with
revenue generated by the centers going directly to pay down the bonds, the
newspaper reported. (AP)
Dallas County Jail
Dallas, Texas
Aramark,
Keefe, Mid-America
October 11, 2006 The Dallas Morning News
Dallas County commissioners voted Tuesday for the first time to award a jail
commissary contract, ending a tradition in which the sheriff decided who gets
the lucrative deal to sell snacks and other items to more than 7,000 inmates.
The roughly $34 million, five-year contract awarded to Keefe Commissary Network
is expected to generate more money for the county than the existing contract.
County officials who didn't like how the former sheriff handled the awarding of
the existing commissary contract moved to get state law changed last year to
allow commissioners to decide the commissary vendor. The new law allows the
sheriff to designate commissioners to decide the contract. Sheriff Lupe Valdez
didn't want to be involved because of past problems, her spokesman has said.
Keefe, a St. Louis company, estimated that annual revenue to the county based on
sales of snacks, pens, toiletries, playing cards and other items would be about
$2.6 million, which is almost four times what the current contractor provides.
That contractor, Mid-America Services, was given the contract in 2002 by
then-Sheriff Jim Bowles, who was a longtime friend of the owner, Jack Madera. At
the time, commissioners complained that other companies offered better financial
terms. Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield cast the sole vote against the contract
award, saying Aramark offered a better value to the county. He said Aramark
offered a slightly higher commission rate as well as $1 million in upfront
money, to be paid out each year of the contract. But Commissioner John Wiley
Price said Keefe guaranteed the county at least $2 million each year. "The
numbers speak for themselves," he said. Mr. Mayfield also said Keefe did not
disclose to the county its involvement in a federal corruption investigation in
Florida involving a prison contract until after the Justice Department issued a
news release about it in July. The county's request for proposals required such
a disclosure. The former head of the Florida corrections department and a prison
official were charged in July with accepting more than $130,000 in kickbacks
from a Keefe subcontractor over two years in connection with a 2003 prison-store
contract. "There's a lot of smoke there," Mr. Mayfield said. "I find it
incredulous that Keefe did not know they were under investigation in 2004 and
2005." No knowledge: Keefe's chief executive wrote in a July 31 letter to
purchasing supervisor Linda Boles that the company had no knowledge of illegal
activity related to the case. In a Sept. 11 letter, U.S. Attorney Paul Perez in
Florida wrote that Keefe and its employees are considered witnesses in the
investigation but that could change. "Nothing in this letter ... shall preclude
the United States from later determining that Keefe or any of its employees are
subjects or targets of this investigation," he wrote. It isn't the only
controversy in which the company has been involved. In 2004, Keefe was found to
have charged sales tax on some items that aren't taxable in Texas in connection
with a Collin County jail commissary contract. As a result, almost 600 inmates
were overcharged more than $5,000, records showed. Because of the error, the
Collin County sheriff awarded the contract to a different firm.
October 4, 2006 Dallas Morning News
Dallas County commissioners on Tuesday unanimously approved the first phase
of a plan to provide more clinical space inside the jail for inmate medical and
mental health needs. The county's selection committee recommended that St.
Louis-based Keefe Commissary Network be awarded the five-year contract to sell
snacks, toiletries and other items to the more than 7,000 inmates. The company's
bid calls for a 40 percent commission on sales or $2 million in guaranteed
annual revenue for the county, whichever is greater. Revenue under the current
vendor has averaged about $670,600 a year over the last three years, according
to the county auditor. "It shows what can come from a very well-run procurement
process," Mr. Clemson said. Keefe disclosed to the county that it currently is
under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice over kickbacks its
subcontractor is accused of paying to the former head of corrections in Florida
in connection with a prison contract.
December 15, 2003
An investigation into the Dallas County sheriff and his dealings with a jail
vendor has expanded to include three other North Texas counties that have
contracts with the vendor, according to a published report. Court
records obtained by the Dallas Morning News show that the campaign finance
records of Denton County Sheriff Weldon Lucas were recently subpoenaed by Chris
Milner, who is overseeing the probe of Dallas County Sheriff Jim Bowles.
Officials in Tarrant and Nueces counties told the newspaper that Milner had also
subpoenaed jail commissary and election records there. Milner is
investigating whether Bowles improperly awarded the Sheriff Department's
commissary contract to Jack Madera of Mid-America Services based on reports
published by the newspaper in September. Milner, an assistant district attorney
in Collin County, declined the newspaper's request for comment. Bowles
accepted meals and travel expenses worth thousands of dollars from Madera from
1999 to 2001. In 2002 he awarded Madera the department's commissary contract
even though other vendors offered higher commissions to the department.
The sheriff said he repaid Madera for all expenses except the meals, but hasn't
shown proof of those reimbursements. Lucas awarded Mid-America Denton
County's jail commissary contract that same year under similar circumstances,
the newspaper reported Thursday. (AP)
September 22, 2003
Dallas County Sheriff Jim Bowles accepted meals, airfare and hotel rooms worth
thousands of dollars from commissary vendor Jack Madera in the two years before
he awarded Madera's company a contract to sell goods in the jail, The Dallas
Morning News reported Sunday. Bowles told the newspaper that he reimbursed
Madera or his companies for any expenses except lunches. He said he didn't keep
copies of checks that would show the reimbursement. "I don't keep copies
of checks anticipating this," the sheriff said. "No one has ever questioned my
integrity before." Bowles has occasionally acted on behalf of Madera,
accompanying him on visits to solicit business from other sheriffs, according to
interviews. At a fund-raiser for the sheriff last week, Madera declined to
be interviewed. Bowles awarded the five-year contract to Mid-America
Services Inc., Madera's company, in June 2002. The commissary sells
snacks, soft drinks and other products to inmates. The department receives a
portion of the $4 million in projected annual revenue to pay for some inmate
programs and jail costs. Madera's bid was worth about $600,000 in annual
revenue to the sheriff's department. Other bidders offered a minimum of $1
million, according to county records. After county commissioners
criticized the deal, Bowles said he was friends with Madera. He later backed off
that description and now says they interact only about business. Between
October 1999 and November 2001, Madera paid for 72 meals totaling $3,698 at
which Bowles or his top aide, Executive Chief Deputy Larry Forsyth, often were
the only guests, according to financial records provided by Madera's former
company. Madera paid $789 for airfare and hotels for Bowles to attend the
2000 and 2001 Sheriffs' Association of Texas conferences in Lubbock and Corpus
Christi. Madera also paid $150 for plane tickets for Bowles' wife to attend the
2001 conference. Madera's new company advanced the sheriff $1,211 for
airfare and registration for this year's National Sheriffs' Association annual
conference in Nashville, Tenn., an expense the sheriff later reimbursed with
campaign funds. The Morning News obtained Madera's expenses from
Mid-States Services, one of the companies that Bowles passed up to award the
commissary contract to Mid-America. Madera founded Mid-States almost 20 years
ago and sold it in February 1999. John F. Sammons Jr., the chairman and
chief executive officer of Mid-States, said he provided the records because they
show that Bowles is too close to Madera. "Sheriff Bowles has never
accepted one red cent from Jack Madera," said Clayton P. Henry, the sheriff's
campaign consultant. "We consider this to be sour grapes on the part of John
Sammons." Some officials said the sheriff has occasionally worked on
behalf of Madera. In 1999, Bowles and Madera paid a visit to Travis County
Sheriff Margo Frasier. "It was one of those kinds of deals where Jim was
introducing me to Jack and saying Jack wanted to talk to me about my commissary
business," Frasier said. "Jim Bowles was there for the introduction." (AP)
July 3, 2002
Several Dallas County commissioners accuse Sheriff Jim Bowles of awarding a $20
million jail commissary contract to a longtime friend over bidders who offered
far better financial terms for the department. A five-year contract was awarded
last month to Mid-America Services Inc., owned by Jack Madera, to sell pens,
toothpaste, chips and other items to about 7,000 inmates at Dallas County jails.
The contract would generate about $4 million a year, with $600,000 a year going
to the Sheriff's Department starting July 15, according to county officials. But
two of the unsuccessful bidders, Swanson Services Corp. and Mid-States Services
Inc., said they offered to give the Sheriff's Department at least $1.2 million a
year. He said Bowles, who has been in office 17 years, has a long relationship
with Madera but showed "no favoritism whatsoever" in awarding the contract to
his friend. Commissioners contend that Bowles, 73, has declined to turn over bid
documents from the four vendors.
Dallas School District
Dallas, Texas
Community Education Partners
May 7, 2008 Creative Loafing
Patti Welch was living in Douglasville when she went through a divorce last
year. Atlanta was her chance to start over. Weary of her one-hour, 20-minute
commute to the northside law office where she works as a paralegal, Welch found
a duplex in the West End only 20 minutes from her job. But the move also was
about her 15-year-old son, Patrick. He was a smart kid, a B student entering the
10th grade. But he'd gotten into fights. One took place just off school grounds
and involved several kids, so officials labeled it "gang-related." That meant
Patrick would be sent to Douglas County's alternative school. Even though she
was confident her son wasn't in a gang, Welch didn't bother to appeal the school
district's decision. She thought an alternative school might help him. And she
hoped the 10 days Patrick spent in jail after his last fight would serve as a
wake-up call. Welch knew her son would be sent to an alternative school when
they moved to Atlanta. But she thought it would be temporary. Instead, officials
told her that because Patrick had a gang-related fight on his record, he'd never
be allowed to enroll in a regular school in Atlanta. She tried to make the best
of it. When told he'd be sent to Forrest Hill Academy, she looked at her son and
forced a smile. "Wow," she said hopefully. "They're putting you in an academy."
Six months later, Patrick became one of eight student plaintiffs in a class
action lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union's Racial Justice
Program in New York City. The suit alleges that Forrest Hill – which is operated
by a for-profit company called Community Education Partners – is little more
than a pathway to prison for Atlanta's unwanted students. "It would be a stretch
to even call this a school," says Reggie Shuford, an attorney with the ACLU's
Racial Justice Program in New York. "There is little to no academic instruction,
and its students are treated like criminals. It is nothing more than a
warehouse, largely for poor children of color." The ACLU contends that Forrest
Hill students, 97 percent of whom are African-American, spend most of their days
filling out worksheets, for which they get no feedback. According to state
figures, nine out of 10 students at the school are unable to pass the
standardized state test for math proficiency. The figures also show that Forrest
Hill is the most violent school in Atlanta. "It is a national disgrace that the
Atlanta school system has handed over its constitutional responsibility to a
private, for-profit corporation," says Emily Chiang, the case's lead lawyer.
Forrest Hill wasn't quite the academy that Patti Welch had hoped for. The idea
of putting problem children into an "alternative school" is a recent phenomenon
in the world of education. Before a federal law that took effect in 1978, public
schools had no legal requirement to provide education to special needs kids. If
a child was violent, or continually disrupted the class, schools could kick him
or her out. When the law took away that option, teachers and school systems
faced the chore of trying to tame disruptive students. The trend of taking those
kids out of regular classrooms and putting them into "alternative" schools began
to take hold. That practice quickly led to allegations that some systems – under
increasing pressure to churn out higher scores on standardized tests – were
simply "warehousing" their undesirable students, out of sight and out of mind.
"Those schools weren't about education, but just getting through the day," says
Eric Freeman, assistant professor of educational policy studies at Georgia State
University. "Those were the 'expendable kids.' It's no longer acceptable to have
schools where kids are warehoused, but we still have a long way to go." When it
was founded in 1996, Community Education Partners touted itself as a way to get
expendable kids back into the mainstream. From the start, however, there were
indications CEP's considerable political weight was as responsible for its rise
as were its education programs. CEP was formed in Nashville by four men with
heavy Republican connections.CEO Randle Richardson, was chairman of the
Tennessee Republican Party from 1992 to 1995 and oversaw a 1994 electoral sweep
in which Bill Frist and Fred Thompson won Senate seats and Don Sundquist was
elected governor. Another co-founder, John Danielson, would become chief of
staff for Education Secretary Rod Paige under George W. Bush. One of the initial
investors, Tom Beasley, had chaired the Tennessee GOP before Richardson did.
Beasley also founded the Corrections Corporation of America, which runs
privatized prisons. Founded in 1984, CCA has grown to become the sixth-largest
prison system in the country – trailing only the U.S. Bureau of Prisons and four
states. But the company also has faced criticism for understaffing, high
turnover and lax security. According to a 1999 state audit, neglect of medical
care and security at CCA facilities in Georgia amounted to "borderline
deliberate indifference." The two companies – CCA and CEP – have turned out to
share some parallels. Both had business plans that relied on obtaining contracts
to operate government services. Both were started in Nashville by major
Republican Party players. And both went to Texas to make their mark. Texas was a
natural entry point for CEP. In 1995, George W. Bush had become governor, and
his administration was brimming with ideas to reform schools. The bundle of
changes would be touted during Bush's 2000 presidential run as the "Texas
Miracle." In that environment, George Scott, president of a Texas nonprofit
education reform group, helped CEP gain a foothold. "I got pulled into it by the
former superintendent for the Houston school department," Scott says. "It's a
sinister manipulation of reality to say that public education is meeting its
constitutional and moral obligation to these children; we throw at-risk kids
into alternative centers and forget about them. Then along came a company that
said it was going to do something different." Scott says he first used his
political connections to help the company land a contract to take over the
education services at a juvenile detention center. He was impressed by CEP's
pitch that its methods could help problem children get up to speed academically
so they go back to mainstream schools. "You have kids in the ninth grade who
can't do fractions," Scott says. "If a kid is in the ninth grade but is at the
fifth-grade level, giving them an algebra book is useless. Under this program,
we would start them at the level where they are at, and build from there. CEP
promised two years of academic growth for every year a student was in their
school." In 1997, Scott says, he used his relationship with Paige, then
Houston's school superintendent, to help CEP land its first public school
contract. Under the future education secretary's stewardship, the Houston
Independent School District was becoming a cradle of the so-called Texas
Miracle. Paige had put a system in place that held individual principals
accountable for dropout rates and test scores. Then, the district signed a $17.9
million contract to turn the education of as many as 2,500 children to CEP.
Initially, the corporation hired Carl Shaw – who was the former chairman of the
Texas Education Agency's assessment committee – to develop an independent test
to grade the progress of the CEP students. "I will never forget the day the
school board approved the CEP contract," Scott says. "Randle Richardson and I
were walking out of the building and I told him that not all the kids in this
are going to make two [years of progress] in one. But that is going to be your
strength. You'll say that you're being held accountable for the program." Before
CEP's contract with Houston took effect, however, the first test results from
the juvenile detention facility came back. Scott recalls that they showed the
students weren't making much progress – some had even regressed. CEP blamed the
test, and fired Shaw. Richardson disputes that account. He says Scott let his
friendship with Shaw intrude on his judgment and that the scores showed 20
student inmates had regressed in math but that most had made great progress. His
own expert looked at the test and determined it was flawed, an opinion seconded
by the Texas Education Agency. Whether it was over a principle or a friendship,
the incident left Scott with strong feelings about CEP. He now says the one
thing he's most ashamed of in his professional life is helping the company get
into the Texas schools. The absence of Shaw's test, he says, left the company
devoid of the very thing that had attracted him to the concept in the first
place: accountability. Instead, Scott says, CEP began to cull its political
connections. A sitting Houston school board member was hired as a consultant.
Sandy Kress, who later authored Bush's No Child Left Behind program, was hired
as a lobbyist. And when the company opened the campus of its first alternative
school, in Houston in 1997, former President George H.W. Bush was at the opening
ceremony to offer his endorsement. "They put together a very powerful,
politically juiced operation in Texas," Scott says. CEP followed its Houston
deal with a five-year, $10 million-a-year contract in Dallas. Then, it moved on
to Florida and Philadelphia. And all along it followed a familiar pattern: It
hired well-connected lobbyists to sell the program and courted elected officials
with generous campaign contributions. CEP claimed it had found the key to
educating a student population that was thought to be beyond help. The schools
used a computer-based education program called PLATO that CEP said enables
students to quickly catch up to their age level in reading and math skills. The
company was swept up in the middle of what became a nationwide education reform
movement. Bush campaigned for the presidency heralding his "Texas Miracle" of
low dropout rates and high test scores. When he was elected, he named Paige to
his Cabinet and pushed through Congress the No Child Left Behind Act, which
instituted high achievement goals for the nation's public schools. But even as
it rode the wave of its association with Bush's education changes, CEP became a
target of criticism. Some parents complained of prison-like conditions inside
CEP schools. Others claimed CEP was, in reality, doing little more than
warehousing problem students. There were official rebukes as well. An internal
evaluation in Dallas found that "the model of education provided by [CEP] was
untenable." "The reliance on non-certified teachers for the bulk of the student-
teacher interaction was useful for the company to save money, but was not a
design in the best interest of the students," the report went on to say.
"Students who attended Community Education Partners did not do very well
academically." CEP had even refused to provide its budget data to the school
district, the report said, which made it impossible to know just how it was
spending the money it received. In 2002, the Dallas school system fired CEP. By
then, however, the company was developing its relationship with a new customer:
Atlanta. It's unclear exactly how CEP came to acquire a $6.9 million contract to
open an alternative school in Atlanta. Richardson says the school system
contacted the company in 2001. Citing the pending ACLU lawsuit, Atlanta school
officials won't even talk about CEP. At the time the contract was signed,
Atlanta officials brushed aside concerns already brewing in Dallas. They cited a
"task force" report that supposedly recommended the district privatize its
alternative schools; when the AJC requested a copy of that report, however,
school officials said they couldn't find one. It didn't take long for concerns
to crop up in Atlanta. In August 2002, CEP opened its alternative school in
temporary quarters at the old Archer High School. Parents of some of the
students attended the Rev. Darryl Winston's southeast Atlanta church. "We were
hearing allegations of mistreatment and a prison environment," says Winston,
president of the Greater American Ministerial Council. "We met with the staff,
and they admitted that 90 percent of what we described had to do with the
building. The Archer High School campus was extremely chaotic. They told us the
building did not give us an accurate picture of what the program was about." CEP
even flew Winston and other community leaders to Houston to tour their schools
there. "We were impressed by what we saw," he says. The company assured Winston
the problem was that the Atlanta school had yet to find a permanent location.
The company prefers a specific design for its schools. Kids are segregated into
male and female classes, and the classes are isolated inside pods within the
building. "In school, kids get in trouble in the hallway or the cafeteria or
going to the restrooms," says Anthony Edwards, a CEP vice president. "So we
control that. There are restrooms and water fountains in each of the common
areas. It eliminates movement. Kids get in trouble when they're moving." Three
properties had already been identified, but each was scuttled by community
opposition to an alternative school in the neighborhood. CEP asked for Winston's
patience, and he was willing to give the benefit of the doubt. Meanwhile, the
company did what it could to strengthen its political ties in Atlanta. When
school board members faced re-election in 2005, CEP and its executives gave
money in four races. According to Fulton County records, Randle Richardson made
a $250 contribution to Mark Riley, who easily won re-election. He also
contributed $500 to Brenda Muhammad, a former board member who ran successfully
to regain a seat. CEP's chief financial officer, Phil Baggett, contributed
another $250 to Muhammad. CEP was more generous in two other contests:
Richardson and Baggett each made three separate contributions to incumbent Eric
Wilson that totaled $2,000, and newcomer Yolanda Johnson received a total of
$2,500. Although Georgia law requires candidates to list the occupations and
employers of their contributors on their disclosure forms, none of the school
board candidates did that for the CEP executives. Muhammad says she had no idea
Richardson and Baggett were CEP executives until CL told her. "If they were
standing in front of me, I wouldn't know them," she says. "No campaign
contribution will influence me from making my decisions based on the best
interest of the children of Atlanta." Riley also said he was unaware that
Richardson led CEP. "That's a little embarrassing," he says. "I make a point of
never accepting contributions from vendors. I've even returned checks before."
Six months after the school board began its new term, it extended CEP's contract
to 2009. When school opened in August, Patti Welch and her son got their first
look at Forrest Hill. Welch went through a 90-minute orientation, where the
rules of the school were laid out. Patrick wasn't to bring anything onto campus
that was considered contraband. The list included watches, jewelry, purses,
combs, brushes, keys and money in excess of $5. Paper and pens weren't allowed
either; the school would provide everything that was needed, even tampons for
female students. Patrick would go through a metal detector each morning and be
patted down by a security guard to ensure he didn't have weapons or drugs.
Backpacks weren't allowed, and books couldn't be taken home. In fact, there was
no homework for Forrest Hill students. Patrick went through a weeklong
orientation that included tests on the PLATO computer system to determine where
he stood academically. On his first day, he sent his mother a text message:
"This school is so bad." He found the lessons boring. He complained that the
teacher would simply put an assignment on the board; then the kids would be
expected to do it on their own. Once the students were finished, they were given
crossword puzzles to fill out. "Patrick found it totally uninteresting and
totally unmotivating," Welch says. "He kept sending me text messages, and I
didn't believe him. He started missing days, so I went up there." What Welch saw
alarmed her. The building was new and well-maintained, but the pods where
students were segregated reminded her of a jail. "There's one steel door to the
classroom, no windows. It looked like a mini-prison." Not long after that, she
heard the ACLU wanted to interview parents with children at Forrest Hill Academy
for a potential lawsuit. Welch decided to talk to the organization. Two years
ago, a special education lawyer in Atlanta called the ACLU and suggested they
investigate the CEP school in Atlanta. "As soon as we began to scratch the
surface, we were so outraged by what we found," says the ACLU's Chiang. "The
standardized test scores are really shocking. No one was passing." State
statistics show the school has made few strides toward improving its students'
academic standing. According to state Department of Education figures from the
2006-07 school year, 91 percent of CEP's students failed the state's assessment
test in mathematics; 66 percent failed the reading portion. In its latest
contract with Atlanta, CEP agreed to a performance goal of making measurable
progress in 31 categories for the 2005-06 school year, based primarily on
results from the state's Criterion Referenced Competency tests. Of those
categories, six couldn't be measured because there were too few students
enrolled to get a proper study group, and CEP students showed improvement in 11
from the previous year. But in 13 categories, the students tested worse. In the
final category – ninth grade physical science – there was no change: 100 percent
of the students failed both years. "They cannot deny their standardized test
scores are abysmal," Chiang says. Shirley Kilgore, a former Washington High
School principal in Atlanta who now consults for CEP, counters that it's unfair
to evaluate the program based on state tests. "Students in an alternative
program are transient," she says. "We had a girl come in here last week. She's
been here a matter of days, but her score belongs to us. Some of these students
taking the tests have not been with us for any length of time." Richardson, the
company's CEO, points out that almost 90 percent of students sent to Forrest
Hill are at least two grade levels behind in reading and mathematics: "You
wouldn't pass it either, if you're reading at the fourth grade level and you're
taking a ninth grade competency test." The ACLU claims the heart of the problem
is that Forrest Hill cuts corners when it comes to academics. The teachers don't
teach, Chiang says, but instead hand out worksheets for the students to fill
out. She also notes that CEP has a practice of hiring inexperienced teachers.
According to state figures, the average level of experience of the teaching
staff at Forrest Hill is less than a year. Kilgore, the CEP consultant, argues
that few quality teachers want to work at an alternative school. "They are
either committed to making a difference," she says, "or else a new teacher
starting out." But at least one other alternative school attracts far more
senior teachers: The average level of experience at Fulton County's McClarin
Alternative School is 19 years. The ACLU also alleges that students often are
manhandled by the school's staff, that teachers have even thrown textbooks at
the children in their rooms. CEP denies there is any student mistreatment.
"Inexperienced teachers are a recipe for problems," says GSU's Freeman. "These
kinds of schools are special places and full of a challenging population of
kids." Most of CEP's teachers aren't instructing in their fields of expertise
either. According to state records, of the 76 total core classes taught at
Forrest Hill, only 45 percent are taught by "highly qualified" teachers – those
who have majored in the subject they teach. The statewide average is 96 percent.
"We're very deeply concerned, especially in an alternative school setting where
you need highly-qualified educators to work with the children," says Georgia
Association of Educators President Jeff Hubbard, whose group has lobbied against
privatizing schools. "We don't think students should be put in a situation where
a company is trying to make a profit off their education." CEP says it spends
$9,300 per student compared with $12,406 per pupil for the rest of the students
in Atlanta's public school system. The company contends the school saves money
because it doesn't have to offer such activities as sports or music programs
that are required in regular school programs. But Freeman's skeptical. While the
savings sound efficient, he stresses that, in education, you generally get what
you pay for: "These kids need a lot; they're needy kids. You need to spend more
money on them than typical schools. If they are spending less, I'd want to know
why it costs less to educate a student with exceptional needs. Where are they
saving money? What are they subtracting and is it good? Are they saving money by
hiring less experienced teachers who have no training in dealing with these
kids?" Freeman is careful to say he hasn't studied Forrest Hill enough to make
an ironclad assessment. But, he says, "I know people who teach in alternative
schools. It's not an easy environment. It usually requires very special teachers
who can work with those kids. It's a big challenge." The Rev. Darryl Winston is
angry that he sees many of the same issues raised in the ACLU lawsuit that led
him to confront CEP officials four years ago. And his anger isn't just directed
at the company. "We need a statement from Superintendent Beverly Hall that she
takes these allegations seriously and that the APS is looking into them," he
says. "All we got was a statement from the press person that amounted to kind of
'dismissing' it. I've been told as recently as last week that the APS position
is to wait and see what comes out in court." What especially frustrates him is
that no one who isn't behind the walls at Forrest Hill can really know what's
going on there. "CEP has denied every one of the charges, but there's no way to
verify that," Winston says. "We need experts. I've called on the board of
education to launch its own investigation and see if the charges are true. If
they can't, they need a task force appointed by the governor to see what is
going on at CEP." As far back as Houston, CEP officials have had to deal with
complaints that the company's performance needed to be evaluated by independent
parties. "We want to be held accountable for attendance and behavior and
academics," insists CEP's Anthony Edwards. "It's very important to us that we
are a standards-based program." CEP claims students who attended Forrest Hill in
the 2006-07 school year were, on average, performing math and reading on the
third-grade level when they arrived. The school claims that students who were at
the school for at least 150 days made remarkable progress: an increase of 3.2
grade levels in reading and four years in math. Under its Atlanta contract,
however, CEP both administers and grades those tests. There's no independent
verification of the results, but longtime educators say making those kinds of
academic strides in one year is virtually impossible. For a certain percentage
of students who are highly motivated, yes, it can be done; for an entire student
population, unlikely. "Kids with emotional and behavioral problems don't do well
in school," Freeman says. "And kids aren't just going to snap to and start
learning." Chiang says lack of progress on standardized tests make it clear the
PLATO test scores are skewed. Students have told the ACLU that they take the
PLATO tests unsupervised and can ask each other for the answers they don't know.
"CEP claims a pronounced spike in the test scores, but we believe it is because
of PLATO," she says. "In reality, there's no teaching going on." Edwards
downplays PLATO's results. "We are not judged by these," he says. "It's just a
mechanism, a diagnostic tool. The student is given a grade level of
functionality." But the contract with the Atlanta school system says that
Forrest Hill's success or failure will be measured by a combination of results
from PLATO tests and state standardized tests. In addition, if a student who
attends CEP for at least 120 days doesn't show growth in reading and mathematics
of at least one year on the PLATO system, the contract mandates that CEP must
educate that student at no additional cost to the school district until he or
she has reached that level. Patti Welch says her son continues to struggle at
Forrest Hill, and has missed extended stretches of school because he doesn't
want to be there. But she says his disciplinary problems now seem to be behind
him. She plans to take him out of the alternative school at the end of the year;
she wants to home-school him. But ACLU lawyers say the federal lawsuit – which
names the school system, board members and CEP as defendants – is about more
than just eight kids in one school. It cuts to the heart of a public school's
responsibilities to kids who are in the margins, and it raises questions about
the risks of privatizing public education. "We see it as a broader national
problem, the trend of privatization of government functions and warehousing kids
in a school-to-prison pipeline," Chiang says. For the students at Forrest Hill,
it's also about not being forgotten by the officials who sent them there. "The
problem is that Atlanta didn't build in an adequate system for oversight and
evaluation," Freeman says. "You want it written into the contract to have a good
program evaluation. It's got to be done by people who know how to do it, people
not connected to the school department or CEP so there's no conflict of
interest." Freeman says there should be an annual independent review of Forrest
Hill. Evaluators would go into the school, see the teaching methods, and
interview students and teachers and the administrators. "I hope the CEP school
is investigated by people who know what they're doing," he says. "There are good
questions to ask, and they deserve good answers. The school can't answer those
question, they can only provide the information. Somebody else has to be the
evaluator."
Dallas County Judicial
Treatment Center
Milmer, Texas
GEO Group (formerly Cornell)
January 7, 2011 Dallas Observer
Cornell Companies, the private operator of correctional facilities 'cross the
country, has a motto: "People Changing People." A lawsuit filed this week in
Dallas County District Court proposes an alteration: "People Filming People." At
least, so suggest 36 former inmates of the Dallas County Judicial Treatment
Center in Wilmer, a 300-bed facility to which men and women convicted of drug-
and alcohol-related crimes in Dallas County are sent to get clean and sober
rather than spend time behind bars. Says the suit, in January 2008 Cornell
Companies employees began filming the inmates without their consent. Caught on
film were their often intense drug treatment sessions, scenes from their daily
routines and a talent show called, but of course, Cornell Idol. The suit says
the inmates, who were already uncomfortable about the filming, were told the
footage would be transferred to DVD and shown only to the Drug Court judges who
send prisoners to the treatment center. But the complaint alleges it was "turned
into a publicity and promotional film" -- shown to, among others, Dallas County
Commissioner John Wiley Price and Attitudes & Attire -- and used as a
fund-raising vehicle and "to obtain future contracts for supervision and
operation of other treatment facilities in Texas and locations in other states."
Other patients in the facility also saw the film, says the suit, and as a
result: "The sharing of the film with the patient population caused considerable
embarrassment for the women residents from taunts and teasing of the male
patients." The suit is alleging that Cornell Companies violated both state and
federal privacy statutes, including those related to keeping confidential
records related to those undergoing drug and alcohol treatment. It also directs
the court's intention to a 2002 doc prepared by the U.S. Department of Justice
-- Practical Guide for Applying Federal Confidentiality Laws to Drug Court
Operations -- which says that "the intent of Congress in creating these statutes
was to encourage the rehabilitation of substance abusers who might otherwise be
deterred from entering treatment by concern that their substance abuse would
become public knowledge." The suit is asking for $50,000 per plaintiff. The
attorney -- Charles Paternosto, who's up in Denison -- wants $100,000 for
providing "exemplary work for his clients"; more, if it goes into appeal.
Danville Center for Adolescent Females
Danville, Texas
Cornell
August 8, 2005 Danville News
Texas-based Cornell Abraxas will not renew its contract with the state to
provide youth treatment services at the Danville Center for Adolescent Females.
The company has run the facility since 1998, but has chosen not to continue its
management, citing a lack of infrastructure support.
Dawson State Jail
Dallas, Texas
CCA
January 11, 2012 Dallas Morning News
Update: Lancaster police arrested the suspect in a shooting that critically
injured a Dawson State Jail employee Tuesday. Walter Moore, 29, faces a charge
of aggravated assault/family violence in the attack on Shiva Daniels, the mother
of two of his children, Dallas police said. Moore was booked into the Dallas
County Jail shortly after midnight and is being held on $250,000 bail. Daniels
remains at Parkland Memorial Hospital in serious condition. Update/rewrite with
victim's name 10 pm: A shooting outside the Dawson State Jail Tuesday left an
employee in critical condition and her attacker on the loose. Shiva Daniels, 26,
was leaving work at the jail about 5 p.m. when the estranged father of her
children walked up to her vehicle and shot her twice with a shotgun, according
to a police report. Hit in the neck and shoulder, the maintenance technician
called 911, spoke the alleged shooter's name twice and told operators she was
going to die. The shooter fled the public parking lot, which serves the Dallas
County courthouse across the street, in the 100 block of West Commerce Street.
May 18, 2011 Dallas Observer
Pamela Weatherby, a 45-year-old Big Spring woman --
and, according to a federal suit filed Monday in Dallas, an "unstable insulin
dependent diabetic" -- was serving a one-year sentence for drug possession at
Dawson State Jail when she died last July. Now her parents and two sons say
Weatherby would still be alive if not for the treatment she received from guards
and medical staff at Dawson, which is on the Trinity River on W. Commerce
Street. They're suing Corrections Corporation of America, the state jail's
operator and the country's largest private prison outfit, over her death. Says
the suit, which follows after the jump, Weatherby wasn't given off the regular
insulin shots she needed -- she got oral diabetes treatment instead -- nor was
she fed the special low-starch diet Texas requires for diabetic inmates. The
suit recounts Weatherby's two months of diabetic comas after she was taken off
insulin shots, blaming them on "CCA's deliberate indifference to her serious
medical needs." CCA spokesman Mike Machak tells Unfair Park they hadn't been
served yet and only just got a look at the suit. "However, at this point, it is
important to understand that we take the health of every inmate in our care very
seriously," he says. Lawyers for Weatherby's family didn't respond to messages,
but Elisabeth Holland, a local nurse practitioner who runs Project Matthew, a
faith-based medical program for incarcerated women, says she isn't surprised.
"My opinion is that the health care in Dawson is worse than in a developing
country," she says. "Any of those diseases -- HIV would be another one -- that
require regular medication with regular screening gets lost." CCA is the only
defendant named in the suit. But it also mentions one Quindlynn Gray, who, the
suit alleges, signed off on Weatherby's health care at Dawson; Gray is listed as
an employee of the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, which
provides health care for Texas's corrections system. (That may not be the case
very much longer, especially if private health care providers convince lawmakers
to open the market.) The suit against CCA offers a blow-by-blow account of
Weatherby's diabetic incidents at Dawson, where, the family alleges, her
treatment didn't follow the course prescribed by the diagnostic intake facility
Weatherby came through first. Within days of her arrival at Dawson, the suit
says, Weatherby was taken off her scheduled insulin shots and given oral
Glyburide instead -- ushering in "three consecutive days of diabetic comas," the
suit says. Mistaking the comas for a suicide attempt, the suit says, jail
officials had her transferred to a mental health unit in Gatesville, where she
was put back on insulin shots and stabilized -- only to return to Dawson after a
few days, where she was taken back off insulin and her comas started up again.
At 1 a.m. on June 22, the suit says, guards found Weatherby unresponsive in her
cell again; she was transferred to Parkland, stabilized, and returned to Dawson
the next morning. Weatherby died July 14 after "yet another diabetic crisis",
the suit says; an autopsy blamed effects from her diabetes. "CCA refused to
treat Weatherby, ignored her complaints, and intentionally treated her
incorrectly with wonton disregard for any serious medical needs," Weatherby's
family claims, blaming the company for "a pattern and practice of failing to
implement processes and procedures" the state requires.
DeWitt County Jail
Cuero, Texas
Keefe (formerly run by Aramark)
May 9, 2006 The Victoria Advocate
Bookkeeping problems in the DeWitt County Jail commissary should be a thing of
the past now that the supplier and office policy have changed, Sheriff Jode
Zavesky told county commissioners Monday. Zavesky said he had signed a contract
earlier this month with Keefe Supply Company to supply and administer the jail's
commissary. "Our last supplier (Aramark) kind of left us dangling," the sheriff
said. "They said we were too small an operation and they weren't coming back."
Commissioner Curtis Afflerbach asked if the problems with the system that the
county auditor reported at the last court's meeting would be resolved with the
new company. "We hope to reconcile that the best we can prior to this new
contract," Zavesky said. "We've also implemented some changes with our staff
that we hope will keep us from getting into the same problems."
Dickens County Correctional
Facility
Spur, Texas
GEO Group (formerly run by
Bobby Ross Group)
July 15, 2010 News Express
The GEO Group, a Florida firm that contracts with local governments to run
jails, has agreed to pay $2.9 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging
indiscriminate strip searches of inmates at six facilities, including three in
Texas. The Frio County Detention Center in Pearsall, the Dickens County
Detention Center in Dickens and the Newton County Correctional Center in Newton
and jails in New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Illinois were named in the suit, which
was litigated in federal court in Pennsylvania. The suit alleged GEO employed a
uniform practice or policy of strip-searching all pre-trial detainees who
entered certain GEO-operated jails, regardless of the crime or violation for
which they were detained, and without making the legally required determination
of whether reasonable suspicion existed to justify a strip search. Inmates
incarcerated at the six jails between Jan. 30, 2006 and Jan. 30, 2008 qualify
for a share in the settlement, but they must call 1-877-234-4512, or visit
http://www.multistatestripsearchsettlement.com/index.html.
September 14, 2009 The Olympian
The Idaho Department of Correction and the parents of an inmate who killed
himself in a private prison have reached a settlement ending a federal lawsuit
over the son's death. The agreement, approved Sunday by U.S. District Judge B.
Lynn Winmill, also marks the end of lawsuits the parties had filed against each
other in state court after previous settlement talks fell apart earlier this
year. The case arose after the 2007 death of Scot Noble Payne, who had been sent
to a private Texas prison with hundreds of other inmates to alleviate
overcrowding in Idaho. Payne slashed his own throat, and Idaho officials who
investigated the Dickens County Correctional Facility said the deplorable
conditions at the prison and the physical environment of Noble's solitary cell
could have contributed to his suicide. Payne's mother, Shirley Noble, and his
father, Alberto Payne, sued the Idaho Department of Correction, saying the
department was responsible for the wrongful death of their son. The parties went
into mediation to see if they could reach a settlement, and in February both
sides agreed the parents should be awarded $100,000 and that the Idaho
Department of Correction would not admit fault for Scot Noble Payne's death. But
when the official settlement document was sent to the parents the following
month, they refused to sign. At the time, Noble's attorney said the Idaho
Department of Correction added terms to the document that hadn't been arbitrated
in mediation. The Idaho Department of Correction then sued the parents in state
court, asking a judge to force them to sign the document, and the parents
countersued, contending the state was breaching the settlement contract. The
lawsuits filed in state court have now been dismissed, along with the federal
lawsuit. The terms of the federal settlement were not released.
May 15, 2009 The Olympian
The Idaho Department of Correction and the mother of an inmate who killed
himself in a private prison are suing each other after a settlement agreement
over the son's death fell apart. Scot Noble Payne, who had been sent to a
private Texas prison with hundreds of other inmates to alleviate overcrowding in
Idaho prisons, slashed his own throat in 2007. Idaho officials who investigated
the Dickens County Correctional Facility said the conditions were deplorable and
that the physical environment of Noble's solitary cell could have contributed to
his suicide. Payne's mother, Shirley Noble, and his father, Alberto Payne, filed
a tort claim against the Idaho Department of Correction contending that the
department was responsible for the wrongful death of their son. Correction
Department officials and the parents went into mediation to see if they could
reach a settlement, and in February both sides agreed that the parents should be
awarded $100,000 and that the Idaho Department of Correction would not admit
fault in Scot Noble Payne's death. But the next month, when the official
document that would release the Idaho Department of Correction from liability in
the case was delivered to the parents, they refused to sign. The problem,
according to Noble's attorney, is that the Idaho Department of Correction added
additional terms into the release document that hadn't been arbitrated in
mediation. The mediation agreement lists Shirley Noble, Alberto Payne, the state
of Idaho and the Idaho Department of Correction as parties in the agreement. But
the release also lists the estate of Scot Noble Payne and all of the
representatives and employees of the Idaho Department of Corrections and the
state as parties. That could throw into jeopardy another lawsuit brought by the
parents - in their role as representatives of Scot Noble Payne's estate -
against several employees of the Idaho Department of Correction. After the
parents refused to sign, the Idaho Department of Correction filed a lawsuit
against them in Ada County's 4th District Court, asking a judge to force the
parents to sign the release. The parents countersued, contending the state was
breaching the contract they reached under the settlement agreement by trying to
later add new terms. Idaho Department of Correction officials said they could
not comment on pending litigation. The parents' attorney, Wm. Breck Seiniger,
Jr., said the department made a mistake when it was negotiating and didn't
realize it until it was too late - and now is trying to place the blame, and the
loss, on the parents. "I think the lawsuit is just an attempt to intimidate the
parents, frankly," Seiniger said. "If they thought the agreement meant something
different, that is not our problem." The parents have also filed a lawsuit
against Geo Group Inc., the private company that ran the Texas prison, in U.S.
District Court in Texas. That lawsuit is still in the discovery stages, Seiniger
said.
November 14, 2008 Magic Valley Times-News
Families of two Idaho inmates who apparently killed themselves in lockups
run by private prison company GEO Group Inc., pleaded Thursday with Texas state
senators to bar out-of-state prisoners from the Lone Star State. The Idaho
Department of Correction has housed more than 300 prisoners at GEO-run Bill
Clayton Detention Center in Littlefield, Texas, but recently announced plans to
move them to the private North Fork Correctional Facility in Sayre, Okla. The
move follows allegations that GEO falsified reports and short-staffed the Texas
facility where Idaho inmate Randall McCullough, 37, died. Families of Idaho
inmates spoke Thursday at a Texas state Senate hearing in Austin, Texas. The
hearing, which dealt with general oversight of the Texas prison system and did
not result in specific action, was webcast live over the Internet. Among those
testifying was lawyer Ronald Rodriguez, who represents McCullough's family as
well as that of Idaho inmate Scott Noble Payne, 43, who killed himself last year
at another GEO-run prison in Dickens, Texas. "Idaho prisoners need to be in
Idaho where they have access to their court - Where they have access to their
families," Rodriguez on Thursday told the Texas Senate Committee on Criminal
Justice. Payne's mother, Shirley Noble, spoke to Texas lawmakers last year and
again on Thursday. "It seems that no lessons were learned," Noble said. "If
changes had been placed - Randall would not have been so desperate to take his
own life, as my son did." Texas Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, chairman of the
Senate Committee on Criminal Justice, questioned why the "little" state of Idaho
recently decided to pull its prisoners from Geo-run Bill Clayton. "Should we be
following their lead?" he asked. But a Texas Department of Criminal Justice
official told Whitmire that Texas inmates aren't held at Bill Clayton, and
warned against painting private prisons in Texas with a broad brush. Inmate
McCullough's sister, Laurie Williams, told Texas senators that they should do a
review of all private prisons in their state - including GEO competitor
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). Idaho prisoners are to be taken to CCA-run
North Fork in Oklahoma, where another Idaho inmate, David Drashner, was
allegedly murdered in June. IDOC's decision to move prisoners from one privately
run lockup to another out-of-state facility concerns Williams, as well as
Drashner's wife, Pam Drashner, who have said they want Idaho to stop shipping
away its inmates. Idaho doesn't have enough room for all its prisoners, and
sending them out-of-state has been widely unpopular. Williams also wants to talk
to Idaho lawmakers, she said. "We should be addressing the Idaho Senate," said
Williams, after Thursday's hearing in Texas. "This is Idaho sending its inmates
out of state whether it's Texas that takes them or Oklahoma and that's what we
have to have stopped." GEO made $4.9 million in annual operating revenues off
its contract with Idaho to manage prisoners at Bill Clayton. GEO officials said
shareholders won't lose out from Idaho's withdrawal because of an expanding
contract with the state of Indiana.
November 6, 2008 AP
The Idaho Department of Correction has terminated its contract with private
prison company The GEO Group and will move the roughly 305 Idaho inmates
currently housed at a GEO-run facility in Texas to a private prison in Oklahoma.
Correction Director Brent Reinke notified GEO officials Thursday in a letter.
Reinke said the company's chronic understaffing at the Bill Clayton Detention
Center in Littlefield, Texas, put Idaho offenders' safety at risk. An Idaho
Department of Correction audit found that guards routinely falsified reports to
show they were checking on offenders regularly — even though they were sometimes
away from their posts for hours at a time. "I hope you understand how seriously
we're taking not only the report but the safety of our inmates," Reinke told The
Associated Press on Thursday. "They have an ongoing staffing issue that doesn't
appear to be able to be solved." The contract will end Jan. 5. Reinke said the
department wanted to pull the inmates out immediately, but state attorneys found
there wasn't enough cause to allow the state to break free of the contract
without a 60-day warning period. In the meantime, Reinke said, Idaho correction
officials have been sent to the Texas prison to help with staffing for the next
two months. GEO will be responsible for transferring the inmates to the North
Fork Correctional Facility in Sayer, Okla., which is run by Corrections Corp. of
America. GEO will cover the cost of the move, Reinke said, but Idaho will have
to pay $58 per day per inmate in Oklahoma, compared to $51 per day at Bill
Clayton. Amber Martin, vice president for The GEO Group, of Florida, said she
couldn't comment on the audit or on Idaho's decision to end the contract. She
referred calls to the company spokesman, Pablo Paez, who could not immediately
be reached by the AP. As of Oct. 1, Idaho had nearly 7,300 total inmates. The
Bill Clayton audit describes the latest in a series of problems that Idaho has
had with shipping inmates out of state. Overcrowding at home forced the state to
move hundreds of inmates to a prison in Minnesota in 2005, but space constraints
soon uprooted them again, this time to a GEO-run facility in Newton, Texas.
There, guard abuse and prisoner unrest forced another move to two new GEO
facilities: 125 Idaho inmates went to the Dickens County Correctional Center in
Spur, Texas, while 304 went to Bill Clayton in Littlefield. Conditions at
Dickens were left largely unmonitored by Idaho, at least until inmate Scott
Noble Payne committed suicide after complaining of the filthy conditions there.
Idaho investigators looking into Payne's death detailed the poor conditions and
a lack of inmate treatment programs, and the inmates were moved again. That's
when the Idaho Department of Correction created the Virtual Prisons Program,
designed to improve oversight of Idaho inmates housed in contract beds both in
and out of state. The extent of the Bill Clayton facility understaffing was
discovered after Idaho launched an investigation into the apparent suicide of
inmate Randall McCullough in August. During that investigation, guards at the
prison said they were often pulled away from their regular posts to handle other
duties — including taking out the garbage, refueling vehicles or checking the
perimeter fence — and that it was common practice to fill out the logs as if the
required checks of inmates were being completed as scheduled, said Jim Loucks,
chief investigator for the Idaho Department of Correction. For instance, Loucks
said, correction officers were supposed to check on inmates in the
administrative segregation unit every 30 minutes. But sometimes they were away
from the unit for hours at a time, he said. The investigation into McCullough's
death is not yet complete, department officials said. The audit also found
several other problems at Bill Clayton. The auditor found that "the facility
entrance is a very relaxed checkpoint," prompting concerns that cell phones,
marijuana and other contraband could be smuggled past security. In addition, the
prison averages a 30 percent vacancy rate in security staff jobs, according to
the audit. Though it was still able to meet the
one-staffer-for-every-48-prisoners ratio set out by Texas law, employees were
regularly expected to work long hours of overtime and non-security staffers
sometimes were used to provide security supervision, according to the audit.
"Based on a review of payroll reports, there are significant concerns with
security staff working excessive amounts of overtime for long periods of time,"
the auditors wrote. "This can lead to compromised facility security practices
and increased safety issues." When the audit was done, there were 29 security
staff vacancies, according to the report. That meant each security staff person
who was eligible for overtime worked an average of 21 hours of overtime a week.
That extra expense was borne by GEO, not by Idaho taxpayers, said Idaho
Department of Correction spokesman Jeff Ray. The state's contract with GEO also
required that at least half of the eligible inmates be given jobs with at least
50 hours of work a month. According to the facility's inmate payroll report,
only 35 out of 371 offenders were without jobs. But closer inspection showed
that the prison often had several inmates assigned to the same job. In one
instance, nine inmates were assigned to clean showers in one unit of the prison
— which only had nine shower stalls. So although each was responsible for
cleaning just one shower stall, the nine inmates were all claiming 7- and 8-hour
work days, five days a week. GEO is responsible for covering the cost of those
wages, Ray said. "While the contract percentage requirement is met, the facility
cannot demonstrate the actual hours claimed by offenders are spent in a
meaningful, skill-learning job activity," the auditors wrote. Auditors also
found that too few inmates were enrolled in high school diploma equivalency and
work force readiness classes.
September 21, 2008 Times-News
Pam Drashner visited her husband every weekend in prison, until she was
turned away one day because he wasn't there. He had been quietly transferred
from Boise to a private prison in Sayre, Okla. She never saw him again. In July,
she went to the Post Office to pick up his ashes, mailed home in a box. He died
of a traumatic brain injury in Oklahoma, allegedly assaulted by another inmate.
David Drashner was one of hundreds of male inmates Idaho authorities have sent
to private prisons in other states. About 10 percent of Idaho's inmates are now
out-of-state. The Department of Correction say they want to bring them all home,
they simply have no place to put them. Drashner, who was convicted of repeat
drunken driving, is one of three Idaho inmates who have died in the custody of
private lockups in other states since March 2007, and was the first this year.
On Aug. 18, Twin Falls native Randall McCullough, 37, apparently killed himself
at the Bill Clayton Detention Center in Littlefield, Texas. McCullough, serving
time for robbery, was found dead in his cell. IDOC officials say he left a note,
though autopsy results are pending. His family says he shouldn't have been in
Texas at all. "Idaho should step up to the plate and bring their prisoners
home," said his sister, Laurie Williams. Out of Idaho -- Idaho has so many
prisoners scattered around the country that the IDOC last year developed the
Virtual Prison Program, assigning 12 officers to monitor the distant prisons. In
2007 Idaho sent 429 inmates to Texas and Oklahoma. This year; more than 700 -
and by one estimate it could soon hit 1,000. But officials say they don't know
exactly how many inmates may hit the road in coming months. The number may
actually fall due to an unexpected drop in total prisoner head-count, a
turnabout attributed to a drop in sentencings, increased paroles and better
success rates for probationers. The state will also have about 1,300 more beds
in Idaho, thanks to additions at existing prisons. State officials say bringing
inmates back is a priority. "If there was any way to not have inmates
out-of-state it would be far, far better," said IDOC Director Brent Reinke, a
former Twin Falls County commissioner, noting higher costs to the state and
inconvenience to inmate families. Still, there's no end in sight for virtual
prisons, which have few fans in state government. "I do think sending inmates
out-of-state is counter-productive," said Rep. Nicole LeFavour, D-Boise, a
member of the House Judiciary, Rules and Administration Committee. LeFavour
favors treatment facilities over prisons. "We try to make it (sending inmates
out-of-state) a last resort, but I don't think we're doing enough." Even
lawmakers who favor buying more cells would like to avoid virtual lockups. "It's
more productive to be in-state," said Sen. Denton Darrington, R-Declo, chairman
of the Senate Judiciary and Rules Committee, who said he would support a new
Idaho prison modeled after the state-owned but privately run Idaho Correctional
Center (ICC). "We don't want to stay out-of-state unless we have to ��- It's
undesirable." A decade of movement -- Idaho has shipped inmates elsewhere for
more than a decade, though in some years they were all brought home when beds
became available at four of Idaho's state prisons. The 1,500-bed ICC - a
state-owned lockup built and run by CCA (Corrections Corporation of America) -
also opened in 2000. But that wasn't enough: "It will be years before a
substantial increase in prison capacity will allow IDOC to bring inmates back,"
the agency said in April. In 2005, former IDOC director Tom Beauclair warned
lawmakers that "if we delay building the next prison, we'll have to remain
out-of-state longer with more inmates," according to an IDOC press release. That
year inmates were taken to a Minnesota prison operated by CCA, where Idaho paid
$5 per inmate, per day more than it costs to keep inmates in its own prisons.
"This move creates burdens for our state fiscally, and can harden our prison
system, but it's what we must do," IDOC said at the time. "Our ability to
stretch the system is over." Attempts to add to that system have largely failed.
Earlier this year Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter asked lawmakers for $191 million in
bond authority to buy a new 1,500-bed lockup. The Legislature rejected his
request, but did approve those 1,300 new beds at existing facilities. Reinke
said IDOC won't ask for a new prison when the next Legislative session convenes
in January. With a slow economy and a drop in inmate numbers, it's not the time
to push for a new prison, he said. Still, recent projections for IDOC show that
without more prison beds here, 43 percent of all Idaho inmates could be sent
out-of-state in 2017. "It's a lot of money to go out-of-state," Darrington said.
Different cultures -- One of eight prisons in Idaho is run by a private company,
as are those housing Idaho inmates in Texas and Oklahoma. The Bill Clayton
Detention Center in Texas is operated by the Geo Group Inc., which is managing
or developing 64 lockups in the U.S., Australia and South Africa. The North-Fork
Correctional Facility in Oklahoma is owned and operated by CCA, which also has
the contract to run the Idaho Correction Center. CCA houses almost 75,000
inmates and detainees in 66 facilities under various state and federal
contracts. Critics of private prisons say the operators boost profits by
skimping on programs, staff, and services. Idaho authorities acknowledge the
prisons make money, but consider them well-run. "Private prisons are just that -
business run," Idaho Virtual Prison Program Warden Randy Blades told the
Times-News. "It doesn't mean out-of-sight, or out-of-mind." Yet even Reinke
added that "I think there's a difference. Do we want there to be? No." The
Association of Private Correctional and Treatment Organizations (APCTO) says on
its Web site that its members "deliver reduced costs, high quality, and enhanced
accountability." Falling short? Thomas Aragon, a convicted thief from Nampa, was
shipped to three different Texas prisons in two years. He said prisons there did
little to rehabilitate him, though he's up for parole next year. "I'm a
five-time felon, all grand theft and possession of stolen property," said
Aragon, by telephone from the ICC. "Apparently I have a problem and need to find
out why I steal. The judge said I needed counseling and that I'd get it, and I
have yet to get any." State officials said virtual prisons have a different
culture, but are adapting to Idaho standards. "We're taking the footprint of
Idaho and putting it into facilities out-of-state," Blades said. Aragon, 39,
says more programs are available in Idaho compared to the Texas facilities where
he was. Like Aragon, almost 70 percent of Idaho inmates sent to prison in 2006
and 2007 were recidivists - repeat IDOC offenders - according agency annual
reports. GEO and CCA referred questions about recidivism to APCTO, which says
only that its members reduce the rate of growth of public spending. Aragon said
there weren't enough case-workers, teachers, programs, recreational activities
and jobs in Texas. Comparisons between public and private prisons are made
difficult because private companies didn't readily offer numbers for profits,
recidivism, salaries and inmate-officer ratios. During recent visits to the Bill
Clayton Detention Center in Littlefield, Texas - where about 371 Idaho inmates
are now held - state inspectors found there wasn't a legal aid staffer to give
inmates access to courts, as required by the state contract. Virtual Prison
monitors also agreed with Aragon's assessment: "No programs are offered at the
facility," a state official wrote in a recently redacted Idaho Virtual Prison
report obtained by the Times-News. "Most jobs have to do with keeping the
facility clean and appear to be less meaningful. This creates a shortage of
productive time with the inmates. "Overall, recreational activities are very
sparse within the facility ��- Informal attempts have been made to encourage the
facility to increase offender activities that would in the long run ease some of
the boredom that IDOC inmates are experiencing," according to a Virtual Prison
report. The prison has since made improvements, the state said. Only one inmate
case manager worked at Bill Clayton during a recent state visit, but the
facility did increase recreation time and implemented in-cell hobby craft
programs, Virtual Prison reports show. Other inmate complaints have grown from
the way they have been sent to the prisons. Inmates describe a horrific bus ride
from Idaho to Oklahoma in April in complaints collected by the American Civil
Liberties Union in Boise. The inmates say they endured painful and injurious
wrist and ankle shackling, dangerous driving, infrequent access to an unsanitary
restroom and dehydration during the almost 30-hour trip. "We're still receiving
a lot of complaints, some of them are based on retaliatory transfers," said ACLU
lawyer Lea Cooper. IDOC officials acknowledge that they have also received
complaints about access to restrooms during the long bus rides, but they
maintain that most of the inmates want to go out-of-state. Many are sex
offenders who prefer the anonymity associated with being out-of-state, they
said. Unanswered questions -- Three deaths of Idaho interstate inmates in 18
months have left families concerned that even more prisoners will come home in
ashes. "We're very disturbed about...the rate of Idaho prisoner deaths for
out-of-state inmates," Cooper said. It was the razor-blade suicide of
sex-offender Scott Noble Payne, 43, in March 2007 at a Geo lockup in Dickens,
Texas that caught the attention of state officials. Noble's death prompted Idaho
to pull all its inmates from the Geo prison. State officials found the facility
was in terrible condition, but they continue to work with Geo, which houses 371
Idaho inmates in Littlefield, Texas, where McCullough apparently killed himself.
Noble allegedly escaped before he was caught and killed himself. Inmate Aragon
said he as there, and that Noble was hog-tied and groaned in pain while guards
warned other inmates they would face the same if they tried to escape. Private
prison operators don't have to tell governments everything about the deaths at
facilities they run. The state isn't allowed access to Geo's mortality and
morbidity reports under terms of a contract. Idaho sent additional inmates to
the Corrections Corporation of America-run Oklahoma prison after Drashner's
husband died in June. IDOC officials said an Idaho official was inspecting the
facility when he was found. IDOC has offered few details about the death. "The
murder happened in Oklahoma," said IDOC spokesman Jeff Ray, adding it will be up
to Oklahoma authorities to charge. Drashner said her husband had a pending civil
case in Idaho and shouldn't have been shipped out-of-state. She says Idaho and
Oklahoma authorities told her David was assaulted by another inmate after he
verbally defended an officer at the Oklahoma prison. Officers realized something
was wrong when he didn't stand up for a count, Drashner said. "He was healthy.
He wouldn't have been killed over here," she said.
December 28, 2007 AP
Fifty-five Idaho inmates who were moved out of a troubled Texas prison on
Thursday have been forced by a contract delay to make a temporary stop before
going to their final destination, a lockup near the Mexican border. More than
500 Idaho prisoners are in Texas and Oklahoma due to overcrowding at home. The
prisoners being moved are bound for the Val Verde Correctional Facility in Del
Rio, Texas, after more than a year at the Dickens County Correctional Center in
Spur, Texas, where one Idaho inmate killed himself in March. Because a Texas
county official has yet to approve the contract to house Idaho prisoners at Val
Verde, they have first been sent 100 miles away to the Bill Clayton Detention
Center in Littlefield, Texas. There, they will sleep in groups of up to 10 men
on makeshift cots in day rooms until resolution of the contract allows them to
complete the final 250-mile leg of their journey to Val Verde sometime in early
January. The inmates "were a bit dubious and questionable about that," said
Randy Blades, the warden in Boise who oversees Idaho's out-of-state prisoners.
That's one reason why his agency has sent two officers to make sure the move
runs smoothly, Blades said. Both the Dickens and Val Verde prisons are run by
private operator GEO Group Inc., based in Boca Raton, Florida. Pablo Paez, a
spokesman for GEO, didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. GEO no
longer has the contract to manage the Dickens facility after Tuesday. Because
Idaho recently rejected an offer from the new company that will run Dickens, GEO
on Thursday had to move the Idaho inmates to temporary quarters in Littlefield.
Though Idaho officials thought details of the move to Val Verde had been
resolved, Department of Correction Director Brent Reinke said he learned only
last week that a Texas county judge wanted a lawyer to look at the contract one
last time. "It was something we did not anticipate," Reinke said. "GEO is paying
the transport costs." This is just the latest uprooting of Idaho inmates since
they were first shipped out of state in 2005. Since then, they have bounced from
prison to prison in Minnesota and Texas amid allegations of abusive treatment.
There also has been the criminal conviction of at least one Texas guard for
passing contraband to inmates; at least two escapes; and the death of Scot Noble
Payne, a convicted sex offender who slashed his throat last March in a solitary
cell at Dickens County. Idaho officials who investigated concluded the GEO-run
prison was filthy and the worst they had seen. As a result, about 70 Idaho
inmates were moved from Dickens to Littlefield, where about 300 Idaho inmates
were already housed, while the state continued talks with GEO over sending the
remaining 55 to a new 659-bed addition at Val Verde. Despite the stopover, GEO
has a hefty incentive to make sure the move to Val Verde goes smoothly, Reinke
said. The company hopes to win contracts with Idaho to build a large new prison
here to help accommodate the state's 7,400 inmates. "They're really monitoring
this closely, and doing a good job at this point," Reinke said. "It's not a lot
different than triple bunking."
December 6, 2007 Dallas Morning News
Seven former and current inmates have filed a lawsuit against a private
prison company, alleging abuse by a registered sex offender who worked as a
night-shift guard at a troubled West Texas lockup that is now closed. The young
men allege they were mentally, physically and sexually abused in 2006 and early
2007 by a guard who was fired in March, after state officials learned he was on
the public sex offender registry. He had worked for seven months at the Coke
County Juvenile Justice Center, operated by Florida-based GEO Group Inc. The
facility housed Texas Youth Commission inmates until the teens were removed in
October because of squalor and mismanagement. One of the plaintiffs, who filed a
federal civil rights lawsuit Friday, alleges that guard David Andrew Lewis let
several inmates into his cell. They sexually assaulted him with a broom handle
while Mr. Lewis watched, according to Dallas lawyer Bob Crill. GEO spokesman
Pablo Paez said the company had no comment about the lawsuit. Mr. Lewis, who
isn't named as a defendant, couldn't be reached. TYC also declined to comment.
Several plaintiffs remain in TYC custody, their lawyers said. Deon Olthoff, 18,
of Granbury, said Wednesday that his abuse began in November 2006 when he moved
to a new Coke County dorm with individual cells. Mr. Olthoff spent 14 months in
the facility after his parole for burglary was revoked because of truancy. Mr.
Lewis first leered and stood too close as he and other boys showered, Mr.
Olthoff said. Later, the guard would barge into his cell at night as Mr. Olthoff
slept or wrote letters. "He just came in and started choking me, and getting on
top of me, and grabbing my hands and pulling them behind my back and stuff like
that, and grabbing me in private areas," Mr. Olthoff said. Until his release in
February, Mr. Olthoff said, he coped with Mr. Lewis' behavior by trying "not to
think about it." Mr. Olthoff said he and two other inmates filed a joint
grievance in late 2006 alleging that Mr. Lewis touched them inappropriately. GEO
sent Mr. Olthoff's father a letter in February notifying him of the allegations
of mistreatment. The letter said the Olthoffs would receive written notice about
the outcome of an investigation. But no follow-up letter arrived, Deon and his
attorneys said. Mr. Crill and Dallas lawyer Bady Sassin, who worked with a
Corpus Christi law firm to file the suit in San Antonio, said they were
investigating whether Mr. Olthoff's complaint led to Mr. Lewis' firing. A Texas
Department of Public Safety sex offender Web site shows that Mr. Lewis, 24, was
convicted in 1999 of indecency by exposure with a 5-year-old girl. After his
firing, Mr. Lewis said he had shown his prospective employer his sex offender
card when he applied but they told him to see if his background check went
through, according to an Associated Press report. Mr. Paez previously has said
that the company didn't know about Mr. Lewis' record because juvenile cases
don't show up on background checks. "Even if you excuse the inexcusable – which
is not knowing from the beginning that this guy was a registered sex offender –
there were complaints that were filed that should have put them on notice long,
long before he was terminated," Mr. Crill said. TYC grievance records obtained
by The News show the agency recorded four mistreatment allegations against Mr.
Lewis by inmates whose identities were withheld. He was cleared on three
allegations, including an accusation of sexual abuse. In February, an allegation
of unprofessional conduct was sustained against Mr. Lewis.
November 29, 2007 AP
The mother of an Idaho inmate who killed himself in a Texas prison earlier this
year has filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit against the private-prison
company that runs the lockup where he died. In her claim in U.S. District Court
in western Texas, Shirley Noble says prison operator The GEO Group abused and
neglected Scot Noble Payne before he slashed his throat on March 4th. Scot Noble
Payne, a convicted sex offender from Idaho, had been moved to Texas along with
more than 400 Idaho inmates to relieve overcrowding at prisons in their home
state. Idaho officials who investigated at the Dickens County Correctional
Facility in Spur, Texas, said the physical environment of his solitary cell
could have contributed to his suicide.
November 27, 2007 Idaho State Journal
A company that's due to take over a troubled privately run Texas prison in 2008
made a sales pitch Monday to Idaho Department of Correction officials, saying it
hopes the management shake-up and $1.2 million in proposed renovations will
overshadow past problems and persuade Idaho to ship more inmates to the lockup.
Civigenics, a unit of New Jersey-based Community Education Centers, Inc., with
prisons or treatment programs in 23 states, will manage Dickens County
Correctional Center in Spur, Texas, starting Jan. 1 after winning a competitive
bid. Until now, The GEO Group Inc., based in Florida, ran the facility. In
March, Idaho prison officials called Dickens under GEO's oversight ''the worst''
prison they'd seen, citing what they called an abusive warden, the lack of
treatment programs and squalid conditions they said may have contributed to the
suicide of inmate Scot Noble Payne, who was held for months in a solitary cell.
Idaho is nearly ready to move 54 prisoners who remain at Dickens to a new
GEO-run facility near the Mexican border, after shifting 69 inmates elsewhere
this summer. Dickens County and Civigenics officials came to Boise to offer
assurances they'll remedy concerns over their 15-year-old prison as they aim to
stay in the running to house some of the hundreds of prisoners that Idaho plans
to ship elsewhere in coming months to ease overcrowding. Some 550 of Idaho's
7,400 inmates have been sent out of state since 2005. GEO ''thought they were
too good,'' Sheldon Parsons, a Dickens County commissioner, told Idaho
officials. ''They're used to running bigger facilities. That just kind of didn't
fit into our program. Civigenics will definitely fit.'' Idaho plans to send 120
additional prisoners to a private prison in Oklahoma in January. It's also
looking for space in other states for groups of inmates in increments of about
100 starting in mid-2008. Bob Prince, a Civigenics salesman, said his company
could house as many as 150 Idaho inmates at a revamped Dickens. The $1.2 million
from Dickens County, which owns the prison, would cover new fencing, exterior
lighting, security improvements, kitchen renovations and more rooms for
education and treatment programs. Still, Idaho officials including Department of
Correction Director Brent Reinke indicated the plan may not be enough to address
complaints that have prompted him to vacate Dickens. Idaho, which earlier this
year conceded it lost track of how its inmates in Texas were being treated
before Payne's suicide, has outlined its concerns in several reports over the
last nine months. Lingering shortcomings include a lack of cell windows and a
drab, dingy atmosphere in an aging facility built as county jail, not for
long-term prisoners. ''The cells inside that facility are pretty dark and
dank,'' said Randy Blades, the Idaho warden who oversees out-of-state prisoners.
''What are you looking at to change the cells themselves?'' Texas officials
conceded that wasn't considered. ''We haven't looked into any of that,'' Parsons
said, before adding, ''We'll try and do anything we can to make people happy
that are coming in. Nobody has ever brought that up before.'' Despite past
problems with GEO, Blades said Idaho aims to soon finalize a contract with that
company to move inmates still at Dickens to a new 659-bed addition at the Val
Verde Correctional Facility, near the Mexican border. That contract also calls
for roughly 40 inmates currently in Idaho to be sent to Val Verde. Val Verde has
seen its own share of problems under GEO leadership. GEO settled a wrongful
death case after a female Texas prisoner killed herself following allegations
she was sexually humiliated by a guard and raped by an inmate. Earlier this
year, the local government was forced to hire a monitor for the facility. Even
so, Blades said a visit to the new cellblock slated for Idaho inmates earlier
this year convinced him and other officials that the prison is appropriate and
safe. ''It's a very good facility, very secure,'' Blades said of Val Verde.
''There's a good dayroom. The cells are well lighted.''
October 12, 2007 KRIS TV
The delayed discovery of squalid conditions at a privately run Texas Youth
Commission jail was "a human failure" and stronger oversight is needed to
prevent similar incidents, a key state senator said Friday. "It was very simple
that the monitors were not doing their job and there was a human failure," said
Sen. John Whitmire, head of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee. "Who's
monitoring the monitors?" Whitmire, a Houston Democrat, called a committee
hearing about a week after a Coke County juvenile lockup in Bronte operated by
The GEO Group, Inc., was closed because of filthy conditions. A Texas Youth
Commission ombudsman discovered the conditions, even though the facility had
passed previous inspections by TYC monitors. The TYC system was rocked earlier
this year by allegations of rampant sexual and other physical abuse against
juvenile inmates in the system. The star witness at Friday's hearing on adult
and juvenile prison monitoring was Shirley Noble, who told how her son,
43-year-old Idaho inmate Scot Noble Payne, endured months of horrific conditions
then slit his own throat at a private Texas prison run by GEO Group. "It seemed
there was no end to the degradation he and other prisoners were to endure with
substandard facilities," Noble said. Her son died March 4 in a private prison in
Spur. Noble questioned why Idaho sent its inmates to Texas and why the
Florida-based GEO Group was allowed to keep prisoners in what she described as
"degrading and subhuman conditions." "Please, please hold them accountable for
all the injuries and misery they have caused," Noble said. A spokesman for GEO
Group did not immediately return a telephone call from The Associated Press to
respond to comments made at the hearing. TYC Acting Executive Director Dimitria
Pope, who took over the youth agency earlier this year, testified that she's
putting more monitoring safeguards in place. That includes sending executive
staff members out to view the lockups, something she said hadn't been done
regularly in the past. "Because of my concerns of what I saw in Coke County, I
have implemented a blitz of every facility, either the ones that we operate,
that contract, district offices, anything that has TYC affiliated with it," she
said, adding that each site will be visited by the end of October. Adan Munoz
Jr., executive director of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, said he has
four inspectors do annual inspections of the 267 facilities under his oversight.
He defended his agency's practice of giving two- to three-week notices about
inspection visits but said recently there have been more surprise inspections.
Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa, D-McAllen, said privatizing prisons is an "easy way
out." He said he worries about the state continuing to contract with companies
that have a history of abuse. "It's a myth that the private sector does a better
job than government" in running prisons, Hinojosa said. "They're there to make a
profit and they'll cut corners, and they'll cut back on services and they'll
many times look the other way when abuse is taking place." Because of Texas'
size and high rate of locking up convicts, the state is in the national
spotlight for its dealings with private prison firms, said Sen. Rodney Ellis,
D-Houston. "It puts a special burden on us," he said. "If it needs to be
improved, improve it, because everybody looks to us." Noble was the panel's
final witness. The room hushed as she told the senators her family's emotional
tale. Her son, a convicted sex offender, was kept in solitary confinement for
months with a wet floor, bloodstained sheets and smelly towels. She said he
wrote long, detailed letters to family members in which he said the only way to
escape the prison's harsh conditions was to join his late grandfather in the
spirit world. Noble said she begged for psychological help for her son. She said
he wasn't supposed to have been given a razor, and she still wonders how he got
the one he used to end his life. "After he tried to unsuccessfully slash his
wrists and ankles, he knelt in the shower and cut his own throat," she said.
"Surely only a person in utter disillusionment and horrifying conditions would
bring themselves to this end."
August 8, 2007 AP
The mother of an Idaho inmate who killed himself in a dilapidated private Texas
prison earlier this year has filed a $500,000 claim against Idaho, contending
the state's Department of Correction is responsible for "inhumane treatment and
illegal and unconstitutional conditions of confinement" that contributed to his
death. Scot Noble Payne, 43, was in prison for aggravated battery and lewd and
lascivious conduct when he slashed his throat March 4. He had been sent to the
Dickens County Correctional Center in Spur, Texas, with other inmates last year
to relieve overcrowding in Idaho prisons, which have more than 7,000 prisoners
but too few beds to house them all. Following Payne's death, Idaho prison health
care director Donald Stockman investigated Dickens and concluded "the physical
condition of the cell where the suicide occurred does not, in my opinion, comply
with any standards related to inmate housing for either segregated housing or
housing for inmates on suicide watch. The physical environment of the cell would
have only enhanced the inmate's depression that could have been a major
contributing factor in his suicide." "Just being in the filth and degradation of
that cell was sufficient to drive somebody into suicide," Payne's mother,
Shirley Noble, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Wednesday from
her home near Los Angeles. The tort claim against Idaho was filed last week.
Under state law, the maximum Noble could recover is $500,000. The state now has
90 days to respond to the claim; if it doesn't, Noble could file a civil rights
lawsuit in federal court. Kit Coffin, the state's risk management program
manager with the Department of Administration, said tort claims like this are
reviewed and assigned to state adjudicators for consideration. She was uncertain
if Noble's claim, originally filed with the secretary of state, had been sent to
her office yet. In suicide notes he penned for relatives, Payne described a
constantly wet floor, bloodstained sheets and smelly towels in the isolation
cell at the prison where he was confined for three months following his escape
and recapture in December 2006. He slit his throat in his cell just after
midnight March 4. "Due to the inhumane conditions, Scot Noble Payne became
depressed and suicidal. ... Unattended, (he) committed suicide as a result of
being subjected to inhumane treatment and illegal and unconstitutional
conditions of confinement," according to Noble's tort claim. Since Payne's
death, 69 Idaho inmates have been moved from Dickens, which is run by
Florida-based private prison operator The GEO Group, to another prison. By
September, the remaining 56 Idaho inmates still at Dickens are set to be moved
to another Texas prison because Idaho officials aren't satisfied with
improvements at Dickens. Noble's lawyer in Boise, Breck Seiniger, said Idaho had
the responsibility to ensure conditions at Dickens were adequate, regardless of
whether prisoners were located in Idaho or 1,500 miles away. Brent Reinke,
director of the Idaho Department of Correction since January, has conceded his
agency didn't do enough to monitor conditions at Dickens between August 2006,
when Idaho prisoners were sent there, and Payne's suicide in March. During that
period, Idaho sent prison staff to Texas just once. They have a responsibility
to provide reasonable conditions of confinement," said Seiniger. "They can't
escape that responsibility simply by passing these prisoners off to somebody
else." Reinke's office said it would review the claim, but declined to
immediately comment. Payne's family has also discussed a federal lawsuit against
The GEO Group, though no lawsuit has yet been filed. Phone calls to GEO Group
spokesman Pablo Paez in Boca Raton, Fla., weren't immediately returned.
July 31, 2007 Idaho Statesman
Idaho's Department of Correction has created a new position to manage Idaho's
roughly 2,400 inmates in private, out-of-state prisons and county jail beds.
Randy Blades, who has been the warden at the Idaho State Correctional
Institution south of Boise, will monitor the 500-plus inmates, now in three
Texas prisons managed by the Geo Group Inc. of Boca Raton, Fla. He will also
monitor the 240 inmates soon to be transferred from Idaho to a private prison in
Oklahoma, and the inmates in county jail beds across the state. Correction
Director Brent Reinke created the position after disclosing that conditions at
one of those prisons were so bad that inmates will be moved elsewhere. Inmates
at the Dickens County Correctional Center are being moved to the Bill Clayton
Detention Center after an inmate suicide at Dickens revealed filthy living
conditions and poorly trained and unprofessional staff. “Times have changed and
we simply need to get in front on this issue,” Reinke said in a statement. “We
must be proactive. We need to make sure inmates are being treated adequately and
taxpayers are getting what they are paying for.”
July 26, 2007 The Olympian
Department of Correction Director Brent Reinke next Thursday will visit a
private Texas prison where he intends to shift 56 inmates in September, after
problems including abuse by guards, deplorable conditions and a suicide emerged
at previous facilities in that state. Reinke, who concedes lax oversight by
Idaho contributed to problems, and three other Idaho officials will review the
Val Verde Correctional Facility and Jail in Del Rio, Texas, run by Florida-based
private prison firm The GEO Group. The prison area where Idaho inmates are due
to be housed at Val Verde is part of a new 659-bed addition, Reinke said. Still,
he wants to make sure the facility located near the Mexican border meets Idaho
standards so the recurring problems at the two previous GEO-run prisons aren't
repeated. "On contracts in general, we're going to be stepping that up," Reinke
told The Associated Press this week. "We want to take a firsthand look." About
450 Idaho inmates were first moved beyond state borders in 2005 to relieve
overcrowding at prisons here, where there are more than 7,000 inmates - but not
enough room to house them all. They were incarcerated at the Newton County
Correctional Center in Newton, Texas, until August 2006, when they were moved
following allegations of abuse by guards to the Dickens County Correctional
Center in Spur, Texas. But Reinke, who took over in January, acknowledges his
agency didn't do enough to scrutinize conditions at Dickens before Idaho inmates
were shipped there. And from August 2006 to March 2007, Idaho prison officials
only visited the Dickens County facility one time. The March 4 suicide by Scot
Noble Payne, a convicted sex offender, and a subsequent investigation
illuminated conditions that one Idaho prison official described as "beyond
repair." One concern: There have been problems at Val Verde, too. Inmate LeTisha
Tapia killed herself there in 2004 after alleging she was raped by another
inmate and sexually humiliated by a guard. And a black guard accused his captain
of keeping a hangman's noose in his office and a photo of himself in a Ku Klux
Klan hood in his desk. Val Verde County has been forced to hire a full-time
prison monitor to keep a watch on prison operations as part of a settlement with
Tapia's family. Some family members of Idaho inmates now at Dickens told the AP
they're pleased Reinke is scrutinizing Val Verde personally. Still, they said
they're frustrated their relatives are being moved again - especially since many
problems at Dickens have been remedied since Payne's suicide in March. "Things
are OK now," said the wife of a sex offender who asked not to be identified by
name. "They don't want to move." Reinke has pledged to improve oversight of
conditions at Texas prisons through what he's calling a "virtual prison" that
his agency adopted earlier this week. It's modeled after a similar system in
Washington state, he said.
July 11, 2007 AP
As overcrowding in Idaho prisons intensifies, so have lobbying efforts and
campaign donations by private prison companies aiming to win new contracts -
both to house more inmates beyond state borders and to build a proposed
2,200-bed for-profit lockup. The GEO Group, a Florida-based prison operator in
15 states, entered Idaho politics in 2005, when it hired its first lobbyist,
according to a review of lobbying and campaign finance records by The Associated
Press. A year later, it divvied up $8,000 among three campaigns: Gov. C.L.
"Butch" Otter got $5,000, Lt. Gov. Jim Risch got $2,500, and former state Rep.
Debbie Field, who lost her House race last November, received $500. Field also
served as Otter's campaign manager and was later appointed by the new governor
as Idaho's drug czar. Since 2006, GEO has won contracts worth $8 million
annually to house more than 400 Idaho inmates in Texas, including at two prisons
where problems became so severe that Idaho demanded inmates be relocated.
Corrections Corp. of America, a Tennessee company whose 95,000-inmate private
prison system includes 1,500 prisoners at a prison south of Boise, gave nearly
$32,000 for the 2006 election to 29 Republican candidates, including $10,000 to
Otter, and $5,000 to the state Republican Party. CCA and GEO each hired two
lobbyists for the 2007 Idaho Legislature. Just one Democrat, Rep. Margaret
Henbest, D-Boise, received money from CCA - $300. The GOP dominates Idaho
politics, with 51 of 70 seats in the House and 28 of 35 seats in the Senate.
Steve Owen, a CCA spokesman, said his company makes political contributions to
candidates that support "public-private partnerships." "That's what we're in the
business of, and that's reflective of our participation in the political
process," Owen said, adding his company has run private prisons for nearly 25
years, including in Idaho, in a professional manner where standards can exceed a
state's own. "It has been a positive working relationship between the Idaho
Department of Correction and CCA." GEO spokesman Pablo Paez didn't return phone
calls seeking comment. Overcrowding in U.S. prisons, plus a federal push to
incarcerate more terrorists and illegal aliens, has benefited private prisons
that now oversee 140,000 inmates. Companies like GEO and CCA spent $3.3 million
between 2000 and 2004 on election campaigns in 44 states to ensure they profit
from this private prison boom, according to a 2006 study by the National
Institute for Money in State Politics, in Helena, Mont. Private prisons have
become a hot topic here, because of the problems at GEO's Texas prisons where
Idaho inmates are locked up to ease overcrowding at home. Abuse by guards at the
Newton County Correctional Center in eastern Texas prompted Idaho officials to
demand inmates be relocated in 2006 to the Dickens County Correctional Center.
Now, Idaho officials have called Dickens "filthy" and "beyond repair," prompting
a move to another GEO Texas prison. "The way the contractor makes the most money
is by providing the least amount of service," said Robert Perkinson, a
University of Hawaii professor who is writing a book on Texas prisons, including
privately run facilities. "It's an inherently problematic area of government to
privatize." Still, Idaho, with about 7,000 inmates, now has 256 more inmates
in-state than it has capacity for - even with about 430 already in Texas.
Efforts to develop sentencing alternatives to ease an expected 7 percent annual
increase in inmate numbers through 2010 will take time, so Department of
Correction Director Brent Reinke said alternatives are limited to moving inmates
elsewhere. Robin Sandy, Idaho Board of Correction chairwoman, said she met with
CCA officials in Idaho in June. They discussed a new contract with the state to
house 240 Idaho inmates in company prisons in Oklahoma - a contract worth about
$5 million annually - as well as prospects of the company winning a share of the
new 2,200-bed prison proposal that Reinke plans to introduce in September to
lawmakers. "It was a courtesy visit," Sandy said. Otter said he's also been in
discussions with private prison companies eager to do more business with the
state. Otter is a former J.R. Simplot executive who has said he wants to run
Idaho more like the private sector. "There's been a lot of that activity," Otter
told the AP. "During the legislative session, there were several organizations
that came in."
July 10, 2007 The Olympian
More Idaho inmates are slated to move to a private Texas lockup in the latest
effort by state prison officials to relieve overcrowding at facilities here. In
the move approved by state officials including Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter on
Tuesday, 40 inmates now in Idaho will go to the Val Verde Correctional Facility
and Jail in Del Rio, Texas, at a cost of $51 per inmate per day. In addition,
125 inmates now at the Dickens County Correctional Center in Spur, Texas, will
also be shifted, with 56 going to Val Verde, located near the Mexican border,
and the remaining 69 going to another prison in Littlefield, Texas, where there
are already 304 Idaho inmates. The shift to Val Verde and Littlefield comes
after problems emerged at Dickens, including a March 4 suicide, reports of
"filthy" and "dire living conditions" and a guard convicted of providing
contraband to inmates. Still, both Dickens and Val Verde prisons are run by the
same private company - Florida-based prison operator The GEO Group - and prison
advocates say Val Verde also has a reputation as a "scandal-ridden prison." One
Texas inmate killed herself at Val Verde in 2004 after alleged sexual
humiliation by a guard, while a guard supervisor was accused of keeping a photo
of himself in a Ku Klux Klan hood, resulting in accusations of racism. "We'll do
a site visit in the immediate future" to Val Verde, said Idaho Department of
Correction Director Brent Reinke, who has pledged to improve monitoring of Idaho
inmates by instituting a new program that includes more-frequent visits to
out-of-state facilities. GEO Group spokesman Pablo Paez said his company is
working with Idaho to meet its prison needs. In 2005, a black guard alleged his
captain at Val Verde kept a hangman's noose in his office and a Polaroid photo
of himself in a Ku Klux Klan hood in his desk. That case was settled in 2006.
The settlement with GEO isn't public, but details of the guard's complaint were
confirmed by a federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission probe reviewed by
the AP. The guard's attorney said Tuesday that the atmosphere at Val Verde was
"hostile and racist." "I would have serious concerns about the way inmates will
be treated," the lawyer, Mark Anthony Sanchez, said from San Antonio. "If a jail
treats its employees that way, how is it going to treat inmates?" And in 2006, a
female inmate's family sued The GEO Group in the wake of her suicide at Val
Verde. Before her death, LeTisha Tapia said she was raped by another inmate and
sexually humiliated by a GEO guard after reporting to the warden that guards let
inmates have sex. The lawsuit was settled this year. Details of that settlement
also aren't public, according to U.S. District Court records in western Texas.
But Val Verde County, where the prison is located, has been forced to hire a
full-time prison monitor to keep a watch on operations at the prison, as part of
its own settlement with Tapia's family. "The county feels that the jail monitor
is necessary," said Ann Markowski Smith, the county attorney, in an interview
with the AP. She added that concerns remain about the GEO-run prison, including
whether inmates are properly receiving medication meant to treat mental health
conditions. Bob Libal, of Grass Roots Leadership, a group that campaigns against
for-profit prisons like GEO, is more critical. "Val Verde is the GEO-group
prison we always point to as a scandal-ridden private prison," said Libal. "We
hear very bad things from there, whether it be in the lawsuits, or grumblings
about the facility being poorly operated." GEO's Paez declined to comment on the
settlement with Tapia's family, or the guard who sued the company over racism
allegations at Val Verde. Idaho's contract with GEO is worth some $8 million
annually. Idaho, which began sending inmates beyond its borders in 2005,
predicts inmate numbers will grow between 6 percent and 7 percent annually
through 2010, with the population reaching more than 8,800 inmates by then. The
state says it must ship inmates out of state to relieve overcrowding. While
Reinke said he'll soon introduce a plan to build a new 2,200-bed private prison
in Idaho, that won't be done until 2010, at the earliest. As a result, Idaho
likely will continue to send more inmates out of state until then. For instance,
it aims to send an additional 240 prisoners by November to prisons in Oklahoma
operated by another company, Corrections Corp. of America. While Otter
acknowledged he's reluctant to work with GEO due to problems at its facilities,
he added, "I have a great deal of confidence in Mr. Reinke's ability to clean up
the situation."
July 8, 2007 Magic Valley Times-News
The state's top prison official aims to soon send more inmates to a Texas
lockup run by a private company, even though Idaho prisoners at two of that
outfit's other facilities have had to be moved twice because of abuse by guards,
a suicide, filthy conditions and lack of treatment. Brent Reinke, Idaho
Department of Correction director, on Tuesday will ask the state Board of
Examiners, including Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter, to let him move more prisoners now
in Idaho to an undisclosed Texas facility run by The GEO Group, a Florida-based
private prison company. Reinke's request also includes relocating prisoners from
GEO's Dickens County Correctional Center in Spur, Texas. Conditions at Dickens,
left largely unmonitored by Idaho between last August and March, had
deteriorated so badly that when Idaho's prison health director finally
investigated earlier this spring, he said it was "the worst correctional
facilities I have ever visited." Reinke concedes his agency failed to properly
monitor conditions at Dickens, but said moving inmates to another GEO prison
won't necessarily mean problems will recur because not all the its facilities
are run so poorly. For instance, another GEO-run facility where 304 Idaho
inmates are housed, the Bill Clayton Detention Center in Littlefield, Texas, is
an excellent prison that shows problems aren't endemic, he said. "We just need
to make sure we hold them to the contract," Reinke told the AP Friday. "We've
got to do a better job monitoring the facilities." It wasn't immediately clear
how many inmates currently in Idaho would be affected by Tuesday's request.
Otter couldn't be reached for comment Sunday. Rising numbers of inmates in
Idaho, whose prisons now house more than 7,000, make this latest out-of-state
shipment unavoidable, Reinke said. Idaho predicts prison growth between 6
percent and 7 percent through 2010, with the population reaching more than 8,800
inmates by then. Idaho now pays GEO $51 a day to house about 430 inmates, or
more than $7 million annually. At the time of Idaho's initial out-of-state
shipments in 2005, inmates went first to Minnesota. But space constraints soon
uprooted them again in 2006, this time to a GEO-run facility in Newton, Texas.
There, guard abuse and prisoner unrest forced another move to two new GEO
facilities: 125 Idaho inmates went to Dickens, while 304 went to Bill Clayton in
Littlefield. Problems continued at Dickens, including an inmate suicide in
March. A guard was fired, then convicted in state court, for passing contraband
to inmates. And the Dickens warden was ousted after a probe in which Idaho
prison health director Don Stockman called the facility "beyond repair or
correction," according to a March 15 report obtained by the AP. GEO, based in
Boca Raton, Fla., has said it's aiming for improvements. "GEO strives to provide
quality correctional and detention management services in a safe and secure
environment consistent with contractual requirements and applicable standards,"
said spokesman Pablo Paez, in a recent e-mail. Still, some prison experts
criticize shipping inmates out-of-state because they move prisoners far from
families and raise questions about conditions at for-profit operations. "The
receiving facility is agreeing to this arrangement as a way to make money, and
so there is always a risk that conditions and safety will be compromised as a
way to cut corners and save money," said Michele Deitch, a University of Texas
professor. Reinke said Idaho prisons are full, so he has little choice. A prison
consultant concluded recently that Idaho will need room for 5,560 more inmates
over the next decade. The cost: $1 billion dollars. Earlier this year, Idaho
made a call for 1,100 more out-of-state prison beds; Correction Corporation of
America, another private prison company, offered just 240 beds. Idaho is now
negotiating a contract with CCA, to shift 120 inmates in July, and the remaining
120 in November. The state is also planning construction: It's set to build a
$15 million, 300-bed addition at a prison south of Boise by December 2008. A
separate, 400-bed drug treatment prison near Boise is in the works. And in
September, Reinke said he'll unveil a proposal to Idaho lawmakers for a new
2,200-bed private prison _ larger than the 1,500-bed facility he'd previously
considered. "We're at 100 percent right now, as far as capacity," said Reinke.
"We're kind of between a rock and a hard place."
July 6, 2007 AP
After months alone in his cell, Scot Noble Payne finished 20 pages of
letters, describing to loved ones the decrepit conditions of the prison where he
was serving time for molesting a child. Then Payne used a razor blade to slice
two 3-inch gashes in his throat. Guards found his body in the cell's shower,
with the water still running. "Try to comfort my mum too and try to get her to
see that I am truly happy again," he wrote his uncle. "I tell you, it sure beats
having water on the floor 24/7, a smelly pillow case, sheets with blood stains
on them and a stinky towel that hasn't been changed since they caught me."
Payne's suicide on March 4 came seven months after he was sent to the squalid
privately run Texas prison by Idaho authorities trying to ease inmate
overcrowding in their own state. His death exposed what had been Idaho's
standard practice for dealing with inmates sent to out-of-state prisons: Out of
sight, out of mind. It also raised questions about a company hired to operate
prisons in 15 states, despite reports of abusive guards and terrible sanitation.
Hundreds of pages of documents obtained by The Associated Press through an
open-records request show Idaho did little monitoring of out-of-state inmates,
despite repeated complaints from prisoners, their families and a prison
inspector. More than 140,000 U.S. prison beds are in private hands, and inmates'
rights groups allege many such penitentiaries tolerate deplorable conditions and
skimp on services to increase profits. "They cut corners because the bottom line
is making money," said Caylor Rolling, prison program director at Partnership
for Safety and Justice in Portland, Ore., a group that promotes prison
alternatives. Payne, 43, was placed in solitary confinement because he escaped
from the prison in December by scaling a fence and eluding capture for a week.
He was among Idaho inmates sent to the prison in Spur, Texas, run by a
Florida-based company called the GEO Group. The business operates more than 50
prisons across the United States as well as in Australia and South Africa. Soon
after Payne's suicide, the Idaho Department of Correction's health care director
inspected the prison and declared it the worst facility he had ever seen. Don
Stockman called Payne's cell unacceptable and the rest of the Dickens County
Correctional Center "beyond repair." "The physical environment ... would have
only enhanced the inmate's depression that could have been a major contributing
factor in his suicide," he wrote in a report on Payne's death. Stockman said the
warden at Dickens ruled "based on verbal and physical intimidation" and that
guards showed no concern for the living conditions. After Idaho's complaints,
GEO reassigned warden Ron Alford, who told the AP he was later fired. He
insisted GEO did not provide enough money to make necessary improvements. "They
denied me everything. To buy a pencil with GEO, it took three signatures.
They're cheap," Alford said in an interview. He disputes Stockman's findings on
his treatment of Idaho inmates. GEO spokesman Pablo Paez declined to comment on
Alford's performance and would say only that the company had been working to
address Idaho officials' concerns. But on Thursday, the state announced plans to
move 125 inmates from Dickens to other facilities, citing the poor living
conditions. The private prison business has been booming as the federal
government seeks space to house more criminals and illegal immigrants.
"Sometimes it may be a better situation for the inmates, and sometimes it's
not," said prison consultant Douglas Lansing, a former warden at the Federal
Correctional Institution in Fort Dix, N.J. "Monitoring is a vital component. You
can't just move them out of town and forget them." That appears to be largely
what happened with Idaho's inmates. The prisoners were sent to Dickens in August
from another GEO-run Texas prison after complaints about abuse by guards. But in
the following seven months, Idaho sent an inspector to Texas only once. That
inspection found major problems, including virtually no substance-abuse
treatment, and a complete lack of Idaho-sanctioned anger-management classes and
pre-release programs. There's no evidence the inspector's recommendations were
followed. And no one from Idaho visited the prison again until after Payne's
suicide. Most of the time, the Idaho prison employee responsible for monitoring
the GEO contract used only the telephone and e-mail to handle grievances, which
also included complaints about inadequate church services, poor food and limited
recreation time. Each time, Alford insisted everything was under control,
according to correspondence reviewed by the AP. The new director of the Idaho
prison system concedes his department did not adequately review the inmates'
treatment when he took office in January. "If I had to do it over again, I would
have," Director Brent Reinke said. Former Director Vaughn Killeen said he
couldn't afford more aggressive monitoring during his term that ended in
December. "We weren't happy about the things that were going on down there,"
Killeen said. "We didn't have that level of budget to accommodate full-time
monitors." Some other states are more vigilant. Washington state, for instance,
has 1,000 inmates in Arizona and Minnesota and places full-time inspectors at
the prisons. A superintendent visits every six weeks. Problems with GEO prisons
are not limited to Dickens. Elsewhere in Texas, a female inmate's family sued
GEO in 2006 after she committed suicide at the Val Verde County Jail near the
Mexican border. LeTisha Tapia alleged she was raped by another inmate and
sexually humiliated by a GEO guard after reporting to the warden that guards
allowed male and female inmates to have sex. In March, an investigation into sex
abuse allegations at another GEO-run Texas prison led to the firing of a guard
who was a convicted sex offender. And at GEO prisons in Illinois and Indiana,
hundreds of inmates rioted this past spring. The complaints have not hurt the
company's balance sheet. It reported profits of $30 million in 2006, four times
the amount reported in 2005. Inmates at Dickens say conditions have improved
since Payne's suicide. Hot and cold water problems have been fixed, and
cleanliness was judged "adequate," according to a May 31 report by a new Idaho
contract monitor. But prisoners still complain about sewage from adjacent cells,
poor medical and dental care, and a lack of educational programs. Inmates like
Robert Coulter, who was convicted of robbery, say authorities should have acted
sooner. "They basically put us down here and just dumped us," he said.
July 5, 2007 AP
State prison officials say 125 Idaho inmates in a private Texas prison are due
to make their fourth move since 2005, following a suicide in March, problems
with a guard passing contraband to inmates and the former warden's ouster. The
inmates, who were moved out of state two years ago due to overcrowding in Idaho
lockups, are now at the Dickens County Correctional Center in Spur, Texas, where
they've been since Aug. 7, 2006. Concerns over conditions at Dickens, an aging
county jail run as a prison by Florida-based The GEO Group, prompted this latest
move, Idaho Department of Correction Director Brent Reinke said Thursday. "The
problems we've had in Texas reflect the challenge of managing out of state. We
believe Idaho inmates are best managed at home in Idaho," Reinke said. He plans
in September to introduce a proposal to build a new 1,500-bed private prison in
Idaho to create more space for the state's 7,000 inmates. Reinke hopes to move
69 of the Dickens prisoners soon to another GEO-run prison, the Bill Clayton
Detention Center in Littlefield, Texas, where similar problems haven't occurred.
About 304 Idaho inmates are already there, but that facility is making space for
more. The remaining 56 at Dickens could go to another GEO facility elsewhere.
Reinke didn't specify where that prison is located. He said the date of the move
will be withheld until it's complete. The inmates in Texas were originally moved
from Idaho in 2005, going first to Minnesota. Space limitations there forced
them to be relocated in 2006 to a GEO-run prison in Newton, Texas, where
problems emerged immediately, including beatings by guards. That prompted Idaho
to request the move to Dickens and Bill Clayton last August. But problems
continued at Dickens, Idaho Correction Department officials said. Sex offender
Scot Noble Payne escaped in December, remaining on the run for a week before he
was recaptured. Payne then killed himself March 4. Idaho sent prison inspectors
to Texas after Payne's death, and concerns that emerged over conditions at
Dickens prompted complaints about warden Ron Alford, who was relieved of his
post and sent to another GEO facility. And more recently, a Dickens prison guard
was convicted in May in a Texas state court of providing contraband to an Idaho
prisoner. That guard was fired last December. GEO installed new management at
the facility after Idaho's complaints in March, but Reinke said moving the
inmates is still a priority. "IDOC remains concerned about Dickens' operation
and has been working hard over the past four months to find alternatives," the
state agency said in a statement. In an e-mail statement to The Associated
Press, GEO said it's working to rectify problems at Dickens. "GEO strives to
provide quality correctional and detention management services in a safe and
secure environment consistent with contractual requirements and applicable
standards," spokesman Pablo Paez said.
June 6, 2007 AP
Under terms of his contraband sentence, a Texas prison guard who provided
illegal materials to Idaho inmates will only go to prison if he violates
conditions of his release. Those conditions include staying out of “honky tonks”
and “beer joints,” according to court documents. John Ratliffe, a former guard
at the Dickens County Correctional Center where hundreds of Idaho inmates are
housed, is also implicated in providing assistance to an inmate’s escape. But
Ratliffe has denied knowing Payne planned to escape. Footprints matched to
Payne, who later committed suicide, were found near Ratliffe’s home. Dickens
County prosecutors couldn’t be reached for comment on whether Ratliffe faces
additional charges related to the escape. Attempts to reach Ratliffe were
unsuccessful. His telephone number in Paducah isn’t listed. The 43-year-old
Payne was among inmates shipped to Dickens and another nearby facility in
Littlefield, Texas, in August 2006 due to problems they experienced at another
Texas facility, the Newton County Correctional Center. Those included incidents
in which the inmates were punched and doused with pepper spray by guards. Both
prisons are operated by The GEO Group of Florida. GEO officials said they took
quick action upon learning in December about Ratliffe’s contraband operation. It
included setting up a post office box where at least some prisoners’ families
sent items or money to be transferred to inmates, according to documents. “When
we have incidents of this kind, we conduct a full investigation, and if
disciplinary action is required, we take that action properly, and that’s what
we did in this case,” said Pablo Paez, a GEO spokesman. Ratliffe was placed on
unpaid leave, then fired, Paez said. Records show a chaotic scene in Paducah
before Payne was finally cornered by search dogs in a nearby riverbed. Ratliffe
allegedly threatened to commit suicide shortly after searchers found Payne’s
footprints near his backyard fence, prompting Texas Rangers to transfer Ratliffe
to the local courthouse “where a mental health warrant was signed by the judge,”
according to the GEO report. Idaho officials said they learned of Ratliffe’s
activities after Payne’s capture. “We found out about it on Dec. 11 in a
conversation between Warden Ron Alford and our contract compliance person Sharon
Lamm,” said Jeff Ray, a spokesman for Idaho prisons. Alford was transferred in
March to another GEO prison, after complaints from Idaho about conditions at
Dickens.
June 6, 2007 AP
A private prison guard in Texas who company officials say helped an Idaho inmate
escape by providing an envelope stuffed with money has been convicted in a
separate case of providing contraband to another Idaho prisoner. John Ratliffe,
a former guard at the Dickens County Correctional Center where hundreds of Idaho
inmates are housed due to overcrowding at home, was sentenced last month to five
years probation, 120 hours of community service and a $1,000 fine for giving
cigarettes to Idaho inmate Patterson Franklin, according to court records
obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press. Ratliffe pleaded guilty. The problems
surfaced starting Dec. 3 when sex offender Scot Noble Payne escaped through a
prison kitchen door and scaled a fence. Afterward, Ratliffe acknowledged to his
bosses at the prison run by Florida-based The GEO Group that he used Franklin as
an intermediary to provide illegal items, including tobacco, underwear, sex
tapes, music — and at least $200 Payne had with him when he was caught Dec. 10,
according to an eight-page report compiled by GEO officials following the
escape. Payne committed suicide March 4 after weeks in an isolation cell. He had
been isolated as punishment for his escape. Officials say guard can avoid prison
sentence.
May 1, 2007 Spokesman Review
The warden of a private Texas prison housing Idaho inmates has been "relieved of
his duties" after complaints from Idaho. The Dickens County Correctional Center,
which houses 125 Idaho inmates, made the change after an Idaho corrections team
visited the large, older county jail near Lubbock, Texas, in March and reported
"deficiencies." Idaho Corrections Director Brent Reinke said problems included
an absence of required educational and treatment programs, inadequate
out-of-cell time, inappropriate lighting, and problems with food, clothing and
cleanliness. Also, an inmate from Ada County who escaped in December and
recaptured committed suicide at the facility in early March. "The feedback I got
from the team was that what they were concerned with was the Texas style of
justice," Reinke said. "Texas justice is different than Idaho justice. It just
is. And we want our inmates handled according to Idaho justice. "Ninety-eight
percent of those folks are coming back to our communities. … Our mission is to
keep Idaho safe. … We don't want to make the matter worse, so that they come
back more violent or more angry." The state Board of Correction voted
unanimously Monday to explore private prison options in Idaho as an alternative
to sending inmates out of state in the future. Dickens is one of two Texas
lockups operated by GEO Group, formerly Wackenhut Corp., to which Idaho inmates
were moved after problems at another GEO facility in Newton County, Texas, last
year. The Newton County lockup saw two escapes, a demonstration in which 85
Idaho inmates refused to return to their cells for hours in protest over
conditions, and the discipline of three prison employees after jailers roughed
up and pepper-sprayed six Idaho inmates. Idaho has 431 inmates housed out of
state due to overcrowding in its prison system – 125 at Dickens, 304 at Bill
Clayton Detention Center in Littlefield, Texas, and two elsewhere. Reinke said
GEO Group has been responsive to the complaints, and the new acting warden has
made improvements. Complaints have dropped off since that change was made last
month. But members of the state Board of Correction were concerned on Monday.
"They're not meeting the terms of the contract," said board Chairwoman Robin
Sandy. "Maybe I'm just used to enforcing a contract a little more aggressively."
Sharon Lamm, deputy administrator of management services for Idaho Corrections,
told the board conditions were much improved at a follow-up visit in April.
Idaho pays $51 per inmate per day in Texas. The average cost in Idaho is $48 per
day. Idaho is seeking proposals for additional out-of-state prison beds for
overflow inmates. The deadline for proposals is today. Reinke said the most
recent estimates show Idaho will need 5,200 more beds in the next 10 years. But
Sandy said placing inmates out of state could become prohibitively expensive
because California is poised to send 8,000 of its inmates out of state. "We all
know what that's going to do to the price of beds," she said. She proposed that
Idaho look into contracting for private prison space in state, which would
require a change in state law. Idaho has one privately operated prison, but the
facility is owned by the state. "It's something we need to discuss," Sandy told
the board. "I've spoken to the governor's office about it. They seem to like the
idea." Board member Jay Nielsen said, "I don't think we're going to get $60
million out of the Legislature to build one, so our back's to the wall – if
we're going to have a new prison, it's going to have to be a private one." The
board voted unanimously to seek more information on that option. Jack Van
Valkenburgh, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho,
said, "I'm less concerned with whether it's a public or private entity than with
whether conditions are adequate and constitutional, and whether there are
adequate programs to return inmates to society in a productive manner." The
Idaho inmate who committed suicide at the Texas lockup, Scot Noble Payne, 43,
was found in a shower at 1 a.m. with fatal razor wounds. He was serving seven to
20 years for lewd and lascivious conduct. Matt EchoHawk, staff attorney for the
Idaho ACLU, said his group received complaints from about one in five Idaho
inmates at the Dickens facility after Payne's escape in December. Many said they
were stuck in their cells without opportunities for rehabilitation. "The prison
officials would say it was due to weather or security, something like that, but
it wasn't happening, they wouldn't be out of their cells," EchoHawk said.
March 5, 2007 Idaho Statesman
An Idaho inmate housed in a Texas prison was found dead from apparently
self-inflicted wounds early Sunday morning, an Idaho Department of Correction
spokeswoman said. Guards in the Dickens County Correctional Center found Scot
Noble Payne, 43, slumped in a shower, bleeding and unresponsive about midnight
Mountain Time, Teresa Jones said. The fatal wounds were inflicted with a razor,
she said. He was pronounced dead at 1:17 a.m. after unsuccessful attempts to
revive him. Payne was serving time on an Ada County charge of lewd and
lascivious conduct with a minor under 16, Jones said. He was isolated from other
inmates at the time of his death because of a December escape, she said. Payne
apparently scaled a fence Dec. 3. He was captured on Dec. 10 after eluding the
Texas Rangers, helicopters from the Texas Department of Public Safety, local law
enforcement agents and private prison workers. Payne was one of about 100 Idaho
inmates housed at the correctional center near Spur, Texas. Idaho inmates have
been in the facility since July 2005. Payne transferred there in August. He was
sentenced to 20 years, with seven mandatory, in December 2002.
December 11, 2006 AP
An Idaho inmate who escaped a private West Texas prison was captured after a
week on the run when authorities caught up to him at a ranch. Authorities
arrested Scot Noble Payne, 43, on Sunday at a ranch near the small town of
Paducah, said Daniel Hawthorne, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public
Safety in Childress. Payne escaped Dec. 3 from the Dickens County Correctional
Center. The facility, which is run by Florida-based Geo Group Inc., is located
in Spur, about 60 miles east of Lubbock. Prison officials said Payne, who was
serving time for aggravated battery and lewd and lascivious conduct, scaled the
facility's fence. He fled when temperatures were in the mid-20s, apparently
without any extra clothing. For a week, the fugitive eluded searches by the
Texas Rangers, helicopters from the Department of Public Safety, local law
enforcement agents and private prison workers. Hawthorne said several reports of
sightings focused searchers on the Paducah area, which is 50 miles northeast of
the detention center. Authorities closed down sections of highways and continued
scanning the area by helicopter, he said. Dogs eventually tracked Payne to the
ranch. Payne is one of more than 460 Idaho inmates who have been shipped to
Texas or other states since last year due to overcrowding in Idaho prisons.
Idaho inmates at private prisons in Texas have been the subject of controversy,
with a previous breakout in June and allegations of abuse that preceded the
firing of some Geo Group staff and the transfer of inmates to other prisons —
including Dickens County.
December 5, 2006 AP
Texas authorities continue to search for an Idaho inmate who escaped from a
privately-run prison in subfreezing temperatures. Scot Noble Payne escaped from
the Dickens County Correctional Center at about 7:30 p.m. last night. Idaho
authorities say Payne left a shirt in the fence he's believed to have scaled.
Teresa Jones, a spokeswoman for the Idaho Department of Correction, says "Payne
had no extra clothing when he escaped and temperatures are near freezing." The
search for Payne included helicopters, dogs and road blocks.
December 4, 2006 AP
West Texas authorities were searching in subfreezing temperatures late Sunday
for an Idaho man who escaped from a privately operated prison in Spur. Scott
Noble Payne, 43, escaped from the Dickens County Correctional Center at about
7:30 p.m. CST, said Janie Walker, a dispatcher with the Dickens County Sheriff's
Office. State and local authorities from surrounding counties joined the two-man
Dickens County Sheriff's Office in the search for Payne, Walker said. The search
involved helicopters, dogs and road blocks. Jail staff members believe Payne
scaled the facility's fence, the Idaho Department of Corrections said in a news
release. Authorities believe he did not have extra clothing. Temperatures in the
region had dropped to the mid-20s degrees by 11:30 p.m., according to the
National Weather Service. Payne was serving time for Idaho charges of aggravated
battery and lewd and lascivious conduct, according to the Idaho Corrections
Department. He was one of about 100 Idaho inmates being held at the Spur
facility, which is located about 60 miles east of Lubbock. The prison, which is
operated by Florida-based The Geo Group, Inc., is designed for minimum- to
maximum-security levels, according to the Geo Group's Web site. It has a
capacity of 489 adult males.
October 29, 1998
More than 17 months after a Montana inmate died from wounds suffered during a
riot at the Dickens County Correctional Facility in Spur, his medical bills
totaling nearly $60,000 are still unpaid, a lawsuit states. Montana inmate
Neil Hage, 32, died May 16, 1997, at University Medical Center in Lubbock a week
after he was injured in a prison riot between inmates from Montana and Hawaii.
Now a lawsuit brought by University Medical Center alleges that former DCCF
operator Bobby Ross Group has failed to pay the $59,480 bill despite promises to
do so. But the May 9, 1997, riot at the Spur facility came at a time when
Montana officials were about to pull their 220-plus inmates out of the prison.
An audit performed by the Montana Department of Corrections in 1996 and 1997
made numerous claims of inadequacies at the facilities, including a lack of CPR
and medical readiness in general. BRG agreed to terminate its contract
with Dickens County in April after county officials opted to sell the prison to
Florida-based Correction Service Corp., which now runs the facility.
(Houston Chronicle)
Sept. 7, 1997
Montana inmates at a Texas prison go hungry and have to wait days for medical
care, while the company running the prison continues to violate its $3.6
million-a-year contract with the state, an investigation by Montana corrections
officials found. A report released Friday said the Dickens County
Correctional Center, operated by the Bobby Ross Group, is not fully complying
with 15 of 22 provisions of the state contract. Violations include food
service medical care security, inmate transfers and disciplinary actions,
according to the report. Dickens County has had problems since Montana
inmates were sent there about a year ago. One inmate was killed in a May
brawl, a near-riot had to be halted by gunfire from guards last fall, a warden
was fired and two Montana escapees remain on the loose. Friday's report
found that the company is complying with the contract in its education,
treatment and drug-testing programs, providing jobs for inmates, keeping track
of inmate funds, supplying medication to inmates and maintaining a set of
medical policies. But the study was especially critical of food service at
the Spur prison. (Houston Chronicle)
May 12, 1997
One inmate was released Sunday and two others remained hospitalized, one in
critical condition, after a fight at a private prison in this Northwest Texas
town. Officials at the Dickens County Correctional Center would not say
whether the prison remained locked down Sunday, as has been the case since
Friday night's uprising involving inmates from Montana, Colorado and Hawaii.
As many as 100 inmates were in the prison's recreation yard when the fight began
about 8:30 pm Friday. The fighting prisoners surrendered when guards
approached them. (Houston Chronicle)
May 11, 1997
Three inmates were hospitalized, one with critical injuries, and their privately
run prison remained locked down Saturday after a fight involving prisoners from
Montana, Colorado and Hawaii. A total of seven inmates were hurt Friday
night at the Dickens County Correctional Center. No weapons were
recovered, and the victims apparently did not suffer gunshot or knife wounds,
Dickens County Sheriff Ken Brendle said. Officials said 141 inmates were
transferred in November 1996 from Colorado prisons to the correctional center to
relieve crowding. To relieve crowding at the Montana State Prison in Deer
Lodge, Montana sent 251 inmates to the prison last summer and has about that
many there now. An August 1996 uprising began when about 120 inmates from
Montana and Hawaii refused to begin work assignments or return to their barracks
in a protest over medical care, food and strip searches. (Houston
Chronicle)
Dickens County Jail
Dickens County, Texas
Community Education Centers
February 3, 2011 KCBD
While the Lubbock County Detention Center is filling up with inmates, other
counties are struggling to find an inmate. Taxpayers of those counties are now
being held prisoners by their own prisons as they're forced to pay the price of
empty facilities. About an hour from Lubbock, the Bill Clayton Detention Center
in Littlefield hasn't had a single inmate in the last two years. "This was not
built to house local inmates; it was built to house inmates from other parts of
the state or other parts of U.S. It was built to bring economic development to
the city of Littlefield," said Danny Davis, Littlefield city manager. For a
while it did bring money into Littlefield, until the State of Idaho decided to
remove its inmates from the center when the economy tanked back in 2009.
"Everybody was cutting back it seemed, and it was very difficult to find other
inmates from out of state to come in and fill the facility," said Davis. Nearly
100 people lost their job in the area, and with $9 million left to pay for the
now empty building, residents are stuck paying the price through increased taxes
and fees." Jokingly I've told people when I took this job I weighed a lot more
and had a lot more hair, so that's how I guess you can say how the frustration
level is. It has been a frustrating situation for the whole community," said
Davis. About two hours away Dickens County faces a similar fate. Their
contractor CEC didn't renew their contract with the Dickens County Correctional
Center. In mid-December the remaining inmates were moved to Lubbock County's new
facility, and nearly 120 jobs were lost - huge hit to the small communities of
Dickens County. "It cost money to put people in jail. The state of the economy,
the governments don't have as much money. Our own state is cutting the budget,
and there's one way to save money…that's not to incarcerate them, and so that's
why I believe our inmate population is down," said Lesa Arnold, Dickens County
Judge. So far Dickens County hasn't had to increase taxes to foot the prison's
one million dollar bill each year, but that option might soon surface. "We need
to get this thing going within a year, and hopefully a whole lot sooner than
that before that issue comes up as to who's going to make those bond payments,"
said Arnold. So how can Lubbock County fill its newly built facility while these
two and others around the U.S. are failing? It comes down to why these
facilities were built in the first place. Littlefield and Dickens County didn't
have an inmate population for the large prisons they built; instead they were
built to make a profit for the towns by contracting out the prison cells to
other parts of the state and U.S. Lubbock on the other hand, needed the bigger
facility. All 1,063 inmates currently in the Lubbock County Detention Center are
from Lubbock County, which means their cells will constantly be filled with a
local inmate population. The other facilities are staying hopeful a new inmate
population will come their way. "I can't worry about why we have it because
that's in the past. I can only worry about what can we do with it now that we
have it, and that's what we work on every day," said Davis.
December 11, 2010 Texas Prison Bidness
On Friday, Community Education Centers (CEC) decided to let their contract with
the Dickens County Jail expire. All the inmates from that facility were
transferred to the Lubbock County Detention Center. The US Marshals will pay the
city of Lubbock a $40 per diem rate, and $10 per hour for guards, but the jail's
Chief Deputy said they would negotiate for a higher rate in order to recover the
cost of Lubbock's sending to Dickens in the first place. Now that Lubbock has a
new and larger jail, they want their inmates back: As of Friday the Lubbock
County Detention Center hold [sic] 105 inmates with more on the way. Chief
Deputy Downes said all the federal inmates should be transferred by the end of
next week. "The Lubbock County taxpayers are seeing some return on what they
spent on this facility," said Chief Deputy Downes. But for Dickens County, a
community of 2,700, having the federal inmates transferred has led to all 489
beds empty and more than120 jobs lost. This comes after the privately owned
company that operated the Dickens County Jail did not renew their three year
contract and is in the process of transitioning the operation of the jail back
to Dickens[.] "We've been working diligently for the last 8 months to ensure
this day would never come. Unfortunately it has," said Lesa Arnold, Dickens
County Judge. The Dickens County Judge said possible loss of the jail is not an
effect of less inmates. It's also due to the economy and location. "I think a
lot of it had to do with geography. It was just closer for the U.S. Marshals to
the court system in Lubbock," said Judge Arnold.
Eagle Lake Juvenile Facility
Columbus, Texas
Youth Services International (formerly
Correctional Services Corporation sub)
October 24, 2008 Houston Chronicle
The state's troubled youth prison system has canceled a contract with a
Florida company following criticism taxpayers were paying $22,500 a day to lease
empty prison beds, officials said. The Texas Youth Commission terminated the
contract Thursday with Youth Services International. No one at the company could
be reached for comment Thursday, the Austin American-Statesman reported in its
Friday online edition. Previously, a company official had indicated the payments
were reasonable. "This is what I asked for— cancel that contract. We need to get
our money back. It's a good day for taxpayers and the Youth Commission that they
corrected this big mistake," said Sen. John Whitmire, chairman of the Senate
Criminal Justice Committee. Whitmire was among the lawmakers demanding the
contract be canceled when they learned the embattled agency was leasing Eagle
Lake prison, near Houston. It sat empty for three months despite the state
paying the company nearly $1.3 million in startup costs, which covered part of
July and all of August. Checks for September and October were withheld by TYC,
which wants to negotiate a refund for much of what it already spent, the San
Antonio Express-News reported Thursday in its online edition. On Oct. 17,
officials moved 18 teen offenders into the Eagle Lake prison but sent them
Thursday to others around the state. Cherie Townsend, the commission's new
executive commissioner, said in a statement the company will be asked for a
detailed accounting of all state money spent so far on the contract. Commission
officials were criticized for inking the deal when its existing lockups have
dozens of empty beds. The number of teenage lawbreakers in commission lockups
has declined from more than 5,000 to about 2,700 in the wake of a reorganization
and management shakeup that followed a sex-abuse and cover-up scandal in 2007.
In a statement Thursday, Townsend said the agency "is evaluating its youth
population, future trends and future needs." The contract is the latest trouble
for TYC. Gov. Rick Perry recently moved the agency out of the state
conservatorship put in place in 2007 following allegations of inmate sexual
abuse and a cover-up by agency officials.
October 19, 2008 AP
Key state lawmakers want a contract with a private prison contractor
canceled after they learned the Texas Youth Commission spent $1.26 million to
lease empty beds. The agency moved 18 teenage offenders Friday into the new
lockup near Houston. It had been empty for three months. The contract showed the
state would pay $22,500 a day for three months at the empty facility to cover
start-up costs. However, records show only $1.26 million has been spent. The
Eagle Lake prison would need to house 119 offenders to cover the costs. The
money was paid to Youth Services International for startup costs, something
other state agencies prohibit. The Austin American-Statesman revealed details of
the contract this past week. John Whitmire, Senate Criminal Justice Committee
chairman, wrote a letter Friday to the agency demanding the contract with the
Florida-based company be canceled.
November 29, 2005 Victoria Advocate
The Colorado County Commissioners Court has formed a committee to determine
which of the county's taxing entities will be able to use the new voting
machines for its elections. "We formed the committee to come up with an
equitable system for all of the voting entities in the county to use the
equipment," County Judge Al Jamison said after Monday's court meeting. "We've
purchased 16 of the machines and have three cities and three school districts."
"Now that the county is running the facility, the school district wanted the
contract to be with us rather than Correctional Services Corporation," Jamison
said. "The district operates an off-campus program at the juvenile facility with
a principal and five teachers. That way the kids at the facility are not in an
educational vacuum. For example, if they are in eighth grade, they follow an
eighth grade course of learning at the facility."
East Hidalgo Detention Center
La Villa, Texas
Louisiana Correctional Service
March 3, 2012 The Monitor
The operator of Hidalgo County’s only private detention center brought in
additional medical staff this week after concerns from county and state
officials regarding inmate tuberculosis testing at the facility. The Monitor
learned of a meeting between several federal, state and local agencies and LCS
Corrections, which owns and operates the East Hidalgo Detention Center in La
Villa. Questions about the facility came after the prison’s warden was suspended
late last month. Health officials questioned the prison doctor’s assertion that
it was safe for possible carriers of tuberculosis — including inmates who had
tested positive in the past — to be kept with the rest of the prison’s
population, said Adan Muñoz, executive director of the Texas Commission on Jail
Standards. “They were not agreeing with the opinion of the state and the Hidalgo
County Health Department that they were not being managed correctly … as far as
being segregated,” Muñoz said. The meeting came after Hidalgo County Health
Department officials learned a federal inmate at the facility recently who
tested positive for tuberculosis, was released to Border Patrol agents and
deported to Mexico without treatment, Sheriff Lupe Treviño said. “He was
deported without any precautions or advisories put out,” the sheriff said. In
another instance, county health officials learned of four inmates at the prison
who had tested positive for tuberculosis or were possible carriers of the
infection and were among other inmates, said Shannon Herklotz, assistant
director of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, who attended the meeting
last month. County officials raised their concerns with LCS, but received little
response from the prison’s management. “I guess they were shunned for lack of a
better word,” Herklotz said. Tuberculosis, commonly referred to TB, is an
airborne bacterial infection that involves the lungs, but can spread to other
organs. It is spread via the air and can remain dormant in a person for years.
The state requires prisons to test new inmates for tuberculosis within seven
days of their booking at a penitentiary with more than 100 beds. A March 2011
Centers for Disease Control study shows Texas has one of the country’s highest
rates for tuberculosis, with four cases per 100,000 residents. But Hidalgo
County has an average rate twice as high as the state’s, Herklotz said. Prisons,
where scores of people are confined together for extended periods, can be
hotbeds for disease to spread, Muñoz said. “Any time you have a magnitude of
inmates … you’ve got the potential for all sorts of diseases and so forth,”
Muñoz said. The Hidalgo County Jail tests all inmates upon their initial booking
into the facility and before they are placed among the general population,
Treviño said. County inmates kept in La Villa are separate from those brought in
by federal agencies. “The reason we (test inmates upon booking) is we do not
want to take the chance of putting somebody back there infected and causing an
epidemic,” he said. But LCS was not always testing inmates within the seven-day
window, said Richard Harbison, the company’s executive vice president. “We were
falling behind on our time period for doing our TB tests,” he said.
March 1, 2012 The Monitor
Details remain sketchy about a federal investigation into a La Villa prison
warden, but the facility has faced separate scrutiny in recent weeks. But
Hidalgo County’s only private detention facility faced allegations of unfit
conditions and a separate inquiry from federal investigators, only to have its
operators say they had “disproven everything.” East Hidalgo Detention Center
Warden Elberto E. Bravo has been on paid administrative leave since he learned
the FBI and U.S. Marshals Service were conducting an investigation into fraud,
bribery and theft allegations. No criminal charges against Bravo have been
filed. Sources who know Bravo and are aware of the investigation say it’s
unclear whether it involves his job or political influence in the Delta region,
given the private prison is one of the area’s largest employers. While Bravo
remains on leave, the warden from the Coastal Bend Detention Center in Robstown
will serve in the interim, said Richard Harbison, executive vice president at
LCS Corrections, the Lafayette, La.-based company that owns and operates the
East Hidalgo Detention Center. “Any time there is (a federal inquiry), we bring
a warden in from another unit to make sure that if there were mistakes they are
not being repeated again,” Harbison said. The separate inquiry into the East
Hidalgo Detention Center launched in January, when Robin Whiteley, currently
facing illegal re-entry charges in federal court, told Chief U.S. District Judge
Ricardo Hinojosa of days without hot water — or any running water — and said it
sometimes took days to be seen by a nurse. Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Treviño
said the investigation into Bravo was concerning, but he has been told the
federal investigation does not concern inmate safety.
July 21, 2010 The Monitor
Prisoner housing may be free of charge for this city, but inmate labor isn't
freely available. That's the outcome of a dispute between an Edcouch city
alderman and the warden of the La Villa detention center over whether Edcouch is
entitled to sandbags made by the inmates. Elberto Bravo, the warden of the East
Hidalgo Detention Center, a privately run, 900-bed facility in La Villa, said he
became incensed when Edcouch Mayor Pro Tem Eddy Gonzalez threatened to write a
letter to the warden's supervisors because inmates didn't make sandbags for
Edcouch residents when Hurricane Alex approached. Gonzalez says no letter was
ever written by the city to Bravo's bosses — City Manager P.R. Avila said the
same during Tuesday's city meeting — but that he was upset that prison-made
sandbags weren't available this year like they were for 2008's Hurricane Dolly.
The apparent misunderstanding nearly led the warden to end his policy of housing
cash-strapped Edcouch's prisoners for free, which could have forced the city to
release people arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated and other
charges with a summons to show up at court. "I don't need Edcouch, but Edcouch
needs us," said Bravo, who manages the La Villa facility and oversees two others
detention centers in South Texas that are operated by LCS Corrections Services
Inc., the largest privately held corrections company in the United States. "It's
not costing these cities in the Delta area one penny to house these individuals
here." Bravo, a long-time corrections officer, often puts inmates from the U.S.
Marshals Service — one agency that contracts to use the private prison and
allows him to use its detainees for labor — to work on special tasks. He cooks
turkeys and other food for special events in neighboring cities, and he made
4,000 sandbags for Edcouch residents when Hurricane Dolly made landfall two
years ago, he said. But when Hurricane Alex turned this way before the Fourth of
July, he committed to make sandbags for Elsa and Hidalgo County Precinct 1,
which delivered sand by the truckload to the facility off State Highway 107.
When Gonzalez called him to demand that he also make sandbags for Edcouch
residents, Bravo refused to do so because of his other commitments, he said. The
warden said that's when Gonzalez threatened to write a letter to the company's
corporate office in Lafayette, La. Gonzalez said he was upset sandbags weren't
made for Edcouch like they were for other entities, but he added that he never
wrote a letter to LCS to complain about the warden's approach. "I'm a little
discontent, but I have no say-so over what the prison does," said Gonzalez, who
hinted at prior political issues with the warden but declined to say what they
were. "I wish he would have (made sandbags) for Edcouch and La Villa — small
communities like ours." He also said he thought the warden's warning that he
would stop housing the city's prisoners at the detention facility for free was
based on business, not sandbags. The city was set to approve a new contract with
the East Hidalgo Detention Center in which it would have to pay the going rate
of $50 for each day an inmate stays there. With an average of about six Edcouch
prisoners housed at the detention center each week, the bill would have topped
at least $2,000 each month. But Alderman Noe Garcia said the warden decided to
scrap the new contract after he and other elected officials in the city called
to make amends. The city will now be required to cover any medical costs the
detention center incurs, but the warden said he won't charge them the daily
rate. "People need to understand that this is at no cost to the city," Bravo
said. "Even if the letter got to the corporate office, they're not paying for
our services. It's being provided free to them."
October 23, 2006 Houston Chronicle
One of the five illegal immigrants who escaped from a privately run South Texas
jail along with a former police officer surrendered to federal agents at a
border checkpoint, officials said Monday. Joel Armando Mata-Castro, a
31-year-old Mexican citizen, walked up to the checkpoint Sunday night and
identified himself to Customs and Border Protection officers, who identified him
as a fugitive on federal escape charges, CBP spokesman Felix Garza said.
Mata-Castro was being held at the Cameron County Jail. He's the only inmate
captured after they escaped from the East Hidalgo Detention Center in La Villa
on Sept. 19 by overpowering a guard with a homemade knife and gaining access to
several exit doors. Authorities have said they suspected the men had crossed the
border into Mexico, about 20 miles away. The five illegal immigrants are alleged
members of the drug gang Raza Unida. Former McAllen police officer Francisco
Meza-Rojas, the supposed ringleader of the escapees, was two weeks away from
trial on drug-trafficking charges.
October 11, 2006 The Monitor
The private prison from which six inmates escaped last month has repeatedly
violated state standards, according to inspection reports from the Texas prison
board. The most recent inspection, conducted eight days after the escape, cites
the prison for employing too few guards, adding an unauthorized number of bunks
and keeping unlicensed guards on the payroll. Since LCS Correctional Services
took over the Eastern Hidalgo Detention Center in 2001, the prison has come out
clean in only two of its annual inspections. LCS spokesman Richard Harbison said
the violations were not intentional and that they had fixed all the problems.
"We are back in compliance," he said. The latest infractions shed new light on
the persistently troubled La Villa prison, which has struggled with staffing and
inmate security for years. LCS President Patrick LeBlanc told The Monitor in
previous interviews that the La Villa prison staffed enough guards, even though
a U.S. Marshals spokesman said that was not the case. The state conducted an
emergency review after last month’s escape, when an 18-year-old guard said he
was overpowered by one of the inmates and stuffed into a closet. He has since
been fired. That inspection cited the prison for a third time for not employing
enough guards. The jail commission did not say in the documents what the actual
ratio of guards to prisoner was. It also found several guards were working with
expired licenses or no license at all. Harbison said the prison had a policy of
not applying for licenses until guards completed two weeks of work. The warden
didn’t want to waste the $100 application fee for a Texas jailer’s license until
he knew guards would stay, he said. That practice has since stopped, he said.
And since the emergency inspection the guards with expired licenses have been
fired, he said.
October 5, 2006 The Monitor
Three people, including a guard, have been arrested in connection with the
prison break in which six inmates escaped more than two weeks ago. Prison
commissary officer Joseph Paul Llanos, Martin Angel Villarreal Jr., and
Magdalena Peña, wife of one of the escapees, were arrested last week in
connection with the escape from the Eastern Hidalgo Detention Center in La Villa
on Sept 19., according to court documents obtained Wednesday. The six inmates,
including a former McAllen police officer accused of running a family drug
smuggling ring, are still on the loose and are most likely hiding in Mexico,
according to authorities. They are considered armed and dangerous. The five
other inmates who escaped with the former police officer are repeat immigration
offenders known as members of Raza Unida, a drug smuggling gang based out of
Corpus Christi. Information compiled from the three criminal complaints recently
filed in federal court paint two of the prisoners, Enrique Peña-Saenz, 38, and
the former police officer, Francisco Meza-Rojas, 41, as planning the escape from
the inside. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Houston would not comment on the case
because the investigation is ongoing. But a spokesman for the company that runs
the prison, LCS Correctional Services, said that Llanos knew at least one of the
inmates before they were housed at La Villa. "One of our policies is that if a
guard recognizes someone they know in the past they need to report it," said LCS
spokesman Richard Harbison. Llanos had not reported knowing any of the inmates,
he said. But under questioning after the escape, Llanos admitted to U.S.
Marshals that two weeks before the escape he smuggled a cell phone and charger
to Meza-Rojas, according to a criminal complaint. Some time after, Llanos
smuggled in a pair of pliers that he handed to Meza-Rojas, according to the
complaint. Those pliers were later used to cut through at least three fences,
including an electrified one that someone had turned off, though the complaint
didn’t specify who may have done that. By the time the six inmates had reached
the fences, they had subdued 18-year-old prison guard Enrique Zepeda and stuffed
him in a closet. Once they made it outside, they split up into at least three
groups after crossing a levee east of the prison. Search dogs traced the
inmates’ scent to State Highway 107, which runs east of the prison. Meza-Rojas
used the cell phone that had been smuggled in to him to arrange someone to pick
him up at the highway, according to the complaint. "Everything points that these
guys are in Mexico," said Joe Magallan, the U.S. Marshal’s McAllen-based
spokesman. "These guys are too scared to be crossing back into the United
States." Marshals immediately began investigating Villarreal after the prison
break because three of his business cards had been found in the eight-man pod
where the six inmates where held. One of the cards had Enrique Peña’s name and
home phone number on it. Villarreal, according to the complaint, had visited
Peña in prison two weeks before the escape and listed himself as Peña’s compadre
in the log book. Marshals believe he delivered the cell phone, wire cutters and
$200 to Llanos during two different visits to the prison, the last one in
August. Llanos was arrested Sept. 23, and Villarreal on Sept. 25. They were each
charged with aiding and abetting Meza-Rojas’ escape. It wasn’t clear why they
were not charged in connection with the other prisoners’ escapes. As for Peña’s
wife, Magdalena, she told U.S. Marshals her husband told of her of the escape
plans some time in August. He told her someone would give her $100 so she could
pay the man who would smuggle in the cell phone. She met an unknown older white
man later that day in Mission in front of Foy’s Supermarket. He handed her $100
and instructed her to give the money to Villarreal. Magdalena Peña was also
arrested Sept. 25. She was also only charged with aiding and abetting
Meza-Rojas’ escape. The other inmates are Fernando Garza-Cruz, 20; Joel Armando
Mata-Castro, 31; Vicente Mendiola-Garcia, 34; and Saul Leonardo Salazar-Aguirre,
24. LCS Correctional Services has made a series of personnel changes since the
escape. Zepeda, the young guard who the inmates overpowered, was fired for not
following policy, Harbison said. The prison spokesman said Zepeda opened a
control room door, unwittingly letting the six inmates escape. He has not been
criminally charged, though, and the company believes he did not know of the
plot. Zepeda, who was employed shortly after his high school graduation three
months before, had undergone on-the-job training but had not attended mandatory
training at the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Academy. New guards must take the
course within a year of hire. Harbison said there are at least 20 other
employees, 13 percent of all La Villa guards, at the prison who are like Zepeda
and have yet to undergo the academy training. The company has closed its
investigation and is now implementing a series of security policy changes, he
said. The chief of security at the prison was also demoted, he said.
September 23, 2006 KRIS TV
A control box for the electrical fence surrounding a private jail was
tampered with before six federal inmates escaped this week and may have kept the
alarm from sounding, an official with the company that runs the jail said
Friday. Richard Harbison, co-owner of LCS Corrections Services Inc., of
Lafayette, La., said an internal investigation revealed tampering with an
outside control box. He also said there were wiring problems with a control box
inside the East Hidalgo Detention Center. Meanwhile, two employees were placed
on paid leave pending the investigation into Tuesday night's escape of a former
police officer facing drug charges and five alleged members of a drug gang. All
six remained at large Friday.
September 23, 2006 The Monitor
The 18-year-old guard overseeing the six inmates who escaped from the local
prison Tuesday had been on the job less than three months and had not yet
undergone a training course mandated for Texas jailers. Enrique Zepeda was one
of 27 guards on duty Tuesday night when the six inmates threatened him with a
foot-long homemade knife, tied him up and stuffed him in a closet. They then
escaped through several inside doors and layers of outside fencing to make their
way out of the prison complex. The escapees, who included five prison gang
members and a former McAllen police officer accused of running a drug smuggling
ring, were still on the loose Friday. Zepeda — who began work at the Eastern
Hidalgo County Detention Center this summer just after his high school
graduation — was slated to attend the next round of training at the Hidalgo
County Sheriff’s Academy, said Richard Harbison, a spokesman for the company
that runs the private prison. The Texas Commission on Jails gives guards a year
after their hiring date to complete the training, which at the Hidalgo County
Sheriff’s Academy lasts three weeks. As is standard for all guards, Zepeda spent
two weeks shadowing a more experienced officer when he first began at the
prison, Harbison said. Michael Gilbert, a professor of criminal justice at the
University of Texas-San Antonio, called formal guard training key to prison
security. “The training is critical. The lack of training, it presents a clear
liability for the organization.” Publicly run prisons are exempt from lawsuits
claiming negligence for failure to adequately train prison staff, but private
facilities have no such protections, Gilbert said. Harbison, the prison
spokesman, said Zepeda’s injuries had not been serious enough to warrant medical
treatment. “When we have a guard that’s in that situation — that’s the first
thing we check,” he said of injuries sustained during prison breaks. “But we
have to move forward with an investigation.” LCS has had ample experience with
such situations. According to the Texas Commission on Jails, the company’s
Brooks County Detention Center has had two escapes in four years — one in 2002
and another in 2005. The La Villa facility had two escapes in 2000, while it was
owned by a different company. But in September 2005, when under LCS management,
a prisoner escaped from the parking lot of the McAllen Medical Center after he
convinced guard he needed medical attention at the hospital. Another inmate
tried the same trick on Wednesday, when he jumped out of an ambulance headed for
that same hospital. Hoping to avert any more security breaches, LCS has begun
work on a new fence to surround the entire complex and is installing an outside
camera system. Both will likely be complete within 10 days, Harbison said on
Friday.
September 21, 2006 The Monitor
Prison and law enforcement authorities were investigating Wednesday whether
a guard or other staffer at the La Villa detention facility may have helped the
six federal inmates who escaped late Tuesday night. The six escapees were housed
in a single cell in a minimum-to-medium security building, even though five of
them were known to be members of a Corpus Christi-based prison gang known as La
Raza Unida, according to local and federal officials. They broke out Tuesday at
about 9:45 p.m. by threatening a guard with a homemade knife and then cutting a
hole in the electric fence outside. They were still on the loose as of Wednesday
night and considered armed and dangerous. Michael Hallett, chairman of the
criminal justice department at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville,
Fla. and an expert on privately-run prisons, said such facilities face a greater
risk of inmates escaping because they are typically understaffed and pay low
salaries in order to make profits. These working conditions make for high staff
turnover rates, he said. “So, you have poorly trained guards who are too few in
number and who are very inexperienced — and that combination of factors makes
them susceptible not just to corruption, but also to coercion by the inmates
inside,” Hallett said. “That sounds like an inside job,” Hallett said of the
circumstances surrounding this week’s escape in La Villa.
September 21, 2006 San Antonio Express-News
The young guard who said he was overpowered by federal inmates at a Valley
detention center was one of two employees put on paid leave Thursday as
officials investigate how six men escaped. Enrique Zepeda, 18, who has been on
the job for three months, said the escape started late Tuesday with a decoy.
"They were distracting me to put my guard down for a moment and it worked," he
said. A spokesman for Lafayette, La.-based LCS Corrections Services Inc., which
owns and operates the East Hidalgo Detention Center in La Villa, confirmed that
Zepeda and one other employee were put on paid administrative leave Thursday.
All employees will be questioned, said McAllen-based spokesman for the U.S.
Marshals, Jose Magallan Jr. "We are looking at all avenues, we are looking to
see if it was an inside job," he said.
September 21, 2006 Houston Chronicle
Not enough officers were on duty at a privately owned federal jail when an
ex-police officer charged with drug trafficking led five other inmates in a
daring escape Tuesday night, a federal marshal overseeing the investigation said
Wednesday. The six men broke out of the East Hidalgo Detention Center at 9:40
p.m. Tuesday after using a footlong knife made of plastic to overpower a guard.
They managed to get through four jail doors before using bolt cutters or wire
snips to cut through two fences. Teams of federal agents and Rio Grande Valley
police using helicopters, horses and tracking dogs searched for the escapees
late Wednesday but had not found any of them. ''The way we see it, there is lack
of security there right now," said Joe Magallan, a deputy with the U.S. Marshals
Service. ''There are a lot of safety issues pertaining to that. There's just not
enough personnel. More security officers and more detention officers, should be
placed there."
September 20, 2006 The Monitor
Federal and local authorities are still looking for six men who escaped from
a federal prison last night. The men escaped from the East Hidalgo Detention
Center around 9:40 p.m. Tuesday by holding a foot-long, homemade knife to the
neck of a prison guard, U.S. Marshals Service spokesman Joe Magallan said. They
then tied up the guard and locked him in a room before escaping through the
backdoor of the building and using wire cutters to detach an electric fence from
the anchor holding it to the ground, Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Treviño said.
Someone had evidently de-electrified the fence beforehand, Treviño said. The
guard was unharmed. The men had been housed in a minimum to medium security
building within the prison complex, said Richard Harbison, a spokesman for LCS
Correctional Services, the company that runs the private facility. Harbison said
this is the first escape from the facility since LCS took it over from the
former management company in 2001. That company had gone bankrupt. Treviño
stopped short of calling the escape an inside job but said the circumstances
were dubious. “From a law enforcement perspective, it appears to be highly
suspicious,” he said.
East Texas
Intermediate Sanction Facility
Longview, Texas
Management &Training Corporation
September 30, 2005 Tyler Morning Telegraph
In other business Thursday, county commissioners allowed the sheriff to
move forward with plans to convert the Marvin A. Smith Regional Juvenile
Center to the Marvin A. Smith Criminal Justice Center. With the county's
jail population hovering around capacity, the county plans to take the
already-closed juvenile facility and turn it into a low-risk adult detention
facility in April. He also said after the meeting that Management and
Training Corp., which leases a total of 300 beds in the county's jail, has
been put on verbal notice that the county currently is not in a position to
renew its contract, which expires in February 2007. The sheriff said
officials are working with the company on finding a new place to house those
inmates when that time comes.
Ector
County Correctional Center
Odessa, Texas
CEC (bought
CiviGenics)
June 17, 2010 Odessa American
A Midland man who claims he was beaten into submission while jailed in the
Odessa Detention Center has not given up a years-long effort to be compensated
for what he said was the use of excessive force after he ran out of his cell.
Larry Wesley Brown, a federal prisoner serving more than four years on a
conviction of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, sought $8 million in
damages from Civigenics — a private company also known as Community Education
Centers — that operates the detention center — for injuries he said occurred
while he was awaiting trial in July 2007. The lawsuit was dismissed with
prejudice in March, but this month, Brown appealed the district court’s decision
to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Brown, 55, writes in court filings that
he is a former Army medic with a “well-documented history of psychological
problems.” Among other disorders, Brown said he suffers from paranoid
schizophrenia. Brown’s claim against the detention center stems from a scuffle
with several prison guards after — in what he called a “delusional episode” — he
repeatedly shouted for help from his cell and then bolted into the hallway once
the door was opened. “At the time I believed that I was a member of the British
royal family and was mistakenly being held in the bowels of a military ship,”
Brown said in a sworn affidavit. “From within the cell, I continued to scream
for help, and I yelled for the guard to contact the Queen.” Brown said he
suffered a number of injuries when he was detained, including several broken
teeth. “Community Education Centers is satisfied with the judge’s ruling and
confident it will survive on appeal,” said Christopher Greeder, a spokesman for
the detention center. In a separate case, Civigenics was sued by another former
inmate who blames the detention center for the loss of his eyesight. Colby E.
Miller of Odessa claims in a federal lawsuit that Civigenics guards negligently
allowed a fellow inmate to obtain a broom. Miller’s attorney, Robert Swafford of
Austin, said in the lawsuit that the inmate struck Miller in the eye with the
broomstick, causing him to permanently lose his sight. Greeder declined to
comment on the Miller case, citing the pending litigation. No trial date has
been set in the Miller case.
April 6, 2010 Odessa American
An Odessa woman fearing a life sentence in federal prison hanged herself in
an isolation cell Monday morning, her family said. Vickie Faye Purcell, 51, was
found dead in the Ector County Correctional Center, authorities said. The Texas
Rangers said Purcell’s death appeared to be a suicide, but they were still
awaiting the results of an autopsy Tuesday. “We’re just devastated,” Purcell’s
sister, Teresa Johnson, said by phone Tuesday. “She was a good, sweet, wonderful
person. We’re just going to miss her terribly.” Family members said Purcell had
been placed in isolation the night before after getting into a fight with a
cellmate. The suicide is at least the second by an inmate in the past two years
at the Ector County Correctional Center, which is operated by Civigenics, a
private company also known as Community Education Centers. Christopher Greeder,
a company spokesman, confirmed the suicide on Tuesday but declined to comment
further, citing an ongoing investigation. Greeder also declined to discuss the
jail’s general policies on suicide prevention.
February 19, 2009 Odessa American
A former Ector County Correctional Center guard pleaded guilty Wednesday in
federal court to a federal bribery charge for giving an inmate a cell phone for
$150, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice. The
release said that Andrew Zehr, who was arrested Dec. 9 and fired from the
privately managed jail two days later, also told the court he was paid for
smuggling in other contraband for the inmate, including a box of marijuana one
of the inmate's relatives gave to Zehr, which was wrapped in black electrical
tape with a lighter taped to the outside of the box. Zehr's sentencing will take
place June 25 at the U.S. District Court in Midland. He faces up to 15 years in
federal prison and a $250,000 fine. The Ector County Correctional Center is a
federal holding facility in downtown Odessa managed by New Jersey-based
Civigenics.
December 9, 2008 Odessa American
A guard working at the Ector County Correctional Center became the latest
person accused in Texas of smuggling cell phones for jail inmates, an assistant
U.S. attorney said. John Klassen, a prosecutor with the Western District of
Texas in Midland, said Odessan Andrew Allen Zehr, 23, was given a federal charge
of bribery. He's accused of taking $150 to smuggle the cell phone and was also
accused of smuggling two or three "baggies" of marijuana at $100 a pop since
late October. Zehr was apprehended by DEA agents Tuesday afternoon and was in
the process of being booked into the Midland County Jail at press time. Klassen
withheld the name of the prisoner that he said offered the bribes pending a
further investigation, but said he was a federal inmate, and therefore the
bribery charge Zehr had was also federal. Zehr is an employee of Civigenics,
otherwise known as Community Education Centers, a New Jersey-based company that
is contracted by the county to manage the federal holding facility inside the
Ector County Courthouse. A call to Civigenics was not immediately returned
Tuesday. This arrest came as state prison officials were looking into several
cell phone smuggling cases throughout Texas.
March 13, 2008 CBS 7
The death of an Odessa jail inmate has been ruled self-inflicted in a
preliminary autopsy in Tarrant County. Luis Chavez Chavez was founding hanging
in a cell at the Odessa correctional facility operated by Civigenics. The 21
year old was being held for illegal entry into the United States. Formal autopsy
results are expected in four to six weeks according to Texas Rangers.
May 15, 2007 Midland Reporter-Telegram
A US District Court jury got a short course in jail house jargon in Monday
testimony about a Feb. 11, 2006, fire at Ector County Correctional Center in
Odessa. Through a Spanish translator, Marcos Antonio Gonzalez Alvidres and
Nicanor Portillo Olivas heard current and former ECCC staff members implicate
them in the smoky 3 p.m. episode that caused less than $1, 000 in damages but
forced the evacuation of scores of inmates from the upper floors of Ector County
Courthouse. The six-man, six-woman panel learned the meaning of terms like "tank
boss," "2-Nancy," "2-Mary," "high profilers" and "SRT team."The muscular,
mustachioed Gonzalez Alvidres was described as a tank boss, or dominant inmate,
and the smaller Portillo Olivas as a lieutenant of his who vehemently objected
when the man was moved to an isolation cell in another area. If convicted, they
could face up to 10 years each in prison.A court official said they were being
held on alleged immigration violations when the incident took place. They were
each indicted on two counts of inciting a riot and setting a fire in a federal
facility.
September 24, 2003
Promising to increase Ector County’s 2003-’04 revenues from jail inmates’
telephone calls by at least $100,000, a Carrollton company was awarded a
one-year contract Monday by the county commissioners court. T-Netix
salesman Hank Schopfer was among representatives of a half-dozen companies that
made pitches at the 10 a.m. Monday meeting. Brad Jones made a pitch for the
former contractor, Inmate Communications of Midland. Commissioners decided
at an August budget workshop to re-bid the contract, noting that 2002-’03
revenues from charges assessed to people called by inmates at the County Law
Enforcement Center and federal detainees at the private Civigenics jail in the
courthouse had failed to meet expectations. Auditor David Austin reported then
that phone revenues would only total about $200,000. (Odessa American)
April 12, 2002
Officials were still trying to determine Thursday whether tire failure or driver
fatigue caused a van wreck west of Pcos that killed two prison inmates and
injured 12 people Wednesday afternoon. The van was carrying 13 U.S.
Marshals Service prisoners from El Paso to the Ector County Correctional Center
in Odessa, said Jim Shaw, regional director for CiviGenics, the company that
operates the detention center. Although law enforcement officials said the
driver became fatigued and drifted off the road, CiviGenics officials said
Wednesday that the van rolled after the right front tire blew out. Jack
Dean, U.S. Marshal for the Western District of Texas, said in a news release
that "tire failure was not the primary cause." (El Paso Times)
April 11, 2002
At least two people were killed and 12 were injured Wednesday when a U.S.
Marshals Service van carrying 13 prisoners and two guards rolled off Interstate
10 west of Pecos. The van was carrying federal prisoners from El Paso to
the all-male Ector County Correctional Center in Odessa, Texas, when it crashed
about 2:30 p.m. Investigators said they believed the driver of the van was
tired and allowed the vehicle to drift off the road and strike a guardrail
before the van rolled down a 10-foot regional director for CiviGenics, the
company that owns the van and operates the detention center in Ector, said the
accident occurred when "the right front tire blew out on the van." (El
Paso Times)
Eden Detention Center
Eden, Texas
CCA
April 12, 2010 Standard-Times
The Eden Detention Center was in lockdown status late Monday after a riot
was contained Sunday night, a release from the detention center stated. Inmates
in Dormitory B at the detention center refused to go to their bunks Sunday
night, according to the release. “Facility staff used approved chemical agents
to enforce lawful orders and successfully resolved the situation, with only
minor injuries reported,” said Lee McDaniel, the public information officer for
the detention center. The nature of the chemical agents was not specified, and
the company did not say what caused the unrest. The facility is locked down —
inmates are confined to their cells — while staff investigate what caused the
riot, the release states. McDaniel said the public wasn’t in any danger and
staff contained the incident to one housing area. Ricky Thomas, the assistant
police chief of Eden, said the city police were called out to control the area
outside the center. “We were out in the front, but they handled everything
themselves,” Thomas said. “We don’t go inside the prison when anything like that
happens.” Riots at the detention center happen “very seldom,” he said. The
Corrections Corporation of America, which operates the detention center
facility, has the Eden Detention Center listed as a low-security facility for
men. It has 1,538 beds. The number of inmates at the detention center, according
to census estimates from 2008, exceeds by about 200 the general population in
Eden.
October 15, 2007 San Angelo Standard-Times
In January, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons notified Mayor Charlie Rodgers that the
$740,000-a-year payment for the Eden Detention Center would end May 1. For some
residents, the loss of that contract meant only one thing: bankruptcy for the
Concho County city of 1,200 residents and 1,400 inmates some 45 miles
east-southeast of San Angelo. The prison is owned by Corrections Corp. of
America. Federal payments to Eden helped cover such expenses as fire department,
ambulance service, streets, water, sewer and the local library, among other
things. The prison continues to operate virtually unchanged after the CCA
successfully submitted the winning bid. Roughly 250 people work at the center.
Rodgers, a retired GTE employee serving his third term as mayor, acknowledged
the city has been forced to curtail some activities but said nobody is throwing
in the towel. Last year's $2.1 million city budget has been slashed to $1.5
million, a more than 25 percent cut. Subsidies to the volunteer fire department,
ambulance service and the library have stopped. "There's a lot of services
affected," Rodgers said. "The fire department had geared up because of the
detention center and invested over $150,000 for a pumper to meet the needs of
the detention center." The City Council raised water and sewer rates to deal
with the three-month shortfall from May until the July 31 end of Eden's fiscal
year. Minus $20,000 a year, librarian Deanna Beaver had to dismiss her assistant
and cut back three-day-a-week hours to 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. She also took a pay
cut. A nonprofit foundation owns and operates the library, but it counted on the
prison-related revenue for training rooms and interlibrary loans. "We're going
to continue on," said city attorney Dwain Psencik, dispelling talk of Eden's
imminent obituary. "The city is going to provide safety and public health
services necessary for the continued well-being of all citizens." Eden's
situation has been complicated by rumors and misconceptions in the community, he
added, because of the complicated relationship with the prison. In 1985, Eden
signed an intergovernmental agreement with the prison bureau for inmates at the
detention center. That contract ended May 1. Under the agreement, the city was
paid about $1.50 per inmate per day based on actual costs for the past two years
and projected costs for three years ahead. "The BOP would cut one check each
month that was calculated on the number of inmates times the agreed rate paid to
the city," said Psencik, who also is president of Eden's Chamber of Commerce.
"The city would break that out to the library and fire department. It was a
reliable, monthly cash flow." Then came January's bombshell regarding the
bureau's payments. Similar letters went to Big Spring, Pecos and Post. "I think
CCA may have gotten a bad rap," Psencik said, adding that he thinks the
Nashville, Tenn.-based firm has been a good corporate citizen. In fact, CCA
pledged Oct. 5 to spend $3.3 million toward the construction of Eden's
wastewater treatment plant. "It's not a simple matter to just reduce our budget
and expenditures," he continued. "We couldn't just snap our fingers and cut the
spigot off May 1." While the number of city employees has been reduced and the
city structure has been reorganized, Psencik said, safety has not been
compromised. After 20 years, the city secretary resigned. After 10 years, the
city eliminated the bureau-mandated correctional contracts administrator. "We
are fighting the battle of atrophy of rural cities," the city attorney said.
"We've held our own because of the federal prison. The main benefit of the
prison is the jobs." Fewer than 100 of the 250 employees live in Eden, he
estimated. A substantial number commute from San Angelo. "We're trying to hold
our head above water against the I-35-corridor syndrome," he continued,
referring to the federal highway that connects Laredo to San Antonio, Austin,
Fort Worth and Dallas. "It's a constant battle." Eden has hired an economic
development coordinator, Genora Young, to marshal assets and form regional
alliances. "This is a burp in the bubble," said Psencik. "We're trying to take
this lemon and make lemonade of it. We're still fighting, still being
innovative."
September 29, 2005 Casa Grande Valley News
Several employees at Central Arizona Detention Center used their mid-
day break last Thursday to have a piece of cake and congratulate a
colleague on his birthday. Harry J. Larson celebrated his 80th birthday
while on the job as a correctional officer. CADC Warden Bruno Stolc
presented a plaque to Larson, who has been with the private prison in
Florence since June 2001. The warden recalled in front of about 25
people assembled, how Larson recently helped pull an aggressive inmate
off another officer. "So Mr. Larson is not just filling a spot. Mr.
Larson is a correctional officer, and we're dang proud to have
him," Stolc said. Warden Stolc said while Larson is the oldest CADC
employee, he is not the oldest employee in CCA. Frank Deloria, an
officer at the company's Eden, Texas, prison is 83. The company also has
a part- time registered nurse who is 87, Stolc said.
May 21, 2003
The parents of a former Eden Detention Center
inmate have filed a lawsuit against the privately operated prison, claiming
their son died after mental abuse that included withholding a special diet for
his medical condition. The wrongful death suit, filed by Conrado Mestas
and Rafaela Ochoa Mestas of El Paso, seeks more than $50,000 in damages and was
filed just a few days before a two-year statute of limitations expired, the San
Angelo Standard-Times reported in Tuesday editions. Conrado Mestas Ochoa
was found dead in his cell on May 20, 2001, according to the suit. The
family said the inmate suffered from cirrhosis of the liver, metabolic
derangement and a skin disorder. He had been in the detention center since
April. Lee McDaniel, the center's public information officer, declined to
comment on the case to the newspaper, referring questions to Corrections
Corporation of America. A CCA spokesman in Nashville, Tenn., did not immediately
return a phone call from The Associated Press on Monday night. Eden
Detention Center is about 35 miles southeast of San Angelo. (AP)
May 5, 2003
Officials at a privately operated West Texas detention center are investigating
the cause of a fray that injured at least 15 inmates. Officials with
Corrections Corporation of America said the altercation happened Thursday night
at the Eden Detention Center, about 35 miles southeast of San Angelo. The
unit remained locked down on Friday. (AP)
August 23, 1996
A daylong riot in which shotgun-toting guards clashed with 400 boisterous
prisoners at a privately run federal detention center in West Texas has renewed
questions about how well such prisons are operated and monitored. A Bureau
of Prisons spokesperson said the bureau will review the way the disturbance was
handled by CCA's security force. At least 17 people were hurt in the riot,
which began shortly before noon Wednesday and ended about 2 am Thursday.
Guards fired buckshot into the ground and released pepper gas to quell the
disturbance, which reportedly began as a protest against poor food, inadequate
recreation and other prison conditions. One guard suffered a broken jaw
after he was hit by a rock thrown by an inmate. The detention center is a
"low-security" facility reserved for non-U.S. citizens who have less than three
years to serve. Most, Tracey said, will be deported upon completion of
their terms. The disturbance began about 11 am Wednesday when hundreds of
inmates conducted a sit-in rather than respond to morning roll call. After
negotiations between prison officials and the inmates failed, rowdiness among
prisoners increased. Some threw rocks and other items at security guards.
Guards discharged pepper gas and fired shotguns into the ground as inmates
stormed a fence in an apparent effort to escape. Two inmates underwent
surgery to remove buckshot that reportedly ricocheted. As the day wore on
- temperatures topped 90 degrees - several guards required treatment for heat
injuries and inmates pleaded for water. As prison guards sought to bring
the riot under control, about two dozen state troopers and Texas Rangers stood
by. A Department of Public Safety helicopter patrolled the area searching
for possible escapees. (Houston Chronicle)
El Paso County Jail
El Paso, Texas
Prison Health Services
May 24, 2006 KTSM
Sheriff deputies tell us 47-year old Mario Lopez was arrested today, charged
with violating the civil rights of a inmate and having improper sexual activity
with a person in custody. The Sheriff's Office say the investigation started
after an inmate complained about Lopez. He is now in the County Jail under a
$50,000 bond. The Sheriff's Office says Lopez is an employee of Prison Health
Services, which is under a contract with El Paso County to provide medical
services to prisoners at the jail.
Falls County Jail
Marlin, Texas
Correctional Education Centers
March 28, 2011 NPR
Private Prison Promises Leave Texas Towns In Trouble by John Burnett The country
with the highest incarceration rate in the world — the United States — is
supporting a $3 billion private prison industry. In Texas, where free enterprise
meets law and order, there are more for-profit prisons than any other state. But
because of a growing inmate shortage, some private jails cannot fill empty
cells, leaving some towns wishing they'd never gotten in the prison business. It
seemed like a good idea at the time when the west Texas farming town of
Littlefield borrowed $10 million and built the Bill Clayton Detention Center in
a cotton field south of town in 2000. The charmless steel-and-cement-block
buildings ringed with razor wire would provide jobs to keep young people from
moving to Lubbock or Dallas. For eight years, the prison was a good employer.
Idaho and Wyoming paid for prisoners to serve time there. But two years ago,
Idaho pulled out all of its contract inmates because of a budget crunch at home.
There was also a scandal surrounding the suicide of an inmate. Shortly
afterward, the for-profit operator, GEO Group, gave notice that it was leaving,
too. One hundred prison jobs disappeared. The facility has been empty ever
since. A Hard Sell "Maybe ... he'll help us to find somebody," says Littlefield
City Manager Danny Davis good-naturedly when a reporter shows up for a tour. For
sale or contract: a 372-bed, medium-security prison with double security fences,
state-of-the-art control room, gymnasium, law library, classrooms and five
living pods. Davis opens the gray steel door to a barren cell with bunk beds and
stainless-steel furniture. "You can see the facility here. [It's] pretty
austere, but from what I understand from a prison standpoint, it's better than
most," he says, still trying to close the sale. For the past two years,
Littlefield has had to come up with $65,000 a month to pay the note on the
prison. That's $10 per resident of this little city. A Resident Burden Is the
empty prison a big white elephant for the city of Littlefield? "Is it something
we have that we'd rather not have? Well, today that would probably be the case,"
Davis says. To avoid defaulting on the loan, Littlefield has raised property
taxes, increased water and sewer fees, laid off city employees and held off
buying a new police car. Still, the city's bond rating has tanked. The village
elders drinking coffee at the White Kitchen cafe are not happy about the way
things have turned out. "It was never voted on by the citizens of Littlefield;
[it] is stuck in their craw," says Carl Enloe, retired from Atmos Energy. "They
have to pay for it. And the people who's got it going are all up and gone and
they left us... " "...Holdin' the bag!" says Tommy Kelton, another Atmos
retiree, completing the sentence. The Declining Prison Population The same thing
has happened to communities across Texas. Once upon a time, it seems every small
town wanted to be a prison town. But the 20-year private prison building boom is
over. Some prisons are struggling outside Texas, too. Hardin, Mont., defaulted
on its bond payments after trying, so far unsuccessfully, to fill its 464-bed
minimum security prison. And a prison in Huerfano County, Colo., closed after
Arizona pulled out its 700 inmates. According to the Bureau of Justice
Statistics, the total correctional population in the United States is declining
for the first time in three decades. Among the reasons: The crime rate is
falling, sentencing alternatives mean fewer felons doing hard time and states
everywhere are slashing budgets. The Texas legislature, looking for budget cuts,
is contemplating shedding 2,000 contract prison beds. Statewide, more than half
of all privately operated county jail beds are empty, according to figures from
the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. "Too many times we've seen jails that
have got into it and tried to make it a profitable business to make money off of
it and they end up fallin' on their face," says Shannon Herklotz, assistant
director of the commission. The packages look sweet. A town gets a new detention
center without costing the taxpayers anything. The private operator finances,
constructs and operates an oversized facility. The contract inmates pay off the
debt and generate extra revenue. The economic model works fine until they can't
find inmates. In Waco, McLennan County borrowed $49 million to build an 816-bed
jail and charge day rates for bunk space. But today because of the convict
shortage, the fortress east of town remains more than half empty. The sheriff
and county judge, once champions of the new jail, now decline to comment on it.
Former McLennan County Deputy Rick White, who opposed the jail, had this to say
about the prison developers who put the deal together: "They get the
corporations formed, they get the bonds sold, they get the facility built, their
money is front-loaded, they take their money out. And then there's no reason for
them to support the success of the facility." Two of Texas' busiest private
prison consultants — James Parkey and Herb Bristow — declined repeated requests
for interviews. The Inmate Market Private prison companies insist their future
is sunny. A spokesman for the GEO Group declined to speak about the Littlefield
prison, but he sent along a slew of press releases highlighting the company's
new inmate contracts and prison expansions across the country. Corrections
Corporation of America, the nation's largest private prison operator, says the
demand for its facilities remains strong, particularly for federal immigration
detainees. New Jersey-based Community Education Centers, which has been pulling
out of unprofitable jails across Texas, issued a statement that "the current
(jail) population fluctuation" is cyclical. One of the places where CEC is
cancelling its contract is Falls County, in central Texas, where a for-profit
jail addition is losing money. Now it's up to Falls County Judge Steve Sharp to
hustle up jailbirds: "If somebody is out there charging $30 a day for an inmate,
we need to charge $28. We really don't have a choice of not filling those beds,"
he said. Another place where they're desperate for inmates is Anson, the little
town north of Abilene, Texas, once famous for its no-dancing law. Today, Jones
County owns a brand-new $34 million prison and an $8 million county jail, both
of which sit empty. The prison developers made their money and left. Then the
Texas Department of Criminal Justice reneged on a contract to fill the new
prison with parole violators. The county's Public Facility Corporation that
borrowed the money to build the lockups owes $314,000 a month — with no paying
inmates. They've got a year's worth of bond service payments set aside before
county officials start to sweat. "The market has changed nationwide in the last
18 months or two years. It's certainly a different picture than when we started
this project. And so we're continuing to work the problem," Jones County Judge
Dale Spurgin says. Grayson County, north of Dallas, said no to privatizing its
jail. Two years ago, the county was all set to build a $30 million, 750-bed
behemoth twice as big as was needed. But the public got queasy and county
officials ultimately scuttled the deal. "When you put the profit motive into a
private jail, by design, in order to increase your dollars, your revenues, your
profits, you need more folks in there and they need to stay longer," says Bill
Magers, mayor of the county seat of Sherman, a leading opponent. When the supply
of prison beds exceeds the demand for prison beds, there are beneficiaries. The
overcrowded Harris County Jail in Houston, the nation's third largest, farms out
about 1,000 prisoners to private jails. Littlefield and most other
under-occupied facilities in Texas have all been in touch with Houston. "It
really is a buyer's market right now, especially a county our size," says Capt.
Robin Kinetsky, who is in charge of inmate processing for the Harris County
Sheriffs Department. "They're really wanting to get our business. So, we're
getting good deals." Nearby, disheveled and unsmiling men are brought from a
holding cell to stand before a booking officer for their intake interviews. The
detainees are wholly unaware that they may soon become the newest commodities of
the volatile inmate market. Aarti Shahani contributed to this NPR News
investigation and report.
January 18, 2011 Marlin Democrat
Falls County Commissioners met in regular session last Monday with a multitude
of agenda items to ponder including the non-renewal by CEC to run the Falls
County Detention Center. Following the opening of the Falls County Detention
Center in 2000, CiviGenics was awarded a contract to provide personnel to run
the jail and has done so until Community Education Centers (CEC) acquired
CiviGenics in 2007. CEC has chosen not to renew the contract with Falls County
and the detention center will come under the direction of Falls County, sometime
in April. CEC, which has personnel in many jail facilities in many towns, has
moved inmates to other facilities at a lower cost and couldn’t afford to pay the
inmate cost at the Falls County facility. “With new facilities being built in
the CEC service area, detainees are being housed at a lesser cost than here, so
our prisoner count has been declining for several months. CEC.” Said County
Judge Steven Sharp. Sharp said that at the last meeting of the Commissioner’s
Court, “We are working on creating a budget so we can provide all services at
the jail as well as amending the Sheriff’s budget to cover such expenses. “We
won’t loose all the outside inmates and will still be able to provide services
for the local ones. One good thing to come out of this is that we keep all the
profits and not have to pay private contractors.” Jail capacity is 94 – 95
inmates.” Originally, the plan projected that it would take 20 years to pay for
the construction of the $3.5 million structure with funds from housing prisoners
to defray that cost, but the county was paying thousands of dollars each month
to CEC, therefore making no profit. The county has eight more years to repay the
cost of building.
September 29, 2009 KWTX
A female guard employed by a private firm that provides security at the
Falls County Jail was fired this week after officials discovered she had married
a male inmate by proxy. Community Education Centers Warden, Mike Wilson said
Chastity Withers, who worked for CEC as an overnight guard at the Falls County
Jail, was married by proxy on Aug. 23 in McLennan County to Timothy Hargrove,
31, an inmate who was jailed at the time and who was sentenced this month to 30
years in prison after his conviction on charges of manufacturing of a controlled
substance. Wilson said confidential sources led to an investigation and to the
discovery of the relationship. Withers was later arrested and charged with
prohibited items and substances in a correctional facility. The charge involves
a cell phone, but Wilson declined to release more details.
Fannin County Jail
BonHam, Texas
Community Education Centers
February 25, 2012 KTEN
A Fannin County inmate who has been at large for days is now in custody.
Saturday afternoon, Bonham police arrested 45-year-old Jimmy Lee Brock. Saturday
morning around 9:48, deputies got a call about a burglary at Fannin County
Precinct 3 Barn. Numerous items were missing, including chainsaws, weed eaters,
impact wrenches and a truck. Around 4:33 PM, Bonham Police got a tip that Brock
was at a Bonham business. That's where the escapee was taken into custody. Brock
was found in possession of the stolen items at the time of his arrest. He is
also accused of stealing a 2008 Impala, which he used to escape earlier this
week. Deputies later recovered car on FM 38 in Lamar County. It was found driven
into a group of cedar trees. Brock escaped Tuesday around 8:45 AM while working
at Fannin County Precinct 3 Barn near Honey Grove.
February 21, 2012 KTEN
Fannin County authorities are reporting an inmate has escaped from the Fannin
County Jail. At around 8:45A this morning, the inmate, Jimmy Lee Brock, walked
away from a work detail near the town of Honey Grove. It is believed Brock left
the scene in a gold 2008 Chevy Impala, Texas handicap plate: LP-9DPKZ. He is 45,
5'7" tall, 160-180lbs, and was last seen in a orange jump suit. Brock was in
jail on cruelty to animals and evading detention charges. According to C.E.C
jail staff, at the time of his disappearance Brock was part of the Inmate Worker
program and he had been for approximately 2 months with no problems. C.E.C. is a
private jail that contracts with Fannin County to hold inmates.
Fillyaw Correctional Facility
Newton County, Texas
GEO Group (formerly CSC,
Bobby Ross Group)
December 21, 2007 KFDM
KFDM News has learned a man cut his throat on razor wire while trying to escape
Friday from the Fillyaw Correctional Center in Newton County. Sheriff Joe Walker
tells KFDM News 40 year old Larry Waylon Metcalf is being treated inside the
correctional center for his injuries. Walker says guards called the Newton
County Sheriff's Office and asked for help with an escape. Metcalf climbed over
serpentine wire, got over the fence and was able to get outside the compound,
but Walker says within minutes his officers and guards caught Metcalf. He says
Metcalf was "cut everywhere," including his throat, and is receiving medical
treatment in the private prison.
Sept. 2, 1997
Two inmates serving time for car theft and forgery were back in custody Sunday
after escaping from a privately run prison in Newton County near the Louisiana
border. The private prison, operated by the Bobby Ross Group Inc., is the
same unit where another inmate escaped last year, kidnapped a woman and took her
at knifepoint to the Mexican border. The prison increased security
measures after the Feb. 14, 1996, escape of Larry Earl Pagan of Hawaii, who
scaled an 8-foot perimeter fence topped with razor wire.
Frio County Detention Center
Frio County,
Texas
GEO Group (formerly CSC)
July 15, 2010 News Express
The GEO Group, a Florida firm that contracts with local governments to run
jails, has agreed to pay $2.9 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging
indiscriminate strip searches of inmates at six facilities, including three in
Texas. The Frio County Detention Center in Pearsall, the Dickens County
Detention Center in Dickens and the Newton County Correctional Center in Newton
and jails in New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Illinois were named in the suit, which
was litigated in federal court in Pennsylvania. The suit alleged GEO employed a
uniform practice or policy of strip-searching all pre-trial detainees who
entered certain GEO-operated jails, regardless of the crime or violation for
which they were detained, and without making the legally required determination
of whether reasonable suspicion existed to justify a strip search. Inmates
incarcerated at the six jails between Jan. 30, 2006 and Jan. 30, 2008 qualify
for a share in the settlement, but they must call 1-877-234-4512, or visit
http://www.multistatestripsearchsettlement.com/index.html.
March 12, 2005 Express-News
An alleged member of the Mexican Mafia who was part of a jailbreak last
summer at the Frio County Jail pleaded guilty Friday to escape. Reymundo
Alaniz Flores - one of five inmates who escaped - entered the plea before U.S.
Magistrate Judge John Primomo in San Antonio. The
escape occurred Aug. 6 at the privately run jail in Pearsall that used to house
federal inmates.
Authorities allege Robert Lee Jack and Randy Wayne Folsom helped the escape by
cutting a hole in a perimeter fence, supplying wire cutters to the inmates and
driving them away.
January 21, 2005 Express-News
A San Antonio man admitted Thursday that he helped five federal inmates escape
from Frio County Jail last summer. At a
hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Pamela Mathy, Robert Lee Jack, 32, pleaded
guilty to instigating and assisting the Aug. 6, 2004, escape. Jack
admitted he went to the privately run jail in Pearsall the day of the escape and
tossed a pair of bolt cutters over a perimeter fence to an inmate. Jack
also admitted cutting a hole in an outside fence. He
faces up to five years in prison when he's sentenced May 12. Two
of the inmates remain at large.
October 13, 2004 Houston Chronicle
Two federal inmates who escaped from a South Texas detention facility in August
were captured Wednesday near Laredo, officials said. The men were among five
inmates who fled a Frio County lockup Aug. 6, possibly with the help of the
Mexican Mafia. One of the escapees was caught shortly after the escape. The two
who remain on the loose are presumed to be in South Texas, officials said. The
"Frio Five" were able to flee the jail through holes cut in security fences,
possibly with outside assistance. An investigation continues into whether they
had inside help.
August 13, 2004
Express-News
Federal authorities are hoping $50,000 will persuade someone to give up the
whereabouts of five inmates who escaped last week from the privately operated
Frio County Jail. LaFayette Collins, U.S. marshal for the Western District of
Texas, said at a news conference today that it is offering rewards of $10,000
apiece for information leading to the recapture of the former jail residents,
who slipped to freedom Aug. 6 through holes cut in two perimeter fences.
Collins also said the escape probe continues, including interviewing — and
re-interviewing - jail guards to see what they know. No determination has been
made on whether the inmates — who are said to have ties to the Texas Mexican
Mafia gang — had help inside or outside the lockup, or both.
"We suspect everything and everybody at this point," Collins said. Meanwhile,
the Sarasota, Fla.-based company that runs the jail under contract, Correctional
Services Corp., has refused to publicly explain the foul-up, ordering its local
officials to turn down media interviews and not returning numerous calls seeking
comment.
August 11, 2004
The U.S. Marshals Service has withdrawn 240 inmates from a privately run jail
near San Antonio after the escape last week of five federal prisoners. The
escape happened just five weeks after the Frio County Detention Center in
Pearsall was ruled noncompliant with state regulations because of overcrowding
and understaffing. "The reason they were moved is the U.S. Marshals Service had
security concerns," said John D. Butler, chief deputy U.S. marshal for the
Western District of Texas. "Five prisoners escaped at one time, and that's the
second jail break they've had within the past year." Four of the five inmates
were born in Mexico. The fifth, Reymundo Flores Alaniz, was born in Texas but is
said to be a high-ranking member of the Mexican Mafia and has been convicted of
murder. They are all considered armed and dangerous, authorities said. The 240
federal prisoners were removed from the 390-bed jail Saturday. They were moved
to several facilities throughout the region. The firm that runs the jail –
Correctional Services Corp. of Sarasota, Fla. – responded Tuesday by laying off
35 of the jail's 58 employees, said Pearsall Mayor Roland Segovia.
August 11, 2004
The first round of layoffs began Tuesday at the privately run Frio County Jail
in the wake of last week's broad daylight escape of five federal inmates.
Jose "Nacho" Hernandez, a former detention officer, said his son, Joel, and a
friend were among those who lost their jobs. He said he didn't know how
many detention officers received letters Tuesday notifying them of the layoffs.
But up to 30 employees are expected to be laid off, County Judge Carlos Garcia
said Tuesday. Garcia said representatives with Correctional Services Corp.
advised him the cutbacks were necessary after the U.S. Marshals Service withdrew
its remaining 240 inmates from the jail over the weekend, citing security
concerns. The five inmates that escaped Friday remained on the loose
Tuesday. (Express-News)
August 10, 2004
Big changes at the Frio County Jail, as hundreds of inmates are shipped out.
They were sent to another facility just one day after five convicts escaped from
the jail, and more changes could be on the way. "What are we waiting for
are. Are we waiting for one of these persons to go into one of these homes and
kill somebody?," said Mayor Roland Segovia. The mayor of Pearsall is
concerned about the company that runs the Frio County Jail. Segovia says
Correction Services Corporation out of Florida is a good company but, "having
six breakouts in the past eight years and only catching one of the 15 that have
escaped, that's pretty scary," said Segovia. He says on Saturday about 200
jail inmates were shipped to another jail. "We stand at only about 40
inmates in the Frio County Jail," said Segovia. Segovia also says he's
heard dozens of Frio County CSC employees are being laid off as operations are
scaled back. "To lose 75 people in a matter of two or three days that's a
lot," said Segovia. (WOAI.com)
August 8, 2004
After the fifth breakout at Frio County Jail in the past eight years, nearby
residents reacted Saturday with a mix of anger and indifference to the rash of
escapes. Five inmates cut through two fences and walked away from the jail
at about 1 p.m. Friday, before a massive nine-hour manhunt came up empty and was
called off due to darkness, rain and thick brush in the area. Since the
start of 1996, 14 inmates have escaped from the jail in five incidents. On
Saturday afternoon, a bus from the LaSalle County Detention Center in Cotulla
was at the Pearsall jail to transfer some of the federal inmates out of the Frio
County facility. Jail officials declined to provide details on the number of
inmates being sent to LaSalle County. Some nearby residents complained
because they didn't learn of the escape for hours. Like many Pearsall
residents, Judy Stacy, who lives two blocks from the jail, was incredulous after
another escape. "It's absurd," she said. "How could you cut two holes
through the fences and just walk out? Don't they have people watching them?"
Nell Youngblood lives a block from the jail, but did not hear about the escape
for more than two hours. Then her husband locked all the doors and all but one
window. (Express-News)
August 6, 2004
Five federal prisoners escaped today from a privately run lockup near San
Antonio, according to the Frio County Sheriff's Department. Spokesman John
Butler said the escape from a Correctional Services Corp. facility in Pearsall
occurred around 1 p.m. He said the prisoners were in the custody of the
Marshal's Service office in Laredo, which uses the lockup under contract.
Butler, based in San Antonio, said a headcount was under way this afternoon to
determine who was missing and how dangerous they might be.
Investigators were also trying to determine how the prisoners got away, though
Butler said witnesses reported seeing them crawling under perimeter fences.
(AP)
September 10, 2003
Law officers continued searching today for two federal inmates who escaped from
a South Texas lockup. The prisoners, both Mexican nationals, were reported
missing late Monday morning from the Frio County Detention Center. Jorge Perez
Delgado, 45, and 29-year-old Oscar Herrada Herrera were held on federal drug
charges out of Laredo, said David Sligh, supervisory deputy U.S. marshal for the
Western District of Texas. Wanted posters for the men were released late
Tuesday afternoon. Authorities suspect at least one of the inmates may be headed
for Mexico. The U.S. Marshals Service said no one was harmed during the
escape and there were no signs of a forced exit. The inmates were last accounted
for inside the jail at 9 a.m. Monday, but were missing when the next count was
conducted two hours later, Sligh said. He said investigators who followed
up on "some good leads" Tuesday believed Herrada could be headed to Mexico
because his last known address was in Nuevo Laredo. Herrada, serving a
37-month sentence on a probation violation, was originally convicted of heroin
possession. Perez, whose last known address was in Chicago, was awaiting
sentencing on possession with intent to distribute cocaine and conspiracy to
possess with intent to distribute cocaine. Frio County Sheriff Lionel
Trevino referred questions about the escape from the privately run detention
center to the Marshals Service, which was leading the investigation.
Florida-based Correctional Services Corp. operates the 391-bed detention center
that houses city, county and federal inmates. (AP)
August, 1999
Two inmates escaped by digging a hole behind the toilet in their prison cell
continue to elude authorities. They crawled from the hole onto an unguarded
walkway and then slipped out of the building through an unsecured back door.
(Express-News, August 30, 1999)
September 21, 1996
Prison board Chairman Allan Polunsky ordered Friday that a private prison
company be billed the $2,140 it cost the state to send 23 guards to help quell a
convict "standoff" that turned out to be a false alarm. "It concerns me
that our staff was called when public safety was not in imminent jeopardy,"
Polunsky said of the incident that occurred Wednesday at the Frio Detention
Center in Pearsall. The facility is a county jail operated by Dove
Development Corp., a Texas company based in Crystal City. Among its
prisoners are 100 state felons from Missouri and Utah who are being housed there
because of crowding in their home state prisons. (Houston Chronicle)
Galveston County Jail
Galveston, Texas
Correctional Medical Services
June 7, 2007 The Daily News
A Missouri firm lost its longtime contract to provide medical care to jail
inmates when county commissioners Wednesday unanimously awarded a $5.5 million
deal to the University of Texas Medical Branch. The island-based medical branch
beat out incumbent St. Louis-based Correctional Medical Services, which had the
multimillion dollar contract for nine years. The contract calls for the county
to pay the medical branch about $207,500 a month for the first 14 months,
beginning Aug. 1, and $216,360 for the next 12 months to provide medical care to
inmates. The medical branch will offer inmates medical services that include
on-site assessments at intake, chronic and emergency medical management in the
jail and hospital-based care if needed. If the average daily population of
inmates exceeds 1,000, the medical branch could earn more, based on a pay
formula, officials say. Also, the Gulf Coast Center, a mental-health and
retardation facility serving Galveston and Brazoria counties, will pay the
medical branch $14,000 a month for on-site and on-call services. Galveston
County Attorney Harvey Bazaman said Correctional Medical Services had done an
adequate job, but county officials wanted to see if there were financial savings
to be had by putting the contract out for bid.
January 20, 2006 Texas City Sun
Two county jailers have been suspended, while a third jail employee was
fired after an investigation into an inmate’s suicide in November. Sheriff Gean
Leonard declined Thursday to give the name of the woman who was fired because
she was an employee of the company Correctional Medical Services, not the
sheriff’s office. The company could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Deputies Louis Padric Heck and Kendra Harris were suspended for five days
without pay. John Louis Kenney hanged himself in his county jail cell on Nov.
20. Hours earlier, he had been booked into the jail on a misdemeanor assault
charge stemming from a domestic dispute. Kenney, who hanged himself with a belt
deputies had returned to him earlier that night, had tried suicide in jail once
before.
Garza County Regional
Juvenile Center
Garza County, Texas
Cornerstone Programs Corporation
July 29, 2007 Dallas Morning News
Executives of the Colorado-based Cornerstone Programs Corp., which manages
the Garza County Regional Juvenile Center in West Texas, have a history of
involvement in troubled juvenile facilities in other states. Cornerstone closed
its Swan Valley Youth Academy in 2006 after a Montana State Department of Public
Health and Human Services investigation found 19 violations, including neglect
and failure to report child abuse and an attempted suicide. "Intake process was
particularly harmful to youth, and many have been made to vomit due to excessive
exercise and drinking large amounts of water," Montana officials wrote in their
findings. According to Montana officials, the state and Cornerstone had
developed a corrective plan to keep the facility open. "There was a number of
charges of abuse filed against the director of the program and the second in
charge," said Cornerstone chief executive Joseph Newman. The bad press hurt
business and so it closed, he said. Mr. Newman said state officials later
cleared them of all the abuse charges, but Montana officials said they had no
record of that. In Texas, Cornerstone's Garza facility has been put under
corrective action plans to improve staff training, documenting grievances and
group therapy sessions. But the company has hired a new director and added new
staff to Garza, which it began managing in 2003. In 2005, a 17-year-old inmate
at the facility became paralyzed after falling on his head in an attempt to do a
back flip off a table. A lawsuit by his family against the facility, settled in
2006, alleged that a guard not only failed to prevent the stunt, but challenged
the youth to attempt it. The officer was fired after the incident. The Garza
County facility consistently has received positive reviews by the Texas Youth
Commission. "The Garza County Regional Juvenile Center is an exemplary program,"
a TYC monitor wrote in the facility's 2006 contract renewal evaluation – the
same year Swan Valley closed. Cornerstone was founded in October 1998 by Mr.
Newman and board chairman Jane O'Shaughnessy, about six months after another
company they operated ran into trouble in Colorado. That other company, called
Rebound, operated the High Plains Youth Center in Brush, Colo., which housed
juvenile offenders from around the country. In December 1995, a University of
Illinois at Chicago psychologist hired by the state's Department of Children and
Family Services issued a damning report on High Plains, and the agency later
began removing its youth from the juvenile prison. "Unit staffing practices
appear to be a numbers game where management attempts to balance the competing
pressures of safety and profit," wrote Dr. Ronald Davidson, a faculty member in
the university's psychiatry department. The facility also had a "consistent and
disturbing pattern of violence, sexual abuse, clinical malpractice and
administrative incompetence at every level of the program." A Human Rights Watch
report later found that High Plains "fell short of reasonable, even minimal,
performance." Colorado officials closed High Plains in 1998 after a 13-year-old
inmate from Utah committed suicide and a state investigation found widespread
problems with physical and sexual abuse. State officials also had uncovered
problems at other Rebound facilities in Colorado. Rebound's nonprofit Adventures
in Change program did not meet requirements to be licensed for drug and alcohol
treatment nor meet "acceptable standards for habitation," according to a 1996
state audit. Auditors said the services, such as education, family counseling,
vocational training and employment, "are not routinely provided." In his
resignation letter as the facility's clinical coordinator, Paul Schmitz wrote:
"This is no longer a professional treatment environment ... and is not supported
by the company as such." In 1997, Florida officials severed the state's contract
with Rebound to operate the Cypress Creek juvenile detention facility after
repeated problems, including reports of disturbances that led to the arrests of
several inmates for inciting a riot. Rebound also had operated in Maryland,
where it ran the Charles H. Hickey Jr. School briefly in the early 1990s. Mr.
Newman was the deputy secretary of Maryland's Department of Juvenile Services
from 1992 to 1994, according to the state. He joined Rebound in 1995. The Hickey
contract ended in 1993 after dozens of escapes, cases of alleged abuse and other
policy violations. Dr. Davidson, the Illinois psychologist, said the past
performance of Cornerstone and Rebound should raise concerns. "Anyone who had
bothered to check the record of this corporation in Colorado and Florida and
Maryland ..... would have easily discovered a troubling history of incompetence
and fecklessness," he said.
Giles W. Dalby Correctional
Facility
Post, Texas
Management and Training Corporation
January 17, 2001
Sixteen federal prisoners confined to the Giles W. Dalby Correctional Facility
in Post filed a class-action lawsuit Tuesday alleging violation of due process
and their civil rights. The inmates, all immigrant aliens in the United
States, filed suit in U.S. District Court in Lubbock. Management and
Training Corporation runs the private prison, which contracts with the federal
government to house inmates. The lawsuit claims that Dalby inmate receive
inadequate medical care, food, rehabilitation programs and legal supplies, among
other complaints. The plaintiffs seek that the Dalby prison be closed and
permanently barred from operating as a federal prison. (The Lubbock
Avalanche-Journal)
August 1, 2000
A corrections officer suffered a concussion in a riot early Sunday morning at a
medium-security prison in Post after being struck by an object thrown by an
inmate, a county judge Giles Dalby said Monday. He said the riot started
on "Main Street," a wide outdoor sidewalk area that splits the facility's two
holding areas. According to Dalby, about 500 inmates gathered on the
sidewalk at about 8:30 pm. Saturday and began loitering and making demands
to the correction officers. "The officers were able to talk them down to
about 250 inmates," Dalby said. "When the officers told them to lock up at
around 12:30 am, some obeyed and some didn't. A crowd of about 10 inmates
stayed in the area." The inmates then began to break wooden picnic tables
and set them on fire. They also pulled gutters off the side of the
building and damaged seven surveillance cameras, Dalby said. "That is when
we pulled our people back to safety and called the safety response team," Dalby
said. According to Dalby, the number of inmates involved in the riot
swelled to about 200 as the mayhem continued. The facility's response team
was called in at about 1:45 am Sunday and dispersed the crowd in 9 minutes using
tear gas, Dalby said. Dalby did not have an exact figure but estimated the
damage to the facility to be sizable. (The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)
Harris County Schools
Harris County, Texas
Brown Schools
April 12, 2005 Houston Chronicle
A Harris County program that provides schools for 1,200 juvenile offenders and
youths expelled from their home schools will continue to operate despite the
bankruptcy of the company that runs it, a county official said Tuesday. Harvey
Hetzel, director of the county's Juvenile Probation Department, told
Commissioners Court that the county can temporarily take over management of the
program if necessary. Brown Schools Inc. teaches about 600 youths in schools at
the county's six detention facilities. It also runs a two-campus, state-mandated
program for about 600 students expelled by local school districts. The
Austin-based company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy March 25. Brown Schools runs
boarding schools and educational facilities for youths in Texas, California,
Florida, Idaho and Vermont. Brown officials didn't return calls. Brown Schools'
methods have drawn criticism from state regulators and resulted in lawsuits
against it, the Austin-American Statesman reported. Hetzel said he did not
believe that any of the six legal settlements that led to $425,000 in unsecured
claims listed in the bankruptcy filing stemmed from Brown School's operations in
Harris County. Most of the lawsuits were brought by former residents of the
company's residential treatment programs, not their school operations, Hetzel
said.
Hector Garza Juvenile
Detention Center
San Antonio, Texas
Cornell Companies
June 15, 2008 San Antonio Express-News
Sergio Fernández would rather not sound conspiratorial, but he has a hard time
explaining why, despite an existing agreement, the federal government no longer
sends detained immigrants to his San Antonio youth center. Though it's open for
business, the four-story, 12-acre Hector Garza Residential Treatment Center near
U.S. 281 and Loop 1604 on the North Side sits empty. Its last two residents left
nearly two weeks ago. He hasn't been given an official explanation, but
Fernández, the center's director, surmised it may have something to do with a
lawsuit filed against him, his staff and his corporate parent by eight minors
formerly housed at the center who claimed they suffered physical abuse and
neglect. The center is privately owned and operated by Abraxas Youth and Family
Services, the juvenile division of Houston-based corrections giant Cornell. The
121-bed center, a former psychiatric hospital, houses youths under state and
federal contracts. The agreement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services is to temporarily oversee as many as 30 unauthorized immigrant minors
pending their release or deportation. A spokesman for the federal agency did not
return messages for comment on why immigrant youths — whose average stay is two
to three months — are no longer sent to the center. The agency has also failed
to respond to repeated requests in the past three months for tours and access to
staff and residents of Hector Garza and other centers in the San Antonio area.
Unlike other HHS-contracted “shelters” or dormitory-style campuses, the Hector
Garza center is designated “staff secure” because it's a more restrictive
setting meant to handle problematic youngsters. The lawsuit, filed in federal
court in San Antonio in April, came as a result of a brawl between center
residents and staff in February. Staffers called police to help quell the
mayhem, which concluded with four minors under arrest. According to the suit,
filed by Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, excessive violence used by staff and police
symbolized incessant abuse that minors reported to supervisors to no avail.
State and federal officials are accused of covering up abuse reports. Fernández
said the allegations are ludicrous and malicious — legal and political
maneuvering meant to buy minors more time for their immigration cases while
making a for-profit juvenile detention business look bad. “They don't have one
shred of evidence,” Fernández said Thursday while giving a reporter a tour of
the center. “We're looking forward to seeing this through to be fully
vindicated.” Though he couldn't discuss details of the February fracas for legal
reasons, he already claimed victory after a state investigation cleared the
center of abuse or neglect. The report from the Texas Department of Family and
Protective Services faulted staffers for failing to remove one minor checking
out the fight — a citation Fernández is appealing — but found no other
violations. Pointing to cameras and microphones in the ceiling in the hallway
where the clash took place, Fernández remained confident he'll win the suit
because the fight was recorded. The three residential floors are split into two
wings to separate resident populations — immigrant youngsters cannot have
contact with youths housed under other contracts. Rooms have two single beds and
a bathroom, and doors must remain open except during the day, when staff lock
them while minors attend classes taught by the John H. Wood Jr. Charter School.
Residential wings have classrooms, lounges with seascapes painted by the
youngsters and laundry rooms — residents are encouraged, though not obliged, to
wash their own clothes, Fernández said. The first floor has an intake area and
cafeteria, while outside are picnic tables, a pool, a small soccer field and a
12-foot steel “no-climb” fence that replaced another barrier over which five
minors had jumped to flee — three were caught. Fernández said overzealous
lawyers preyed on minors' survival instincts, prompting them to sue the center.
Staff and residents had cordial and even amiable relations before lawyers began
showing up, he lamented. “Sometimes we feel like a pawn in a bigger issue,” he
said. “But we're not about whether government policies are right or wrong. We're
about providing a safe environment for the kids — that's it.”
May 16, 2008 CBS News
A new lawsuit filed against a private contractor who runs an immigrant child
detention center claims nine teenagers were beaten and abused by employees who
work for Cornell Companies. The company has been cited by immigration officials
for safety problems in the past. The Hector Garza facility in San Antonio
handles young immigrant “males with serious behavioral and psychological
impairments”. “I think the general American has no idea these kids even exist,”
said Susan Watson, Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid attorney for the nine plaintiffs,
“When our own government treats them this way, they deserve their day in court,”
she said. The plaintiffs claim they notified authorities of multiple beatings
but no action was taken. One of the plaintiffs is described in court documents
as a 16-year-old Honduran male identified as C.C. Arriving at the border alone,
C.C. was put into custody for a week by Border Patrol agents. He was later
transferred to the Hector Garza Center, where court filings claim a teacher
“severely battered C.C. punching and kicking him, then beating him with a chair
as he lay on the floor.” Lawsuit filings claim C.C. conveyed this to the
authorities but nothing was done. A week later, court documents indicate C.C.
came to the defense of another child who was being beaten. C.C. was hit again,
this time losing consciousness and ended up in the hospital, according to the
civil complaint. A spokesperson for Cornell Companies, Charles Seigel, says the
company strongly denies any abuse, “Every complaint has been investigated by the
company as well as by the state…and none of these have ever found any evidence
of anything that can back up the charges.” Seigel said there was a time when one
of the teenagers went to the hospital but said it was due to injuries from a
fight between the detainees, not from an abusive teacher. This is not the first
time Cornell Companies has been accused of safety problems. In September, the
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency pulled all 600 detainees
from an Albuquerque jail run by Cornell. ICE spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said the
agency, “had great concern over the health, safety and security of our detainees
in the facility” but would not provide any more detail. News reports at the time
described a dirty, crowded facility with excessive heat and poor medical
conditions. Nantel said the agency terminated its memorandum of understanding
with the company this winter. The Hector Garza San Antonio facility that
contracted with the federal Office of Refugee and Resettlement (ORR) opened one
month after ICE pulled their detainees from Cornell Companies’ care. The Office
of Refugee Resettlement declined all comment citing the pending litigation.
Cornell Companies is just one of the companies that manages 36 ORR facilities
nationwide. Documentation of care for immigrant detainee children in these
detention centers across the country is poor according to a March, 2008 report
from the Inspector General for Health and Human Services. The report found,
based on a sampling of case files, that more than half lacked one or more
required assessments for the children. Half did not contain education records
and more than half did not include notes from counseling sessions. Auditors say
this left it unclear whether children were receiving services at all.
Holden Wal-Mart
Holden, Texas
Group 4
August 28, 2006 Tyler Morning Telegraph
Just days before jury selection was scheduled to begin on Tuesday, Wal-Mart
settled a wrongful death lawsuit for an undisclosed amount with the parents of
Megan LeAnn Holden, a clerk who was kidnapped from the Tyler supercenter's
parking lot and murdered. Attorneys for Ms. Holden's parents, Sheri Kay Dunlap
and James Vincent Holden, said the terms of the Wal-Mart settlement were
confidential. The Wackenhut Corp, which provided security for the store, was
also named in the lawsuit and settled for $1.3 million, according to court
records. Ms. Dunlap, "would like to see this as a beginning to Wal-Mart making
its parking lots safer for its customers and employees, not just in Tyler, but
everywhere," said her attorney, John "Rusty" Phenix, of Henderson. Jury
selection for the case was scheduled to begin in U.S. District Judge T. John
Ward's Marshall court Tuesday, but, on Friday, Phenix sent a letter to the court
announcing the sealed settlement. Attorney Randell "Randy" Roberts, of Tyler,
said his client, Holden, was "very glad to have this entire matter behind him."
Ms. Holden was abducted Jan. 19, 2005, from the Wal-Mart Supercenter by Johnny
Lee Williams Jr., who pleaded guilty last year to capital murder - kidnapping,
sexually assaulting, strangling and shooting to death Ms. Holden to death before
he allegedly discarded her body in a West Texas ditch. He also pleaded guilty to
aggravated robbery and was sentenced to five stacked life sentences.
Surveillance footage released by law enforcement showed Williams following Ms.
Holden to her pickup in the Wal-Mart parking lot, rushing up behind her, shoving
her into the vehicle and driving off. Before the abduction, the video showed a
security guard talking to the suspect.
Hood County Juvenile
Detention Center
Hood County, Texas
Management and Training Corporation
February 1, 2006 Hood County News
The now abandoned county juvenile detention center drew attention from two
county judge candidates at the political forum Monday night for candidates in
the March 7 Republican primary. Precinct 2 county commissioner Charles Baskett
placed the blame on county judge Andy Rash for the loss of $837,00 in operating
expenses at the juvenile detention center (JDC). Rash countered that the county
inherited the JDC problem and took action to try and protect their credit
rating. In addition to Baskett and incumbent judge Rash, former Granbury mayor
Rick Frye is also seeking election to the position of county judge. Baskett said
the juvenile detention center was built by an outside contractor, who then
leased the facility to the county. The county then sub-leased the facility to
MTC, the company that ran the facility as a JDC for about a year. “At the end of
a year, they had lost $1.2 million. They (MTC) cancelled their lease with the
county and left town,” Baskett said. “I tried to find someone to come back in to
run the facility as a JDC. No one was interested. They couldn’t make the numbers
work. “Then the juvenile board came up with a budget, and it was put on the
commissioners’ court agenda to determine whether Hood County should run the
facility.” Baskett contends the center was supposed to be run by a private
enterprise, and that the county had no business getting involved in managing the
center. “It was a 3-2 vote to run the center on our own. We had no obligation to
do it,” Baskett said. “We ran it for a few months and lost $837,000 before we
had to discontinue. We held the lease. We could have given it up. “They said
they were worried about losing our bond rating, and that’s why we should
continue to operate the facility. We lost it (bond rating) anyway. “We should
have never tried to run that facility ourselves. Now our bond rating is BBB.”
“Had we terminated our lease and not attempted to operate, both Standard and
Poor, and Moody threatened to lower our bond rating to BBB-,” he said.
Horizon Detention Complex
(Intermediate Sanction Facility & Multipurpose Facility)
Horizon City, Texas
Avalon
April 17, 2003
A proposal to replace sex offenders with other inmates at the El Paso Multi-Use
Facility in Horizon City was met with outrage by the community at a public
meeting Wednesday evening. Next year, Avalon would like to change the
terms of the contract and stop housing paroled sex offenders, in favor of
pre-parolees of various backgrounds. "Even murderers?" exclaimed Horizon
resident Brenda Carroll. "When they started, we were told it was going to
be white-collar crimes; not it's sex offenders and, what? Murderers? Our
kids are the ones playing hide-and-seek around here." (El Paso Times)
March 9, 2002
The El Paso County Sheriff's Department responded to a call of a possibly
dangerous escaped prisoner in Horizon City Thursday night, but deputies had to
wait about 45 minutes before prison officials would give them useful information
to start a manhunt, the Sheriff's Department said. He said he understood that if
prison officials suspect that a prisoner has escaped, they first follow prison
procedures before contacting the Sheriff's Department. But in this case, he
said, someone in the prison called the Sheriff's Department before the prison
was ready to give information to the deputies. When deputies arrived, they had
to wait for the prison to finish its escapee procedure. "A whole 45 minutes went
by before we could do our jobs," Apodaca said. Southern Corrections, a
subsidiary of Avalon Correctional Services of Oklahoma City, runs the
Intermediate Sanction Facility under contract with the West Texas Community
Supervision and Corrections Department. (El Paso Times)
September 3, 2001
Few people can blame Horizon City residents for being concerned about safety in
the wake of two inmate escapes in June. The company in charge of these
private facilities is challenged to assuage resident's fears with an improved
safety performance. The two facilities near Horizon are privately
operated. The jury is still out on the state's, and in fact the nation's,
experiment with private companies operating prisons and detention facilities.
In the bigger picture, taxpayers are left to wonder if these facilities truly
are as secure as state-operated prisons. (El Paso Times)
August 29, 2001
When two men escaped within one week in June from the private detention centers
near Horizon City, officials said both were freak incidents in a well-run
system. But several former inmates of both centers, one a combination
minimum-security prison and halfway house for parole violators and one a guarded
halfway house for probation violators, said escapes were commonplace and just
one of many problems. During their incarceration, they said, escaping was
easy, as residents took advantage of guard staffing shortages and the centers'
reliance on security cameras to slip away undetected. Avalon arrived in
Horizon City in the early 1990s, part of the trend to shift responsibility for
inmates from public to private prisons. By cutting back on staff pay rates
or replacing positions with surveillance equipment, the private prisons were
able to cut the costs of housing residents. As residents lined up for
their medication or meals, they would pass time by studying the televisions that
displayed the camera footage used in lieu of live guards. Residents
quickly discovered the dead spots that surveillance cameras did not cover, Estes
and other former residents said. Allegations of intimidation from gangs,
mistreatment by guards and a lack of response to the complaints filed about such
issues were among the list of residents' complaints. Residents attributed
most of the problems to a staff they called inexperienced and underpaid.
County probation officials, who pay the centers to house some of their probation
violators, acknowledged that the $7-an-hour rate for guards leads to frequent
turnover and constant retraining. Avalon officials acknowledged the high
turnover rate, Smith said. But before the company can increase guard pay,
the facilities have to increase occupancy rates to become more profitable.
"That's just something a private company is going to have to deal with," Smith
said. "They won't be able to pay what states do. We save taxpayers
money by charging lower per diem." (El Paso Times)
June 28, 2001
Two men escaped from a Horizon minimum-security detention complex within the
past three days -- one after climbing a wall and separating razor wire with his
bare hands, the second by simply walking away. The first escapee, Floyd
Ray Smith Jr., escaped Monday and was arrested Wednesday in his hometown of
Kerrville, Texas, about 500 miles away. The second escapee, Lloyd Jacquez,
left the detention complex shortly before 5 a.m. Wednesday and was still
missing. The escapees were residents of a pair of minimum-security
detention facilities on Horizon Boulevard a few miles outside the limits of
Horizon City. One of the buildings is the Intermediate Sanction Facility
and home to about 100 probation violators. Next door is the Multipurpose
Facility, which houses 229 parole violators, including 26 sex offenders.
Southern Corrections, a subsidiary of Avalon Correctional Services of Oklahoma
City, runs both facilities under contract with the Texas Department of Criminal
Justice and the El Paso Probation Department. Smith had about eight hours
to get away before facility officials noticed his absence during a head count
conducted about 2 p.m., Lopez said. Six hours later, shortly after 8 p.m.,
complex officials notified the Sheriff's Department. Private detention
complexes usually do not notify local officials immediately when inmates escape,
as opposed to escapees from public prisons, officials of the Sheriff's
Department said. (El Paso Times)
Houston, Texas
Federal Bureau of Prisons
November 22, 2004 Houston Chronicle
Companies are scouting for sites to build a 190-bed federal halfway house, but
residents of the neighborhood where it could be built might not get to air their
thoughts at a public hearing. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons does not require such
hearings, and federal agencies are not bound by a Texas law that mandates such
hearings be held before state-funded halfway houses open. Victor Trevino,
constable of Precinct 6, where one company had proposed building the halfway
house, said Monday: "Any involvement of government, whether it is federal, state
or HISD — they definitely should have a responsibility to inform its citizens."
Bannum, a New Port Richey, Fla.-based company that runs 13 federal halfway
houses nationwide, has informed the county that it will bid on the contract, but
it has not disclosed the sites it is considering. Bannum officials did not
return calls. Commissioner Lee, whose precinct includes the Lee Road location,
said Correctional Systems should have done better research and should have been
in a position to explain why it was recommending three or four sites to county
officials. Companies and public agencies "site these facilities where they'll
find the least resistance and the cheapest land costs," he said.
Houston County School District
Houston, Texas
Community Education Partners
May 7, 2008 Creative Loafing
Patti Welch was living in Douglasville when she went through a divorce last
year. Atlanta was her chance to start over. Weary of her one-hour, 20-minute
commute to the northside law office where she works as a paralegal, Welch found
a duplex in the West End only 20 minutes from her job. But the move also was
about her 15-year-old son, Patrick. He was a smart kid, a B student entering the
10th grade. But he'd gotten into fights. One took place just off school grounds
and involved several kids, so officials labeled it "gang-related." That meant
Patrick would be sent to Douglas County's alternative school. Even though she
was confident her son wasn't in a gang, Welch didn't bother to appeal the school
district's decision. She thought an alternative school might help him. And she
hoped the 10 days Patrick spent in jail after his last fight would serve as a
wake-up call. Welch knew her son would be sent to an alternative school when
they moved to Atlanta. But she thought it would be temporary. Instead, officials
told her that because Patrick had a gang-related fight on his record, he'd never
be allowed to enroll in a regular school in Atlanta. She tried to make the best
of it. When told he'd be sent to Forrest Hill Academy, she looked at her son and
forced a smile. "Wow," she said hopefully. "They're putting you in an academy."
Six months later, Patrick became one of eight student plaintiffs in a class
action lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union's Racial Justice
Program in New York City. The suit alleges that Forrest Hill – which is operated
by a for-profit company called Community Education Partners – is little more
than a pathway to prison for Atlanta's unwanted students. "It would be a stretch
to even call this a school," says Reggie Shuford, an attorney with the ACLU's
Racial Justice Program in New York. "There is little to no academic instruction,
and its students are treated like criminals. It is nothing more than a
warehouse, largely for poor children of color." The ACLU contends that Forrest
Hill students, 97 percent of whom are African-American, spend most of their days
filling out worksheets, for which they get no feedback. According to state
figures, nine out of 10 students at the school are unable to pass the
standardized state test for math proficiency. The figures also show that Forrest
Hill is the most violent school in Atlanta. "It is a national disgrace that the
Atlanta school system has handed over its constitutional responsibility to a
private, for-profit corporation," says Emily Chiang, the case's lead lawyer.
Forrest Hill wasn't quite the academy that Patti Welch had hoped for. The idea
of putting problem children into an "alternative school" is a recent phenomenon
in the world of education. Before a federal law that took effect in 1978, public
schools had no legal requirement to provide education to special needs kids. If
a child was violent, or continually disrupted the class, schools could kick him
or her out. When the law took away that option, teachers and school systems
faced the chore of trying to tame disruptive students. The trend of taking those
kids out of regular classrooms and putting them into "alternative" schools began
to take hold. That practice quickly led to allegations that some systems – under
increasing pressure to churn out higher scores on standardized tests – were
simply "warehousing" their undesirable students, out of sight and out of mind.
"Those schools weren't about education, but just getting through the day," says
Eric Freeman, assistant professor of educational policy studies at Georgia State
University. "Those were the 'expendable kids.' It's no longer acceptable to have
schools where kids are warehoused, but we still have a long way to go." When it
was founded in 1996, Community Education Partners touted itself as a way to get
expendable kids back into the mainstream. From the start, however, there were
indications CEP's considerable political weight was as responsible for its rise
as were its education programs. CEP was formed in Nashville by four men with
heavy Republican connections.CEO Randle Richardson, was chairman of the
Tennessee Republican Party from 1992 to 1995 and oversaw a 1994 electoral sweep
in which Bill Frist and Fred Thompson won Senate seats and Don Sundquist was
elected governor. Another co-founder, John Danielson, would become chief of
staff for Education Secretary Rod Paige under George W. Bush. One of the initial
investors, Tom Beasley, had chaired the Tennessee GOP before Richardson did.
Beasley also founded the Corrections Corporation of America, which runs
privatized prisons. Founded in 1984, CCA has grown to become the sixth-largest
prison system in the country – trailing only the U.S. Bureau of Prisons and four
states. But the company also has faced criticism for understaffing, high
turnover and lax security. According to a 1999 state audit, neglect of medical
care and security at CCA facilities in Georgia amounted to "borderline
deliberate indifference." The two companies – CCA and CEP – have turned out to
share some parallels. Both had business plans that relied on obtaining contracts
to operate government services. Both were started in Nashville by major
Republican Party players. And both went to Texas to make their mark. Texas was a
natural entry point for CEP. In 1995, George W. Bush had become governor, and
his administration was brimming with ideas to reform schools. The bundle of
changes would be touted during Bush's 2000 presidential run as the "Texas
Miracle." In that environment, George Scott, president of a Texas nonprofit
education reform group, helped CEP gain a foothold. "I got pulled into it by the
former superintendent for the Houston school department," Scott says. "It's a
sinister manipulation of reality to say that public education is meeting its
constitutional and moral obligation to these children; we throw at-risk kids
into alternative centers and forget about them. Then along came a company that
said it was going to do something different." Scott says he first used his
political connections to help the company land a contract to take over the
education services at a juvenile detention center. He was impressed by CEP's
pitch that its methods could help problem children get up to speed academically
so they go back to mainstream schools. "You have kids in the ninth grade who
can't do fractions," Scott says. "If a kid is in the ninth grade but is at the
fifth-grade level, giving them an algebra book is useless. Under this program,
we would start them at the level where they are at, and build from there. CEP
promised two years of academic growth for every year a student was in their
school." In 1997, Scott says, he used his relationship with Paige, then
Houston's school superintendent, to help CEP land its first public school
contract. Under the future education secretary's stewardship, the Houston
Independent School District was becoming a cradle of the so-called Texas
Miracle. Paige had put a system in place that held individual principals
accountable for dropout rates and test scores. Then, the district signed a $17.9
million contract to turn the education of as many as 2,500 children to CEP.
Initially, the corporation hired Carl Shaw – who was the former chairman of the
Texas Education Agency's assessment committee – to develop an independent test
to grade the progress of the CEP students. "I will never forget the day the
school board approved the CEP contract," Scott says. "Randle Richardson and I
were walking out of the building and I told him that not all the kids in this
are going to make two [years of progress] in one. But that is going to be your
strength. You'll say that you're being held accountable for the program." Before
CEP's contract with Houston took effect, however, the first test results from
the juvenile detention facility came back. Scott recalls that they showed the
students weren't making much progress – some had even regressed. CEP blamed the
test, and fired Shaw. Richardson disputes that account. He says Scott let his
friendship with Shaw intrude on his judgment and that the scores showed 20
student inmates had regressed in math but that most had made great progress. His
own expert looked at the test and determined it was flawed, an opinion seconded
by the Texas Education Agency. Whether it was over a principle or a friendship,
the incident left Scott with strong feelings about CEP. He now says the one
thing he's most ashamed of in his professional life is helping the company get
into the Texas schools. The absence of Shaw's test, he says, left the company
devoid of the very thing that had attracted him to the concept in the first
place: accountability. Instead, Scott says, CEP began to cull its political
connections. A sitting Houston school board member was hired as a consultant.
Sandy Kress, who later authored Bush's No Child Left Behind program, was hired
as a lobbyist. And when the company opened the campus of its first alternative
school, in Houston in 1997, former President George H.W. Bush was at the opening
ceremony to offer his endorsement. "They put together a very powerful,
politically juiced operation in Texas," Scott says. CEP followed its Houston
deal with a five-year, $10 million-a-year contract in Dallas. Then, it moved on
to Florida and Philadelphia. And all along it followed a familiar pattern: It
hired well-connected lobbyists to sell the program and courted elected officials
with generous campaign contributions. CEP claimed it had found the key to
educating a student population that was thought to be beyond help. The schools
used a computer-based education program called PLATO that CEP said enables
students to quickly catch up to their age level in reading and math skills. The
company was swept up in the middle of what became a nationwide education reform
movement. Bush campaigned for the presidency heralding his "Texas Miracle" of
low dropout rates and high test scores. When he was elected, he named Paige to
his Cabinet and pushed through Congress the No Child Left Behind Act, which
instituted high achievement goals for the nation's public schools. But even as
it rode the wave of its association with Bush's education changes, CEP became a
target of criticism. Some parents complained of prison-like conditions inside
CEP schools. Others claimed CEP was, in reality, doing little more than
warehousing problem students. There were official rebukes as well. An internal
evaluation in Dallas found that "the model of education provided by [CEP] was
untenable." "The reliance on non-certified teachers for the bulk of the student-
teacher interaction was useful for the company to save money, but was not a
design in the best interest of the students," the report went on to say.
"Students who attended Community Education Partners did not do very well
academically." CEP had even refused to provide its budget data to the school
district, the report said, which made it impossible to know just how it was
spending the money it received. In 2002, the Dallas school system fired CEP. By
then, however, the company was developing its relationship with a new customer:
Atlanta. It's unclear exactly how CEP came to acquire a $6.9 million contract to
open an alternative school in Atlanta. Richardson says the school system
contacted the company in 2001. Citing the pending ACLU lawsuit, Atlanta school
officials won't even talk about CEP. At the time the contract was signed,
Atlanta officials brushed aside concerns already brewing in Dallas. They cited a
"task force" report that supposedly recommended the district privatize its
alternative schools; when the AJC requested a copy of that report, however,
school officials said they couldn't find one. It didn't take long for concerns
to crop up in Atlanta. In August 2002, CEP opened its alternative school in
temporary quarters at the old Archer High School. Parents of some of the
students attended the Rev. Darryl Winston's southeast Atlanta church. "We were
hearing allegations of mistreatment and a prison environment," says Winston,
president of the Greater American Ministerial Council. "We met with the staff,
and they admitted that 90 percent of what we described had to do with the
building. The Archer High School campus was extremely chaotic. They told us the
building did not give us an accurate picture of what the program was about." CEP
even flew Winston and other community leaders to Houston to tour their schools
there. "We were impressed by what we saw," he says. The company assured Winston
the problem was that the Atlanta school had yet to find a permanent location.
The company prefers a specific design for its schools. Kids are segregated into
male and female classes, and the classes are isolated inside pods within the
building. "In school, kids get in trouble in the hallway or the cafeteria or
going to the restrooms," says Anthony Edwards, a CEP vice president. "So we
control that. There are restrooms and water fountains in each of the common
areas. It eliminates movement. Kids get in trouble when they're moving." Three
properties had already been identified, but each was scuttled by community
opposition to an alternative school in the neighborhood. CEP asked for Winston's
patience, and he was willing to give the benefit of the doubt. Meanwhile, the
company did what it could to strengthen its political ties in Atlanta. When
school board members faced re-election in 2005, CEP and its executives gave
money in four races. According to Fulton County records, Randle Richardson made
a $250 contribution to Mark Riley, who easily won re-election. He also
contributed $500 to Brenda Muhammad, a former board member who ran successfully
to regain a seat. CEP's chief financial officer, Phil Baggett, contributed
another $250 to Muhammad. CEP was more generous in two other contests:
Richardson and Baggett each made three separate contributions to incumbent Eric
Wilson that totaled $2,000, and newcomer Yolanda Johnson received a total of
$2,500. Although Georgia law requires candidates to list the occupations and
employers of their contributors on their disclosure forms, none of the school
board candidates did that for the CEP executives. Muhammad says she had no idea
Richardson and Baggett were CEP executives until CL told her. "If they were
standing in front of me, I wouldn't know them," she says. "No campaign
contribution will influence me from making my decisions based on the best
interest of the children of Atlanta." Riley also said he was unaware that
Richardson led CEP. "That's a little embarrassing," he says. "I make a point of
never accepting contributions from vendors. I've even returned checks before."
Six months after the school board began its new term, it extended CEP's contract
to 2009. When school opened in August, Patti Welch and her son got their first
look at Forrest Hill. Welch went through a 90-minute orientation, where the
rules of the school were laid out. Patrick wasn't to bring anything onto campus
that was considered contraband. The list included watches, jewelry, purses,
combs, brushes, keys and money in excess of $5. Paper and pens weren't allowed
either; the school would provide everything that was needed, even tampons for
female students. Patrick would go through a metal detector each morning and be
patted down by a security guard to ensure he didn't have weapons or drugs.
Backpacks weren't allowed, and books couldn't be taken home. In fact, there was
no homework for Forrest Hill students. Patrick went through a weeklong
orientation that included tests on the PLATO computer system to determine where
he stood academically. On his first day, he sent his mother a text message:
"This school is so bad." He found the lessons boring. He complained that the
teacher would simply put an assignment on the board; then the kids would be
expected to do it on their own. Once the students were finished, they were given
crossword puzzles to fill out. "Patrick found it totally uninteresting and
totally unmotivating," Welch says. "He kept sending me text messages, and I
didn't believe him. He started missing days, so I went up there." What Welch saw
alarmed her. The building was new and well-maintained, but the pods where
students were segregated reminded her of a jail. "There's one steel door to the
classroom, no windows. It looked like a mini-prison." Not long after that, she
heard the ACLU wanted to interview parents with children at Forrest Hill Academy
for a potential lawsuit. Welch decided to talk to the organization. Two years
ago, a special education lawyer in Atlanta called the ACLU and suggested they
investigate the CEP school in Atlanta. "As soon as we began to scratch the
surface, we were so outraged by what we found," says the ACLU's Chiang. "The
standardized test scores are really shocking. No one was passing." State
statistics show the school has made few strides toward improving its students'
academic standing. According to state Department of Education figures from the
2006-07 school year, 91 percent of CEP's students failed the state's assessment
test in mathematics; 66 percent failed the reading portion. In its latest
contract with Atlanta, CEP agreed to a performance goal of making measurable
progress in 31 categories for the 2005-06 school year, based primarily on
results from the state's Criterion Referenced Competency tests. Of those
categories, six couldn't be measured because there were too few students
enrolled to get a proper study group, and CEP students showed improvement in 11
from the previous year. But in 13 categories, the students tested worse. In the
final category – ninth grade physical science – there was no change: 100 percent
of the students failed both years. "They cannot deny their standardized test
scores are abysmal," Chiang says. Shirley Kilgore, a former Washington High
School principal in Atlanta who now consults for CEP, counters that it's unfair
to evaluate the program based on state tests. "Students in an alternative
program are transient," she says. "We had a girl come in here last week. She's
been here a matter of days, but her score belongs to us. Some of these students
taking the tests have not been with us for any length of time." Richardson, the
company's CEO, points out that almost 90 percent of students sent to Forrest
Hill are at least two grade levels behind in reading and mathematics: "You
wouldn't pass it either, if you're reading at the fourth grade level and you're
taking a ninth grade competency test." The ACLU claims the heart of the problem
is that Forrest Hill cuts corners when it comes to academics. The teachers don't
teach, Chiang says, but instead hand out worksheets for the students to fill
out. She also notes that CEP has a practice of hiring inexperienced teachers.
According to state figures, the average level of experience of the teaching
staff at Forrest Hill is less than a year. Kilgore, the CEP consultant, argues
that few quality teachers want to work at an alternative school. "They are
either committed to making a difference," she says, "or else a new teacher
starting out." But at least one other alternative school attracts far more
senior teachers: The average level of experience at Fulton County's McClarin
Alternative School is 19 years. The ACLU also alleges that students often are
manhandled by the school's staff, that teachers have even thrown textbooks at
the children in their rooms. CEP denies there is any student mistreatment.
"Inexperienced teachers are a recipe for problems," says GSU's Freeman. "These
kinds of schools are special places and full of a challenging population of
kids." Most of CEP's teachers aren't instructing in their fields of expertise
either. According to state records, of the 76 total core classes taught at
Forrest Hill, only 45 percent are taught by "highly qualified" teachers – those
who have majored in the subject they teach. The statewide average is 96 percent.
"We're very deeply concerned, especially in an alternative school setting where
you need highly-qualified educators to work with the children," says Georgia
Association of Educators President Jeff Hubbard, whose group has lobbied against
privatizing schools. "We don't think students should be put in a situation where
a company is trying to make a profit off their education." CEP says it spends
$9,300 per student compared with $12,406 per pupil for the rest of the students
in Atlanta's public school system. The company contends the school saves money
because it doesn't have to offer such activities as sports or music programs
that are required in regular school programs. But Freeman's skeptical. While the
savings sound efficient, he stresses that, in education, you generally get what
you pay for: "These kids need a lot; they're needy kids. You need to spend more
money on them than typical schools. If they are spending less, I'd want to know
why it costs less to educate a student with exceptional needs. Where are they
saving money? What are they subtracting and is it good? Are they saving money by
hiring less experienced teachers who have no training in dealing with these
kids?" Freeman is careful to say he hasn't studied Forrest Hill enough to make
an ironclad assessment. But, he says, "I know people who teach in alternative
schools. It's not an easy environment. It usually requires very special teachers
who can work with those kids. It's a big challenge." The Rev. Darryl Winston is
angry that he sees many of the same issues raised in the ACLU lawsuit that led
him to confront CEP officials four years ago. And his anger isn't just directed
at the company. "We need a statement from Superintendent Beverly Hall that she
takes these allegations seriously and that the APS is looking into them," he
says. "All we got was a statement from the press person that amounted to kind of
'dismissing' it. I've been told as recently as last week that the APS position
is to wait and see what comes out in court." What especially frustrates him is
that no one who isn't behind the walls at Forrest Hill can really know what's
going on there. "CEP has denied every one of the charges, but there's no way to
verify that," Winston says. "We need experts. I've called on the board of
education to launch its own investigation and see if the charges are true. If
they can't, they need a task force appointed by the governor to see what is
going on at CEP." As far back as Houston, CEP officials have had to deal with
complaints that the company's performance needed to be evaluated by independent
parties. "We want to be held accountable for attendance and behavior and
academics," insists CEP's Anthony Edwards. "It's very important to us that we
are a standards-based program." CEP claims students who attended Forrest Hill in
the 2006-07 school year were, on average, performing math and reading on the
third-grade level when they arrived. The school claims that students who were at
the school for at least 150 days made remarkable progress: an increase of 3.2
grade levels in reading and four years in math. Under its Atlanta contract,
however, CEP both administers and grades those tests. There's no independent
verification of the results, but longtime educators say making those kinds of
academic strides in one year is virtually impossible. For a certain percentage
of students who are highly motivated, yes, it can be done; for an entire student
population, unlikely. "Kids with emotional and behavioral problems don't do well
in school," Freeman says. "And kids aren't just going to snap to and start
learning." Chiang says lack of progress on standardized tests make it clear the
PLATO test scores are skewed. Students have told the ACLU that they take the
PLATO tests unsupervised and can ask each other for the answers they don't know.
"CEP claims a pronounced spike in the test scores, but we believe it is because
of PLATO," she says. "In reality, there's no teaching going on." Edwards
downplays PLATO's results. "We are not judged by these," he says. "It's just a
mechanism, a diagnostic tool. The student is given a grade level of
functionality." But the contract with the Atlanta school system says that
Forrest Hill's success or failure will be measured by a combination of results
from PLATO tests and state standardized tests. In addition, if a student who
attends CEP for at least 120 days doesn't show growth in reading and mathematics
of at least one year on the PLATO system, the contract mandates that CEP must
educate that student at no additional cost to the school district until he or
she has reached that level. Patti Welch says her son continues to struggle at
Forrest Hill, and has missed extended stretches of school because he doesn't
want to be there. But she says his disciplinary problems now seem to be behind
him. She plans to take him out of the alternative school at the end of the year;
she wants to home-school him. But ACLU lawyers say the federal lawsuit – which
names the school system, board members and CEP as defendants – is about more
than just eight kids in one school. It cuts to the heart of a public school's
responsibilities to kids who are in the margins, and it raises questions about
the risks of privatizing public education. "We see it as a broader national
problem, the trend of privatization of government functions and warehousing kids
in a school-to-prison pipeline," Chiang says. For the students at Forrest Hill,
it's also about not being forgotten by the officials who sent them there. "The
problem is that Atlanta didn't build in an adequate system for oversight and
evaluation," Freeman says. "You want it written into the contract to have a good
program evaluation. It's got to be done by people who know how to do it, people
not connected to the school department or CEP so there's no conflict of
interest." Freeman says there should be an annual independent review of Forrest
Hill. Evaluators would go into the school, see the teaching methods, and
interview students and teachers and the administrators. "I hope the CEP school
is investigated by people who know what they're doing," he says. "There are good
questions to ask, and they deserve good answers. The school can't answer those
question, they can only provide the information. Somebody else has to be the
evaluator."
Houston Independent School
District
Houston, Texas
Aramark
June 10, 2002
In a bold vote in
1997, the Houston Independent
School District
privatized the management of its massive food
services program
amid a politically charged fight for the
lucrative contract.
Part of then-Superintendent Rod Paige's
much-touted reform aimed
at focusing district energies on education rather
than business, this
battle was mostly about money. When the dust
settled, Aramark, a
Philadelphia-based powerhouse in a joint venture
with the local
Quality Concession Foods, won the five-year
contract.
On Thursday, HISD trustees will vote on whether
to continue with
the Aramark team, the sole bidder.
But once again the contract has sparked political
fire, this time from
state Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Houston, who
contends Hispanics, the
city's largest ethnic group, have not gotten an
equitable piece of the
action.
During the four years of the food services
management contract,
says Gallegos, African-American firms were paid
more than $3.7
million. The bulk of that went to Quality
Concession, an MWBE
owned by Darryl King, a former chairman of the
Houston Area
Urban League, to help manage food services. Only
$15,000 went to
a Hispanic firm.
The sole $15,000 Hispanic contract he cites in
the letter went to his
longtime political consultant and ally, Marc
Campos. The services
rendered: Campos lobbied for Aramark when it
sought the contract
in 1997.
Campos since has been dropped. But Aramark and
King are in the
midst of hiring Powersól Communications,
state-certified MWBE
owned by Hector Careño and Frank McCune to
internally market
the free and subsidized lunch program to students
and their parents.
"I did what any entrepreneur would do," says
King. "I got myself
educated, followed the privatization story and
prepared myself for
the opportunity that was coming.
"I invited Aramark to partner with me. They
didn't come to town
and pick a politically connected black person." (The Houston Chronicle)
Houston Processing Center
Houston, Texas
CCA
July 21, 2010 Courthouse News
In a perfect immigration nightmare, a U.S. citizen claims the Department of
Homeland Security arrested her in her own home, imprisoned, threatened and
intimidated her and denied her food, water and medication unless she admitted
she was someone else. Then it deported her to Honduras, where she was
immediately imprisoned as an illegal alien, held in prison for 3 weeks and
sexually assaulted by "an officer of the Honduran government." Even after she
returned home, she says, U.S. immigration agents continue to harass her and
threaten to arrest her again. Diane Williams, 35, "a natural-born citizen of the
United States," claims she was arrested in her Houston home on Jan. 18, 2009, by
"a Special Agent of the Department of Homeland Security-Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (hereinafter 'ICE') by the name of Rolando Jimenez, and other
unidentified ICE agents." Williams says she showed the agents her Louisiana
birth certificate, but they arrested her anyway, and accused her of Angelique
Bethany Cortez Rodriguez, a citizen of Honduras. She claims the "ICE officers
made no attempt whatsoever to verify the plaintiff's claim to U.S. citizenship,"
but took her to the prison run by the Corrections Corporation of America, on a
contract with DHS. The agents did this though she "repeatedly informed the
arresting officers that she was a United States citizen and offered the names
and contact numbers of several family members who could confirm her identity,"
Williams says. Inside the CCA prison, Williams says, she was denied prescribed
medications for seizures, asthma and emotional disorders. She says that after 3
days she was allowed to take medication for asthmas and seizures, "but was
denied the medications for her emotional disorders by officials of the Public
Health Service." Also inside the prison, Williams says, she "was interviewed in
a hostile, threatening and aggressive manner by various ICE officers including
Rolando Jimenez, Tak Wong, and other unidentified officers." The complaint
continues: "She was awakened and interrogated in the middle of the night, denied
food and water, and held in holding cells at extremely low temperatures and
without functional plumbing for hours. "Plaintiff was told by Officer Rolando
Jimenez and Officer Tak Wong that she would be jailed for four years and still
deported if she refused to admit that she was 'Angelique Bethany Cortez
Rodriguez, and a citizen of Honduras." Afraid of spending 4 years in prison,
"and in an unstable mental state due to the denial of her medications," Williams
says she signed the statement. Three weeks later she was deported to Honduras.
"Plaintiff did not have legal representation at any point during this process,
and was effectively denied from seeking legal counsel due to her detention and
repeated placement in solitary confinement," she says. Nor did ICE follow the
proper procedure and ask the Honduran Consulate to verify her nationality -
which would have short-circuited her ordeal, she says. The complaint continues:
"Shortly after arrival in Honduras, plaintiff was arrested by officials of the
Honduran government as an alien and held in custody in that country for
approximately three weeks. "While detained by Honduran officials, she was denied
bathing facilities, slept on the floor, was fed irregularly and was sexually
assaulted by an officer of the Honduran government." Finally, 72 days after her
nightmare began, "On March 31, 2009, the U.S. Embassy in Honduras issued
plaintiff a U.S. passport after receiving her birth certificate from her family
in the United States and investigating to their satisfaction her claim to U.S.
citizenship. "She was given a loan by the U.S. Embassy in Honduras for half of
the purchase price of a ticket to the United States (her family paid the other
half), and returned legally to the United States through the Miami port of entry
on March 31, 2009. "After returning to the United States Plaintiff has been
subject to continuing harassment and abuse by officers acting under the
authority of ICE and other government agencies, in spite of demonstrating
evidence of her status as a citizen of the United States, including the
continued existence of an immigration warrant encouraging her arrest by any law
enforcement agency in the United States." (Parentheses in complaint.) Williams
seeks damages from the United States of America for negligence, false
imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, malicious
prosecution, abuse of process, assault and malpractice. She is represented by
Lawrence Rushton of Bellaire, Texas.
June 8, 2010 Houston Chronicle
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are preparing to roll out a
series of changes at several privately owned immigration detention centers,
including relaxing some security measures for low-risk detainees and offering
art classes, bingo and continental breakfast on the weekends. The changes,
detailed in an internal ICE e-mail obtained by the Houston Chronicle, were
welcomed by immigrant advocates who have been waiting for the Obama
administration to deliver on a promise made in August to overhaul the nation's
immigration detention system. The 28 changes identified in the e-mail range from
the superficial to the substantive. In addition to “softening the look of the
facility” with hanging plants and offering fresh carrot sticks, ICE will allow
for the “free movement” of low-risk detainees, expand visiting hours and provide
unmonitored phone lines. ICE officials said the changes are part of broader
efforts to make the immigration detention system less penal and more humane. But
the plans are prompting protests by ICE's union leaders, who say they will
jeopardize the safety of agents, guards and detainees and increase the bottom
line for taxpayers. Tre Rebstock, president for Local 3332, the ICE union in
Houston, likened the changes to creating “an all-inclusive resort” for
immigration detainees. “Our biggest concern is that someone is going to get
hurt,” he said, taking particular issue with plans to relax restrictions on the
movement of low-risk detainees and efforts to reduce and eliminate pat-down
searches. The changes outlined in the ICE e-mail are planned for nine detention
centers owned and operated by Corrections Corporation of America, including the
900-bed Houston Contract Detention Facility on the city's north side. Some of
the changes will be implemented within 30 days; others may take up to six
months, said Beth Gibson, ICE's senior counselor to Assistant Secretary John
Morton and a leader of the detention reform effort. Other major changes include:
• Eliminating lockdowns and lights-out for low-risk detainees. • Allowing
visitors to stay as long as they like in a 12-hour period. • Providing a unit
manger so detainees have someone to report problems to other than the guard. •
Allowing low-risk detainees to wear their own clothing or other non-penal
attire. • Providing e-mail access and Internet-based free phone service. Not
about punishment Gibson said the improvements are part of ICE's efforts to
detain immigrants in the least restrictive manner possible while ensuring they
leave the country if ordered to do so. “When people come to our custody, we're
detaining them to effect their removal,” Gibson said. “It's about deportation.
It's not about punishing people for a crime they committed.” ICE officials have
faced pressure from immigrant advocates and some members of Congress to improve
the detention conditions for the roughly 400,000 immigrants it houses annually.
The agency has relied on a hodgepodge of more than 250 government-run detention
centers, private prisons and local jails to accommodate its growing population —
with roughly one in four detainees held in Texas. At the CCA facilities that
have agreed to ICE's changes, detainees will see more variety in their dining
hall menus and have self-serve beverage and fresh vegetable bars. CCA also plans
to offer movie nights, bingo, arts and crafts, dance and cooking classes,
tutoring and computer training, the e-mail states. Detainees also will be
allowed four hours or more of recreation “in a natural setting, allowing for
robust aerobic exercise.” CCA also committed to improving the look of the
facilities, such as requiring plants, fresh paint and new bedding in lower-risk
units. Advocates pleased Some of the improvements offered at the CCA facilities
counted as hard-fought victories for immigrant advocates, including plans to
improve visitor and attorney access. “A lot of these measures are what we've
been advocating for,” said Lory Rosenberg, policy and advocacy director for
Refugee and Migrants' Rights for Amnesty International. “Many of these points
are very important to changing the system from a penal system, which is
inappropriate in an immigration context, to a civil detention system.” Union
members said they have concerns about the plans, primarily focusing on safety.
Rebstock said some detainees may be classified as low-risk because they have no
serious criminal history but still may be gang members that “haven't been caught
doing anything wrong yet.” He also said eliminating lockdowns will make it more
difficult to protect detainees from one another. He said reducing or eliminating
pat-down searches could allow contraband into the facilities, including weapons.
Gibson, with ICE, said the agency is developing a sophisticated classification
system and will make sure “that our detainees are still safe and sound.” “As a
general matter, it will be the non-criminals who don't present a danger to
anyone else who are benefitting from the lowest level of custody,” Gibson said.
‘On the taxpayers' dime' Rebstock also questioned the cost to taxpayers for the
changes. “My grandparents would have loved to have bingo night and a dance class
at the retirement home they were in when they passed away, but that was
something we would have had to pay for,” he said. “And yet these guys are
getting it on the taxpayers' dime.” Gibson said CCA is making the improvements
at no additional cost to ICE. The agency's contract with CCA for the Houston
detention center requires that ICE pay $99 per bed daily for each detainee,
slightly lower than the $102 average daily rate ICE pays nationally .
March 26, 2009 Houston Chronicle
If you were to stop on a street corner anywhere in America and knowingly
hire an illegal immigrant to do your laundry or clean your basement, you would
be breaking the law. But for years, the federal government has been paying
immigration detainees $1 a day to perform menial work in the nation’s public and
private detention centers. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials insist
there is no double standard, saying the Voluntary Work Program offers detainees
a break from the monotony of incarceration and a chance to earn money while they
are locked up. Rutgers University criminal justice professor Michael Welch
called the program a “paradox.” “It’s ironic that these undocumented immigrants
are barred from working legally in the community, but while behind bars, they
are not only allowed but encouraged to work for a dollar a day,” Welch said. ICE
officials have found an eager work force in their growing network of detention
centers, which house an estimated 400,000 immigrants annually. The agency does
not track participation in the work program on a national level, said ICE
spokesman Gregory Palmore, though more than 11,000 detainees participated last
fiscal year at one Houston detention center alone. Immigrant advocates offered
general support for the program, saying it at least gives detainees an
opportunity to pass the time by doing something other than sitting in a cell.
But the irony of the program is not lost on some. “Why can the U.S. government
hire undocumented immigrants? And not only hire them, but get a day’s work for a
dollar?” said Brittney Nystrom, senior legal advisor at the National Immigration
Forum, an immigrant advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C. “It really
is an absurdity.” ICE says program legal -- ICE officials say the program is
perfectly legal. There is no specific statute, regulation or executive order
authorizing the program, ICE said in a statement. The program “does not
constitute employment and is done by detainees on a voluntary basis for a small
stipend,” according to ICE. Nystrom had a hard time buying that legal
explanation, citing ICE’s own detention standards, which describe the program as
providing “monetary compensation for work completed.” “That sounds like
employment to me,” Nystrom said. Variety of jobs performed -- At Houston’s
Contract Detention Facility on the city’s north side, about 200 immigration
detainees are currently participating in the work program, performing jobs
including cleaning and washing dishes, laundry, and maintenance of the facility,
according to ICE. Others jobs include working as a barber and helping in the
medical clinic, law library or commissary. ICE officials said no detainees from
the Houston facility performed work outside of the detention center grounds. The
Houston detention center is owned and operated by Corrections Corporation of
America, one of the nation’s largest private prison companies. CCA’s warden in
Houston, Robert Lacy, referred questions about the program to ICE. Work programs
are commonplace in state and federal prisons. The lowest-paying jobs in the
Federal Bureau of Prison system, such as cleaning and grounds keeping, pay 12 to
40 cents per hour. In its statement, ICE officials said the program gives
detainees “an opportunity to be gainfully occupied on a voluntary basis.” The
agency added that perhaps the most important benefit from the program is
“reducing inactivity and disciplinary problems.”
February 24, 2005 Houston Chronicle
Houston lawyer Richard Prinz is unhappy because there is no place for
lawyers to talk with their clients in the vital minutes before the court
appearance in the new immigration facility on Greens Road. He says he would like
to see some small space made available near the courtroom. Lawyers representing
immigrants at a new federal facility in far north Houston are confronting new
restrictions on communications with their clients. Before the courtroom was
moved to 5520 Greens Road in January, said Houston lawyer Richard Prinz,
attorneys could talk with their clients in the cellblock visiting area until
they were called to court. "So you'd basically go to court together and, of
course, if you wished to speak to them afterward, you'd just go right back there
and speak to them," he said. The routine at the new facility, however, is for a
lawyer to wait in the small lobby just inside the building's entrance until a
guard escorts the lawyer into the courtroom. Detainees are brought from cells
into the courtroom by another route. Prinz said there is no opportunity to speak
with a client in the vital minutes before the court appearance or after going
inside. He would like to see some small space made available near the courtroom.
"The judge has not and will not ever let you visit with your client while you're
in the courtroom," he said. A member of Immigration Judge Susan Yarbrough's
staff said the judge is not in charge of the building's layout and would have no
comment on the issue. Luisa Aquino-Deason, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement, referred questions to the Corrections Corporation of
America. "We simply contract out that facility," she said. CCA Division 5
managing director Charles Martin said lawyers can meet with their clients "at a
different part of the building" almost any time they want throughout the week.
When they go to court, however, "they have to be prepared to go on in the
courtroom," he said.
February 27, 1999
A Cuban inmate overpowered a guard and ran out of the front door of the
facility. There appeared to be a white van waiting for the inmate which
took him away. The escapee was convicted of "burglary of a habitation with
intent to commit aggravated rape with a deadly weapon." (Houston Chronicle,
March 2, 1999)
Hunt Count Jail
Hunt County, Texas
CiviGenics
August 31, 2005 Herald Banner
The consideration of a plan to privatize the operation of the Hunt County Jail
came to a sudden halt Tuesday when officials saw that it would be more expensive
to hire Civigenics, Inc. than to maintain the status quo. Hunt County Judge Joe
Bobbitt said the numbers revealed that Sheriff Don Anderson was running an
efficient operation with the resources allotted him. "The proposal from
Civigenics was a good one, and it included a level of service above what we
currently provide, but it did not prove to be an affordable option at this
time," Bobbitt said. "What they proposed is something we can only aspire to
right how." Hunt County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Robert White said he was
not surprised at the outcome of the talks. "We felt at the time of the initial
offer that there was no way they'd be able to do it as cheaply as we do it
ourselves, but out of fairness we went through the process and let them work the
figures out," White said. He said the proposals from Civigenics varied from $34
to $37.50 expense per inmate per day, compared to a current cost of $23.61 per
inmate per day under county operations. "They were figuring in some other things
in their costs, but it still was not close," White said.
Jack Harwell Detention Center
McLennan County, Texas
Community Education Centers
June 14, 2010 Waco Tribune
After four months of sitting idle, the county’s new jail is finally beginning to
take in inmates. Community Education Centers, the New Jersey-based company
managing the jail, will begin moving about 300 inmates from the downtown jail to
the 816-bed Jack Harwell Detention Center today. About 100 Harris County inmates
also will be transferred to the new jail this week. CEC Warden Mike Wilson said
it will take three to four days to transfer all the inmates. Up to 50 inmates
will be moved at a time — about 100 per day — using three vans and two buses.
“You have to get them all booked in and classified correctly so that they are
placed in the right wing, and that takes some time,” Wilson said. “You can only
process so many in a day.” In the weeks leading up to the official opening, CEC
staff focused on small details to make sure everything runs smoothly today. The
staff prepared hundreds of “bedrolls” — a pillowcase, sheet, face towel and
washcloth rolled into one — that will be given to the inmates at booking.
Jailers also hand-numbered each rubber pillow and mattress for the beds to track
them. One of the eight-bed cells was laid out as a model setup, from the bed
essentials to an unopened box of checkers, dominoes and deck of cards stacked
neatly on the dining table. Yellow logbooks are stacked on a monitoring desk in
the central hallway for jailers to record interaction with inmates and the
operation of the jail. Maintenance workers also were busy getting the building
in shape, from routine cleaning to installing napkin dispensers in the medical
exam rooms. “There’s a lot of little things that we have to think about and take
care of before we open,” Wilson said. Organization has been the key. Everything
from office and cleaning supplies to jailer radios and cell keys is arranged in
neat rows for easy access and use, a system Wilson plans to keep in place after
the jail begins operations. “That’s the best way to keep up with everything and
make sure we have what we need,” Wilson said. The jail also received some extra
protection for a smooth opening. Wilson said a group of local pastors toured the
jail and visited the chapel where church services will be held, then blessed the
facility. Opening delays -- The Jack Harwell Detention Center jail was finished
in February. The jail originally was planned to help solve overcrowding issues
and an expanding female inmate population at the neighboring McLennan County
Jail, plus earn additional revenue from housing state and federal prisoners. But
the county’s jail population is now below its maximum capacity of 931, and
federal agencies are pulling back plans to house inmates in local facilities.
The facility was counting on that revenue to repay $49 million in bonds that
financed the jail’s construction, potentially putting the county’s bond rating
at risk if the payments could not be made. The county voted last month to
temporarily shut down the downtown jail and transfer the inmates to the Harwell
center. The move allows CEC to use the money taken in for housing inmates at the
downtown jail — $3.5 million in the 2009 fiscal year — and apply it to the debt
on the new jail. The county made roughly $700,000 on the housing contracts in
fiscal 2009. It also means the county would miss as much as $71,000 in net
monthly earnings from its share in the housing agreements for the downtown
facility. CEC also agreed to pay the county $40,000 for each month the downtown
jail is closed. The move is in effect only through Dec. 31 or until the Harwell
center reaches 90 percent capacity, whichever comes first. After that, CEC is
expected to move inmates back to the downtown facility.
June 6, 2010 Waco Tribune-Herald
The county soon may have to pony up $1.1 million for some long-needed
improvements to the downtown jail. Most of the equipment in the jail, which is
operated by New Jersey-based Community Education Centers, was first installed
when the county built the facility in mid-1970s. CEC Warden Mike Wilson said
while the detention company performs about $60,000 annually in equipment and
building maintenance, some of the materials in the jail are nearly obsolete.
“The problem we’re running into with the doors and the control system is getting
replacement parts,” Wilson said. “They’re no longer commercially available. They
no longer manufacture them.” Wilson said CEC has been using old locks the county
had on hand to replace defunct doors in the jail, but few of those remain.
Replacing the 129 doors and locks securing inmate cells and installing 10 new
control panels is the most expensive project, carrying a $668,473 price tag.
Other major work includes replacing four old elevators, a $298,436 expense;
installing a new intercom system; upgrading the kitchen ceiling and equipment;
and replacing the fire system. Wilson submitted the proposed projects to the
sheriff’s office last week. McLennan County Chief Sheriff’s Deputy Randy Plemons
discussed the work list in a budget work session with the county commissioners.
The commissioners court is reviewing major capital projects that it may fund
next year to begin shaping the 2011 fiscal-year budget. Divvying up costs -- The
court was split on whether the county has to pay for the upgrades, because the
jail belongs to the county, or whether CEC should be responsible for some of the
repairs. “We need to sit down and look item by item and decide if we need to do
it, they need to do it, or whatever,” County Judge Jim Lewis said in the budget
work session. One key issue is whether the housing agreement with CEC places the
responsibility for such repairs on the detention company. The contract the
county signed with CEC in October 2003 states that at the end of the lease, the
company “shall return the facility to the county in the same condition as when
leased, normal wear, tear and depreciation excepted.” However, the most recent
agreement signed in November 2008 does not include that provision. None of the
commissioners was aware of the change prior to the meeting. It was not clear,
both in court and meeting minutes, who drafted the contracts and why the changes
were made. Clause and effect -- “I assumed it was the same contract that we had
been renewing and renewing for the past 10 years (since CEC first began managing
the jail),” Commissioner Ray Meadows said. “We probably need to look at that and
get at our attorney and see why it was changed like that.” Commissioner Lester
Gibson said even if the original clause was still in effect, the county is
responsible for these major repairs to the downtown jail. Wilson said the county
has not discussed whether CEC would have to pitch in for some of the repairs. He
said CEC already took care of some upgrades on its own, such as replacing a
nonworking surveillance system and upgrading a portion of the intercom system.
CEC is moving the inmates from the downtown jail to the county’s new Jack
Harwell Detention Center on June 14, along with an estimated 100 Harris County
inmates.
May 14, 2010 KXXV
McLennan County's new Jack Harwell detention facility was completed in February
of this year, but now its 816 beds remain empty. The solution is to transfer the
entire population of the downtown jail to the brand new facilities on Highway 6.
The move is aimed to attract more outside contracts to send inmates to the
Harwell facility, and at the same time begin generating revenue from the new
jail in order to begin paying back the $49 million in bonds it cost to build.
But it also means losing revenue generated by the downtown jail; revenue which
goes to the county's general fund, and belongs to the taxpayers. Ken Witt,
president of the McLennan County Sheriff's Office Association, says the action
doesn't do anything to create new revenue. "It's not going to matter whether you
transfer the downtown out there or just pay it straight. It's going to be the
money that was originally already generated and it's not going to be new money,"
Witt said. Community Education Centers, the company charged with managing the
jail, has agreed to pay the county $40,000 a month to mitigate the nearly
$60,000 in revenue the downtown jail was earning. But some, like TEA Party
member Marie McClellan, are afraid the agreement is too complex for taxpayers to
understand. "This is our money. I'm not certain who authorized this and where
this is going. Is this a business venture? Are the taxpayers on the hook for
this? If they can't find the population who pays for this, eventually?,"
McClellan said. The Harwell unit will have until December to reach 90 percent
occupancy, about 734 inmates, before the downtown jail can be reopened and begin
generating revenue once more. But what happens if the beds still aren't filled?
Precinct One commissioner Kelly Snell, who voted against the action, says it's
time for a Plan B. "Not only have we spent $49 million, but now we're getting
less money than we projected to get to start with. Now we really need to get an
exit plan, because like I said today, what happens if this don't work?," Snell
said. McLennan County Judge Jim Lewis told News Channel 25 by phone that Harris
county and a dozen other entities have already pledged to send inmates to the
new jail, and he hopes to have both jails full and making money within a few
months.
May 6, 2010 Waco Tribune-Herald
The county’s treasurer is concerned taxpayers could be forced to repay
construction bonds on the new jail if the company hired to run it cannot. While
the company that evaluates the credit risks of proposed bonds agrees with this
view, confusion remains among county officials over whether the county will have
to pay for a facility that was to be built at no cost to taxpayers. The Jack
Harwell Detention Center was built using $49 million in project revenue bonds
issued by the McLennan County Public Facility Corp., a seven-member board that
includes the county commissioners court. Community Education Centers of New
Jersey, the private detention company contracted to manage the jail, agreed to
repay the bonds using revenue from housing state and federal inmates. CEC has
not lined up any housing agreements, and the jail remains empty. Bill Helton,
county treasurer and member of the public facility corporation, said the
situation raises the question of whether the county is responsible for the debt
if housing revenue cannot cover the bond payments. The jail belongs to the
county and is operated by CEC. “If you borrow money, you’re expected to pay it
back,” Helton said. “The PFC has indeed borrowed money here by selling the
bonds, and I anticipate that the bondholders are going to want to be repaid.” A
matter of obligation -- The responsibility of repaying the bonds hinges on what
party is legally obligated to pay the debt. The bond document was prepared by
investment banking firm Municipal Capital Markets and outlines the construction
project, projected revenues from the jail and bond repayment schedule for
potential investors. Helton said some language in the bond documents implies
that the county has promised to assist with the debt. In the “risk factors”
section of the bond documents, it states that “the county presently intends to
appropriate other available money of the county, if necessary,” to make the bond
payments. County attorney Herbert Bristow said the county is not legally
obligated to repay the bonds. He points to language in the bond documents that
states the county is not required “to appropriate any money for payment of its
obligations under the lease.” The county only has to budget funds each year to
pay for any county inmates that are housed at the new jail, Bristow said. He
added that the commissioners court could choose yearly to budget money to help
repay the bonds. “It is so crystal clear to me, and it is crystal clear to the
bondholders, that the obligation to appropriate (county) funds is a
discretionary call for the commissioners to make, period,” Bristow said. But
James Breeding, director of Standard & Poors Rating Services in Dallas, said the
bond documents imply that the county would cover bond payments if housing
revenues fell short. “The way the documents were structured and the way we rated
it was that the county would step in with other funds, if necessary,” he said.
Public finance cushion -- By design, the PFC was created to add some level of
protection to the county from the debt. Governmental entities may form public
facility corporations to issue debt for a project without having to gain voters’
approval in a bond election, according to Kent Gilbreath, Baylor University
economics professor. The arrangement also helps shield the county from
officially carrying the debt on its books. “It is not an indebtedness of the
county, and thus the amount of indebtedness of the county is not increased,”
said Gilbreath, a former board member of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
“The higher the indebtedness of the county or the city, generally the lower
their bond ratings would be.” Risk ratings -- The rating attached to new bonds
signals how risky the investment would be to potential bond purchasers. Standard
& Poors Rating Services gave the McLennan County Public Facility Corp. a AA-
rating for the jail project. The company cited McLennan County’s tax base,
previous financial performance, and low debt load as evidence of the project’s
“general trustworthiness” and “rating stability.” Gilbreath said the county’s
rating was used to show investors that the bonds were secure investments. “If
I’m going to buy one of those bonds, I’m not just going to look at the entity
that’s issuing it,” Gilbreath said. “I’m going to look at the deep pockets
behind it, and thereby make a more informed decision about the credit worthiness
of the bonds I’m buying.” Breeding said if the project goes into default, the
county’s bond rating in future projects would be affected. CEC is still working
to find inmates to fill the beds. The company is negotiating a contract to house
Harris County prisoners. CEC also intends to apply for a housing contract with
the Federal Bureau of Prisons that will be awarded later this summer. CEC Senior
Vice President Peter Argeropulos wrote in a letter Monday to the county that it
needs at least 525 inmates in the jail to produce enough revenue for operating
and debt costs. Argeropulos told commissioners previously that CEC would not
open the jail until it was guaranteed enough inmates to cover its expenses.
While CEC has money on hand to make its debt payment in June, revenue is needed
for the next $1.9 million payment due in December. U.S. Bank National
Association is trustee of the bonds. The bank collects interest payments made
from the public facility corporation and distributes them to bondholders. The
bank will also be responsible for pursuing payment if the bonds go into default.
Bristow said the bonds would only go into default in a “doomsday scenario” in
which no prisoners are ever placed in the jail. The reserve fund provides at
least one year of cushion for CEC to secure housing agreements, Bristow said.
County Judge Jim Lewis said if payments were not covered by housing revenues,
the bondholders would simply have lost their investment. “It’s like if you were
to buy stock in General Motors for $10, and then the price of the stock drops to
$1, then that’s your loss,” Lewis said. “Once it’s gone, it’s gone. Bonds work
similar to that.” Helton said while he hopes the county will not have to pay the
bonds, it is difficult to believe that all the parties can walk away from the
debt if revenues aren’t generated. “If somebody walks up to you and says ‘Here,
you can borrow this money, but if things don’t work out you don’t have to pay it
back,’ it just doesn’t sound right,” Helton said. “I believe our legal counsel
is a skilled attorney, and I hear what he’s saying, and I look on the other
side, and I understand it, too, but the two — I can’t reconcile that in my own
mind.” Court opinion split -- Members of the commissioners court have different
views on how much protection the county has from the debt. Commissioner Kelly
Snell, who was not on the court at the time that the jail project was approved,
said Bristow repeatedly assured him the county would not be responsible for the
debt. “He is the attorney that represents the county. You gotta kind of go with
your legal representation,” Snell said. “If they tell you ‘this is what it is’
then that should be it.” However, Commissioner Joe Mashek said despite Bristow’s
assertions, he has wondered how the county would be able to evade liability for
the debt if CEC defaulted on repayment. “If we do not do it, we lose the jail,
we lose the property, and our bond rating goes down so bad that we won’t be able
to get any loans anymore,” Mashek said. “I feel, and I think Bill (Helton) does,
too, that even though we may not to be responsible for these bonds, it would
probably be in the best interest of the county to go ahead and pay the debt.”
May 2, 2010 Waco Tribune-Herald
McLennan County commissioners are split on whether to help a private detention
company locate inmates to fill the vacant new jail. Community Education Centers
of New Jersey has been unable to secure any contracts to house inmates at the
new 816-bed Jack Harwell Detention Center. Commissioner Ray Meadows said he
plans to tap into his contacts in other counties to see if officials across the
state would be willing to send inmates to the center. “I’m going to continue to
work on that,” Meadows said. “I’ve been saying to folks, ‘We’ve got jail space,
boys, if you need it.’ It’s a good situation for both (CEC and the county) to
get that thing open — the quicker the better.” Meadows said he spoke with other
county commissioners during a state conference Friday to gauge their need for
detention beds. Meadows and County Judge Jim Lewis accompanied CEC officials to
a meeting in Houston last week to discuss housing Harris County inmates at the
facility. But Commissioner Lester Gibson said it is CEC’s responsibility to hunt
for inmates, and the county should not be involved in any housing negotiations.
“Why should we be involved? CEC is under the contractual obligation to provide
(inmates),” Gibson said. “We’ve built the facility, so we’ve done all that was
expected of us in the contract.” Funding for facility -- The $49 million in
revenue bonds that fund the project were issued by the McLennan County Public
Facility Corporation, a seven-member board that includes the commissioners
court. The board was formed to shield McLennan County from the responsibility of
repaying the debt, county attorney Herbert Bristow said. Lewis said although the
court cannot speak on behalf of CEC in housing talks, members do have the
ability to encourage prospective clients to consider using CEC’s jails. The
court approves all CEC contracts after the company completes negotiations, Lewis
said. “The county can’t speak for CEC, just like the CEC can’t speak for the
county,” Lewis said. “But all these years that we have (worked with) CEC,
whenever I’m at a state meeting or I run into somebody from another county, I
always say, ‘If you ever have an overflow, you can send your inmates to our
facility.’ ” Commissioner Joe Mashek, who voted against the jail with Gibson,
said he would not court contracts for CEC. “I was told this thing was all set,
and now things are turning in another direction,” Mashek said. “I don’t know
what’s going on, so I’m not going to get involved with it. I hope it is
successful, even though I was against it, for the county’s sake.” Gibson said if
the court were to become involved in CEC’s housing negotiations, the contract
with CEC would have to be amended to give the county that authority. That change
would have to be approved by the court, he said. The commissioners have all
expressed concern about what will happen with the new jail if CEC cannot fill
the beds. CEC has $1.9 million on hand to make the first payment on the bonds,
due in June. However, future payments will require revenue from housing inmates.
CEC Senior Vice President Peter Argeropulos said the company would likely not
open the jail until it had 600 inmates. That population would produce enough
revenue to cover CEC’s operating expenses and meet debt payments, which are due
every six months. A reserve fund of $4 million would cover payments for about a
year, but it can only be accessed if the jail remains empty for an extended
period. Commissioner Kelly Snell, who was not on the court when the project was
approved, said there should have been provisions built into the contract with
CEC in case its housing projections were not met. “Getting in on the end of the
deal, after everything has pretty much been set on, I just couldn’t believe
there’s not an exit plan in place, or contingencies for if this does happen,
what would we do,” Snell said. “That’s something we should have had to start
with.”
April 23, 2010 Waco Tribune-Herald
The new jail on State Highway 6 has an impressively low detention population:
zero. The 816-bed Jack Harwell Detention Center officially was completed in
February. But Community Education Centers, the New Jersey-based detention
company under contract to manage and operate the jail, has been unable to secure
agreements with state and federal agencies to house inmates. Meanwhile, CEC must
begin repaying the $49 million in project revenue bonds that financed the
construction of the jail. The $313,000 monthly debt service is to be paid using
revenue from housing inmates, placing the company under a crunch to fill beds.
While funds already have been set aside for the first payment of $1.9 million
due in June, CEC must begin making revenue soon or risk defaulting on the bonds.
Doing so would mean the county loses the new jail. CEC wants some relief from
the county to cover the financial obligation, but some commissioners say getting
involved could end up costing taxpayers. County Judge Jim Lewis, Commissioner
Ray Meadows and former Commissioner Wendall Crunk voted for the construction of
the new jail. Commissioners Lester Gibson and Joe Mashek voted against it. Fewer
inmates -- Feasibility studies conducted in 2008 showed the county would need
1,296 beds by the end of this year, slightly above the combined 1,260 capacity
between the McLennan County Jail and the downtown jail. While the county faced
severe overcrowding in 2008, there were only 860 inmates in the county jail
Thursday afternoon, with 20 inmates at the CEC-run downtown jail. Peter
Argeropulos, CEC senior vice president, reported the dilemma to the McLennan
County Commissioners Court on Thursday. CEC began reaching out to agencies in
the fall only to find that few prison facilities were housing inmates outside
their facilities. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, for example, scrapped
plans for a new fugitive apprehension unit in Waco. The Texas Department of
Criminal Justice began pulling its inmates from private detention centers in
August. “What we expected and what the studies had indicated have not
materialized at this point,” Argeropulos said. Solutions debated -- One option
Argeropulos suggested was to close down the 329-bed downtown jail and transfer
the staff and inmates to the Jack Harwell Detention Center. The move would help
CEC pay debt service but also cause the county to lose as much as $400,000 from
the operation of the downtown jail. “Your plan’s not working, and it’s not
working because you can’t get the prisoners, so you’re coming to the court
wanting concessions that are going to cost the taxpayers money,” Commissioner
Kelly Snell said. “That’s where I have a problem.” CEC Warden Mike Wilson, who
oversees the downtown jail and would head the new jail, said moving the inmates
would help address safety concerns at the facility. “All of a sudden, once you
get a new car, that old car you got isn’t worth driving anymore, that’s the
bottom line,” Snell said. Argeropulos also asked the court to temporarily waive
an administrative fee of $2 per inmate per day CEC is to pay to the county until
revenue exceeds operation costs. “I don’t see why the county has to be asked to
bend over and do all the compromise,” Gibson said. “I think that some of the
burden should be upon your side to do what you can to ease the burden.” Another
option Argeropulos raised is to sign an interlocal agreement with Harris County,
which is battling serious overcrowding issues. Harris County has transferred
about 650 inmates to Newton County, with another 450 housed in Bowie County and
200 in Louisiana. CEC had a six-month agreement to house 320 Harris County
inmates that expired in February. But CEC did not get any inmates during that
period. Argeropulos said Harris County was willing to pay only $45 per person
per day to house inmates at the Jack Harwell Detention Center, lower than the
$54.50 rate CEC originally expected. “Right now, it’s a buyers’ market,”
Argeropulos said. “As beds become vacant, people can become a little more picky
in terms of who they want to negotiate with and what’s the best rate they can
get.” Argeropulos said CEC intends to apply for a bid to house federal inmates.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons is expecting to need up to 3,000 beds later this
year, a proposal that may likely net higher housing revenue, he said. “It’s not
a new revelation, it’s been in newspapers nationwide that facilities are lacking
prisoners,” Lewis said. “It’s not an ideal situation, but anybody who’s been in
this business knows that there’s ups and downs on it. . . . The population will
go up not only here but nationwide. The industry just keeps on growing.”
Long-term outlook -- Still, Argeropulos said CEC would not open the jail until
it had secured enough inmates to sufficiently cover the debt service and
operational costs. The bond package includes a $4 million reserve fund that will
cover about a year of payments. However, that fund can only be accessed if there
are no inmates in the facility, Argeropulos said. CEC exercised an escape clause
last month to pull out of managing Johnson County jails with one more year to go
on a three-year contract. Argeropulos said Johnson County’s jail population had
dropped by 25 percent, causing CEC to lose money. Herbert Bristow, attorney for
the county, said if CEC defaulted on repaying the bonds, the county would not be
liable to make payments. The McLennan County Public Facility Corp., a
seven-member board including the commissioners court, issued the bonds in 2009.
“It was done by design to insulate the county,” Bristow said. “But the end
result is if it’s a doomsday deal, and we can’t find any prisoners to put in it
. . . the bondholders have the right to take the property back and get whatever
value there is in it.” Argeropulos said he would bring the court a formal
proposal for action later this month. Mashek said the discussion reinforced the
concerns he expressed in 2008 when he voted against the new jail. “It looks like
they’re trying to cover up problems they’re having and wanting the county to
bail them out, and I’m not in a position to bail anybody out, especially CEC,”
Mashek said.
Jefferson County Downtown Jail
Beaumont, Texas
GEO Group (formerly
Correctional Service Corporation), NaphCare
February 19, 2010 Beaumont Enterprise
Jefferson County officials will discuss today how to get a new private company
to operate the vacant downtown Beaumont jail at the courthouse. Jeff Branick,
assistant to Jefferson County Judge Ron Walker, said county officials plan to
discuss how they will to seek bids from private companies who might want to
utilize the empty jail. The jail closed at the end of last year after operator
Geo Group Inc. terminated its contract with the county to run the jail. A month
before the group pulled out of its contract, it signed an agreement that would
have allowed Jefferson County to house about 400 of Harris County's overflow
inmates. That contract was estimated then to be worth $2.5 million. Branick said
if the county gets another jail operator it could reopen discussions with Harris
County and with other agencies who might be interested in using the jail.
November 12, 2009 KBMT 12
The private company that operated a downtown Beaumont jail facility has
ended it's contract with Jefferson County. Officials say the facility has been
temporarily closed. The Geo Group announced the move on Monday, November 9, 2009
and county officials are now seeking bids for a replacement company. The jail
has earned the county more than a million dollars a year in revenue, and sheriff
Woods says there could be repercussions for a county contract to house Harris
County inmates.
September 15, 2009 Beaumont Enterprise
Jefferson County has less than 60 days to find an operator for the jail at the
courthouse in Beaumont if it wants to keep a contract to house Harris County
prisoners. The contract, signed last month, called for Jefferson County to house
about 400 of Harris County's overflow inmates in the downtown Beaumont jail at
the courthouse. The jail operator, Geo Group Inc., was to charge Harris County
$42.50 per inmate per day. Of that money, Jefferson County was to receive $9 for
each inmate per day. The total contract was estimated to be worth $2.5 million.
Geo notified the county last week that in 60 days it will terminate its contract
to run the jail. Room for the Harris County inmates was available after the
state removed inmates it housed in Beaumont as beds were made available in state
facilities. The moving of state inmates left the downtown Beaumont jail "grossly
overstaffed" and in a "very negative cash flow," Rugg said. The decision leaves
the 100 Geo Group guards without jobs and the Harris County inmates nowhere to
go in Jefferson County.
October 19, 2007 KFDM
A federal jury has ruled in favor of Jefferson County and two other
defendants in a lawsuit filed by a former inmate. 47 year old Ronnie Tejeda
filed the lawsuit against the county, NaphCare, Inc., the health-care provider
at the county jail, and GEO Group, which manages the private jail downtown.
Tejeda claimed a lack of medical care at the county jail, and an attack against
him at the private jail, caused medical problems and injuries that led to the
amputation of his legs. The plaintiffs argued Tejeda's health problems led to
the amputations. County Attorney Tom Rugg tells KFDM News he's gratified by the
jury's decision. "It was the single most significant lawsuit I've tried in 20
years in terms of the potential impact on the county," said Rugg. "If we'd lost,
it would have cost the county multiple millions of dollars." Rugg said it was a
tragic set of circumstances that cost Tejeda his legs, but Rugg says the
plaintiffs believed all along Tejeda had been treated appropriately.
October 17, 2007 The Enterprise
Sheriff Mitch Woods, testifying Tuesday in a civil trial against Jefferson
County and its jail health-care provider, declined to give an opinion about
renewing the provider's contract. Defense testimony began Tuesday and could
conclude today in Ronnie Tejada's civil lawsuit against the county, health care
provider NaphCare Inc. and the private corrections company GEO Group. Tejada
claims his leg amputations were required because officials ignored his diabetes
for the 10 months he was awaiting trial on aggravated assault-family violence
charges at the Jefferson County jail on U.S. 69. The 47-year-old man was rushed
to Beaumont's Christus St Elizabeth Hospital in critical condition Oct. 5, 2005.
Defense attorneys have argued no evidence exists the defendants knew of Tejada's
deteriorating medical condition and chose to ignore it. "Every time Mr. Tejada
put in a request he was seen, we responded to every complaint that he had,"
NaphCare's health services administrator for the jail, Dyni Brookshire,
testified Tuesday. Documents shown to jurors indicate Tejada filed at least
eight requests for medical treatment. Medical experts testifying for the
plaintiffs have said jail medical officials missed or ignored signs Tejada was
suffering from uncontrolled diabetes. When Tejada was admitted to the jail he
told officials he had a history of diabetes but was not taking medication for
the condition. An economist who testified Tuesday by deposition said lost
earning capacity resulting from Tejada's amputations, combined with lifetime
medical and housing costs, amounted to between about $4 million and $5.1 million
dollars. The man's medical bills since he left the jail amount to $1,182,558.28.
Tejada's attorneys have tried to prove the county should have known of
NaphCare's alleged shortcomings, introducing evidence of two inmates who died of
diabetic complications in the years before Tejada's hospitalization. "When you
learned of this, did you suggest against renewing NaphCare's contract?" Tejada's
attorney Jan Fox asked the sheriff, referring to the two deaths. "No ma'am,"
Woods said. Woods, the only witness called by Jefferson County Assistant
District Attorney Tom Rugg, said he did not learn of Tejada's condition until he
was reached by the inmate's ex-wife after guards rebuffed her attempts to visit
Tejada in the hospital. She eventually was granted limited visitation. Under
questioning from Fox, Woods said the county did not review the circumstances
leading to Tejada's hospitalization or revise procedures to prevent such an
event from recurring. NaphCare, the firm the county has paid about $12 million
for providing jail health care since 2002, is seeking to renew its contract with
the county. Jefferson County commissioners on Oct. 1 granted a one-month
extension to review proposals from NaphCare and other providers. Fox appeared
incredulous when Woods said he had not given commissioners his opinion on
renewing the contract. "I will have some recommendations at a later time," Woods
said. "Are you waiting to see what these people decide?" Fox asked Woods,
gesturing to the jury. "No ma'am," the sheriff said.
August 10, 2007 Beaumont Enterprise
A corrections officer accused of trying to bring vodka into the downtown
Beaumont jail was indicted Thursday by a Jefferson County grand jury. Roy Lee
Cooper Jr., 22, who had not been arrested Thursday, told a Jefferson County
investigator the alcohol was for personal use and not for an inmate, according
to a probable cause affidavit. Lt. Benjamin Solis with The GEO Group, a private
company that runs the jail at the Jefferson County courthouse, found the alcohol
July 10 after searching Cooper when he arrived to work, a customary practice for
corrections employees there. Solis found cigarettes on Cooper during the search
and while Cooper was returning the cigarettes to his car, Solis noticed the seal
on the guard's water bottle had been broken. "Solis reported removing the cap
and smelling the contents of the bottle, which he described as smelling like
'vodka,'" according to the affidavit signed by sheriff's Lt. Michael D. Pieper.
Cooper, according to the affidavit, told Pieper the half-liter water bottle was
filled with a half-and-half mixture of water and vodka.
July 3, 2007 KFDM TV
Just how realistic was the paper gun deputies say an inmate used to take at
least one hostage yesterday? Tonight we're getting our first look at what's left
of it. Authorities say 45-year-old Andre Leffebre tore up the fake gun after a
swat team surrounded the room where Leffebre was holed up yesterday morning.
Authorities say the inmate wrapped paper around batteries and used silver tape
to make it look like a real gun. In addition, Leffebre somehow managed to get a
cell phone that he also showed to authorities. It all happened about 8:30
yesterday morning in a privately run jail inside the Jefferson County
courthouse. As Jennifer Heathcock reports, some elected officials who work in
the courthouse are repeating the call for additional security. “Everybody in
this office heard a different story yesterday. Didn't know if they were supposed
to evacuate. It was kind of chaos yesterday,” says District Clerk Lolita Ramos.
Chaos as people ran out of the courthouse, and SWAT members ran in. No one knew
why they were evacuated from the building, but they did know they were scared.
“It wasn't in the courtrooms or in the jury impaneling room, but it does bring
to light this need that if something like this happens, it happens in an
instant,” says District Attorney Tom Maness.
July 2, 2007 KFDM TV
A federal inmate has given up after using a fake gun
to take hostages in the private jail in the courthouse building in downtown
Beaumont. The inmate is identifed as Andre Leffebre, who is awaiting sentencing
in connection with a September, 2004 robbery of the Bank One on Dowlen Road in
Beaumont. There have been no injuries. The incident began unfolding at about
8:30 a.m. Monday. In live reports from the scene, KFDM reporter Jessica Holloway
spoke with law enforcement officers, witnesses and former U.S. Attorney Bob
Wortham. Law enforcement officers have determined the inmate fashioned the gun
out of paper. The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office and Beaumont Police blocked
off the area while the search for the gun continued. Some courthouse employees
were told to remain in their offices while the search for the gun took place.
August 10, 2005 The Enterprise
Three guards at a privately managed downtown jail have been fired after
authorities decided their mistakes led to the escape last month of three
dangerous prisoners, law enforcement officials said Tuesday. The inmates were
recaptured within 25 hours of their July 10 escape. On Tuesday, the U.S. Bureau
of Prisons listed the men as being in custody at the Beaumont federal
penitentiary. Jefferson County Sheriff Mitch Woods, who ultimately controls the
jail managed by Correctional Services Corp., said CSC's internal investigation
pointed to human error in handling inmates as the cause of the escape, as is
often the case. The inmates - Todd Christian, David Lee
Jackson and Arzell Gulley - took advantage of their chance to leave their floor
of the jail and found an open gate when they arrived downstairs, Woods said. The
sliding gate had been left open in preparation for the arrival of inmates, Woods
said. Without the open gate, the prisoners would not have been able to leave the
jail, Woods said. The escape also prompted meetings
between the CSC warden and Beaumont police officials. Beaumont Officer Carman
Apple said police were unable to get color photos and full information about the
escapees immediately, which made for a less effective search.
July 12, 2005 AP
Authorities have now captured all three federal prisoners who escaped from a
private jail in downtown Beaumont, police said. Todd Christian, 26, was
captured about 10:30 p.m. Monday after he knocked on the door of a home in
Beaumont's South Park section and asked to use the telephone. Beaumont Officer
Crystal Holmes, police spokeswoman, told Beaumont television station KFDM that
the homeowners managed to stall Christian until police arrived. Arzell
Gully, 34, was nabbed by police at the Port of Beaumont seven minutes after the
escape Sunday night. The second inmate caught, David Jackson, 45, was
arrested Monday morning near a hospital in Beaumont after he was spotted by
hospital security guards, Holmes said. Jackson gave police a false name
but was taken into custody and later identified by the warden, Holmes said.
The inmates at Correctional Services Corp.'s jail used pepper spray and a shank
to overpower the guards, she said. All three men were federal inmates awaiting
trial who were involved in the killing of another prisoner in 1999. Holmes said
she did not have details about the killing and whether the inmates had been
convicted of other crimes.
Joe Corley Detention Center
Conroe, Texas
GEO Group
November 7, 2010 Daily Mail Reporter
Bloodied and bruised, this is the shocking picture of cricket tycoon Allen
Stanford after a beating by jail inmates. His neck in a brace, his eye bleeding
and half-closed and his head bandaged. The final humiliation for Stanford, 60,
awaiting trial accused of masterminding a $7billion fraud, was his feet and
hands were shackled as he was taken to hospital. Attacked: The tycoon sits on a
hospital trolley with his neck in a brace, his eye half-shut and a bandage
wrapped around his head after the assault by jail prisoners in Texas. Shackled:
Allen Stanford is bound hand and foot at the hospital near Houston. Once he
posed with a perspex case containing $20million at Lord's cricket ground. after
being hailed as the saviour of English cricket. But that counted for nothing at
the private prison in Conroe near Houston, Texas, and the inmates sharing his
cell. 'I was on the telephone and some of the other people in the cell didn't
like it,' he told a friend who visited him, according to the Sunday Times. 'They
said something to me and then two of them jumped me and kept punching me and
kicking me in the head. 'I lost consciousness, but at one time I came round and
grabbed one of them by the leg. That just set them off a again'. The guards
burst into the cell and shackled Stanford before taking him to a hospital where
he underwent an operation while still chained up. Stanford suffered fractures to
his eye socket, cheek bones and severe bruising to his body. He has lost all
feeling in the right side of his face. No one has been punished for the attack
and he spent three weeks in solitary confinement. before being moved to another
prison. The assault happened in October last year in a cell holding 14 other
men. It was designed to hold eight inmates and at the time had no electricity,
air conditioning and was in virtual darkness. The friend claimed the inmates
were 'on edge' with each other because of the cramped conditions. Stanford, who
faces 21 charges at his trial which begins in January, had made three requests
to be moved to another prison.
April 6, 2010 The Courier of Montgomery County
An inmate at the Joe Corley Detention Facility is in critical condition in a
local hospital after being found hanging by the neck in a jail dorm room. Around
4:40 p.m. Tuesday, a male prisoner, whose identity was not released, was
discovered hanging in an otherwise empty room used for inmate sleeping,
Montgomery County Sheriff’s Lt. Dan Norris said. All other prisoners were
outside the building in the recreation area. Officials did not release what item
was used or whether it was an attempted suicide. A guard who discovered the man
called for assistance and started CPR until relieved by emergency response
personnel. An ambulance transported the man to a local hospital. Warden Chris
Strickland declined comment. Calls to the GEO Group, the facility’s operator,
were not immediately returned.
September 26, 2009 Houston Community Newspapers
Jailed Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford remains under medical care after
being injured during a fight with another inmate at the Joe Corley Detention
Facility. The fight occurred mid-morning Thursday and Stanford was transported
to a hospital for treatment, Deputy U.S. Marshal Alfredo Perez told The Courier
Saturday. Perez declined to name the hospital. Perez said he doesn’t know what
triggered the altercation between Stanford and the other inmate. “An incident
report was sent to the U.S. Marshals office on Friday,” Perez said. Perez said
none of Stanford’s wounds were life-threatening. He expects the 59-year-old
Mexia native to be returned to the Joe Corley facility either today or Monday.
Stanford’s court-appointed attorney, Kent Schaffer, of Houston, said he wants
Stanford removed from the private jail owned by Montgomery County and operated
by the GEO Group, but it’s a matter of logistics. “Since his defense is funded
by the public, it would be much more cost-effective to have him close to his
lawyers and the court in Houston,” Schaffer said. Stanford is in jail for
allegedly scamming investors of his now defunct Stanford Financial Group of more
than $7 million.
July 27, 2009 Bloomberg
R. Allen Stanford, the Texas financier accused of directing a $7 billion Ponzi
scheme, complained that his cell often lacks light and air conditioning. For the
past week, Stanford, who’s in a cell in Conroe, Texas, with from eight to 10
other men, has endured heat and intermittent lack of power when outside
temperatures reached 100 degrees or more, his lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, said
yesterday in a motion asking that his client be transferred to a downtown
Houston jail. “For part of the time last week, they were in total darkness,”
DeGuerin wrote. “The cell has been without air conditioning for at least a week.
There are no windows for light or ventilation, and the conditions are
intolerable.” U.S. District Judge David Hittner in federal court in Houston on
July 15 denied Stanford’s original request to be transferred while he awaits
trial. The financier is being held without bail at the privately run Joe Corley
Detention Center, about 43 miles north of Houston. In his new motion, DeGuerin
repeated his argument that Stanford’s defense is hampered because the Corley
facility doesn’t allow the use of electronics. The fact-finding in the case is
being done “by electronic means,” DeGuerin said. He reiterated the transfer
request “both because of the oppressive conditions under which he is suffering,
as well as the impossible conditions for preparing for his complex trial.”
Diabetic Cellmate -- In a letter to the U.S. Marshal Service attached to the
motion, DeGuerin wrote that one of the men in the cell with Stanford is in his
late seventies and suffering from diabetes and another has a heart condition.
“There are serious medical conditions of several of the men in the cell,” he
wrote. The detention facility is operated by Boca Raton, Florida- based GEO
Group Inc., according to its Web site. Pablo Paez, a company spokesman, didn’t
immediately respond to a question on the jail’s conditions. Stanford pleaded not
guilty to criminal charges and also has denied any wrongdoing in a civil lawsuit
against him. He is asking a U.S. Appeals Court in New Orleans to review
Hittner’s order confining him until trial. Laura Sweeney, a Justice Department
spokeswoman, said in reply to a request for comment, “We will respond in court
filings.” The case is U.S. v. Stanford, H-09-342, U.S. District Court, Southern
District of Texas (Houston).
Johnson County Law
Enforcement Center
Johnson County, Texas
Community Education Centers
Texas prison
boom going bust: by Mitch Mitchell, September 3, 2011,
Star-Telegram. Expose on troubles facing many communities that bought into
the private prison bonding scam.
March 25, 2010 Grits For Breakfast
As the Webb County Sheriff pushes construction of a massive new jail for the
purpose of housing federal immigration prisoners, their commissioners court
should look to Johnson County to understand how that might not pan out like they
hope. According to a story in the Cleburne Times-Review ("CEC bailing out,"
March 24): Johnson County Law Enforcement Center should have a new private
subcontractor no later than Sept. 15 after the recent decision of Community
Education Centers to end its agreement with the county to run the jail. CEC
signed a three-year contract with the county in September 2008. CEC used an
escape clause, County Judge Roger Harmon said Tuesday, extending the county six
months notice of contract termination. CEC warden James Duke could not be
reached for comment, but CEC officials told Johnson County commissioners that
the corporation was losing money in its operation of the jail. Johnson County
entered the contract with CEC on the assumption that a near-endless wave of
immigration detainees would fill up as many jail beds as they could build. As it
turned out, that wasn't the case: CEC expected to make the bulk of its money by
filling unoccupied beds with immigration detainees. “The average population is
450 to 500,” Duke said last year. “There are empty beds. That’s attractive to
us. We take those empty beds and help the county get contracts with other
entities such as Immigration Customs Enforcement. Corrections 2 [block] has 176
beds. We put ICE detainees in those beds. ICE pays Johnson County, and the
county reimburses us. “The county makes $5 off every detainee. The county makes
money, and we make money.” That wasn’t the way it worked out, Harmon said. ...
“When CEC contracted with us, we were running about 600 inmates per day,” Harmon
said. “Nobody knows why, but the numbers recently have been running around 400
per day. Incarceration numbers are down statewide and nationwide, from what I
understand. You wouldn’t think it would be that way with high unemployment, but
it is.” As of March 1, according to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards,
Johnson County had just 338 inmates in the jail, so the supposed profitmaker has
now become a money suck. By contrast, Cameron County entered into a similar
scheme and encountered the opposite problem: Their jail has so many federal
prisoners they now must send pretrial detainees three hours away to be housed by
other counties at higher costs. So Texas counties have been burned by these
deals coming and going. It's never as simple or cheap as it sounds up front when
it's pitched. Never.
Jones County Prison
Jones County, Texas
Community Education Centers
Texas prison
boom going bust: by Mitch Mitchell, September 3, 2011,
Star-Telegram. Expose on troubles facing many communities that bought into
the private prison bonding scam.
July 28, 2011 Abilene Reporter-News
The Bill Clayton Detention Facility in Littlefield went on the auction block
Thursday, but Jones County officials are still optimistic that their prison,
which has never been used, won't meet the same fate. "It's been a timing thing,"
said Jones County Judge Dale Spurgin. "It's going to eventually be used and
bring about 200 jobs to the area." The Littlefield prison, run by the GEO Group,
closed in 2008 after Idaho removed prisoners sent there. GEO, which also
operates a prison in Big Spring, withdrew from the facility, taking with it 100
jobs. The facility has been vacant since. In the past couple of years, the
country has seen a decline in prison population, but the numbers are beginning
to tick back up, Spurgin said. The $35-million Jones County prison, which was
completed in May 2010, lacks only a population, said Spurgin. The 1,112-bed
prison has a two-year contract with the state with three one-year options and an
operating agreement with Community Education Centers that will be activated as
soon as the prison receives inmates. Community Education Centers, based in New
Jersey, operates 20 facilities in Texas, including the Therapeutic Community
Walker Sayle Substance Abuse Felony Punishment Facility in Breckenridge. One
possibility for the prison is to receive inmates from the Central Unit in Sugar
Land, which is scheduled to quit receiving state funds at the end of August.
State legislators had considered moving the 800-plus prisoners to privately run
prisons in the state. Spurgin had earlier said the medium-security prison could
be used for that transfer. Another possibility, said Spurgin, could be to take
prisoners from California. A California Supreme Court decision this summer ruled
that the California prisoners were overcrowded and the system had to alleviate
the problem by either releasing or transferring 46,000 inmates. "I know the
governor's office has contacted California to see if they're interested in
transferring prisoners here," said Spurgin. The Jones County prison near Anson
was built without taxpayers' money, being financed with privately invested
revenue bonds.
Keller School Board
Keller, Texas
Aramark
November 14, 2008 Keller Citizen
Three years after assuming management of the maintenance and operations
departments in the Keller school district, officials are lauding improved upkeep
of facilities and savings from preventative measures and green initiatives. In
September 2005, the school board voted to terminate a contract with Aramark
Education to manage district maintenance, custodial and grounds workers. A
survey of facilities and payroll practices showed very little preventative
maintenance performed, equipment in poor condition and widespread abuse of
overtime among workers. The district’s lawsuit against Aramark, filed in
February, is ongoing. Aramark generally denies the district’s accusations of
negligence. Shortly after the contract was ended, district administrators put an
in-house management team in place and created a plan for the upkeep of
facilities and systems. They limited the amount of overtime and more closely
monitored employees. "It is 100 percent better than it used to be," deputy
superintendent Mark Youngs said. "There is an attitude of customer service. They
actually want to be of service, and the principals are giving them high marks."
Youngs said that an outside management team can benefit by minimizing services,
but the district’s in-house directors are trying to do as much as they can
within their department budgets. David Farmer, a trustee since 1997, said he
didn’t hear nearly as many complaints about facility upkeep as he heard during
Aramark’s tenure. "With it being in-house, our staff members are much more
directly involved in day-to-day requests," Farmer said. "There was a disconnect
in the past of what needed to happen and what was happening." In an October
report to the board, officials said that maintenance and operations departments
are achieving improvements without a large increase in funds. The 2006-07 budget
year included $1.4 million for operations; the current budget year has $1.3
million set aside for the department. Board President Bob Apetz said he was
encouraged that the department could find ways to save despite the growing
district. "They are looking outside the box to curtail costs and still provide
all the services," Apetz said.
September 20, 2005 Star-Telegram
Keller school trustees voted unanimously Monday to fire Aramark Management
Corp., a company paid more than $1 million annually to supervise custodians,
grounds and maintenance in the district. Aramark has 30 days to leave the
district, and district employees will take over, Assistant Superintedent Bill
Stone said moments after the vote. The company was hired in September 1999 to
oversee district employees, including custodians, groundskeepers and maintenance
workers. Their five-year contract was renewed for another five years in 2004.
But in recent months, complaints from district employees and trustees have
grown. And on Aug. 17, Veitenheimer sent a letter to the company saying the
district "is considering termination of the agreement."
According to the letter, about one-third of the money paid to Aramark does not
cover anything tangible, but is for an "added value" the company will bring to
all tasks. That value has not been realized, officials say. Custodians
voice "an almost constant complaint" that they do not have the supplies and
materials they need to keep buildings clean. And district officials are not
certain they are getting what they pay for. The district paid Aramark just over
$25,000 to furnish cleaning equipment needed at Liberty Elementary School, the
district's newest campus. But guidelines suggest the typical cost for equipping
a new elementary school runs $5,000 to $10,000 less, according to the letter.
Kinney County Detention Center
Brackettville, Texas
Community Education Centers
October 26, 2009 Norfolk Crime Examiner
On Friday, a member of the notoriously violent Mexican Mafia escaped from the
Kinney County Detention Center in Brackettville, TX. Kinney County Sheriff’s
deputies, along with the Texas Rangers and U.S. Border Patrol are still
searching for Manuel Guardiola, 33. However, the search may be rather futile
considering the fact that the jail is only 30 miles from the Mexican border. The
Kinney County Sheriff’s office told reporters that they do not know how
Guardiola escaped. The escaped fugitive is 5-foot-4 and weighs about 180 lbs. He
has black hair, but could have shaved his head and his upper body is covered in
tattoos. He may be wearing glasses. Anyone with information on the whereabouts
of Manuel Guardiola is asked to call the Texas Department of Public Safety at
(512) 424-2000. In December 2008, the privately-run Kinney County Detention
Center experienced a riot when 30 prisoners refused to return to their cells
from, and set fire to mattresses and clothing. The Mexican Mafia is a very
powerful prison gang which began in 1950 in California. Today, the gang controls
large drug distribution, extortion and murder-for-hire operations, both in and
outside of prison. They are closely aligned with the Aryan Brotherhood.
Kleberg County Jail
Kleberg County, Texas
Premier Management Enterprises
November 8, 2007 Caller-Times
A new commissary company started this week in Kleberg County Jail after
Premier Management Enterprises and the county mutually ended Premier's contract.
Premier was investigated in Bexar County for buying a trip to Costa Rica for
former Sheriff Ralph Lopez. Lopez resigned and pleaded no contest to three
charges related to the trip. Premier, based in Lafayette, La., also operated in
Kleberg County since former Sheriff Tony Gonzalez signed the contract in fall
2004. Sheriff Ed Mata said last month he wanted to end Premier's contract
because of the Bexar investigation and because of performance issues. Keefe
Commissary Network, based in St. Louis, began providing commissary services
Monday to the Kleberg County Jail. The one-year contract gives the county 24
percent of net sales, defined as gross sales minus non-commissioned items such
as stamps. Keefe was chosen over Swanson Sales Corp., which said in a proposal
it could offer up to 30.25 percent of net sales. Commissaries, which supply
snacks and some toiletries, are considered privileges for inmates. Texas law
gives sheriffs sole discretion over the contracts. A county's proceeds must be
spent on items or activities that contribute to inmates' well-being, such as
education, libraries, writing materials, clothing and hygiene items, according
to state law. Kleberg Chief Deputy Willie Vera said Keefe offered the better
overall package despite the lower commission. Some items will be marked up to
make up part of the difference. Plus, the company offered a one-year contract,
while Swanson initially wanted five, then agreed to three, Vera said. Premier
had signed a five-year contract with Gonzalez, and Vera said the current sheriff
isn't willing to sign such a long contract. "We have a year to evaluate this
company," Vera said. "If he needs to go out and search for another company the
door is still open." Keefe also recently began service to the Nueces County
Jail, making it easier for the company to add Kingsville to its routes, Vera
said. Keefe made the transition smoothly and the Kleberg County Jail was never
without commissary services, he said. Premier ran the Nueces County Jail
commissary under a contract signed by former Sheriff Larry Olivarez until Nueces
County Sheriff Jim Kaelin terminated the agreement after taking office in
January, citing performance issues. Keefe gives Nueces County a commission of 39
percent of net sales. Mata and Kaelin have said their staffs told them their
predecessors, Gonzalez of Kleberg County and Olivarez of Nueces County, went on
that trip to Costa Rica in August 2005. Neither Mata nor Kaelin has
documentation corroborating the reports. Gonzalez left office in 2004 after
losing an election to Mata, and Olivarez resigned in January 2006 to run for
county judge. Gonzalez and Olivarez have not responded to requests for
interviews. Premier's principals, Patrick and Michael LeBlanc, also own LCS
Correctional Services, which is building a private prison to house federal
inmates near Robstown.
October 1, 2007 Caller-Times
Two local sheriffs are distancing themselves from their predecessors'
decisions to award jail commissary contracts to a company involved in a criminal
investigation in Bexar County. Kleberg County Sheriff Ed Mata said last week
officials are researching ways to end that county's five-year agreement with the
company, Premier Management Enterprises. Nueces County Sheriff Jim Kaelin gave
Premier a 30-day termination notice on Jan. 24, after taking office. Former
Bexar County Sheriff Ralph Lopez resigned and pleaded no contest to accepting a
trip to Costa Rica from the principals of Premier. The Lafayette, La., based
company runs the county jail commissary. Neither Kaelin nor Mata has
documentation corroborating what their staffs have told them -- that their
predecessors, Larry Olivarez of Nueces County and Tony Gonzalez of Kleberg
County, went on that August 2005 trip. Neither Gonzalez nor Olivarez has
responded to requests for comment. There is no known investigation in Nueces or
Kleberg counties. "At this point no case has been submitted to me," Kleberg
County District Attorney John Hubert said. "If something is submitted to me, I
take every case on its own merits. I don't have any information other than what
I've read in the papers and -- no offense to anybody -- that's not really
evidence." Nueces County District Attorney Carlos Valdez was out of the office
late last week, and the Bexar County District Attorney's Office did not respond.
The FBI would not comment. Olivarez signed a contract with Premier five months
after the Costa Rica trip involving the former Bexar County sheriff. Gonzalez
signed a contract in September 2004. Premier's principals, Patrick and Michael
LeBlanc, also own LCS Correctional Services, which is building a private prison
to house federal inmates near Robstown. A receptionist at Premier referred all
questions to the company's chief executive officer, Chris Burch, who did not
respond. An attorney for the company, Tonya Webber of Corpus Christi, said her
clients have not been commenting because of the open investigation in Bexar
County. She said she would check with her clients for comment on the local
contracts but did not respond after that. Kaelin and Mata both cited performance
issues with Premier as reasons for terminating the contract. Mata said the Bexar
investigation also played a part. "What I'm trying to do is just protect this
county," Mata said. "I'm not trying to pass any judgment if something was done
wrong." Kaelin said his decision was based solely on Premier's performance. He
met with Premier officials about complaints before ending the agreement,
according to correspondence the Caller-Times obtained under the Texas Public
Information Act. Kaelin and Premier also tangled over payments. A new contract,
with Keefe Supply, also is potentially more lucrative for the county. The
Premier contract gave the county $130,000 or 31 percent of net sales, whichever
was greater. The new contract gives a minimum of 39 percent with the possibility
of 41 percent after the first year. Texas law gives sheriffs sole discretion
over commissary contracts. Commissaries supply snacks, such as chips, candy bars
and soda, as well as certain toiletries, for inmates. Friends and family put
money in an inmate's account to spend on commissary items. A county's proceeds
must be used for commissary staff, social needs of inmates (such as education or
counseling), libraries, writing materials, clothing, hygiene items or other
programs that contribute to inmates' well-being, according to state law. Kaelin
said he uses commissary profits to buy newspaper subscriptions, televisions and
uniforms. Kaelin said inmates frequently complained about Premier's service.
Under that system, inmates would order items to be packed into bags, shipped
from San Antonio and handed out the next day. Kaelin said his office received
numerous complaints about items being damaged or wrong. Keefe stores items at
the Nueces County Jail McKenzie Annex and brings items around on a cart twice a
week so inmates can choose and receive items immediately, Kaelin said. Premier's
accounting system also allowed inmates to buy on credit, and as a result some
inmates would leave custody owing money to Nueces County, Kaelin said. Keefe's
system charges inmates' accounts directly by scanning a bracelet inmates wear.
An inmate can't buy items unless there is enough money in the account.
September 9, 2007 San Antonio Express-News
Bexar County Sheriff Ralph Lopez and some of his friends weren't the only
ones in South Texas who enjoyed the benefits of helping Premier Management
Enterprises secure lucrative jail commissary contracts, according to interviews
and records examined by the San Antonio Express-News. Like Lopez, the sheriffs
of two other counties awarded contracts to the Louisiana jail services company,
and either they or their associates reaped financial benefits. Those sheriffs,
now out of office, also boasted to their staffs about going on a golf and
fishing trip to Costa Rica with Premier officials, the same trip that last week
forced Lopez to resign. Here in Kleberg County, then-Sheriff Tony Gonzalez, a
close friend of Lopez, gave Premier a contract to run his jail commissary when
he was in office in 2004 and has been paid by the company for consulting work of
an unknown nature. "I've done some consulting for them here and there," Gonzalez
told the Express-News during a brief interview at his ranch-style home on the
outskirts of Kingsville, declining to elaborate. "I'm just down here keeping my
nose clean." In Nueces County, one associate of former Sheriff Larry Olivarez,
another Lopez friend, reaped rewards after helping Premier win a jail commissary
contract there in 2005. The associate, a commercial real estate broker who was
appointed by the sheriff to an ad hoc committee that awarded the contract, later
earned a commission from the sale of 56 acres where LCS Corrections Services
Inc., another company owned in part by Premier's principals, is building a
private detention center, the Express-News has learned. In addition, the former
sheriff's chief deputy won political backing from LCS when he ran as a candidate
to replace Olivarez, who had stepped down to run for county judge. Premier,
which has come up repeatedly in an ongoing public corruption investigation in
Bexar County for doing favors for influential people in a position to help the
company, has denied any wrongdoing. That investigation, so far, has narrowly
targeted only individuals in Bexar County, such as Lopez and his longtime
campaign manager, John Reynolds, and Reynolds' financial relationship with the
sheriff's wife. Lopez, Reynolds and at least one of their associates helped
Premier land the local jail food commissary contract in 2005. As part of an
immunity deal with Bexar County District Attorney Susan Reed, the sheriff
resigned, effective Sept. 19, and pleaded no contest Tuesday to three
misdemeanor charges, two of which were related to the Costa Rica golf outing he
accepted from Premier. The deal protected him from further state prosecution;
his wife wasn't indicted. Reynolds, who played a key role in awarding the
contract to Premier, is suspected by Reed of bribery, extortion, theft, money
laundering and campaign finance violations. He also went on the Costa Rica trip
and received checks totaling more than $30,000 from Premier and one of its
owners for consulting and donations to fake charities Reynolds set up. An
associate of both Reynolds and the sheriff, John E. Curran, voted with Reynolds
on a jail board to give Premier the commissary contract, then won a contract
himself from Premier to provide temporary workers for the operation. Largely
unexamined is the broader picture of how Premier, its owners, Patrick and
Michael LeBlanc, and LCS conducted a business expansion with local government
partners throughout South Texas. A closer look at some of those operations
reveals similarities in conduct with local officials that have drawn none of the
law enforcement or media scrutiny seen in Bexar County. Nueces County Sheriff
Jim Kaelin, who succeeded Olivarez, is among those who have been watching the
news from San Antonio with keen interest because LCS is about to open an 800-bed
prison in his county. So far, no law enforcement agency has contacted him,
Kaelin said. Close relationships -- LeBlanc-run companies Premier and LCS
operate jail-related businesses in five South Texas counties. The first started
in Brooks County in 2000. They have embarked on an aggressive expansion in
recent years that has capitalized on tighter federal immigration control
policies. In addition to the work at Bexar County Jail, the companies also
operate jails, commissaries or full-scale prisons in Brooks, Kleberg, Hidalgo
and Nueces counties. They also run four jails in the LeBlancs' home state of
Louisiana and one in Alabama. Current Texas law makes sheriffs key gatekeepers
for contracts such as those sought by Premier and to a certain extent by the
prison-building LCS. Under current law, Texas sheriffs have almost unchecked
authority to contract management of their commissaries with no competitive
bidding. County commissioners must approve deals to build private prisons but
often keep their sheriffs closely in the loop as resident overseers and
advisers. Premier, LCS or sometimes both arrived in counties served by sheriffs
who maintained close personal relationships with one another and with Bexar
County's Lopez, according to interviews with personnel in several offices.
Lopez's office calendar for the past few years shows he often traveled to visit
Kleberg's Gonzalez on weekends for golfing and that Gonzalez traveled to San
Antonio. The calendar also shows a number of trips to visit Olivarez in Corpus
Christi, where he still lives in a house near a golf course. At the Kleberg
County Sheriff's Office, Gonzalez's former staffers say the three were often
joined in golfing and hunting outings by other sheriffs and elected officials in
counties where Premier or LCS are doing business today. Among them was Balde
Lozano of Brooks County, who did not return three calls for this story. "He kept
a close-knit circle of friends," said Yvonne Barbour, Gonzalez's former office
administrator. "I know Tony was a big golfer." Those relationships would later
prove mutually beneficial for the Louisiana companies and the sheriffs or their
friends. Gonzalez, for instance, used his relationships in Nueces County to help
Premier and LCS gain entrance there. Assistant Deputy Chief Peter B. Peralta,
who worked in the office when LSC first began courting county business,
remembered that it was Gonzalez who made the introductions. Later, Gonzalez
approved giving Premier a food commissary contract for his jail during his final
weeks in office. At some point either before or after Gonzalez left office in
late 2004, he accepted private consulting work from Premier's owners, he and a
company official acknowledged. When Gonzalez transferred the commissary contract
to Premier, two lifelong Kingsville residents, brothers who run a small local
grocery, felt the pain. Betos Community Grocery had held the contract since the
1970s and had come to rely on the modest commissary revenue as competition from
large grocery stores cut into Betos' bottom line. They were told they should
only bid for the contract if they had a sophisticated computer system. "We
didn't even get one computer until last year," said Juan Garza, who co-owns the
grocery with his brother Albert and supported Gonzalez's last failed re-election
bid. "It hurt." It remains unclear what kind of consulting work Gonzalez did for
the company or when it started. But former five-term Brooks County Judge Joe B.
Garcia recalled one occasion — after Gonzalez lost his election — that he came
calling, apparently after hearing that Garcia had begun agitating for Brooks
County to renegotiate better terms from its LCS detention center contract. It
was during this time that Gonzalez phoned Garcia wanting to meet for lunch and
talk about local LCS operations. "I've known Tony for a while. But I didn't want
to talk to him about my contract with LCS," Garcia said. Garcia remembered
another story he found disturbing, when Michael LeBlanc himself showed up at his
office, accompanied by the man Garcia had just beaten in the election. That
LeBlanc would travel to South Texas was not unusual; he often has personally
tended to his business affairs. But Garcia said what he heard made him feel
uncomfortable. "They said if I had a campaign debt, they would contribute to my
campaign," Garcia said. He said he told them he had no campaign debt to pay off
and wouldn't have accepted the offer even if he did. "A lot of people try to do
those type of things," Garcia said. "I've always been the type who, hey, I've
worked hard for my education. I don't have fancy cars, no ranches." Attorneys
for LCS and Premier have declined all requests for interviews regarding the
ongoing investigation in Bexar County or for this report. Last year, the
LeBlancs sued the Express-News, alleging they were libeled in articles the paper
published in late 2005. The lawsuit is pending. But Chris Burch, chief executive
officer of Premier, acknowledged that Gonzalez had done some consulting work for
the company under an arrangement with a predecessor, Ian Williamson, who is no
longer with the company. Burch said he was not privy to any details about that
work. Gonzalez still may be working for the company as a paid consultant, Burch
said. "I do know he has done some consulting work, but I'm not the one who put
this together." Benefits and campaign -- Like Gonzalez, then-Nueces County
Sheriff Olivarez helped Premier land a commissary deal in his jail during his
final days in office in late 2005. He then quit, as required, to run for county
judge. During his time as sheriff, LCS had a "pass through" contract with Nueces
to refer federal prisoners to its other Texas facilities, and it advanced a
proposal to build the 800-bed detention center, now nearing completion. The
project is expected to generate $800,000 for the county in inmate transfer
payments, plus $350,000 to $400,000 in taxes. The Express-News has learned an
ally of Olivarez benefited financially from LCS' effort to build the detention
center — after helping the sheriff give the jail commissary contract to Premier.
Corpus Christi commercial real estate broker and developer Tim Clower served in
late 2005 on an ad hoc selection committee the sheriff appointed to examine bids
for the commissary management job, according to the office of Kaelin, the
current sheriff. In February 2006, several months after Clower voted for the
commissary contract, he brokered a real estate purchase of 56.6 acres on behalf
of LCS for the $20 million detention center. The property's seller, Patricia Ann
Bernsen, said Clower's company approached her and brokered the purchase of her
farmland for $4,000 an acre, or $225,000. "He did get a commission, that's for
sure," Bernsen said, declining to say how much. "It was a good commission." On
average, commercial real estate agents earn between 6 percent and 10 percent,
according to one South Texas commercial real estate broker. At the time of the
sale, the 2006 sheriff's primary race was heating up. Clower co-signed for a
$20,000 campaign loan to Olivarez's former chief deputy, Jimmy Rodriguez, whose
opponent at the time was publicly criticizing him for helping bring LCS to town.
LCS went to Rodriguez's aid by lambasting his opponent. At one point in the
campaign, LCS went public with a threat to halt construction of its detention
center if Rodriguez did not win the Democratic primary. "We're not going to work
with or for someone who doesn't respect our company," Michael LeBlanc was quoted
in the Corpus Christi Caller-Times as saying about Rodriguez's opponent. "If Mr.
(Pete) Alvarez wins, we're out of Nueces County — plain and simple," LeBlanc
said. Rodriguez won the primary but lost the general election. Last week, he
insisted that he was paying off the $20,000 bank loan he said Clower co-signed.
"He's been a friend for a long time," Olivarez's former chief deputy said of
Clower. "He had a long history with the department before we even got there."
Clower did not return repeated calls seeking comment about the loan or his
commission on the LCS land purchase. Traveling together -- The Express-News
could not substantiate or refute comments from those in the Sheriff's Office
that Olivarez, while he was sheriff, went on the same Costa Rica trip in August
2005 with Lopez, Reynolds and Premier officials. Olivarez did not return
numerous phone calls or respond to a message left during a visit to his home.
Kaelin said Olivarez boasted of the Costa Rica trip and a separate hunting trip
to employees who remain on staff. Kleberg's Gonzalez, while in office, also told
some of his staff of going on the same Costa Rica trip, said Kleberg Sheriff Ed
Mata, who beat Gonzalez in the 2004 election. Mata conceded that he can't prove
the story, but he wondered why no one has investigated as in Bexar County.
Gonzalez, during the recent interview at his home near Kingsville, was asked
several times if he would deny going on the trip. He declined each time. The
Costa Rica trip was not the only reputed benefit Kaelin heard about in regard to
Olivarez. Shortly after taking office, Kaelin said, a staff person phoned him to
report that Olivarez had appeared with a small group of businesspeople seeking
to tour the detention center project. Kaelin said he was told that Olivarez had
represented himself as an "unpaid spokesperson for LCS." Kaelin called LCS
officials to inquire as to whether Olivarez might have been hired to run the
detention center, a prospect Kaelin worried would undermine his office's working
relationship with it. But he was told Olivarez had no known connection to the
company or employment prospects. Bexar Sheriff Lopez's office calendar indicates
he planned to attend the detention center groundbreaking with Olivarez on Feb.
23, 2006, after Olivarez had left office to run, unsuccessfully it turned out,
for judge. Today, Olivarez works as a manager for the Corpus Christi branch of
CGT Law Group International, according to a woman who answered the phone there.
Richard Harbison, a vice president in charge of LCS' Texas operations, is
certain that Olivarez has had no financial relationship with LCS. As he was
preparing to take his own vacation to Costa Rica, Harbison also said by phone
that he was unaware of any paid trips involving sheriffs in Texas and the
LeBlancs. Burch, of Premier, said he was not working for the company at the time
of the August 2005 trip. In Bexar County, where the public corruption
investigation has been in high gear lately, District Attorney Susan Reed has
said she is mainly interested in prosecuting local individuals such as Reynolds,
whom she called "rotten fruit." None of Premier's San Antonio offices have been
searched, Reed acknowledged. "I'm not finished, so I'm not ready to make any
definitive determination yet" about Premier, she said. The FBI and Texas
Rangers, which have been involved in the Bexar County investigation, aren't
commenting. Patrick LeBlanc, who last week formally became a candidate for the
Louisiana Legislature, is running in part on a message that he will fight
against political corruption that "robs us of our confidence in government."
Last week, he told the Lafayette Advocate that he has been cooperating with
investigators in Bexar County but couldn't elaborate. "We haven't done anything
wrong," he told the newspaper. "I would never, ever risk my integrity over
selling candy bars and potato chips."
Kyle Unit
Hays County, Texas
Management and Training Corporation
March 16, 2008 Austin American-Statesman
Two men who escaped from a Kyle private prison were apprehended this
afternoon, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The two men
were apprehended while walking on County Road 158 about three miles east of the
facility, according to Jason Clark, a public information officer with the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice. Jeremy Trevino, 21, and Justin Doty, 23, escaped
from the Kyle Unit in Hays County over a wall in the recreation yard shortly
before 10 p.m. Saturday. Clark said the two men were imprisoned there for parole
violations. “Anytime an offender escapes, we always work quickly to get them
back into custody,” Clark said. “You just don’t know what they’re capable of.”
Laredo Detention Center
Laredo, Texas
CCA
November 23, 2007 Laredo Morning Times
The former warden at an immigration processing facility in Laredo is suing
the company that administers the facility, alleging he was wrongfully
terminated. Jose L. Hinojosa was the warden for the Corrections Corporation of
America's processing center in Laredo, a 350-bed unit on East Saunders St. that
handled Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, detainees from 1987 to
2006, according to court documents. The lawsuit, filed in federal court, alleges
Hinojosa was ordered to resign as warden because he is a Mexican-American man
who, at the age of 62, told superiors he intended to keep his job for 10 more
years. This was done in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Age
Discrimination in Employment Act, the lawsuit alleges. Hinojosa is asking for
more than $3 million in damages. An answer filed on behalf of CCA denies any
wrongdoing by the company and denies that Hinojosa is entitled to any relief.
The reply states that employment decisions regarding Hinojosa were legitimate,
non-discriminatory and not based on Hinojosa's "alleged protected classes." An
investigation by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was unable to
determine if CCA had violated any federal statutes, according to court
documents. Attorneys for Hinojosa and CCA were not available for comment.
Margaret Fernandez, a company spokeswoman, said she could not comment on pending
litigation. Juan Diaz, 52, took over as the facility's warden in 2006.
July 19, 2007 The Capital Times
Tomas Contreras, a Madison businessman held for 81 days earlier this year when
he tried to re-enter the United States, is working to expose the cruelties,
including a two-week stay in an isolation chamber, that he said he was subjected
to at privately run detention centers in Texas. "One night after midnight, I was
sleeping and a whole bunch of people showed up. They tied me up and beat me,"
Contreras, his voice catching, told a forum on immigration issues in Whitewater
last week. Contreras appeared with a "Reality Tour" of the state organized by
Voces de la Frontera -- a rally at the State Capitol in Madison, a forum in
Whitewater, a stop in Milwaukee -- to tell of what he calls abuses in U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers. "Every time I get
into what was going on back there, what happened to these people, it breaks me,"
Contreras said in a recent interview at his family's east side carpet cleaning
business. The experience took 90 pounds off his 260-pound frame, he said, weight
that he's putting back on since he was released following an order by a federal
judge on March 30. Contreras was taken into custody in early January after a
computer check at the border as he and his family were returning from Mexico.
The check turned up a 1989 arrest in Illinois, where a trace of cocaine was
found in the car in which Contreras was riding. He said he paid a $250 fine and
was told he would have no record. Although he has lived legally in the United
States since 1964, Contreras is not a U.S. citizen, so his drug conviction was a
deportable offense under a 1996 law. He has crossed the border without incident
many times since then, but ICE recently upgraded its computers at the border,
which may be why he was detained this time. Tough Texas treatment: Contreras was
held at three ICE facilities in Texas run by private companies under contract
with the federal government. At the Laredo Processing Center in Laredo, run by
Tennessee-based Corrections Corp. of America, a national prison services giant,
Contreras said he was placed in a large dormitory with 80 or more men from
around the world. He saw fights among detainees and unprovoked force used by
guards on detainees. His objections to rough treatment by guards of other
detainees brought threats of retaliation, he said. Contreras launched a hunger
strike and encouraged others to join him in protest of treatment there, as his
wife, Carmen, gave reports on the protest to Spanish-language media. Contreras
said in an interview that he and six other men who challenged guards' treatment
of detainees were shackled and beaten as they were transferred to another
facility. He said after he was awakened in the middle of the night and yanked
from his bunk, his wrists and ankles were shackled to his waist, and he was
prodded repeatedly -- hard -- by a guard wielding a police baton. Because their
shackled feet could not step up high enough to get into a transport van,
Contreras said, he and others we picked up and thrown in. "They tossed us all in
there like animals." Contreras said the incident left bruises on his legs and
arms, and his arms were cut when guards used tools to snap off the plastic
restraints. He was transferred to Corrections Corp.'s Webb County Detention
Center, also in Laredo, where he continued his hunger strike. After a letter
from U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin to ICE officials, solicited by Contreras' family,
he said he was transferred to the South Texas Detention Complex in Pearsall, run
by the international GEO Group Inc. After a dispute with a guard about an
assignment to a lower bunk, which Contreras said was made by GEO's medical unit,
he said he was put in a 5-foot-by-6-foot isolation cell. He stayed in the metal
cell, with bunk, toilet and sink, for two weeks, he said. The prescribed periods
of release, for showering, exercise and visits, sometimes were not given because
there weren't enough guards on duty, he added. Steve Owen, Corrections Corp.'s
director of marketing, referred requests for comment to ICE, saying that was
ICE's policy. Nina Pruneda in ICE's public affairs office in San Antonio said
she could find no record in Contreras' file "of the things he said he witnessed
and endured. We are looking into the matter." GEO spokesman Pablo Paez said as a
matter of policy, the company does not comment on "third party allegations" like
those made by Contreras, but said that all of GEO's facilities are run in
accordance with the American Correctional Association's standards for humane
treatment. A spokesperson in Baldwin's office said they had received no further
requests from Contreras since his release, but said Baldwin would ask the House
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to "investigate issues raised by
the Contreras case in its review of possible civil liberties violations and its
review of the consequences of privatizing basic government services." The
committee, under Chairman Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., is reviewing Bush
administration practices and policies. Waxman's office said that on Baldwin's
request, the committee would look into it. "If she thinks this is an important
issue, the committee will treat it very seriously," Waxman said in a prepared
statement. Contreras said he and six others held in the detention centers are
preparing a federal suit. The San Antonio attorney he said was representing them
did not return calls seeking comment. Contreras said the suit will seek to force
the government to improve conditions at the prison. "I'm not doing it for the
money. I'm doing it so they treat people right," Contreras said. "Somebody has
got to say enough is enough.' "
LaSalle County Jail
La Salle, Texas
Emerald Correctional Management
September 27, 2003
A lawsuit set for trial today over the La Salle County Commissioners' handling
of public access to information about a controversial jail project has been
settled after a marathon negotiating session. "The lawsuit was filed because
they weren't giving us information about the project," said Donna Lednicky, of
Encinal, one of the plaintiffs who attended the 13-hour mediation session that
ended late Wednesday. "We sued because they violated the Texas Open Meetings
Act, and they have admitted this," she said of one element of the settlement.
The suit was filed last year by several residents of Encinal, a small community
in southern LaSalle County where the county commissioners unanimously voted to
build a 500-bed jail to hold U.S. Marshals Service prisoners. Critics of the $24
million jail project accused the commissioners of holding meetings without
giving proper notice, withholding public documents about the project and
refusing to answer questions in public forums about it. Originally filed in hope
of blocking construction of the jail, the suit was settled short of that goal.
The agreement calls for former LaSalle County Judge Jimmy Patterson to be
replaced on the Public Facilities Corporation by current County Judge Joel
Rodriguez and for all public documents relating to the jail project to be filed
with the LaSalle County Clerk. The county also has agreed to post notices of its
meetings in Encinal. Before this, Encinal residents had to drive 30 miles to
Cotulla to read postings at the county courthouse. In addition, the county
agreed to pay the plaintiffs' legal fees and court costs. "It's still a terrible
deal, but since the bonds were approved by the attorney general, it's
uncontestable. We think we got more in the settlement than going to court,"
Lednicky said. (Express-News)
September 20, 2003
The U.S. Marshals Service soon will narrow the list of proposals from South
Texas counties wanting to partner with the agency to build a 2,800-bed federal
detention facility near Laredo — the largest private prison project in the
nation. Details are sketchy but at least two counties — LaSalle and Webb —
are interested in landing the deal for what competitors for the contract have
called a "superjail." Florida-based Wackenhut Corp. has submitted two
sites in Webb County, where it says it could build the facility with the
county's help. Another private prison corporation, Emerald Correctional
Management of Shreveport, La., wants to expand an already controversial project
in Encinal to give the federal agency the number of beds it seeks. Emerald
has an agreement with the LaSalle County Public Facilities Corp. to manage a
500-bed federal detention center in Encinal, population 629. Construction of the
center is under way, Sheriff Jerry P. Patterson said. LaSalle County Judge
Joel Rodriguez Jr., who recently was elected and isn't a member of the public
facilities corporation, opposes any plans to expand the detention center.
Rodriguez is a vocal critic of the center itself, saying the prior
administration issued high-interest bonds to pay for it without public input.
He said the county is in no position to handle more prisoners, considering it's
still waiting to hear from the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection on a
possible contract to build a separate 1,000-bed facility. Frio County also is
being considered for the BCBP project. "That would increase five times the
population of Encinal," Rodriguez said. "The city doesn't have the
infrastructure to support a 2,800-bed facility." Officials with Emerald
Correctional Management couldn't be reached for comment Friday. Encinal
resident Sean Chadwell said he doubts the U.S. Marshals Service will seriously
consider any proposal from LaSalle County to build the "superjail," because of
the turmoil it generated by approving the 500-bed facility. Chadwell is
among a group of Encinal residents who have filed a lawsuit against LaSalle
County for improperly approving that $27 million deal. County officials have
denied the suit's allegations and a mediation hearing is scheduled for Wednesday
in San Antionio. At one point, the federal agency suspended funding for
the project because of complaints that residents weren't being included in the
decision-making process. The money was later reinstated. "I don't
think they really stand a chance," said Webb County Judge Louis Bruni of LaSalle
County's effort to net the 2,800-bed facility. "The lack of infrastructure up
there would (increase) the cost." But Bruni said there are other
competitors within Webb County that he would need to fend off in order for the
county's joint venture with Wackenhut to win. The U.S. Marshals Service
won't identify the entities vying for the contract, or even say how many are
competing or where they propose to locate the center. "Everybody wants a
piece of the pie," Bruni said. "It would be a tremendous gain." The judge
estimates 500 new jobs would be created in the county if the facility were to be
built there. But even in Laredo, opposition already has sprouted. On
Thursday, representatives from the Austin-based Texas Criminal Justice Reform
Coalition spurred about a dozen students at Texas A&M International University
to fight the project. "Do we want Laredo to seem like a giant holding cell
for prisoners?" asked the coalition's Carlos Villareal. (San Antonio
Express-News)
July 21, 2003
Backers of a controversial jail financed with $21.8 million of taxable,
high-yield revenue bonds have sued the top official in LaSalle County, Tex.,
claiming he interfered with a $25 million contract to build the 500-bed facility
under construction near the Mexican border and endangered millions of dollars
worth of similar projects. The plaintiffs include Dallas-based bond underwriter
Municipal Capital Markets Group Inc., Shreveport, La.-based private prison
operator Emerald Correctional Management, and the architectural firm Corplan
Inc. of Dallas. The lawsuit, filed in LaSalle County District Court on July 14
by San Antonio attorney Troy S. Martin 3d, alleges that county Judge Joel
Rodriguez has disrupted plans to build a series of jails near the Mexican
border. The lawsuit alleges that Rodriguez, who is the top county
commissioner, made false statements about the deal to reporters. "If Rodriguez
is not prevented and restrained from engaging in threatening activities and
communications with third persons, there is a substantial likelihood that these
entire multimillion dollar projects will fail," the lawsuit states. In a
separate lawsuit, former county Judge Jimmy P. Patterson, who remains head of
the LaSalle County Public Facilities Detention Corp. that issued the bonds on
Nov. 7, is suing Rodriguez for defamation. A third lawsuit, filed by a
LaSalle County citizens group, accuses the county commissioners of violating the
Texas Open Meetings Act by withholding information about the deal. Under
the contracts, Rodriguez said the county stands to lose $373,808 in the first
year, $1.2 million in the second, and more than $1.9 million afterward from the
new 500-bed Encinal detention facility. The district attorney for LaSalle
County is also leading a search for records on the bond deal, Rodriguez said.
Although a preliminary official statement for the revenue bonds stated that
county attorney Elizabeth Martinez had reviewed and approved the contracts, she
denied that, saying she was not hired by the authority and did not sign the
deal. (The Bond Buyer)
May 12, 2003
The honeymoon between new LaSalle County Judge Joel Rodriguez and the four
incumbent county commissioners — if ever there was one — has ended with a nasty
thud. Saying he is weary of begging the commissioners for financial
information about past county projects and also fearful the county is just weeks
from going broke, Rodriguez this week took an extreme step. "I'm asking
the county attorney to file misdemeanor (criminal) complaints on public
information violations and bid violations against the commissioners," said
Rodriguez, who served two terms as county treasurer before being elected judge.
Rodriguez says he's most worried about contracts the county signed last year
with a Louisiana company, Emerald Correctional Management Corp., to operate two
facilities. One is a 48-bed county jail that houses federal prisoners, and
the other is a 576-bed detention center that also will house federal detainees.
The larger facility will open next spring near Encinal. Rodriguez claims
the contracts, negotiated without the oversight of a lawyer, are bad for the
county. He said the county already is losing thousands each month on the
jail because it must house its own prisoners elsewhere. He predicts the
situation will get worse when the larger facility opens. He said the
commissioners have ignored his pleas to hire an outside lawyer to review the
contracts with an eye toward renegotiating them. The project, rushed
through late last year with a minimum of public input or disclosure, has
triggered two lawsuits from residents complaining about the process. It
was financed with high-interest debt issued through the county's nonprofit
Public Facilities Corp. The four commissioners, along with former County Judge
Jimmy Patterson, are the board members of both the PFC and another nonprofit
entity that backed a large county project. (San Antonio Express-News)
December 12, 2002
A lawsuit filed by a
group of citizens in La Salle County, Tex., seeks to
halt a controversial private jail near the Mexican border financed with
nearly $22 million in high-yield bonds, and accuses county officials of
violating the
state's open-meetings law in approving the project.
The project, designed to create jobs in the poor, sparsely populated
county, has come under siege since the bonds were sold on Nov. 7. The official
statement for the taxable bonds
cited approval on some legal questions by county attorney Elizabeth
Martinez, but Martinez has said she never signed any documents concerning the
jail.
County Treasurer Joel Rodriguez, who defeated outgoing county Judge
Jimmy P. Patterson and will take office Jan. 1, has vowed to stop the
jail. In Texas, the county judge is the top administrative official and leads
the
commissioners' court. The
suit filed on Monday asks the state district court in Cotulla to halt any
commissions and use of bond proceeds, and to also declare the nonprofit issuer
of the bonds -- the La Salle County Public Facility Detention Corp. -- "null and
void." The corporation was created and is managed by the county commissioners
and county judge. The U.S. Marshals
Service, which was expected to be the major customer for the 500-bed jail, last
week
suspended a $3 million grant for the project pending an investigation and
hinted that it could back out of the project.
Although Patterson and others on the commissioners' court claim they have made
all documents available in
meetings, Rodriguez and others dispute that. Rodriguez said he had to file
a
freedom of information request to get the documents, even though he serves
as the chief investment official of the county.
Attorney H.C. Hall 3d, representing Greg Springer of Encinal, last month wrote a
letter to Judge Martinez seeking an investigation of the commissioners and
claiming business
involving the jail was conducted in private.
"My client, as well as other landowners in La Salle County, believe that all
required public notices and
requirements incident to the project have been ignored and/or purposefully
avoided," Hall wrote. "It is apparent that the entire transaction has been
purposefully conducted behind closed doors." (The Bond Buyer)
December 6, 2002
A tense and heated
Thursday commissioners court meeting left many
in the audience unsatisfied with answers provided by attorneys, consultants,
bond underwriters and La Salle county officials.
The facility would house 300 federal inmates daily for 15 years, as per
an agreement with the U.S. Marshals and the non-profit La Salle County Public
Facility Detention Corporation. The
county judge and four commissioners make up the non-profit corporation, which
was created in October 2000 to secure financing for the project.
County Judge Jimmy Patterson and three of the four commissioners present
held the meeting in response to the recent suspension of a $3 million federal
grant by the U.S. Marshals.
Concerns raised by the Marshals in a Nov. 22 letter revolve around providing
opportunities for public comment and verifying the county's bidding and
procurement process on the project.
At the beginning of the meeting, audience members asked specifically about the
contract between La Salle and Emerald, th private corporation out of Louisiana
that will manage the facility.
Questions also centered on the financial liability of the county, should
there be a default in payment on the $22 million high-interest revenue bonds
sold by the county's nonprofit corporation.
"The taxpayers of Encinal and La Salle County have no financial liability on
this project at all. Zero," bond co-underwriter Stan Crouch stressed.
Michael Harling, the other co-underwriter (Municipal Capital Markets of
Dallas), fielded similar questions and became defensive at one point early in
the meeting. One audience member
asked if the county had worked with an auditor in putting this project together.
Patterson said "no" since La Salle only has a treasurer. County Treasurer Joel Rodriguez, county judge-elect, however,
stood up to list the concerns he has with the project.
Though the project has already been finalized, Rodriguez said he barely
received a packet from Akin Gump that day with signed documents.
He asked County Clerk Peggy Murray if the bond indenture contract and
lease agreement had been filed with her office.
She replied no. "No, none of
that information has been available," Rodriguez said, stating that he has had to
make numerous open records requests to obtain documents and information. He explained why he was concerned with any potential
financial liability. "The county's
broke," Rodriguez said, noting that La Salle "hardly has enough money to make
payroll." Encinal residents Donna
Lednicky and Sean Chadwell later asked who provided legal counsel on the actual
contract. Martin of Akin, Gump said
his law firm had reviewed the bond contract, but Lednicky and Chadwell demanded
to know who had represented the county when negotiating the terms of the
contract. Afterward, Encinal
rancher Greg Springer said he left the meeting
unsatisfied.
"They keep saying the county is not liable. True, but unfortunately if
the county defaults, and it already has with federal loans for
an affordable housing project, the reality is that its bond rating will be
severely impacted," Springer said. (The Times)
December 5, 2002
The U.S. Marshals have thrown a wrench into construction plans for the proposed
$25 million Encinal detention facility. On Nov. 22, the Marshals issued La Salle
County Judge Jimmy Patterson a letter stating that the $3 million federal
Cooperative Agreement Program grant, which was awarded July 29, would be
suspended until certain demands are met. At 6:45 p.m., the judge and four
commissioners will convene as the La Salle County Public Facility Detention
Corporation. They formed this private nonprofit corporation for financing
purposes of the $25 million, 500-bed facility, which they want to use as an
economic development tool. However, due to a public outcry by Encinal ranchers
and businessmen, the incoming La Salle County Judge (Joel Rodriguez, who is the
county treasurer) and incoming treasurer (Marisa Mancha, an Encinal council
member), the Marshals put the CAP grant on hold. "The U.S. Marshals Service has
received numerous telephone calls and written correspondence concerning the
feasibility of La Salle County undertaking such a project," the Nov. 22 letter
reads. "Also, we have learned that now there is a corporation involved with this
project that has an action filed against them by the U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development," it states. In 1999, La Salle County officials formed a
similar nonprofit corporation (La Salle County Housing Finance Corporation), but
defaulted on nearly $1 million in U.S. Housing and Urban Development-backed home
loans. HUD has since issued sanctions against the housing corporation, County
Judge Patterson and Commissioners Albert Aguero and Raymond Landrum. The Encinal
facility would be managed and run by a private company called Emerald
Correctional Management, L.L.C. of Shreveport, La. In early November, the Texas
Attorney General's office approved the sale of $22 million in high interest
revenue bonds for the project. (Laredo Morning Times)
November 27, 2002
For Jimmy P. Patterson, the recent sale of nearly $22 million in lease revenue
bonds to build a privately managed jail is about bringing jobs to a poor Texas
county near the Mexico border. The outgoing county judge says the jail will
provide badly needed jobs while attracting other businesses to La Salle County.
In addition, the county has a deal with the U.S. government to provide funding
and prisoners for the lockup. But County Judge-elect Joel Rodriquez Jr. fears
the deal could ruin the sparsely populated county. He claims Patterson pushed it
through without enough community input and before other LaSalle officials -
including the county attorney - could sign off on the bonds, in possible
violation of securities regulations. In addition, a spokesman for the U.S.
Marshal's Service says it is still evaluating whether the county is actually the
proprietor for the jail as would be required for a valid Intergovernmental
Agreement like that cited in bond documents for the deal. Emerald Correctional
Management of Shreveport, La., would operate the jail, which is tentatively
scheduled to open in April. Construction has yet to begin, following an official
groundbreaking on Sept. 25. In Texas, county judge is the title for the top
administrative official, who is not a judge in the legal sense. Patterson, who
has served in county government for 24 years and whose brother, Jerry Patterson,
is sheriff, says he stands by the jail plan despite the controversy over the
project that he admits may have contributed to his defeat by Rodriguez, the
county treasurer. But Rodriquez says the county is in no position to engage in
high finance, even through a conduit such as the Public Facility Detention Corp.
In some years, debt service on the bonds will surpass $2 million, which equals
the current operating budget of the county, he says. The official statement says
the county will be required to make rental payments sufficient to pay principal,
premium and interest on the bonds when due solely from revenues of the jail. But
if the U.S. Marshal's office backs out of its deal, where will that leave the
county? Rodriguez asks. He says he will try to stop the project as soon as he
takes office Jan. 1 and assumes leadership of the PFDC as well. "This is a
doomed deal," said Rodriquez. "It's like real estate speculation, basically.
Speculators come in and sucker counties like ours and make them think they've
struck gold, then the whole thing collapses." Rodriguez, who claims he had to
file Freedom of Information Act requests to obtain basic information about the
deal despite his role as the county's chief investment officer, says the
official statement contains misleading statements. He says the OS contains an
opinion by the county attorney on the legality of the bond issue, but the county
attorney never provided such an opinion. Attorney Elizabeth Martinez said she
knew nothing about the jail project until Nov. 4, three days before the bonds
were sold at rates ranging from 10% to 12%. Then, she said, she was given 24
hours to sign an opinion that she considered beyond her expertise. She said she
never signed the opinion. "I didn't appreciate the fact of being brought in at
the last minute and my name being used without my being informed about it,"
Martinez said. "I am counsel to the county, but I have never been appointed
counsel to the corporation." Some officials say a misstatement involving a
county attorney opinion could constitute a violation of Section 10(b) of the
Securities Act of 1934, Rule 10b-5."A 10b-5 violation involves a misstatement or
omission of a material fact," said Martha Haines, director of the Securities and
Exchange Commission's Office of Municipal Securities. Patterson said he and Rick
Reyes, a former commissioner from neighboring Webb County who recently became an
adviser on bond issues, were the first to discuss the idea of building a jail.
Reyes is a consultant to the county and stands to make $700,000 for his work
based on a percentage of the bond proceeds. (The Bond Buyer)
La Vernia, Texas
October 13, 2006 Express-News
La Vernia became the second city in Wilson County to balk at plans to build
a 500-bed detention facility after a groundswell of opposition from residents.
City Council members unanimously voted Thursday night not to continue studying
the proposal, which would have established a privately run detention center to
house undocumented immigrants from countries other than Mexico for the
Department of Homeland Security. "We did our research on it and found out it
wasn't a good fit for our community," La Vernia Mayor Brad Beck said Friday.
Developer Richard Reyes, who tried to interest both La Vernia and Floresville in
the project, couldn't be reached for comment Friday. Reyes operates Innovative
Government Strategies, a consulting firm in Boerne. The La Vernia City Council
voted on the issue immediately after convening for its meeting Thursday,
pre-empting several planned speeches critical of the project, said Kathy Crisp,
a local real estate agent. Crisp was one of two residents who spoke after the
vote, thanking the council for its support. Crisp said the town of about 1,000
rallied against the proposal because residents didn't want La Vernia's image to
be that of a prison town. "This was something we were just adamant about," she
said. "We did not want it close to our schools. We did not want it in our
community."
Leidel Comprehensive
Sanctions Center
Houston, Texas
Cornell
December 15, 2009 AP
A former contract guard at a Houston halfway house has been sentenced to
five months in federal prison for sexual abuse of a person in detention. U.S.
Attorney Tim Johnson said 30-year-old Nathan Jones of Houston was sentenced to
prison on Tuesday. He will serve five months in home confinement after
completing the prison sentence. Jones was convicted over the summer of the
federal felony offense. He admitted that in 2007, while employed at Leidel
Comprehensive Sanction Center, he engaged in a sexual act with a female federal
prisoner in his office.
February 15, 2006 Dallas Morning News
A man who police say escaped a Houston halfway house and killed three men in
Fort Worth claims to have killed a man in Albuquerque in 1995, New Mexico
authorities said. Christopher Chubasco Wilkins, who aligns himself with white
supremacists, was arrested in November and charged with fatally shooting three
men in Fort Worth. Mr. Wilkins, 37, of Houston told authorities he killed as
many as 12 people in two states who owed drug debts, officials said. According
to federal court records, Mr. Wilkins escaped from Harris County on Oct. 2 after
he was issued a religious pass to attend church. Mr. Wilkins was serving a
five-year sentence for felony gun possession at the Houston-based Cornell
Corrections Facility, a privately operated halfway house contracted by the U.S.
Bureau of Prisons.
November 23, 2005 Houston Chronicle
Reacting to the capture of a Houston halfway house escapee now suspected in
three slayings in North Texas, Mayor Bill White's crime victims advocate on
Wednesday denounced as outrageous that anyone could walk out of a community
corrections center without the public being notified. Andy Kahan said the
incident opens a "Pandora's box" of issues related to how escapes are handled.
"This is a public safety crisis," said Kahan. "How many other fugitives have
escaped from a halfway house that the public is not made aware of?" Federal
officials responded that employees at the low-security halfway house followed
policy the day Christopher Wilkins' walked away, and that nothing in the
inmate's behavior indicated he was a particular threat or that he had any plans
to slip out. He is now charged in connection with the Fort Worth slayings.
Wilkins' capture on Nov. 5 ended a monthlong taste of freedom for the federal
inmate. He is being held on $1 million bail in the Tarrant County Jail in
connection with the Oct. 26 shooting death of Gilbert Vallejo, 47, and the
slayings two days later of Mike Silva, 33, and Willie Freeman, 40. He also is
charged in a series of crimes committed within just 11 days of Vallejo's
slaying, including aggravated assault and two auto thefts, Fort Worth police
said. "If there had been a warning and a media alert and the public was informed
to be on the lookout for Wilkins, you can certainly speculate that his crime
spree may have been prevented," Kahan said. Wilkins, 37, received a pass to
attend church on Oct. 2 but did not return to Leidel Comprehensive Sanctions
Center in downtown Houston. The halfway house is operated by Cornell Companies
Inc., which has a contract with the Bureau of Prisons. Officials at the center
would not comment on the escape. According to a federal arrest warrant, the
staff contacted local police and hospitals the day of Wilkins' escape but could
not find him. He was officially listed as an escapee at 5 p.m. His whereabouts
were unknown until his capture in Fort Worth.
November 23, 2005 Dallas Morning News
A criminal who police said may have ties to white supremacy has been charged in
the slayings of three men during his escape last month. Christopher Chubasco
Wilkins, 37, of Houston, already jailed on unrelated charges, was arrested on
suspicion of murder and capital murder. He is jailed in lieu of bail exceeding
$1 million. Mr. Wilkins is accused of gunning down Gilbert Vallejo, 47, on Oct.
26 as he left the Lady Luck Lounge on South Jennings Avenue near downtown. Mr.
Vallejo was shot numerous times, police said. Mr. Wilkins also is accused of
fatally shooting Mike Silva, 33, of Hood County and Willie Freeman, 40, of Fort
Worth. They were found Oct. 28 lying in a ditch off the roadway in the 9600
block of Old Weatherford Road in west Fort Worth. Both were shot in the head,
said Fort Worth police spokesman Lt. Ralph Swearingin. Police do not have a
motive but are looking into Mr. Wilkins' background. He was serving a 60-month
sentence at the Cornell Corrections Facility, a privately operated halfway house
contracted by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. U.S. marshals filed a criminal
complaint this month charging Mr. Wilkins with escape.
November 22, 2005 Houston Chronicle
A federal felon now charged in the slayings of three men in Fort Worth escaped
from a halfway house in Houston last month after telling officials he was going
to church. Christopher Wilkins, 37, is being held on $1 million bail at Tarrant
County Jail in the Oct. 26 shooting death of Gilbert Vallejo, 47, and the
slayings two days later of Mike Silva, 33, and Willie Freeman, 40, Fort Worth
police said. On Oct. 2, Wilkins slipped out of Leidel Comprehensive Sanctions
Center, 1819 Commerce, after receiving a pass to attend religious services,
according to the federal arrest warrant. Local police were notified after he
failed to return by 1:15 p.m. Wilkins was officially listed as an escapee at 5
p.m., the federal affidavit said. The facility in Houston is operated by the
Cornell Companies Inc. Officials with the halfway house could not be reached for
comment late Tuesday. After his escape, Wilkins made his way to Fort Worth where
he has been charged in an 11-day violent crime spree - including aggravated
assaults and home burglaries, in addition to the slayings.
Liberty County Jail/Juvenile
Center
Liberty, Texas
CiviGenics (now CEC) (formerly run by
CCA)
October 18, 2011 Houston Community Newspapers
A 25-year-old Daisetta, Texas, man has pleaded guilty to federal charges in
the Eastern District of Texas, according to U.S. Attorney John M. Bales. James
Allen Roach pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Thad Heartfield on
Tuesday, Oct. 18, to attempting to provide a federal inmate with a prohibited
object. According to information presented in court, on Feb. 24, 2011, Roach, a
correctional officer for the Liberty County Community Education Center (CEC),
was arrested for arranging to deliver marijuana and tobacco into the Liberty
County CEC to a federal inmate in exchange for money. Roach was indicted by a
federal grand jury on March 2, 2011 and charged with federal violations. Roach
faces up to five years in federal prison at sentencing. A sentencing date has
not been set. This case is being investigated by the U.S. Marshals Service, the
Jefferson County Sheriff's Office and the Texas Department of Public Safety and
is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Randall L. Fluke.
May 6, 2010 The Vindicator
Liberty County Sheriff’s Department Public Information Officer Steve Greene
recently reported ongoing investigations regarding contraband found in the
Liberty County Jail. The jail is managed by a contractor, Civigenics, a
subsidiary of Community Education Centers, Inc. Greene said “Basically, we have
been getting information that there was a lot of contraband in the jail, and
some of it was being brought in by corrections officers. Thursday, (April 29) we
searched the evening shift as they were coming in and we had a drug dog pass by
their cars. For those cars that the dog alerted on, we asked for consent to
search. We searched the vehicles. We have ongoing investigations regarding a
couple of guards. Two or three were terminated.” Back on approximately April 8,
one guard was arrested by US Marshals for taking contraband into the jail. He is
being held at a detention facility in Beaumont, on charges equivalent to
“prohibitive substances in a correctional facility”.
February 22, 2010 Eastex Advocate
A jailer at the Liberty County Jail was arrested for shoplifting on Friday,
February 19, at the Cleveland Wal-Mart. Ashley Trasha Ligons, 26, of Cleveland
has been charged with Class B misdemeanor theft. It is alleged that she
shoplifted CDs and a DVD. Ligons was taken into custody by Cleveland Police
Department and transported to the city jail, where she was booked in. She was
later transported to the Liberty County Jail, where she had been employed as a
jailer. The jail is operated by Civigenics and is under the management of the
Liberty County Sheriff’s Office.
January 14, 2009 Cleveland Advocate
It was business as usual for the Liberty County Commissioners Court. After
paying the month’s bills they approved payroll changes resulting from the
inauguration of the new sheriff and county attorney. The largest change is that
former candidate for county attorney Tommy Chambers transferred from First
Assistant to Second Assistant. Chambers’ transfer came about because newly
inaugurated County Attorney Wes Hinch brought in Karen McNair to be his First
Assistant. Additionally the commissioners addressed a complicated item regarding
payments for repairs to the County Jail. At issue were repairs that had to be
performed to the Liberty County Jail after the change in management that
occurred in 2007. “The company that ran the jail until 2006 hadn’t made some
repairs so we held onto the payment in exchange for the repairs,” said County
Judge Phil Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald stated that the county was releasing the funds
to Community Education Centers (CEC), the company that used to run the jail,
because they paid Civigenics, the company that now runs the jail, to make the
repairs. The release of the funds came after a court case involving Civigenics,
CEC and Liberty County.
July 8, 2008 Houston Community Newspapers
Angelia Perales, 43, Techa Fowler, 24, and Tynisha Pierre, 30, were all
C.E.C./Civigenics correctional officers who were employed at the Liberty County
Jail. That is until they were arrested July 2 by deputies from the Liberty
County Sheriff’s Office. The women are all being charged with Violation of the
Civil Rights of a Person in Custody. The Texas Penal Code states that violating
a prisoner’s civil rights is a State Jail Felony. If convicted all three women
could face anywhere from 180 days to 2 years incarceration and a fine not to
exceed $10,000. The charges stem from a six week investigation conducted by LCSO
and CEC/Civigenics into allegations that employees at the jail were having
sexual relations with inmates. According to LCSO spokesman Hugh Bishop the
allegations involved sexual activity between the three women and “more than one
inmate.” Although Bishop was unable to say exactly how many inmates were
involved he was sure there was more than one. Perales, Fowler and Pierre’s
arrest is the latest incident in what is becoming a problem plagued year for
CEC/Civigenics. Six weeks before the arrests of the three women, Marquise Dushun
Hunt, 21, another CEC/Civigenics employee pled guilty for trying to bring drugs
into the Bowie County Jail in Texarkana. Hunt was indicted in January by a grand
jury for trying to bring three plastic sandwich bags full of marijuana into the
jail. Hunt’s plea bargaining came on the heels of another sex scandal at the
Liberty County Jail. On April 29 an unnamed female CEC/Civigenics correction
officer resigned after questioning by LCSO Deputies. The officers were
investigating allegations that the unnamed guard had been having sex with an
inmate. According to Bishop the investigation and arrests of Perales, Fowler and
Pierre were “not related to the other case.” Even though investigators are
treating the latest sex and drug cases as unrelated incidences the sheer volume
of them can’t be ignored. This past spring LCSO officers arrested the warden of
Liberty County Jail on charges of stalking and sexual harassment. In January two
more female CEC/Civigenics corrections officers Manitra Taylor, 41, and
Shondalyn Jones, 25, were arrested for trying to bring drugs into the Liberty
County Jail. Officials at CEC failed to respond to requests for comment.
May 7, 2008 The Vindicator
A female guard at the Liberty County Jail resigned Tuesday, April 29,
following accusations she had sex with an inmate, Sheriff Greg Arthur said. The
guard, an employee of CiviGenics, offered her resignation when Liberty County
Sheriff's Office investigators questioned her about the alleged affair.
CiviGenics is the private company the county hires to run operations of the
jail. The guard could now face criminal charges stemming from the investigation.
The Liberty County District Attorney's Office accepted the case and will present
evidence to the grand jury, which meets on the second and fourth Wednesday of
every month. The next meeting will be May 14. After hearing the case, the grand
jury could return an indictment for violation of civil rights of a person in
custody by having sex with that person. The charge is a state jail felony.
Punishment for a state jail felony can be confinement for a period of 180 days
to 2 years in a state jail and a fine not to exceed $10,000. The names of the
guard and the inmate were not released.
May 4, 2008 Houston Community Newspapers
A female employee of CiviGenics who works as a guard in the Liberty County
Jail resigned Tuesday, April 29, after being questioned by Liberty County
Sheriff’s Office investigators about having sex with an inmate, according to
Liberty County Sheriff Greg Arthur. The case has been accepted by the Liberty
County District Attorney’s Office and will be presented to a grand jury. The
grand jury could return an indictment for Violation of Civil Rights of a Person
in Custody By Having Sex With That Person. This is a State Jail Felony,
punishable by confinement for a period of 180 days to two years in a state jail
and a fine not to exceed $10,000.
January 23, 2008 Houston Chronicle
Two guards were charged Tuesday with conspiring to deliver marijuana and
Ecstasy to a federal inmate housed in the Liberty County Jail. Shondalyn S.
Jones, 25, of Dayton, and Manitra L. Taylor, 42, of Cleveland, both employed by
the corporation that runs the county jail, were taken into custody about 11:45
a.m. after they accepted the illegal drugs and $1,000 from an undercover agent
in a parking lot at the intersection of Main and U.S. 90 in Liberty,
investigators said. The cash was payment for delivering the drugs to the federal
inmate, Liberty County Sheriff Greg Arthur said. Neither guard offered any
resistance and both were immediately fired by CiviGenics Corp., which operates
the facility, Arthur said. The unidentified federal inmate who was buying the
drugs was the informant who tipped authorities about the delivery. He is one of
150 inmates being held temporarily at the county jail for the U.S. Marshals
Service, Arthur said. Jones and Taylor were taken to a facility in Beaumont to
await arraignment in federal court, Arthur said. The marijuana and Ecstasy
delivery charges are each punishable by up to 40 years in prison. "Anyone,
especially an employee, trying to deliver contraband into our facility is taken
very seriously," Arthur said. The investigation involved sheriff's deputies,
CiviGenics officers, Texas Department of Public Safety narcotics officers,
Liberty County narcotics task force members and U.S. marshals.
December 30, 2004 Houston Chronicle
A man who gave himself some yuletide cheer by escaping from the Liberty
County Jail early Christmas morning was recaptured Thursday in southeast
Houston. Arthur Lavel Jones, 32, of Dayton was apprehended about 10 a.m. by
Harris County Precinct 6 Constable deputies.
December 29, 2004 Houston Chronicle
A man who is at large after escaping from the Liberty County Jail has probably
received help since he fled on Christmas morning. Officers also think the
escapee, Arthur Lavel Jones, 32, of Dayton, is now armed. Jones, who was being
held on charges of assaulting a police officer and evading arrest, escaped from
the jail about 2:15 a.m., said Liberty County sheriff's Capt. Billy Tidwell.
Jones and inmate Anthony Fowler, 20, who was in jail on a drug charge, were
painting the lobby of the jail when the guard left the pair alone for a few
moments. Tidwell said the jail is operated by Corrections Corporation of
America. The escape was the second time this year inmates have fled the
facility. At least five other jailbreaks have occurred at the Liberty County
facility since it was privatized.
August 5, 2004
Two correctional officers have been fired and another suspended without pay
following an investigation into the June 23 escape of three inmates from the
Liberty County Jail. Liberty County Sheriff Greg Arthur did not disclose
the names of the disciplined jailers. The suspended jailer, however, had
previously been identified in news reports as Chris Coleman. Arthur said a
shift captain was fired for violating jail policy after he ordered a
correctional officer to remove eight inmates from a high-security segregation
unit at the same time — rather than move them one by one — and allow them to
watch television in the day room. (Houston Chronicle)
June 26, 2004
The three Liberty County Jail inmates who escaped earlier this week were
arrested Friday with a woman who had been hiding them in an east Harris County
home, authorities said. It remained unknown Friday how long the escapees
had been at the home. At least five other prison breaks have occurred at
the Liberty County Jail since it was privatized. Authorities could not be
reached for comment about the frequent escapes. (Houston Chronicle)
June 24, 2004
Three Liberty County Jail inmates, who escaped after overpowering a guard,
stripping him and locking him in a cell, remained at large late Wednesday.
The jailbreak took place about 1 a.m. Wednesday, when Redden and Rivera
overpowered a jailer in the day room, threatened him with a steel pipe and
punched him a few times, the sheriff said. (Houston Chronicles)
June 23, 2004
Deputies are searching this morning for three inmates of the Liberty County Jail
who overpowered a guard and escaped overnight. They are considered dangerous.
A spokeswoman for the Liberty County Sheriff's Department said that around 1
a.m., the trio subdued the guard in a struggle, forced him to strip and locked
him in a cell. Although bruised, he was not seriously injured. One of the
prisoners was a burglary suspect, and the other two were being held for the U.S.
Marshals. (Houston Chronicle)
September 24, 2003
County Treasurer Janet Harrelson abused her authority by orchestrating the
moving of her convicted son from a prison in Beaumont to a county jail closer to
her, District Attorney Mike Little said Tuesday. In opening statements
before visiting state District Judge David Walker, Little said Harrelson, 50,
submitted applications for warrants for permission to transfer her son, Jeffrey
Paul Hale, to Liberty County under false pretenses. "She wanted her son in
Liberty County for her convenience," Little told jurors. Little said that
once Harrelson arranged to have her son moved to the Liberty County Jail, she
traveled with a deputy in a county vehicle to retrieve him. On the way back to
Liberty, the three stopped at Harrelson's Dayton home for lunch. Defense
attorney Mike Turner said Harrelson acted as a private citizen and concerned
mother, not as country treasurer. Harrelson, who has been temporarily
removed from office, is on trial for abuse of official capacity, forgery and two
counts of tampering with government documents. (Houston Chronicle)
August 29, 1999
Two Texas inmates escaped from the CCA-operated jail by climbing through an air
vent in a bathroom. One inmate broke both ankles and was caught early on, but
the other, charged with auto theft and burglary had a previous escape charge and
was found 5 days later. This is the fourth escape since CCA took control of the
facility in 1995.(Houston Chronicle, Sept. 4, 1999)
Limestone County Detention
Center
Limestone County, Texas
CEC (bought
CiviGenics)
September 26, 2009 Waco Tribune-Herald
When the new Jack Harwell Detention Center is ready for prisoners, McLennan
County Sheriff Larry Lynch will be responsible for up to 800 additional inmates,
but the stipend he is paid in the contract with the private detention company
that will operate it will not increase. The extra $1,000 a month that Lynch is
paid by the county in its contract with Community Education Centers has been a
source of contention since before CEC acquired the former CiviGenics and before
Lynch became sheriff. By statute, a private detention company cannot set up shop
in a county without the authorization of the sheriff. And in some of those
counties, the company pays a stipend to the county, which is passed on to the
sheriff as part of his salary. The practice was questioned again last year
during spirited debates among county officials about whether to build the
privately run facility on State Highway 6 and whether to allow CEC or another
company to take all of the county’s jail operations private. Lynch and his
predecessors, Bob Mitchell and Jack Harwell, have all collected the extra pay
through the private jail contract. All have said that it gave them extra
responsibilities to see that all detention facilities in this county that hold
county prisoners are in compliance with state standards and run properly.
Critics of jail privatization in general, and the sheriff stipend in particular,
include the largest law enforcement union in the state, Combined Law Enforcement
Associations of Texas (CLEAT). A bill to ban such stipends did not pass in the
last legislative session. “What we have done is legalize something that is
ethically and morally wrong,” CLEAT spokesman Charley Wilkison said of the
stipend. “It constitutes a clear financial interest between the sheriff and the
for-profit companies. Can he take money from the people who provide vests to the
deputies? Can he take money from the fleet dealer who sells cars to the county?
Can he take money from any of the food vendors? If that had happened, a grand
jury would be visiting on this issue right now.” Despite taking on more
responsibilities with the opening later this year or early next year of the new
816-bed private jail adjacent to the county jail, Lynch said the county’s
contract covering the new facility does not include more funds for him filtering
down from CEC. Lynch’s regular salary is $92,881, and the county pays him
$12,000 a year in the CEC contract and $140 a month in longevity pay. Lynch
declined to discuss the stipend, saying it is old news. He was more eager to
talk about the breathing room his department will have when the new facility
opens, finally putting an end to the constant juggling act county officials
perform because of jail overcrowding. The county jail population was 1,009 on
Friday. Capacity at the State Highway 6 jail is 930, while capacity at the
CEC-run McLennan County Detention Center downtown, which the county has used to
hold prisoner overflow, is about 300. The new facility will hold federal
detainees, primarily, said Lynch and County Judge Jim Lewis. However, the county
also will house overflow prisoners there and at the downtown facility, they
said. CEC also plans to contract with other agencies to house prisoners. A bill
that would have made it a state jail felony for a sheriff to accept a stipend in
a contract with a private detention company made it out of the House County
Affairs Committee during the past legislative session but died on the House
floor without a vote, Wilkison said. CEC operates a 1,000-bed facility in
Limestone County. Sheriff Dennis Wilson, whose county annual salary is $49,457,
is paid a $24,000 stipend yearly by the county in its contract with CEC, Wilson
said. CEC spokesman Bob Prince, a retired Texas Ranger captain, said not all CEC
contracts with Texas counties include stipends for sheriffs. “That is entirely
up to the commissioners court to decide,” Prince said. “That is not a road we go
down. The original contract we had in Waco, that was put in and that was what
was agreed to.” Recently, Adan Munoz Jr., executive director of the Texas
Commission on Jail Standards, sent out a memo warning counties to pay strict
attention to contracts with food vendors, noting that sheriffs in Potter and
Bexar counties hit legal snares recently in their dealings with food vendors. He
said a state representative asked him to send the memo about food vendors.
However, it could have included warnings in many other areas, including dealings
with private detention companies, Munoz said. “We suggest that they consult with
local attorneys about any potential conflicts,” Munoz said. “It is based on
appearance and suspicion. Unfortunately, many people react on mere appearance
without knowing the full story.”
December 5, 2006 Athens Review
The Henderson County Commissioner’s Court on Monday tabled a requested increase
in the fee to house Henderson County’s prisoners in Limestone County until more
information regarding the agreement between the counties could be gathered.
Limestone County and CiviGenics, the company that operates the Limestone County
jail, sought a hike of $2 — from $42 to $44 — per prisoner per day, effective
Jan. 1, 2007. Limestone County Judge Elenor Holmes, in a letter to Henderson
County Judge David Holstein, said the change was needed because of increased
salaries CiviGenics must pay detention officers in order to keep fully staffed
in Texas’ competitive job market. CiviGenics has operations in 14 states and is
the nation’s second-largest privately-held corrections operator. “Prisoner beds
throughout the state are becoming very sparse. The supply is dwindling because
of prices going up,” Holstein said. Of the proposed agreement, Pct. 3
Commissioner Ronny Lawrence asked, “How long was the last one (contract) we had
with them? Can they come back and change it again? “I make a motion that we
table this until we have more time to look into it.” The commissioners voted
unanimously to table the request.
August 31, 2005 Tyler Morning Telegraph
The firm that houses Smith County's overflow jail inmates will soon ask to
increase its fee by $1.50 per inmate, per day, to cover rising fuel costs,
Sheriff J.B. Smith learned on Wednesday. During a trip to the Civigenics-run
facility in Limestone County where Smith County inmates are now housed,
Civigenics officials told Smith they'd soon seek to raise the per diem to $42,
up from the current $40. But Smith said he was able to haggle Civigenics down
some. Based on a current average number of prisoners Smith County sends to
Limestone County and the Civigenics-run facility in Falls County - 175 - the
budgetary impact on Smith County would be about $96,000, from $2.55 million to
$2.65 million. But Smith says a more realistic average is 200 prisoners, raising
the impact to $109,000, from $2.92 million to $3.03 million. That $1.50 on the
per diem is an increase of 3.8 percent.
May 20, 2005 KWTX
What authorities called a disturbance broke out at about 10 a.m. Friday in a
unit of the privately run Limestone County Detention Center. The incident was
under control by noon, authorities said. The unit housed almost 50 inmates, but
the Limestone County Sheriff’s Department said not all of them were involved in
the incident. Several area law enforcement agencies responded to the
disturbance. There were no immediate reports of injuries. The detention center
houses more than 750 inmates and has room for more than 850 medium to maximum
security prisoners. The facility houses inmates from the Federal Bureau of
Prisons, the U.S. Marshal’s Service and counties throughout the state, according
to CiviGenics, the company that operates the detention center.
Lockhart Unit
Lockhart, Texas
GEO Group (formerly known as Wackenhut Corrections)
February 16, 2009 Permian Basin 360
A Midland woman says her son was moments away from dying. He’s an inmate at a
prison South of Austin that’s run by the GEO Group, the same company that runs
the Reeves County Detention Center. Lately, after two riots in Pecos, the
company has been getting a lot of flack. Accusations of poor medical care and
food have been made against GEO Group by family members of inmates at the RCDC.
Price’s son Ramsey Mitchell is a prisoner at Lockhart Secure Program Facilities.
Mitchell is doing time for a robbery conviction and other charges. During April
2007 he was dealing with stomach pains. But, Price says the medical services
told Mitchell he had food poisoning, and had to suck it up.” He had a case of
acute appendicitis,” mother Sandra Price said. But, no one from the facility
called Price to tell her Mitchell had a life threatening condition and was
having emergency surgery. "I received a letter from another inmate that my son
had been rushed out of the facility and in ambulance,” she said. Price says her
son was very healthy person growing up. “He was active, no major illnesses
growing up or anything of that nature. He had a few childhood injuries but never
had to go to the hospital,” Price said. She also says her son was severely
dehydrated. His cell mate saw him go into a state of shock, into delusions and
alerted a guard for help. Price believes inmates don’t have easy access to
medical care. She says they’re responsible for paying for their medical
services. "People believe they can stroll in and go to the doctor at any point.
But they don’t even have a doctor in the facility at all," she said. Price says
she’s still concerned about her son’s health because no one contacted her about
his condition. She thinks they just tried to rubber stamp him out of the way.
But, Price says she is really proud of the man her son has become while behind
bars and she believes he will be one the few that gets out of prison and turns
their life around.
September 14, 2006 Houston Chronicle
Penny Rayfield's 35 assembly workers get neither vacation nor sick pay.
Their salaries are barely above minimum wage. But they show up on time and don't
hunt for work elsewhere. They seem happy to have a job, even one that pays about
$4 less per hour than what assembly workers make, on average, elsewhere in
Texas. Rayfield's company, Onshore Resources, has a sweetheart deal. It pays
Texas exactly $1 a year for the sprawling building where it makes electronic
circuit boards. It has no need to foot health insurance for the employees
because the state provides their medical care. The for-profit business is tucked
inside a private prison in this rural community 30 miles south of Austin. The
issue pits those anguished by the erosion of middle-class jobs, many of which
have gone overseas, against those trying to rehabilitate inmates and enhance
prison security. "This is not meant to displace workers in the free world, it is
meant to reduce recidivism," said Randa Taylor, spokeswoman for the Geo Group,
which operates the minimum-security Lockhart Unit, site of the largest PIE
operations in the state.
Jan. 26, 1997
Authorities were searching for a man nearly finished with two 30-year burglary
sentences who escaped from a private jail Friday, a state prison official said.
Cecil Comans, 35, is believed to have fled the minimum security Lockhart Unit
operated by Wackenhut Corrections by climbing over a back fence during heavy
fog. (Houston Chronicle)
Lubbock County Jail
Lubbock County, Texas
Mid America
January 9, 2008 Avalanche-Journal
Lubbock County commissioners said there is nothing illegal about the
county's contract with the food services provider at the county jail, but they
will remain watchful of the pending criminal case against the company and its
president. Commissioner Bill McCay said Lubbock County is open and transparent
and if commissioners find any illegal contacts or attempts to make illegal
contact were made, the county would get out of the contract. Food service
company Mid America Services, Inc. and its president, Robert Wayne Austin Jr.,
are under indictment on bribery charges in Potter County stemming from
allegations of campaign donations by the company to the Potter County sheriff to
secure a bid as the jail food service provider for that county. For the time
being, however, Lubbock County will continue to use Mid America. "Everything (in
Lubbock County) was 100 percent copacetic," McCay said, adding commissioners
will keep an eye on the Potter County situation. "We'll be watching those
proceedings with great interest," he said. Lubbock County commissioners awarded
the jail food service bid to Mid America last summer, with the contract going
into effect October 1. McCay said Aramark and Canteen competed against Mid
America for the bid, but Lubbock County had experienced mixed results with
Canteen and Aramark in the past. "They started out great and then deteriorated,"
McCay said of the two previous food service providers. When it came time to
negotiate a new contract, McCay said an advisory committee directed
commissioners to go with Mid America. "They weren't the lowest bid, but they
were the best bid," he said. Commissioner Ysidro Gutierrez said the bidding
process required the committee to evaluate the contractors based on food
quality, delivery and service, personnel and supervision and security,
sanitation and safety. Sixteen days after the contract went into effect, a
Potter County grand jury indicted Mid America and Austin on bribery charges.
Also indicted were the Potter County sheriff and chief deputy on corruption
charges. The indictments claim Austin and Mid America offered benefits in return
for hiring and retaining the company's contract as food service provider for
Potter County. "When I first read that it made me nervous as a cat," McCay said.
"My initial reaction is no, they're not guilty,' but where there's smoke,
there's fire." If Mid America and its president are found guilty, Gutierrez said
the county commissioners will review the contract and procedures surrounding
that contract. While statute mandates the county enter contracts for one-year
periods, the contract with Mid America has a four-year renewable clause, meaning
commissioners can reassess the contract each fiscal year and decide whether to
continue using Mid America. "The real important thing is everyone deserves their
day in court," Gutierrez said.
Lytton Springs, Texas
Emerald Corrections
January 5, 2008 Austin American-Statesman
A company has canceled plans to build a detention center in Caldwell County
for immigrants awaiting deportation in the face of strong opposition from
residents concerned about their safety, county officials said. About 150 people
attended a public meeting about the project Dec. 27 in Lytton Springs, and at
least 90 percent of them opposed the project, Caldwell County Precinct 4
Commissioner Joe Roland said. "They were pretty forceful," he said of the
residents. On Dec. 10, Louisiana-based Emerald Correctional Management LLC,
which manages three correctional facilities in Texas, pitched the idea of a $30
million, 1,000-bed facility to be built in northeastern Caldwell County to
county commissioners. Residents of the sparsely populated area were concerned
about the dangers of living near a detention center. Some questioned whether
there would be enough water to serve the center and whether Emerald would be
able to fill all the jobs there, Roland said. Mike Moore, Emerald's director of
business development, told the Statesman in December that money to construct the
center would come from private sources. The facility would be a staging area for
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Adult men and women would be housed
separately, he said, and no children or families would be held there. Moore said
federal immigration officials in San Antonio had told him that the agency needed
a 1,000-bed facility within a 30-minute drive of Austin-Bergstrom International
Airport and of Interstate 35. The proposed facility would have a $4 million to
$5 million annual payroll and generate 200 to 225 jobs in Caldwell County and an
additional 200 jobs in the region, Moore said in December. Moore did not return
calls Friday. Commissioners will vote on formally ending discussion of the
project at their Jan. 14 meeting, Roland said.
Maverick County Detention
Facility
Eagle Pass, Texas
GEO Group
February 12, 2009 Fitch Ratings
In the course of routine surveillance, Fitch Ratings has downgraded the
following ratings for Maverick County, Texas' (the county): --$11.8 million
combination tax and revenue certificates of obligation (COs), series 1996-B,
1997, 1998, 2000, 2004 to 'BB' from 'BB+'; --$505,000 tax notes, series 2003-A
to 'BB' from 'BB+'. Fitch has also revised the Rating Outlook to Negative from
Stable. The Negative Outlook reflects the potential for added financial pressure
on the county's weakened general operations as the result of debt obligations
issued by the county's public finance corporation (PFC) for a detention center
that may require additional financial support under certain scenarios. In 2007,
the Maverick County PFC issued $43 million in lease revenue bonds (secured by
project revenues and not rated by Fitch) for a 688-bed detention facility that
opened December 2008. Currently operated by GEO Group Inc, the facility is
expected to house primarily U.S. Marshals Service prisoners. The downgrade to
'BB' reflects the county's negative general fund balance, thin to negative
balances in other major funds, prospect of a multi-year financial recovery, and
poor debt management. The rating also incorporates the county's limited albeit
growing economic base, high unemployment, low wealth levels, and exposure to
economic fluctuations in Mexico. Some progress is evident in the county's
financial recovery plan, most notably in the current year's budget that has
allocated a portion of the tax levy for deficit reduction. However, success of
the plan is partly contingent on the receipt of community impact payments from
the private operator of the new detention center whose own revenues can
experience lags in payment. Furthermore, the failure to attain sufficient inmate
occupancy levels could threaten the PFC's ability to make timely base rental
payments, further complicating the county's prospects for stabilizing its credit
profile. Consecutive operating losses, due mostly to delayed federal
reimbursements for court costs and public safety spending pressures, led to an
accumulated negative fund balance of $3.6 million in fiscal 2006, equal to a
very high 33% of spending. Significant budget actions in fiscal 2007 reversed
the negative trend, reducing the deficit by over $800,000. Preliminary fiscal
2008 projections point to another $800,000 reduction in the deficit. Notably,
the fiscal 2009 budget allocates a portion of the tax levy for additional
deficit reduction purposes in the general fund and other county funds. However,
the budget also anticipates $400,000 in community impact payments from the
private operator of the detention center which opened in December 2008. Delays
in such payments would prolong the county's financial recovery plan past its
current four year schedule. Located on the U.S-Mexico border, Maverick County
encompasses roughly 1,300 square miles; its population has increased steadily
during the past decade. Over half of the county's estimated 2007 population of
52,000 live in the city of Eagle Pass, the county seat. Area wealth levels as
measured by per capita income are very low. Increasing North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA) international trade activity has spurred commercial/retail
development, resulting in annual average tax base growth since fiscal 2004 of
almost 8%. As a result of the expanded commercial activity, job creation in the
county has improved. While still well above state and national averages, the
county's unemployment rate has declined significantly from annual averages of
more than 20% in previous years. The county's 2007 annual unemployment rate was
11.3%, slightly above November 2008's rate of 11%.
McLennan
County Detention Center
Waco, Texas
CEC (bought out
CiviGenics)
March 27, 2012 KXXV
The McLennan Co. Commissioners Court approved a $285,000 budget amendment today
to help the Sheriff's Office with their inmate care budget shortfall. However,
after already blowing through their $1 million budget for the fiscal year, the
sheriff's office expects they will need even more money very soon. The
commissioners believe that they need to find a way to move the prisoners that
they pay a premium on at the CEC (Community Education Centers) run Jack Harwell
facility to the downtown jail, which they have the option to run, to stop this
budget problem. The county will not be able to do that anytime soon though
because nearly every cell in the downtown jail requires maintenance. The CEC,
who the county contracted to repair the building, is spending six days a week
fixing hundreds of problems regarding safety issues in that jail. Unfortunately
for the county, the CEC nor the sheriff's office has any idea when the downtown
jail will be ready to pass the Texas Commission on Jail Standards inspection.
"There's some additional work that needs to be done that they're waiting for,"
said McLennan Co. Commissioner Lester Gibson. "As soon as [the downtown jail] is
completed it would do a lot, give a lot of relief to the cost and to our inmate
management." In prior years the county did not see this many issues with their
inmate overflow or budget.
March 28, 2011 NPR
Private Prison Promises Leave Texas Towns In Trouble by John Burnett The country
with the highest incarceration rate in the world — the United States — is
supporting a $3 billion private prison industry. In Texas, where free enterprise
meets law and order, there are more for-profit prisons than any other state. But
because of a growing inmate shortage, some private jails cannot fill empty
cells, leaving some towns wishing they'd never gotten in the prison business. It
seemed like a good idea at the time when the west Texas farming town of
Littlefield borrowed $10 million and built the Bill Clayton Detention Center in
a cotton field south of town in 2000. The charmless steel-and-cement-block
buildings ringed with razor wire would provide jobs to keep young people from
moving to Lubbock or Dallas. For eight years, the prison was a good employer.
Idaho and Wyoming paid for prisoners to serve time there. But two years ago,
Idaho pulled out all of its contract inmates because of a budget crunch at home.
There was also a scandal surrounding the suicide of an inmate. Shortly
afterward, the for-profit operator, GEO Group, gave notice that it was leaving,
too. One hundred prison jobs disappeared. The facility has been empty ever
since. A Hard Sell "Maybe ... he'll help us to find somebody," says Littlefield
City Manager Danny Davis good-naturedly when a reporter shows up for a tour. For
sale or contract: a 372-bed, medium-security prison with double security fences,
state-of-the-art control room, gymnasium, law library, classrooms and five
living pods. Davis opens the gray steel door to a barren cell with bunk beds and
stainless-steel furniture. "You can see the facility here. [It's] pretty
austere, but from what I understand from a prison standpoint, it's better than
most," he says, still trying to close the sale. For the past two years,
Littlefield has had to come up with $65,000 a month to pay the note on the
prison. That's $10 per resident of this little city. A Resident Burden Is the
empty prison a big white elephant for the city of Littlefield? "Is it something
we have that we'd rather not have? Well, today that would probably be the case,"
Davis says. To avoid defaulting on the loan, Littlefield has raised property
taxes, increased water and sewer fees, laid off city employees and held off
buying a new police car. Still, the city's bond rating has tanked. The village
elders drinking coffee at the White Kitchen cafe are not happy about the way
things have turned out. "It was never voted on by the citizens of Littlefield;
[it] is stuck in their craw," says Carl Enloe, retired from Atmos Energy. "They
have to pay for it. And the people who's got it going are all up and gone and
they left us... " "...Holdin' the bag!" says Tommy Kelton, another Atmos
retiree, completing the sentence. The Declining Prison Population The same thing
has happened to communities across Texas. Once upon a time, it seems every small
town wanted to be a prison town. But the 20-year private prison building boom is
over. Some prisons are struggling outside Texas, too. Hardin, Mont., defaulted
on its bond payments after trying, so far unsuccessfully, to fill its 464-bed
minimum security prison. And a prison in Huerfano County, Colo., closed after
Arizona pulled out its 700 inmates. According to the Bureau of Justice
Statistics, the total correctional population in the United States is declining
for the first time in three decades. Among the reasons: The crime rate is
falling, sentencing alternatives mean fewer felons doing hard time and states
everywhere are slashing budgets. The Texas legislature, looking for budget cuts,
is contemplating shedding 2,000 contract prison beds. Statewide, more than half
of all privately operated county jail beds are empty, according to figures from
the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. "Too many times we've seen jails that
have got into it and tried to make it a profitable business to make money off of
it and they end up fallin' on their face," says Shannon Herklotz, assistant
director of the commission. The packages look sweet. A town gets a new detention
center without costing the taxpayers anything. The private operator finances,
constructs and operates an oversized facility. The contract inmates pay off the
debt and generate extra revenue. The economic model works fine until they can't
find inmates. In Waco, McLennan County borrowed $49 million to build an 816-bed
jail and charge day rates for bunk space. But today because of the convict
shortage, the fortress east of town remains more than half empty. The sheriff
and county judge, once champions of the new jail, now decline to comment on it.
Former McLennan County Deputy Rick White, who opposed the jail, had this to say
about the prison developers who put the deal together: "They get the
corporations formed, they get the bonds sold, they get the facility built, their
money is front-loaded, they take their money out. And then there's no reason for
them to support the success of the facility." Two of Texas' busiest private
prison consultants — James Parkey and Herb Bristow — declined repeated requests
for interviews. The Inmate Market Private prison companies insist their future
is sunny. A spokesman for the GEO Group declined to speak about the Littlefield
prison, but he sent along a slew of press releases highlighting the company's
new inmate contracts and prison expansions across the country. Corrections
Corporation of America, the nation's largest private prison operator, says the
demand for its facilities remains strong, particularly for federal immigration
detainees. New Jersey-based Community Education Centers, which has been pulling
out of unprofitable jails across Texas, issued a statement that "the current
(jail) population fluctuation" is cyclical. One of the places where CEC is
cancelling its contract is Falls County, in central Texas, where a for-profit
jail addition is losing money. Now it's up to Falls County Judge Steve Sharp to
hustle up jailbirds: "If somebody is out there charging $30 a day for an inmate,
we need to charge $28. We really don't have a choice of not filling those beds,"
he said. Another place where they're desperate for inmates is Anson, the little
town north of Abilene, Texas, once famous for its no-dancing law. Today, Jones
County owns a brand-new $34 million prison and an $8 million county jail, both
of which sit empty. The prison developers made their money and left. Then the
Texas Department of Criminal Justice reneged on a contract to fill the new
prison with parole violators. The county's Public Facility Corporation that
borrowed the money to build the lockups owes $314,000 a month — with no paying
inmates. They've got a year's worth of bond service payments set aside before
county officials start to sweat. "The market has changed nationwide in the last
18 months or two years. It's certainly a different picture than when we started
this project. And so we're continuing to work the problem," Jones County Judge
Dale Spurgin says. Grayson County, north of Dallas, said no to privatizing its
jail. Two years ago, the county was all set to build a $30 million, 750-bed
behemoth twice as big as was needed. But the public got queasy and county
officials ultimately scuttled the deal. "When you put the profit motive into a
private jail, by design, in order to increase your dollars, your revenues, your
profits, you need more folks in there and they need to stay longer," says Bill
Magers, mayor of the county seat of Sherman, a leading opponent. When the supply
of prison beds exceeds the demand for prison beds, there are beneficiaries. The
overcrowded Harris County Jail in Houston, the nation's third largest, farms out
about 1,000 prisoners to private jails. Littlefield and most other
under-occupied facilities in Texas have all been in touch with Houston. "It
really is a buyer's market right now, especially a county our size," says Capt.
Robin Kinetsky, who is in charge of inmate processing for the Harris County
Sheriffs Department. "They're really wanting to get our business. So, we're
getting good deals." Nearby, disheveled and unsmiling men are brought from a
holding cell to stand before a booking officer for their intake interviews. The
detainees are wholly unaware that they may soon become the newest commodities of
the volatile inmate market. Aarti Shahani contributed to this NPR News
investigation and report.
December 22, 2010 KXXV
It's been open just under a year, and McLennan County's new jail hasn't come
close to breaking even. Less than half full and hemorrhaging cash, jail
administrators are searching far and wide for inmates to fill its beds. Since
the jail's completion in February of 2010, Community Education Centers has
struggled to fill less than half of the Jack Harwell detention center's 816
beds. Deals with other Texas counties like Harris and Dallas have yielded
handfuls of inmates, but not enough to come close to begin repaying the $49.9
million price tag for construction. But California's jails are bursting at the
seams. The U.S. Supreme Court is currently weighing a ruling by a panel of
federal judges ordering California to cut the state's prison population down
from 200 percent to 137.5 percent capacity. It would mean a reduction of around
40,000 inmates. With Jack Harwell facing imminent crisis, on Tuesday CEC Senior
Vice President Peter Argeropulos suggested a new plan offering to soak up the
surplus from the Golden State.
June 6, 2010 Waco Tribune-Herald
The county soon may have to pony up $1.1 million for some long-needed
improvements to the downtown jail. Most of the equipment in the jail, which is
operated by New Jersey-based Community Education Centers, was first installed
when the county built the facility in mid-1970s. CEC Warden Mike Wilson said
while the detention company performs about $60,000 annually in equipment and
building maintenance, some of the materials in the jail are nearly obsolete.
“The problem we’re running into with the doors and the control system is getting
replacement parts,” Wilson said. “They’re no longer commercially available. They
no longer manufacture them.” Wilson said CEC has been using old locks the county
had on hand to replace defunct doors in the jail, but few of those remain.
Replacing the 129 doors and locks securing inmate cells and installing 10 new
control panels is the most expensive project, carrying a $668,473 price tag.
Other major work includes replacing four old elevators, a $298,436 expense;
installing a new intercom system; upgrading the kitchen ceiling and equipment;
and replacing the fire system. Wilson submitted the proposed projects to the
sheriff’s office last week. McLennan County Chief Sheriff’s Deputy Randy Plemons
discussed the work list in a budget work session with the county commissioners.
The commissioners court is reviewing major capital projects that it may fund
next year to begin shaping the 2011 fiscal-year budget. Divvying up costs -- The
court was split on whether the county has to pay for the upgrades, because the
jail belongs to the county, or whether CEC should be responsible for some of the
repairs. “We need to sit down and look item by item and decide if we need to do
it, they need to do it, or whatever,” County Judge Jim Lewis said in the budget
work session. One key issue is whether the housing agreement with CEC places the
responsibility for such repairs on the detention company. The contract the
county signed with CEC in October 2003 states that at the end of the lease, the
company “shall return the facility to the county in the same condition as when
leased, normal wear, tear and depreciation excepted.” However, the most recent
agreement signed in November 2008 does not include that provision. None of the
commissioners was aware of the change prior to the meeting. It was not clear,
both in court and meeting minutes, who drafted the contracts and why the changes
were made. Clause and effect -- “I assumed it was the same contract that we had
been renewing and renewing for the past 10 years (since CEC first began managing
the jail),” Commissioner Ray Meadows said. “We probably need to look at that and
get at our attorney and see why it was changed like that.” Commissioner Lester
Gibson said even if the original clause was still in effect, the county is
responsible for these major repairs to the downtown jail. Wilson said the county
has not discussed whether CEC would have to pitch in for some of the repairs. He
said CEC already took care of some upgrades on its own, such as replacing a
nonworking surveillance system and upgrading a portion of the intercom system.
CEC is moving the inmates from the downtown jail to the county’s new Jack
Harwell Detention Center on June 14, along with an estimated 100 Harris County
inmates.
February 19, 2010 Waco Tribune-Herald
A Texas attorney general’s opinion that a county sheriff is not authorized to
accept an “administrative fee” from a private organization has no bearing on
McLennan County Sheriff Larry Lynch, who receives a $12,000 annual salary
supplement for monitoring the county’s privately run jails, county officials
say. The opinion issued by Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office Wednesday was
prompted by a question from state Rep. Yvonne Davis, D-Dallas, chairwoman of the
House Committee on Urban Affairs. While the request, submitted in September
2008, did not specifically mention contracts between any county or sheriff, the
letter was prompted by a high-profile state law enforcement union’s dispute with
McLennan County. The union, the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas,
had battled the county as officials deliberated whether to renew its contract
with Community Education Centers (formerly CiviGenics) to operate the county’s
downtown jail and to contract with CEC to operate a new jail on State Highway 6.
McLennan County Judge Jim Lewis and McLennan County District Attorney John
Segrest said the opinion will not affect operations here because the salary
supplement Lynch is paid comes from the county, not CEC. Segrest said “this
opinion has no bearing whatsoever on the situation in McLennan County,” based on
his knowledge of the CEC contract and from his discussions with county
officials, including county auditor Steve Moore and county attorney Mike Dixon.
“The private contractor does not pay the county anything,” Segrest said. “The
county pays them. So clearly, there is no administrative fee paid by the private
contractor who runs the jail. “It appears to me that the broad opinion was based
on a question designed to get a certain answer and it comes from the same people
who put up the billboards that said Waco is the murder capital of the world.”
Group’s protests -- Segrest was referring to officials from CLEAT. The group
asked for the opinion while organizing protests to McLennan County privatizing
its jail system. CLEAT also had been involved in putting up billboards on
Interstate 35 highlighting Waco’s crime rate. The move came amid local police
association officials’ frustration with the city about pay, staffing and other
issues. CEC contracts with the county to operate jails here, and the county
contracts with the federal government and other counties to house their
prisoners. The $12,000 supplement the county pays Lynch is for additional
administrative and monitoring duties associated with the private jails, Lewis
and Segrest said. A private jail company cannot operate in a county without the
authorization of the county sheriff. That $12,000 annual fee is on top of
Lynch’s annual salary of $92,881. The supplement has been in place since the
late Jack Harwell was sheriff and the county first leased the downtown jail on
Columbus Avenue to CiviGenics in 1999. Charley Wilkison, political and
legislative director for CLEAT, challenged Lynch, based on the AG’s opinion, to
write a check today and give the money back to the private contractor. That
would prove he is an “honorable man and a man of integrity,” Wilkison said.
Lynch did not return phone messages left at his office or on his cell phone
Wednesday or Thursday. Dixon, the county’s attorney, said CLEAT continues to
play fast and loose with the facts. “I fail to see why the sheriff would need to
send a check to CEC when he has never received any money from or on behalf of
CEC,” Dixon said. Wilkison said the supplement, which is common in all counties
with private jails operating in them, “just never passed the smell test.” ‘Fish
bait’ -- “This opinion is a great victory for the regular people of Texas, and
the reason is that this goes to the cornerstone, to the fish bait, that private
jail companies use to get into a community and get their hooks into the
taxpayers and get their hands into their pockets,” Wilkison said. Wilkison said
the opinion makes it clear that the salary supplement is not proper and should
stop. Lewis said he doesn’t think the AG’s opinion applies to McLennan County
because it involves a question about an “administrative fee” that is paid based
on the number of prisoners in jail. “The sheriff is paid a salary supplement,”
Lewis said. “There is a difference. He is paid the same salary supplement every
year. “It is not a fee based on jail population. This is no secret. We post our
salaries once a year and it is very clear that it is a supplement approved by
the commissioners court,” Lewis said. Dixon agreed. He said the AG’s opinion
request was based on erroneous information. “Instead of requesting an opinion
pertaining to actual facts of which this group was well aware,” Dixon said, “the
request was based on fictitious assertions that have been repeatedly alleged by
the group, the goal being to use the resulting opinion to further assail the
sheriff, even though the facts underlying the opinion would bear no relationship
to the situation in McLennan County.” Ken Witt, president of the McLennan County
Sheriff’s Office Association and a CLEAT member, said whatever the county calls
the sheriff’s pay bump, it is wrong. “Whether you call it a fee or a supplement,
it amounts to word games by Judge Jim Lewis,” Witt said. “It is clear that the
sheriff is funneled money from CEC. “If not directly, indirectly through the
commissioners court. It doesn’t matter how the sheriff receives his piece of the
private pie.”
February 18, 2010 KXXV
A ruling by State Attorney General Greg Abbott Wednesday could revive the
controversy over extra money Sheriff Larry Lynch receives from McLennan County
Commissioners for overseeing county jails. A private company, Civigenics, runs
the downtown jail by contract from the county, as well as a new jail on Highway
6 that should start housing inmates in the next thirty days. Sheriff Lynch is
paid $12,000 a year to oversee those facilities, in addition to his regular
salary. Other counties in Texas have similar arrangements, and their Sheriff
receives extra money – sometimes significantly more -- from the private jailer.
Abbott's ruling was a response to a request from Yvonne Davis, the Chair of the
State House Committee on Urban Affairs. The Attorney General said "The
commissioner's court may not contract with a private organization in which a
member of the court or an elected or appointed peace officer who serves in the
county has a financial interest … A contract made in violation of this section
is void". It also said "regardless of county population, county sheriffs must be
compensated on a salary basis. A sheriff, paid on a salary basis, ‘receives the
salary instead of all fees, commissions, and other compensation the officer
would otherwise be authorized to keep." "While article XVI, section 61 requires
that a fee of office earned by a county officer ‘shall be paid into the county
treasury,' it is not a grant of authority for the acceptance of a fee," the
ruling continues. In summary, Abbott concluded such payments are illegal,
"Neither the Texas Constitution nor Texas statutes authorize the person holding
the office of county sheriff to be paid an administrative fee by a private
organization." McLennan County Judge Jim Lewis told News Channel 25 the ruling
was based on a "fee" opinion and not a "supplement" opinion, and a fee is based
on the number of inmates being housed in the jail. "The supplement doesn't
matter whether you have one or one thousand inmates, so that's the difference is
what our attorneys tell us," Lewis explained. When asked if the attorneys said
that after today's ruling, Lewis answered "No, that's what they told us all
along". Lewis also said Sheriff Lynch isn't paid by Civigenics, "the fee is not
paid to him by the company, the fee is paid to the County and the Commissioners
Court selects to supplement the Sheriff's salary. It's important to understand
that," Lewis said. "He's not receiving a fee by any stretch of the imagination."
The County Judge said applying Wednesday's ruling out of Austin to McLennan
County's situation is like "comparing apples to oranges". "We're doing
everything the attorneys are telling us to do," Lewis added. The annual
supplement, as Lewis called it, has been a source of controversy for years from
critics of Lynch and candidates for the Sheriff position in election years.
September 26, 2009 Waco Tribune-Herald
When the new Jack Harwell Detention Center is ready for prisoners, McLennan
County Sheriff Larry Lynch will be responsible for up to 800 additional inmates,
but the stipend he is paid in the contract with the private detention company
that will operate it will not increase. The extra $1,000 a month that Lynch is
paid by the county in its contract with Community Education Centers has been a
source of contention since before CEC acquired the former CiviGenics and before
Lynch became sheriff. By statute, a private detention company cannot set up shop
in a county without the authorization of the sheriff. And in some of those
counties, the company pays a stipend to the county, which is passed on to the
sheriff as part of his salary. The practice was questioned again last year
during spirited debates among county officials about whether to build the
privately run facility on State Highway 6 and whether to allow CEC or another
company to take all of the county’s jail operations private. Lynch and his
predecessors, Bob Mitchell and Jack Harwell, have all collected the extra pay
through the private jail contract. All have said that it gave them extra
responsibilities to see that all detention facilities in this county that hold
county prisoners are in compliance with state standards and run properly.
Critics of jail privatization in general, and the sheriff stipend in particular,
include the largest law enforcement union in the state, Combined Law Enforcement
Associations of Texas (CLEAT). A bill to ban such stipends did not pass in the
last legislative session. “What we have done is legalize something that is
ethically and morally wrong,” CLEAT spokesman Charley Wilkison said of the
stipend. “It constitutes a clear financial interest between the sheriff and the
for-profit companies. Can he take money from the people who provide vests to the
deputies? Can he take money from the fleet dealer who sells cars to the county?
Can he take money from any of the food vendors? If that had happened, a grand
jury would be visiting on this issue right now.” Despite taking on more
responsibilities with the opening later this year or early next year of the new
816-bed private jail adjacent to the county jail, Lynch said the county’s
contract covering the new facility does not include more funds for him filtering
down from CEC. Lynch’s regular salary is $92,881, and the county pays him
$12,000 a year in the CEC contract and $140 a month in longevity pay. Lynch
declined to discuss the stipend, saying it is old news. He was more eager to
talk about the breathing room his department will have when the new facility
opens, finally putting an end to the constant juggling act county officials
perform because of jail overcrowding. The county jail population was 1,009 on
Friday. Capacity at the State Highway 6 jail is 930, while capacity at the
CEC-run McLennan County Detention Center downtown, which the county has used to
hold prisoner overflow, is about 300. The new facility will hold federal
detainees, primarily, said Lynch and County Judge Jim Lewis. However, the county
also will house overflow prisoners there and at the downtown facility, they
said. CEC also plans to contract with other agencies to house prisoners. A bill
that would have made it a state jail felony for a sheriff to accept a stipend in
a contract with a private detention company made it out of the House County
Affairs Committee during the past legislative session but died on the House
floor without a vote, Wilkison said. CEC operates a 1,000-bed facility in
Limestone County. Sheriff Dennis Wilson, whose county annual salary is $49,457,
is paid a $24,000 stipend yearly by the county in its contract with CEC, Wilson
said. CEC spokesman Bob Prince, a retired Texas Ranger captain, said not all CEC
contracts with Texas counties include stipends for sheriffs. “That is entirely
up to the commissioners court to decide,” Prince said. “That is not a road we go
down. The original contract we had in Waco, that was put in and that was what
was agreed to.” Recently, Adan Munoz Jr., executive director of the Texas
Commission on Jail Standards, sent out a memo warning counties to pay strict
attention to contracts with food vendors, noting that sheriffs in Potter and
Bexar counties hit legal snares recently in their dealings with food vendors. He
said a state representative asked him to send the memo about food vendors.
However, it could have included warnings in many other areas, including dealings
with private detention companies, Munoz said. “We suggest that they consult with
local attorneys about any potential conflicts,” Munoz said. “It is based on
appearance and suspicion. Unfortunately, many people react on mere appearance
without knowing the full story.”
February 7, 2009 Tribune-Herald
The warden of a privately operated jail in Waco says his staff had corrected all
but one deficiency noted in a December inspection before he met this week with
the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. Despite the improvements, the commission
still placed the downtown McLennan County Detention Center under a remedial
order until officials from Community Education Centers, which leases the jail
from McLennan County, take further corrective measures and another inspection is
conducted. Warden Mike Wilson said the only issue remaining that needs to be
addressed is replacing an intercom system. He said CEC will pay $9,950 for the
new system, adding that he will not ask McLennan County officials to foot the
bill. “Everything that they cited us for, with one exception, was corrected
before we ever went down to Austin on Thursday,” Wilson said. “Everything else
has been corrected and we are in good shape.” The county has leased the Columbus
Avenue jail to a private company since 1998. In the past year, the county also
has been using the jail as an overflow facility when the county jail on State
Highway 6 becomes filled beyond capacity. The most serious issue cited in the
remedial order was that CEC officials failed to properly maintain a 1-to-48
staff-to-inmate ratio. The order limited the number of inmates the facility
could house before it hired more guards, thus cutting profits from CEC’s
contracts with federal agencies to house prisoners. Wilson said the order
stemmed from several weekends on the night shift in October and November when
the jail was short-staffed. Additional officers were hired immediately to fill
the void, putting the jail back into compliance, the warden said. Last month, an
18-year-old former CEC guard was indicted for providing contraband to inmates
for reportedly allowing two of his former high school buddies who landed in jail
to use his cell phone. Other citations that have been corrected, Wilson said,
was a determination that inmates were placed in cells before they were properly
classified to assess their threat levels and that water pressure and water
temperature were insufficient in certain areas of the jail.
January 29, 2009 Herald-Tribune
The state prison system apparently is not alone when it comes to prisoners
getting access to cell phones. A McLennan County grand jury Wednesday indicted a
former guard at the privately operated McLennan County Detention Center on
Columbus Avenue on a charge of giving contraband to inmates at a secure
facility, a third-degree felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Michael
Ray Hamilton III, an 18-year-old former jail guard known as “Big Mike” to
inmates, was indicted for allowing two prisoners, Morgan Dyer and Chris
McWilliams, to use his cell phone to make calls in October, authorities said.
The use of cell phones by inmates is prohibited in detention centers, according
to records filed in the case. Hamilton and both inmates gave written statements
to McLennan County Sheriff’s Office investigators about use of the phone, an
affidavit to support Hamilton’s arrest said. A man who identified himself as a
warden at the downtown jail, which is operated by Community Education Centers in
a lease agreement with McLennan County, referred questions about Hamilton to the
sheriff’s office. He declined to give his name.
November 18, 2008 Waco Tribune
Construction of the new jail on State Highway 6 has already been delayed as
the volatile U.S. financial market threatens financing for the project. The
commissioner’s court on Tuesday delayed issuing project revenue bonds to finance
the new jail for the third consecutive week because of currently high bond
interest rates. New Jersey-based Community Education Centers, which will build
and operate the new jail, would be responsible for paying the interest on the
bonds that the county sells to third party financial houses. County Judge Jim
Lewis said the county had hoped to break ground for the new jail in November.
However, the county is waiting to see whether the financial markets stabilize,
allowing for reasonable bond interest rates. In the meantime, Lewis said, the
project cannot go forward.
October 20, 2008 Tribune-Herald
McLennan County Sheriff Larry Lynch is facing off once again with Charles
Hutyra, a West resident who has long voiced criticism of how the sheriff’s
department operates. Hutyra previously ran for sheriff as a write-in candidate
in 2000 and again as the Democratic nominee in 2004, winning about one-third of
the vote. One issue the candidates disagree on is jail privatization. After
weeks of outcry by jailers concerned about the impact of privatization on their
jobs and retirement benefits, the McLennan County Commissioners Court voted for
the sheriff’s office to continue to run the jail on State Highway 6, while New
Jersey-based Community Education Centers would continue to lease and operate the
downtown jail. “We were in need of more space to meet our growing inmate
population, especially our rising female (inmate) population,” Lynch said. “I
don’t think they can get the jail built fast enough.” Hutyra said he is opposed
to jail privatization and said he would work to reverse the CEC contract on the
downtown jail. He said he would also try to stop the construction of the new
jail on State Highway 6. “If the taxpayers have already paid for the jail
downtown, why not utilize something you already own instead of leasing it out to
someone else?” Hutyra said. “Then in three years we could look at it and see if
we need a new jail and then start the process to look for bids, because with
this thing, only one bid (was) submitted out of 14 companies (contacted for
bids), it’s so obvious what’s going on.” Hale Mills Construction Ltd., the
builder of the new jail, has already submitted a preliminary building schematic
to the jail commission. Lynch drew criticism from jailers for his absence at the
commissioners court meetings and for not speaking out against the privatization.
However, he said it was not his decision to make. “It was out of my hands,”
Lynch said. “It was up to the courts to decide what to do with the jails, and I
could only wait and see what would happen.” Rick White, vice president of the
McLennan County Sheriff Officer’s Association, said jail management is still a
critical issue in the sheriff’s department. Many jail workers are concerned that
the county plans to privatize all of its jails in the future, he said. “The
detention service is a big part of the sheriff’s responsibility,” White said. “I
think that folks working in the jail need some reassurance that their jobs are
not in jeopardy and that they can continue to go on the career path that they’ve
chosen in providing services to the county.” Hutyra said he also takes issue
with the sheriff receiving an extra $12,000 each year from CEC through the
privatization deal on the downtown jail. The contract bonus was negotiated when
the late Jack Harwell was the sheriff. “If you can’t live off the $87,585 that
the taxpayers are giving you, you need to get another job,” Hutyra said. “I
would tell the county to take the extra $12,000 and donate it to Caritas.”
October 1, 2008 Waco Tribune
Curious: A county pays a contractor to run a jail. Then the contractor pays
the county for oversight of it. Curiouser: The sheriff, who must authorize such
a contract, gets the money. This is the case with McLennan County’s agreement
with Community Education Centers (formerly CiviGenics) to operate its downtown
jail and build a Highway 6 jail right alongside the 22-year-old county-run jail.
Thanks to a pass-through payment from CEC, the county pays Sheriff Larry Lynch
$12,000 extra, above his $87,558 annual salary, because of the administrative
and monitoring duties associated with the private jail. McLennan County isn’t
alone in doing this. Many counties do. Lynch’s predecessor, Jack Harwell, got an
increment under comparable terms. State Rep. Kevin Bailey, D-Houston, who chairs
the Texas House of Representatives committee on urban affairs, has asked the
Texas attorney general to rule on the legality of such payments. If upheld by
the A.G., lawmakers need to stop the practice when they convene in January. No
sweeteners should be in play when contractors seek to perform a public function.
Yes, supervising the work of a contractor takes time for a sheriff. Whatever the
demands, the cost should be factored into whatever savings the county projects
it will realize from contracting. Such payments don’t necessarily cloud a
sheriff’s judgment on privatizing. But the appearance of conflicts of interest
alone should be sufficient reason for the Legislature to act. Lynch told the
Trib editorial board Monday that privatization “is a fact that’s here.” Not
necessarily. Indeed, the county should always keep its options open, as it did
when considering contracting out its entire jail operations. It got only one
bidder — CEC. With jailers in an open revolt, commissioners voted not to
proceed. However, CEC will be building the new Highway 6 jail while it continues
to operate the downtown jail, where it houses federal prisoners and overflow
occupants of the county jail. Privatization presents any number of problems that
should make it a less-than-automatic call for governing boards. One is the
potential that the contractor will cut corners to increase profit and undermine
the quality of its services. One is public information withheld when a
contractor can blunt inquiries because they pertain to proprietary matters. And
there’s the possibility that contractors can buy into public officials’ good
graces with under-the-table or over-the-table inducements. Privatizing should
hinge on its merits alone, not on other considerations.
September 21, 2008 Waco Tribune-Herald
The chairman of the Texas House of Representatives committee on urban
affairs has asked the state attorney general to determine whether it is legal
for a sheriff to accept a fee for work with a private detention company that
contracts with his county to operate a county jail. While the request from Kevin
Bailey, D-Houston, does not mention any sheriff or county by name, the letter
was generated after recent deliberations by McLennan County over whether to
renew its contract with Community Education Centers (formerly CiviGenics) to
operate its downtown jail and to contract with CEC to build a new jail on State
Highway 6. Such contracts cannot be executed without the authorization of the
county sheriff. About 50 members from the McLennan County Sheriff’s Association
asked Sheriff Larry Lynch in July to say no to the contracts. Lynch did not
return phone messages seeking comment for this story. McLennan County
commissioners voted to extend the contract with CEC to operate the downtown jail
and are negotiating a contract with CEC to build a new jail. “We think there is
a legitimate question about it,” said Charley Wilkison, political and
legislative director for Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas. “Since
the sheriff is the only person who can decide if a privatization issue is moving
forward, then can take money that has simply been cleaned up in the process of
budgeting but is identical and numerically the same, can you in a
straightforward manner determine privatization in that county?” Wilkison said
CLEAT officials asked Bailey to seek the attorney general’s ruling. The county
pays Lynch $12,000 extra, above his $87,558 annual salary, because of the
additional administrative and monitoring duties associated with the private
jail. That salary supplement has been in place since the late Jack Harwell was
sheriff and the county first leased the downtown jail to CiviGenics in 1999.
Mike Dixon, a Waco attorney who represents the county, said the salary
supplement has never been a secret and is noted in annual newspaper
advertisements the county is required to run to list the annual salaries of
elected officials. “It would be nice if they actually put the right facts in the
request instead of their one-sided facts,” Dixon said. “The real facts are that
any payments are meant to be a recoupment by the county of administrative
expenses, and those are paid to the county, not to the sheriff. The county
determines in the budget whether or not to give the sheriff those additional
monies as part of his salary. They are trying to say the sheriff gets paid
directly from the operators. That does not occur. “They obviously have their
stingers out for him over all the jail deals, and they haven’t bothered to
inconvenience themselves with the truth. They have asked for an opinion based on
a skewed set of facts,” Dixon said. Wilkison said at the heart of the matter is
whether the sheriff has a financial interest in the private contract because of
the salary supplement. The Texas Government Code says “the commissioners court
may not contract with a private organization in which a member of the court or
an elected or appointed peace officer who serves in the county has a financial
interest.” Bailey’s letter asks for clarification. “Although the sheriff may not
actually be a shareholder of the private organization and hold a shareholder’s
interest in the private organization, there can be no doubt that the sheriff
would have a ‘financial interest’ in the private organization’s contract with
the county if the sheriff receives a sizable administrative fee after approving
of the contract if the contract includes such an administrative fee to the
sheriff,” Bailey wrote in his letter. “Thus, such an arrangement would violate
the spirit and intent, if not the language of the law.” Regardless of the
ruling, Wilkison says, he thinks the debate will spawn new legislation, if only
to clear up any questions. “Somebody down in Austin is going to fix this,” he
said. “This is almost like a bad Western movie. A big-money stakeholder is
deciding indirectly what is going to happen.” The attorney general’s office has
asked interested parties, including CLEAT and the Texas Sheriffs Association, to
file briefs on the matter, Wilkison said.
August 11, 2008 Waco Tribune
A spokesman for the state’s largest law enforcement association is calling
for state and federal investigations into dealings between McLennan County
officials and a private detention corporation as the county continues to
negotiate jail contracts. “First of all, we don’t believe anything that
officials in McLennan County say anymore,” said Charley Wilkison, political and
legislative director for the 16,500-member Combined Law Enforcement Agencies of
Texas. “The credibility gap in this county is incredible.” McLennan County Judge
Jim Lewis, county commissioners and Sheriff Larry Lynch have been wrestling for
years with the county’s jail overcrowding problem. County officials say they
sought proposals from 14 companies nationwide on a variety of options, including
privatizing the entire county jail system and building a new, 1,000- bed jail.
The county received proposals from just one company, CEC, which has had a
contract to operate the downtown county jail since 1999. CEC contracts with
several agencies, primarily federal, to keep prisoners at the downtown jail. The
company’s McLennan County contract, which pays Lynch $12,000 above his county
salary of $88,000 to oversee the downtown jail, expires Oct. 1. Commissioners
voted last week for the sheriff to maintain control and operation of the county
jail on State Highway 6, on a recommendation from Lynch and after weekly
protests from about 50 jailers. Precinct 3 Commissioner Joe Mashek has called
for the county to take back operation of the downtown jail to help alleviate
overcrowding and give the county more time to study the situation. Wilkison said
he will ask Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott to investigate whether Lynch
violated the Texas Public Information Act by failing to respond to CLEAT’s open
records requests for all correspondence between Lynch and CEC officials. He said
he also is seeking state and federal investigations about whether Lynch lawfully
and ethically can accept money from the private vendor or whether it is a
conflict of interest when he helps decide the fate of the jail system. “The
sheriff has taken $91,000 of personal money that goes into his bank account, and
then he says, ‘I am still able to decide. I am still OK deciding whether it is
in our best interest to privatize.’ That old dog won’t hunt. Nobody here
believes that.” The contract between the county and CEC, then called CiviGenics,
originated when the late Jack Harwell was sheriff. The part of the contract
which calls for payments to the sheriff, Lewis says, has not changed, although
it has been renewed since Lynch took office. Lynch did not return phone calls to
his office or cell phone today. Wilkison also charges that county officials
should come up with more efficient ways to clear out the jail, especially of
non-violent, first-offenders. He claims the CEC contract pays Lynch more for
more prisoners. “We think inmates are being kept in jail to create an artificial
public safety crisis so the hue and cry for a new jail can come and the new jail
can be privatized and built by CEC,” Wilkison said. Lewis scoffed at that notion
and said that Wilkison’s claims are off- target. He said Lynch is paid the same
in the contract with CEC whether there are 300 prisoners or none. “It is still
his responsibility to oversee that jail,” Lewis said. “By statute, it is the
sheriff’s responsibility, whether it was Jack or Larry. That contract has not
changed, and up until 20 months ago, we didn’t have a prisoner in that jail. So
does that logic make any sense?” Wilkison also charged that Lewis’ office is
using “stalling tactics” by asking for an attorney general’s opinion about
whether his office has to release 170 pages from CLEAT’s open records request
that Lewis claims are attorney-client privilege. Wilkison said Lewis’s office
has released 1,300 pages to CLEAT pursuant to the request. “We believe somewhere
in that 170 pages will be some of the information that will tell the tale about
how you get only one bid on a private prison,” Wilkison said. “If they have
nothing to hide, then they have nothing to worry about. If they have done
nothing wrong, then they should release it anyway.” Lewis said attorney-client
communication is privileged and exempt from open records requests. “That is just
as standard as everything,” Lewis said. Commissioners will continue to discuss
jail proposals at their weekly meeting Tuesday morning.
July 30, 2008 Waco Tribune-Herald
The McLennan County Sheriff’s Office is investigating complaints from two former
female downtown jail inmates that guards at the privately operated McLennan
County Detention Center are selling drugs and having sex with female inmates.
The investigation was launched earlier this month after a 29-year-old inmate at
the downtown jail facility reportedly was caught with a marijuana cigarette in
her bra. While investigators were trying to find out how she got the drugs into
the jail, the woman, who has at least two felony convictions for drug
possession, reported that guards are having sex with female inmates and selling
drugs to inmates, four sources familiar with the investigation told the
Tribune-Herald. The 329-inmate facility is operated by Community Education
Centers, formerly CiviGenics, in a contract with the county that expires Oct. 1.
The investigation is being conducted as the county negotiates solely with CEC to
build and operate a new, 1,000-bed facility next to the county jail on State
Highway 6, retain operation of the MCDC on Columbus Avenue or several other
options being considered by the county to help ease its burgeoning jail
population. Since the woman reported her allegations, another female inmate also
has given a statement with similar claims to sheriff’s investigators, the
sources said. After speaking to investigators, that woman, who was being housed
at the downtown detention center while waiting to begin a five-year state prison
term for delivery of drugs, was shipped off to prison this week, the sources
said. George Vose, senior vice president for operations at the New Jersey-based
CEC, said Tuesday that he could not comment on any pending investigation, saying
it would be improper to interfere with the work of the sheriff’s office.
“Certainly, it is our intent and history to cooperate with any kind of law
enforcement investigation, as we often do,” Vose said. Sheriff’s office Chief
Deputy Randy Plemons would neither confirm nor deny reports that his detectives
are investigating the two women’s claims of improper sex and drug dealing among
MCDC guards. “I am not going to comment on an ongoing investigation. We have to
substantiate if this is even going on,” Plemons said, adding that felons often
do not tell the truth. Plemons would not speculate about how often such
accusations surface but said the Highway 6 jail has two full-time detectives to
investigate crimes committed in jail and grievances filed by inmates. Sheriff’s
investigator Joe Scaramucci wrote in a sworn complaint charging one of the women
with possession of a prohibited substance in a correctional facility, a
third-degree felony, that the woman said she found the marijuana cigarette July
12 under her bed. The woman since has been transferred to the Highway 6 county
jail. “She stated that she believed the substance was left by another inmate as
payment for assisting the other inmate with moving,” according to the affidavit.
“She stated that she placed the substance in her bra so that, at visitation, she
could trade it for commissary or obtain a lighter.” The affidavit did not
specify with whom the woman wanted to trade the drugs. No other charges have
been filed, but the investigation continues, sources said. Three guards at a
CEC-operated facility in Liberty County recently were arrested on charges of
having sex with inmates, and two others were arrested on allegations that they
sold drugs to inmates, according to published reports. In November 2001, Sherman
Lamont Fields escaped from the MCDC, then operated by CiviGenics, and killed
Suncerey Coleman, a young mother of three children, after bribing a guard to
help him escape. Fields, a federal prisoner at the time of his escape, was
captured and given a federal death sentence. Fields escaped from the downtown
jail when Benny Garrett, a jail guard, slipped him a key to the fifth-floor fire
escape door after Fields promised to give Garrett $5,000 after his escape.
Garrett, 26, formerly of Marlin, pleaded guilty to aiding Fields’ escape,
testified against Fields and was sentenced to four years in federal prison.
May 7, 2008 Tribune-Herald
McLennan County commissioners authorized the hiring of 12 new jailers
Tuesday in response to an unfavorable order from the Texas Commission on Jail
Standards. Commissioners voted to hire the new jailers after a two-hour, closed-
door meeting with the county’s attorneys, Herb Bristow and Mike Dixon. The jail
has been teetering on its maximum capacity for several years and has been
operating with variances from the jail standards commission. McLennan County
Judge Jim Lewis said recent changes in the membership of the commission in
Austin might explain why the panel’s once- patient attitude changed, producing
the “remedial order” dated May 1. Jail commission officials told county
commissioners they would be required to transfer prisoners to other facilities
if they remained out of compliance with the 48-to-1 prisoner-to-staff ratio as
required by state law. Lewis said county officials authorized the 12 additional
jailers in this year’s fiscal budget but delayed hiring them. He said the county
has been using funds from what would have been their salaries to pay CiviGenics,
a private detention company that operates the county- owned downtown jail, to
house about 85 overflow inmates from the county’s Highway 6 jail. Now the county
will pay roughly $203,000 to hire the dozen new jailers plus continuing to pay
CiviGenics for holding inmates. Still, county officials say, that’s cheaper than
building a new county jail or adding onto the existing one, which could be
inevitable. “The remedial order is addressing our staffing needs,” McLennan
County Sheriff Larry Lynch said. “So once we get the staff in place, we will be
in compliance, and we will ask that the remedial order be removed.” The
commission’s order states that the Commission on Jail Standards inspected the
Highway 6 jail on Dec. 18, 2007, and issued a notice of noncompliance then. As
of April 11, 2008, McLennan County officials hadn’t responded to the notice of
noncompliance, the order claims. County officials have wrestled with jail
overcrowding for years. They hired a jail magistrate this year to try to set
bonds faster and ease overcrowding. They also have asked for an attorney
general’s opinion to answer a number of legal concerns about the use of ankle
monitors, proposed to help clear out the jail while monitoring alleged
offenders. On Tuesday, there were 965 inmates in jail, Lynch said, adding that
capacity is 931. The sheriff said he couldn’t predict when the dozen new
employees could be hired, trained and ready to go to work. “That is something we
are working on as we speak,” he said. While the jail population and staffing
levels fluctuate daily, Lynch said the inmate-to-staff average ratio was closer
to 53-to-1 when the jail was not in compliance. Jail overcrowding is not unique
to McLennan County, and that likely is why the Commission on Jail Standards has
been more flexible over the past couple of years, Lewis said. Harris County
incarcerates 600 inmates at a private detention center in northeast Louisiana
and recently asked for permission to send another 1,130 inmates to Louisiana
facilities. At $38 per inmate per day, those additions could bring the annual
cost for housing inmates outside Harris County to $24 million, according to
published reports. McLennan County pays $27.50 a day for each of the first 50
inmates housed in the CiviGenics facility on Columbus Avenue. The rate goes to
$28.50 a day for 51 to 70 inmates, and $31 for each inmate from 71 to 90. After
91 inmates, the rate jumps to $41.95 a day, officials have said. Asked why
McLennan County commissioners met behind closed doors on the matter, Lewis
initially cited litigation or potential litigation. When it was pointed out that
no one was suing the county, the judge insisted the commissioners court has the
right to meet behind closed doors with attorneys anytime it chooses.
February 17, 2008 Waco Tribune
McLennan County Sheriff Larry Lynch is being challenged by one of his former
colleagues, a computer services contractor who said he resigned from the
sheriff’s office the day Lynch was sworn in. Lynch, who has been sheriff since
2000, is opposed in the March 4 Republican primary by Randy Gates, a Moody
resident who worked at the sheriff’s office 10 years before starting his own
computer business. The winner will face Democratic nominee Charles Hutyra in
November. Gates, 41, started his law enforcement career with the Hewitt Police
Department in 1989 and went to work for the sheriff’s office as a jailer the
following year. He worked five years as an investigator and a year as a county
drug task force member. Lynch, 61, who is seeking his third term, says he won’t
discuss why Gates left the sheriff’s office, citing “personnel matters.” Gates
says he and Lynch didn’t see eye to eye about certain issues and says it was
time for him to move on. “I was in narcotics at the time and I needed a change,
and that change was the new sheriff,” Gates said. “I was the very first one out
the door. I just kind of saw the handwriting on the wall. I already had another
job lined up.” Jail criticisms -- Like many politicians trying to unseat an
incumbent, Gates has gone on the offensive, attacking Lynch for county jail
overcrowding and recent operational deficiency citations by the state Commission
on Jail Standards. He also has accused the sheriff of “empire building” after
the city of McGregor recently considered — and then rejected — dismantling its
police department and having the sheriff’s office assume its role in local law
enforcement. “He has made those allegations at two public forums now,” Lynch
said. “He doesn’t understand the situation. I was approached by the city of
McGregor and was asked if the sheriff’s office would be the law enforcement
agency for their city. I said, ‘Sure, we will take a look at it.’ ” The McGregor
City Council later voted against the proposal, but Lynch said he made it clear
that city leaders had to be unanimous in their request or it would not work. “We
looked at it and determined it was a feasible project, but it had to be a
unanimous decision. If we were to come in, we bring more experience, more
resources, but it had to be unanimous,” Lynch said. “We’ve got plenty of work to
do, but when citizens ask us to look into a situation, that is what we do.”
Gates, who won the Precinct 6 justice of the peace post abolished through
redistricting, says that as sheriff, he would try to strengthen ties with local
law enforcement entities. He remains critical of Lynch’s role in the proposed
McGregor deal. “I think the objective is to forge relationships with the
municipal departments, not replace them,” Gates said. “The sheriff should
provide the same level of service to every citizen of McLennan County. It is not
for sale to the highest bidder. Whenever you propose to build an empire by
eliminating municipal law enforcement agencies, that is not the way to forge
relationships with those people.” Private salary objection -- Gates says he also
objects to Lynch’s salary being boosted by an extra $12,000 a year and paid by
CiviGenics, a private detention company that has been leasing the downtown
county jail since before Lynch became sheriff. He said he couldn’t understand
how the county jail can be so overcrowded with 250 beds available for county use
downtown. “It clarified the issue for me when I found out the sheriff is getting
$12,000 a year from the company leasing the jail,” Gates said. “I’m not going to
accept funds from a private entity. I’m will use that money to set up a fund to
provide criminal justice scholarships here in Central Texas.” Lynch countered
that the stipend he receives was part of a contract approved between the vendor
and the commissioners court and started a decade ago with the late Sheriff Jack
Harwell.
October 4, 2007 KCEN TV
The McLennan County Juvenile Justice Center in Waco is on lockdown. Just before
8:30 p.m. someone inside the facility on Gholson Road called Waco police to
report four or five inmates fighting in the gym. According to police, three
inmates pushed through ceiling tiles in the facility and are playing a "cat and
mouse" game with officers. Officers said the inmates are in the attic. Police
are planning to bring in K-9 dogs to get them out of the attic, and say tear gas
will be last resort.
March 31, 2007 Waco Tribune
A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed
the federal convictions and death sentence of Sherman Lamont Fields, convicted
in the 2001 jail escape and shooting death of the mother of three small
children. In a 129-page opinion, Circuit Judges Carolyn King and Jerry Smith
ruled that the more than 20 points of error raised by Fields on appeal should be
rejected and his death sentence and multiple convictions relating to his escape
and murder of Suncerey Coleman should be affirmed. Circuit Judge Fortunato
Benavides wrote in a dissenting opinion that he would have affirmed the
convictions but granted Fields a new sentencing hearing based on evidence
presented during the punishment phase that he was unable to confront. Fields,
currently on federal death row, claimed in his direct appeal that prosecutors
improperly introduced hundreds of pages of documents relating to Fields’ lengthy
criminal record, including juvenile delinquency records, that were filled with
hearsay statements from guards, counselors, probation officers and others.
Fields claimed his rights were violated because he was unable to properly
dispute some statements in the records because those who made them were not
subject to cross-examination. “Sherman Lamont Fields was sentenced to death
based on testimony that he was never able to confront,” Benavides wrote. “That
is precisely the evil that the Confrontation Clause was meant to protect
against.” Fields’ appeal now goes to the U.S. Supreme Court. Fields escaped from
the downtown Waco jail operated by CiviGenics after jail guard Benny Garrett
slipped him a key to the fifth-floor fire escape door. Fields had promised to
give Garrett $5,000. Garrett pleaded guilty to aiding his escape and was
sentenced to four years in federal prison in March 2004. Coleman, Fields’ former
girlfriend, was at Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center with her premature baby when
Fields showed up at the hospital after his escape and convinced her to leave
with him. Trial testimony revealed that Fields was angry because he thought
Coleman was seeing other men. They drove to an area near Downsville, south of
Waco, and Fields shot her twice in the head and dumped her body along the side
of the road. Fields was sentenced to death in April 2004 after a trial in Waco’s
federal court.
July 15, 2004
An employee with a private detention company that operates the former McLennan
County Jail in downtown Waco was indicted Wednesday on charges that he had sex
with a female jail inmate. A McLennan County grand jury indicted Jonathan
Tate, 23, for improper sexual activity, a state-jail felony punishable by up to
two years in jail. The indictment alleges that on April 5, Tate had sex
with an inmate at the McLennan County Detention Center on Columbus Avenue. Tate,
a guard, was hired by CiviGenics, which has a contract with McLennan County to
operate the jail. The facility is used primarily to house federal inmates
waiting transfer to federal prisons and those suspected of immigration
violations. (Waco Tribune)
June 28, 2004
A McLennan County Detention Center guard and an inmate were listed in critical
condition Monday after a highway accident Saturday. A van carrying two
detention center guards and 13 inmates rolled several times outside Abilene,
sending everyone aboard to the hospital, said Trooper Gilbert Ruiz of the
Department of Public Safety. The wreck occurred on Interstate 20 in
Callahan County at about 12:30 a.m. while the prisoners were being transported
from Odessa to Waco, Ruiz said. The van was eastbound on I-20 when a tire blew
out, causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle, Ruiz said. The van then
rolled several times. (Waco Tribune)
February 5, 2004
The McLennan County Commissioners Court and district attorney were subpoenaed to
appear before a Dallas County grand jury investigating the owner of jail food
service company and his relationship with officials in several Texas counties, a
newspaper reported. County Judge Jim Lewis and Commissioner Ray Meadows
have already testified before the grand jury in Dallas. They were to testify
again Friday, along with the rest of the commissioners and District Attorney
John Segrest, the Waco Tribune-Herald reported in Thursday editions, citing
unnamed sources. Prosecutors also have subpoenaed records from the
McLennan County Sheriff's Office and Commissioners Court, the newspaper
reported. The grand jury began investigating Jack Madera of Mid-America
Services of Dallas after reports surfaced that Dallas County Sheriff Jim Bowles
accepted thousands of dollars worth of gifts and trips from Madera between 1999
and 2001. Bowles awarded Madera's company a five-year, $20 million commissary
contract in 2002. The grand jury has since expanded its investigation to
include other counties in which Madera's company operates. (AP)
November 26, 2003
Lela McMillion says life without her youngest daughter, Suncerey has been a
constant struggle. She says she cries a lot and not a day has gone by in the
last two years that she hasn't thought of Suncerey in some way. "I miss my baby,
she was my baby, I think about her all the time, she's on my mind when I wake
up, she's on my mind when I go to bed, it hurts, the children don't have their
mom and I dont' have my baby, " McMillon said. Two year old Yiencey, is
Suncerey's youngest child. Yiency was a newborn baby when her mother
disappeared in November, 2001. She was born prematurely and Suncerey had been at
the hospital learning to care for her when she vanished. She was last seen
with Sherman Lamont Fields, who had escaped from the downtown Waco Detention
Center. Fields was recaptured several weeks later, but Suncerey was no
where to be found. "After she was taken from the hospital and missing all
those days, I'm waiting to find out where was her body and what was done to her,
" McMillon said. Lela's worst nightmare became reality when Suncerey's
body was found in a field south of Waco the day before Thanksgiving, two years
ago. After the discovery, authorities added murder to the long list of
charges against Fields. Lela says she had heard her daughter once dated
him, but she was sure Suncery had broken things off. " I've never in my
life felt hatred before and that's unreal for me." Lela describes her
daughter as beautiful, kind and giving. It's those things she tells her three
grandchildren, all of whom she's helping to raise, when they ask about their
mother. "We just tell them that she's in heaven and she died and went to
heaven with God, but we know eventually we will have to tell them what happened
to their mother." Lela says she visits her daughter's grave about once a
month, though she says it doesn't ease her pain. She says nothing ever will. "If
it wasn't for God and my prayers I wouldn't be able to handle all of this, her
life was taken, she was too young, she was taken away from her children and they
will never know their mom, " she said. Lela says little Yiencey looks a
lot like Suncerey once did. She says she sees her daughter in the eyes of her
grandaughter everyday. Her hope is that others will too. McMillion filed
suit against Civigenics, the company which leases the McLennan County Detention
Center, after her daughter's murder. Earlier this year, Civigencis settled
the suit for an undisclosed amount. Fields is scheduled to go on trial in Waco
Federal Court for Coleman's murder and escape in January. Prosecutors will
seek the death penalty. (KWTX)
October 10, 2003
A former jail guard who helped state prisoner Sherman Lamont Fields escape from
the McLennan County Detention Center in November 2001 pleaded guilty Thursday to
a variety of federal charges that could land him in prison for 40 years.
Benny Donnell Garrett, 25, formerly of Marlin, pleaded guilty to conspiracy
charges, aiding and abetting escape by providing prohibited objects to a
prisoner, establishing a drug manufacturing operation and possession with the
intent to distribute marijuana within 1,000 feet of a school. U.S.
District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. of Waco will sentence Garrett on Dec. 10.
Garrett, a former employee of CiviGenics, a private detention company that
contracts with McLennan County and the federal government to operate the
downtown Waco jail, faces a maximum 40-year prison term and fines up to $2
million. Fields, 29, is charged with escaping from the detention center
and then killing his former girlfriend, Suncerey Coleman, seven hours after his
escape. Federal prosecutors say he obtained a key from Garrett and used it to
flee the jail through a fifth-floor fire escape door. Fields and Garrett
both are named in a multicount federal indictment. Federal prosecutors sought
permission for both men to face the death penalty if convicted in the escape
conspiracy. U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft approved the death penalty
in Fields' case but rejected the request for Garrett. Fields is set for
trial in Waco's federal court on Jan. 12. Besides giving the key to
Fields, Garrett also pleaded guilty to providing marijuana, alcohol, cigarettes
and access to a cell phone to Fields and other CiviGenics inmates in exchange
for money or the promise of money. The detention center at 520 Columbus Ave. is
across the street from St. Paul's Episcopal School. Fort Worth attorney
Douglas C. Greene, who represents Garrett, said his client "possibly" will
testify at Fields' trial. Greene said Garrett had never been in trouble before
getting mixed up with Fields. Since his arrest two years ago, however, Garrett
has been placed on misdemeanor probation in Falls County for possession of
marijuana, court records show. "He stupidly let this guy out," Greene
said. "He's a young kid who was provided with virtually no training and put in
charge of a bunch of professional, federal criminals, and they corrupted him.
But he certainly didn't know anything about what (Fields) was going to do after
he escaped." (Tribune-Herald)
July 13, 2002
The family of murder victim Suncerey Coleman filed a lawsuit Wednesday against
CiviGenics, operators of a downtown Waco jail where an inmate escaped in
November. The lawsuit claims that CiviGenics was negligent in allowing convicted
felon Sherman Lamont Fields, 27, to obtain a key to the fifth-floor fire escape
and flee the jail Nov. 6. Federal prosecutors have charged Fields and a former
CiviGenics jailer, Benny Donnell Garrett, 24, of Marlin with Coleman's murder.
They said Fields bribed Garrett to give him the fire escape key. Authorities are
seeking the federal death penalty against both men. "We are eager for a jury to
hear this case," said Waco attorney Bill Johnston, who represents the family.
"We believe the corporation bears the responsibility for what it allowed to
happen." According to the lawsuit, CiviGenics did not properly staff the jail,
train officers or retain employees before Fields' escape. It said jail
supervisors also waited more than four hours to alert law enforcement
authorities that an inmate was missing on Nov. 6. CiviGenics has operated the
jail since 1998 under a contract that nets the county more than $700,000 a year.
The jail holds detainees and inmates for several federal agencies, including the
Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Bureau of Prisons. The contract
frees the county from liability stemming from "any negligent or wrongful act or
failure to act of the operator or its officers, employees, agents or
contractors." (Wacotrib.com)
April 24, 2002
The former Texas prison unit warden and two-term Anderson County sheriff
recently became the fifth warden in the three years that the private detention
company CiviGenics has contracted with McLennan County to operate the former
county jail in downtown Waco. Since October, the facility has suffered through
an unusually rocky period that included the escape of a prisoner who is charged
with killing a woman while he was a fugitive and the arrest of a guard charged
with facilitating the escape. There also have been the resignations of four top
detention center officials; an inmate disturbance and fire; and a failed jail
inspection. Also, local Hispanic leaders have charged that the county is in
business with a company that improperly warehouses those charged with minor
immigration violations until deportation and is violating their rights by, among
other things, not employing enough Spanish-speaking officers. The downtown jail,
which the county built in 1981, sat vacant for two years after county inmates
were moved to the enlarged county jail on State Highway 6 in 1996. County
commissioners contracted with CiviGenics in 1998 and hoped to reap a minimum of
$250,000 a year in the arrangement with the Boston-based private prison company.
From a financial standpoint, the deal has been a "cash cow," as Precinct 4
Commissioner Ray Meadows describes it. In 2000, the county earned $645,848 in
the deal, and $426,811 last year. When the county entered into the contract with
CiviGenics, former Sheriff Jack Harwell told commissioners that he would not
object to the deal as long as the inmates were "short-term, low-risk prisoners
who do not come from other states." However, after the Nov. 6 escape of
convicted felon Sherman Fields, who was on the fifth floor awaiting federal
trial on a weapons charge, and the concerns lodged earlier this month by
Hispanic leaders, the focus has been magnified on the types of prisoners being
held there. Hubert estimates that 80 percent of the inmates he houses are there
on some type of drug-related convictions. He said he has seen only a few inmates
with immigration concerns in the few months he has been warden in Waco. (Waco
Tribune-Herald)
Mineral Wells, Texas
Emerald Corrections
October 8, 2009 Mineral Wells Index
A two and-a-half year effort to bring an illegal immigrant detention center to
Mineral Wells ended Tuesday night with several long seconds of silence from city
council members. A resolution to continue negotiations with Emerald Correctional
Management to build a detention facility funded by non-recourse revenue bonds
issued by the Mineral Wells Local Government Corporation failed when council
members failed to second a motion in support. “That’s a pretty clear message
that the city council has no interest in doing this project,” Steve Afeman,
chief operating officer of Emerald, said Wednesday morning. “We’re not about to
go back.” The failure to move ahead with negotiations seemed to come as a
surprise to several. Afeman said Emerald met with mayor Mike Allen, Industrial
Foundation representative Steve Butcher and city manager Lance Howerton and was
told they believed council would support the public finance proposal. Allen told
those attending the meeting there would be no public comments. “This is for the
council to understand,” he said before a presentation from Hull Youngblood,
Emerald’s attorney and representative. “[While switching sites earlier this
year], we lost that window to get private financing that you could use,”
Youngblood said. Initially the city offered Emerald land near Mineral Wells
Municipal Airport, but 11th-hour public opposition to the site forced its move
to Wolters Industrial Park, with the Industrial Foundation buying land to
accommodate the switch. Youngblood told the council the city would not be
obligated if they authorized the local government corporation to issue
non-recourse revenue bonds. “The LGC will not have to pay anything on the debt
except what is generated by project revenue,” Youngblood said. “[If the bonds
were defaulted on] think of it like lenders and they’ve got a lien on the
building. They could sell it or refinance it.” Because the local government
corporation would own the title to the building, the facility would also be
exempt from ad valorem taxes. “We would now take that pool of money [that would
go to the city and Parker County] and give it to the city [as the per diem fee
per inmate],” Youngblood said. Councilman Bill Terry wanted to know if the
facility went defunct how much control the city would have. “[Once the facility
is foreclosed on] they could do whatever they want,” Youngblood said, but added
they would have to abide by applicable law. “What kind of black eye is it to the
city or the LGC [if they are unable to pay off the bonds]?” council member Tommy
Blissitte asked. Howerton said they talked with the city’s financial advisor and
were told a default on the bonds would not technically affect the credit rating
and would not likely impair the city. However, the city might have to explain
the situation and that could raise a red flag with other possible underwriters,
Howerton said. “What risk, if any, does Emerald have?” council member Deartis
Nickerson asked. “[There is] not additional equity being paid to the lender
beyond the significant development costs [already incurred],” Youngblood said.
“I’ve been dealing with this for about a month and I’ve come to a conclusion our
liability (would be) no different than private financing,” Allen said. Allen
noted unemployment is over 8 percent in the county and said the project would
generate jobs and bring in at least $6 million for the city over a 20-year
period. Afeman said they’ve received about 30 job applications for the proposed
Mineral Wells facility, which was supposed to have created 140 jobs, though many
of the applications were from people in other parts of the state looking to
return to Mineral Wells. Council member John Ritchie moved to approve the
resolution authorizing the local government corporation to continue negotiations
for the publicly financed proposal but did not receive a second. After several
seconds of silence from the council, Allen requested a second to the motion but
did not receive it from the other four council members present. Chris Crawford
was absent. “It’s been a long, hard journey,” Allen said after the meeting.
“I’ve put a lot of time into it.” Richard Ball, president of the Industrial
Foundation, said afterward it was time to replace some city council members. “I
don’t think it’s the right thing at the right time,” Terry said. “I want to see
the Baker Hotel situation [succeed] and I don’t want anything to get in the way
… I just think there are better deals out there and eventually they’ll come. I
feel that Emerald is not being up front with us.” Terry was the lone dissenting
vote when the council agreed to accept a lower impact fee than Emerald announced
they would pay the city before the site was moved, asking whether it would be a
sign of things to come. “I don’t like the idea of the city having to issue
bonds,” councilman Tommy Blissitte told the Index Wednesday. “It would look bad
on the city if they defaulted.”
Mineral Wells Pre-Parole
Facility
Mineral Wells, Texas
CCA
December 21, 2010 Mineral Wells Index
Two inmates reportedly received minor injuries during a disturbance Friday night
at the Corrections Corporation of America Pre-Parole Transfer Facility but
facility personnel were able to gain control of the inmates within a short time.
“At about 8:45 p.m. Friday evening, approximately 30 offenders refused to go to
their assigned housing locations on the north side [of the facility],” facility
manager Maria White said. The inmates reportedly encouraged others to join them,
according to White. “With minimal use of chemical agents, supervisors maintained
control of the unit and quelled the incident within an hour,” White said. “At no
time was public safety threatened as the incident was quickly contained by
staff.” Two of the 48 inmates believed to be involved received minor injuries,
were transported to the hospital for treatment and released back to the
facility. No staff was injured. Local law enforcement personnel were contacted
according to standard procedure, White said. Mineral Wells police, Palo Pinto
County sheriff’s deputies and Department of Public Safety officers, responded to
a call of a riot at the facility around 9:30 p.m. and maintained a perimeter
until about 11 p.m. but was not asked to intervene.
February 23, 2010 Mineral Wells Index
The second arson suspect was released Saturday from the Parker County jail after
posting $50,000 bond on a charge of arson. Like former Mineral Wells patrolman
John Gore, official records for alleged arson accomplice Jeff Gulley show no
issues during his time working as a patrol officer for Ranger in late 2006 and
2007. Current Ranger Police Chief Elton McCoy, who was not with the department
at the time, said Gulley's personnel records indicate Gulley resigned in good
standing to pursue another job in June 2007 and show no record of write-ups
during his several months on the Ranger police force. Gulley – along with Gore,
who faces four counts of arson – held a valid peace officer license in the state
when he was arrested Thursday on a charge of arson. Gulley also holds a
temporary jailer license from the state. Warden Ron King of Community Education
Centers, the contracting company managing the Parker County jail, confirmed
Monday that Gulley worked as a jailer in Parker County between June and
September and was not rehireable when he left. Before receiving a temporary
jailers license from the state, Gulley would have had to pass a college entrance
exam, a psychological exam and a physical exam, according to King. Gulley also
worked as a correctional officer with Corrections Corporation of America at the
Mineral Wells pre-parole facility between November 2008 and December 2009, CCA
spokesperson Maria White confirmed Monday. Fellow officers who worked with Gore
expressed surprise last week at his arrest. Police Chief Mike McAllester said
Gore had never been disciplined and was a model officer. McAllester said they
are investigating fires as far back as 2001. Gore and Gulley are reported to be
close friends and have known each other since they attended school together.
Gore was charged with three counts of arson Tuesday after he was stopped by a
Mineral Wells patrol officer near three suspicious fires in the Wolters
Industrial Park area and questioned. During the initial interview, Gore
reportedly provided information about seven fires, including the three fires
Tuesday, and provided information about a second suspect, according to police.
Parker County officials reported Gore confessed to starting a fire Feb. 3 which
destroyed a two-story storage building and implicated Gulley. During two
interviews with the Parker County Fire Marshal's office last week, Gulley
allegedly “exposed his involvement in the Feb. 3 arson” and confessed to being
involved with two other fires, a grass fire and a structure fire that did not
fully ignite.
February 16, 2010 Mineral Wells Index
Facing a budget shortfall in 2011, Texas leaders Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov.
David Dewhurst and Speaker Joe Straus asked Texas agencies and institutions of
higher education to identify a 5 percent reduction to their 2010-11 general
revenue and general revenue-dedicated appropriations. While agencies faced a
Monday deadline this week, Texas corrections officials, looking for perhaps as
much as $300 million in cutbacks in the 112-unit system, have not ruled out
closing some prisons. Last Wednesday the Austin-American Statesman reported that
Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chair John Whitmire, D-Houston, publicly
suggested that the state consider closing the privately run, 2,100-bed
Corrections Corporation of America’s Mineral Wells Pre-Parole Transfer Facility
and perhaps aging prisons that are much more expensive to operate and maintain
than newer ones. While the cost of imprisoning a felon in Texas averages about
$47.50 a day, prison agency figures from 2008 show some older prisons cost more
than $50 per inmate per day. The Mineral Wells prison is located on the former
Fort Wolters property. Warden Mike Phillips said of Whitmire’s suggestions,
“That’s just his opinion.”
December 14, 2009 Mineral Wells Index
A prisoner was reportedly bitten by a dog Thursday evening at the Corrections
Corporation of America Preparole Transfer Facility, according to Mineral Wells
police. Police received a call about 5 p.m. from a correctional officer who told
police an inmate was bitten on the right chest area and on his right leg while
the dog was being fed, according to the report. Maria White, spokesperson for
the facility, told the Index the man’s injuries were not serious. The inmate
went inside the kennel to pet the dog after a guard had put food in the dog’s
bowl and the dog lunged at him, according to White. The man’s wounds were
reportedly cleaned and treated by medical personnel at the facility. The dog was
current on vaccinations so it was not impounded, police said.
July 1, 2009 Mineral Well Index
Police stopped a black Mercury car observed sitting across from the
Corrections Corporation of America Pre-parole Transfer Facility around 3 a.m.
Monday morning and performed a search of the vehicle. Police said they found
small foam footballs and duct tape on the floorboard of the vehicle and advised
CCA personnel to be aware of a possible attempt to drop contraband. Police said
neither individual, both from Dallas, had warrants and were sent on their way.
About two hours later, police responded to a call from CCA and talked with
another man who was in possession of four small footballs stuffed with tobacco
and lighters. Police said the man had been dropped off by the car earlier and
did not succeed in dropping contraband inside the prison facility, a felony
offense, so he was sent home.
May 1, 2009 Mineral Wells Index
A prisoner was reported transported Wednesday evening to Palo Pinto General
Hospital from the Corrections Corporation of America pre-parole transfer
facility with serious injuries, according to the Mineral Wells Fire Department
and EMS. According to a statement released late Thursday by CCA, “at
approximately 4:45 p.m. … an inmate was found in the first-floor dayroom of
housing unit 756 with injuries consistent with having been assaulted.” According
to statements by the dispatcher at the time, the caller stated that there was
“blood everywhere.” Police also responded to the call but cleared within 15
minutes after speaking with a guard about the problem. The prisoner was
transferred to a Fort Worth hospital where he remains, according to the
statement by CCA. The prison – a privately operated, 2,103-bed, minimum security
pre-parole facility which houses male inmates for the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice – has been place on lock-down status and inmates are confined
to their rooms pending the outcome of an investigation.
December 19, 2008 Mineral Wells Index
A Murchison, Texas, man was taken into custody late Wednesday after he
allegedly attempted to throw contraband over the fence at Corrections
Corporation of America’s facility in the 700 block of Heintzelman Road. Mineral
Wells police were notified of the incident at 10:24 p.m. According to police
reports, two CCA guards witnessed “several people” on the outside of the gate
throwing plastic-wrapped bundles of tobacco over the fence. When the guards
approached, the individuals reportedly ran though Steven Wade Richards, 35, was
apprehended. He allegedly claimed to be the look-out for the others and was
found in possession of a bundle of Bugler tobacco. There was reportedly an
assortment of cell phones and tobacco tossed over the fence. Richards was
detained for contraband in a correctional facility.
October 16, 2008 Mineral Wells Index
A high-speed chase through Mineral Wells early Wednesday morning ended in
the arrest of a Grand Prairie man on multiple charges. The activity began when
officers were responding to a call at 2:44 a.m. to Corrections Corporation of
America regarding a man throwing contraband over the fence, Mineral Wells Police
Lt. Patrick Adams said. CCA is located in the 700 block of Heintzelman Road in
Wolters Industrial Park. Adams said they were told “a vehicle pulled up and a
guy dropped two bags over the fence. They were able get a license plate and
description of the vehicle.” While an officer was en route the pre-parole
facility, another officer observed a 2003 Honda four-door vehicle matching the
description driving westbound in the 800 block of East Hubbard Street at a high
rate of speed. Because of the vehicle’s speed in a 30 mph zone, Adams said it
constituted reckless driving and the officer initiated a pursuit at 2:46 a.m.
“Our units engaged in attempting to stop [the car] but the vehicle fled through
town, continuing westbound on [U.S.] 180 to Palo Pinto,” Adams said. A few miles
east of Palo Pinto, the lieutenant said they “terminated the pursuit for safety
concerns.” The police official said no other law enforcement agencies were
involved in the pursuit. The pursuit ended at 2:57 a.m. and lasted 11 minutes,
covering 11 miles. It wasn’t long after that the Palo Pinto County Sheriff’s
Office discovered the speedster parked on the side of the road near Brad. Adams
said they confirmed the vehicle as the same one that the police had pursued.
According to officials, the car broke down with mechanical problems. The driver
was identified as David Javier Amaya, 23, of Grand Prairie. Javier was placed
under arrest for reckless driving, a Class B misdemeanor, and evading arrest
with a motor vehicle, a state jail felony. According to the lieutenant, the case
remains under investigation. Additional charges involving the alleged throwing
of contraband inside the prison grounds could be filed later. The two bags
thrown over the fence at CCA were recovered, Adams confirmed. The contraband
inside consisted of 283 packs of Bugler tobacco, eight Virgin Mobile cell phones
and chargers and two cans of Grizzly snuff. This is the third time in three
months CCA has discovered people throwing prohibited items over their fences. In
August, a 14-year-old Lancaster youth was apprehended with two footballs stuffed
with contraband – including marijuana - in his possession. A 15-year-old was
caught in September attempting to throw a black duffle bag over the fence. He
told authorities a Houston woman paid him $1,000 to toss the bag over but it was
too heavy for him. A request for comment to CCA was unreturned as of Wednesday
afternoon.
September 17, 2008 Mineral Wells Index
Mineral Wells police were summoned to the Corrections Corporation of America
facility early Monday morning after a juvenile was discovered attempting to
throw a duffel bag over the fence, officials reported. According to police
officials, they were dispatched at 2:23 a.m. to the pre-parole facility in the
700 block of Heintzelman Road where CCA guards had a 15-year-old boy detained.
The juvenile was reportedly attempting to throw a black duffel bag over the
facility's north fence. Inside the bag, police said, were 200 packs of Bugler
cigarettes, three bottles of cologne, four cigarette lighters and eight prepaid
cell phones. Police officials said some of the devices had phone numbers already
programmed in. The youth allegedly told authorities someone from Houston paid
him $1,000 to throw the bag across the fence; despite his reported attempts, he
said the bag was too heavy. Upon the guards' arrival, a woman driving a gray
vehicle allegedly left the scene and law enforcement issued a bulletin on the
vehicle. The driver was later stopped by the Parker County Sheriff's Office on a
traffic stop and identified as a Houston resident. She was then released, police
reported. The juvenile was taken to the Mineral Wells police station where his
mother was contacted at a motel in Weatherford, according to officials. The
teenager was released and CCA kept the duffel bag “for their evidence,” police
reported. This is the second incident in recent weeks where a juvenile was found
allegedly attempting to throw items over the facility's fence. In August, a
14-year-old male was taken into custody near facility after authorities were
notified of a “suspicious person” in the area. According to Mineral Wells police
reports, officers encountered two CCA personnel at approximately 11:36 p.m.
who'd detained the youth in the 700 block of Hood Road. The juvenile was
reportedly found in possession of two footballs that were cut and stuffed with
contraband - two small bags containing a green leafy substance - one in each
ball, 31 packs of Bugler tobacco, seven small cigars and two cell phones with
chargers and SIM cards, officials said. The Lancaster, Texas, youth was placed
under arrest for possession of marijuana less than 2 ounces and then released to
juvenile probation. CCA's Public Information Officer Maria White explained in
these situations, the local law enforcement is notified and the Texas Department
of Criminal Justice picks up the contraband and investigates the case. She said
she didn't know the status of either incident. “It's in their [TDCJ] hands now,”
she said.
August 25, 2008 Mineral Wells Index
A 14-year-old male was taken into custody late Thursday night near the
Corrections Corporation of America facility after they were notified of a
“suspicious person” in the 700 block of Heintzelman Road. According to Mineral
Wells police reports, officers encountered two CCA personnel at approximately
11:36 p.m. who’d detained the youth in the 700 block of Hood Road. The juvenile
was reportedly found in possession of two footballs that were cut and stuffed
with contraband. The footballs contained two small bags containing a green leafy
substance – one in each ball, 31 packs of Bugler tobacco, seven small cigars and
two cell phones with chargers and SIM cards. The Lancaster, Texas, youth was
placed under arrest for possession of marijuana less than 2 ounces and released
to juvenile probation at approximately 1 a.m. Friday.
September 21, 2007 Mineral Wells Index
When the riot erupted inside Corrections Corporation of America’s pre-parole
facility in August, local law enforcement responded in force and to the tune of
approximately $2,200. Both the Mineral Wells Police Department and the Palo
Pinto County Sheriff’s Department have submitted requests to CCA, asking for
reimbursement for their officers’ overtime as well as the damage to a police
patrol car. Mineral Wells Police Chief Jerry White said they are requesting
reimbursement for 42 hours and 36 minutes of overtime that were accrued between
the additional dispatcher and 14 officers that were called in to assist. The
request for reimbursement for personnel totaled $1,543.36. In addition to
overtime, the MWPD also replaced a rear window that was shattered by debris
flung over the perimeter fence. The damage to the window totaled $260. “The last
time we assisted on a riot in 2005, they reimbursed us,” said White. “They
realize it costs the people [when they respond].” The previous riot resulted in
a reimbursement request for $1,780.85, he noted. “When we had to assist in ’05,
they let us know then that any costs incurred, they’d reimburse us.” Palo Pinto
County Sheriff Ira Mercer confirmed that his department also issued a request
for reimbursement for expenses incurred by his off-duty officers. He said he
learned of the reimbursement through the police department and submitted his own
request for expenses. “We didn’t submit a reimbursement request in ’05,” Mercer
said. “We didn’t have to pay deputies overtime.” In his itemized request, Mercer
didn’t request reimbursement for his time, the chief deputy and four deputies
who were on-duty at the time. He did request reimbursement for the five officers
who each worked four hours of overtime during the riot. Three deputies worked
calls in the Mineral Wells city limits while police officers were involved at
the disturbance. Mercer’s reimbursement request totaled $439.52, though he
didn’t list reimbursement costs for the fuel used in 11 units used in responding
to the incident. The Parker County Sheriff’s Department, however, will not be
asking for reimbursement, said Parker County Sheriff Larry Fowler. “We decided
not to do it. …We didn’t have a lot of overtime [and] elected not to bill them.”
He also said they had very minor damage to a vehicle – a dent in a hood. “In
2005, that was quite lengthy. It [the recent riot] wasn’t like that,” Fowler
recalled. For the 2005 incident, “yes, we did request a reimbursement.” He said
to the best of his knowledge, CCA had volunteered to reimburse them. The
incident began shortly after 9 p.m. on Aug. 13 when a group of inmates
reportedly took umbrage “with a recently communicated reinforcement of a
standard policy requiring inmates to wear T-shirts while on the outside
recreation yard,” CCA officials said at the time. “Any time you have a facility
like that, you’re going to run into these kinds of bumps. We want to assist any
way we can because we want to protect our citizens,” White said. Mercer
commented it was the departments’ right and the taxpayers’ right to ask for
reimbursement for the incident.
August 16, 2007 Star-Telegram
Inmates of a privately run, minimum-security prison in Mineral Wells remained
under indefinite lockdown Wednesday, two days after a disturbance that lasted
about 3 1/2 hours, officials said. Broken windows are being repaired and offices
are being cleaned of damage caused by small fires set by inmates Monday night, a
spokeswoman for Corrections Corp. of America said. About 600 inmates are being
interviewed as officials try to find out what started the disturbance at the
Mineral Wells Pre-Parole Release Facility, a 2,100-bed men's facility, said Rose
Thompson, a CCA spokeswoman. The disturbance began about 9 p.m. when about 400
inmates refused to leave the recreation yard and return to their cells,
authorities have said. Thompson said she didn't know how long the lockdown will
last. "It all depends on how long it takes to search the buildings and repair
the damage," she said. Michelle Lyons, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice, said she was told that as of Tuesday afternoon, 36 inmates had
been identified as either instigating the disturbance or damaging property. They
have been transferred to other state prisons, she said. "We don't often have
these types of incidents at minimum-security facilities," Lyons said. "These
inmates are placed there because they have clean disciplinary records, and they
are generally cooperative." In August 2005, 17 people, including two prison
employees, were injured during a riot at the facility, according to a
Star-Telegram report.
August 14, 2007 Star-Telegram
Dozens of inmates who were eligible to be considered for parole are facing
the possibility of more prison time following a disturbance Monday night at a
private correctional facility in Parker County. As many as 600 men were being
interviewed Tuesday by state prison officials at the Mineral Wells Pre-Parole
Transfer Facility. The officials were trying to identify "key players" in the
disturbance that involved small fires and scuffles with guards, said Rose
Thompson, a spokeswoman for the facility. At 9 p.m. Monday, about 400 inmates
refused to leave the recreation yard and return to their cells. It took about 3
1/2 hours and the use of several chemical agents, including CS, to quell the
ruckus, Thompson said. The all-male, minimum-security facility is operated by
Nashville-based Corrections Corp. of America. The 2,100-bed facility is in the
portion of Mineral Wells that is in western Parker County. It has a contract
with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to house inmates who are nearing
release on parole. But, Thompson said, that possibility will be denied to anyone
who officials determine was responsible for the disturbance. "They get a
disciplinary case, and they become ineligible to be housed here," Thompson said.
"Then they get shipped to different facility.'' Some of their paroles,
consequently, could get delayed, Thompson said. TDCJ spokeswoman Michelle Lyons
noted, however, that the inmates at the facility are all eligible to be
considered for parole, but they may not necessarily have been approved for it.
"As a result of this, depending on their levels of involvement, this may impact
their parole eligibilities," Lyons said. Thompson declined to speculate on how
many inmates might be held responsible for the disturbance. She noted, however,
that 400-600 men were being questioned by state prison officials. Officials were
also trying to determine what riled the inmates enough for them to risk having
their paroles delayed, Thompson said. Lyons said she heard that some of the men
were protesting an order to put their shirts back on, but Thompson said that was
one of several angles being investigated. At least one inmate was confused about
what caused the furor, according to his wife. Foxy Blair said her husband, J.C.,
called her on Monday and said the facility was on lockdown much of the day, and
he wasn't sure why. Her husband could only speculate that it was because the
facility was "under new management," Blair said. "He said they were on their
bunks all day," said Blair, who is staying with his parents in Gunnison, Colo.
"They couldn't go to their jobs or their classes. "A few inmates got mad and
went out the recreation area and he said they were gassing them outside, trying
to get them to move back in." Some of agitated inmates began ripping out
plumbing, Blair said. That's when, according to her husband, guards tossed
chemical agents into the buildings. "You could hear all kinds of stuff going
on," Blair said of the telephone call from husband. "It sounded like a movie
prison riot. "He said, 'I don't know what to do,' and I said, 'Just get under
your bunk.' "Well, that's the last I heard from him."
August 14, 2007 AP
A disturbance broke out tonight among inmates at a private prison facility in
Mineral Wells when the inmates refused to leave the recreation yard and return
to their housing units. Two employees of the Mineral Wells Pre-Parole Transfer
Facility were treated on site for minor injuries. A spokesperson for Corrections
Corp. of America -- the facility's owner and operator -- says there are no
reports of injuries to inmates. After midnight, guards started peacefully moving
inmates back into the building, including inmates that earlier had been
disruptive. About 400 inmates were still in the recreation yard late tonight,
with about two dozen refusing to cooperate, throwing rocks, breaking glass and
trying to destroy property. Prison staff members used "approved, non-lethal
chemical agents" in an effort to gain control of the situation. Mineral Wells
police Captain Mike McAllester says about 30 local officers set up a perimeter
outside the prison's gates to secure the area.
May 14, 2007 WFAA TV
Two inmates who escaped from a minimum security facility in Mineral Wells early
Monday morning were captured about six hours later. Joshua Hall and Carlos Goff,
both 21, were discovered missing at 3:45 a.m. during a routine check at the
Mineral Wells Pre-Parole Transfer Facility, a Texas Department of Criminal
Justice official said. Law enforcement officers in a helicopter spotted the two
men within five miles of the prison at about 10 a.m. The facility, operated by
the Corrections Corporation of America, is located in the 700 block of
Heintzelman Road in Parker County and houses about 2,100 male inmates. Mr. Hall
was serving a five-year sentence for a Jan. 2006 burglary in Jefferson County.
Mr. Goff was sentenced to five years for a Sept. 2004 burglary in Denton County.
Both men now could face felony escape charges.
August 29, 2006 Mineral Wells Index
A Mineral Wells prison escapee was a just few miles from home when arrested
Sunday morning on U.S. Highway 51 north of Granbury. Two Hood County officers
spotted Harvey Veal, 43, of Granbury, about 8 a.m. as they went to relieve state
law enforcement officers maintaining surveillance on the home of a relative. The
Hood County officers saw a gravel truck stop to pick up a hitchhiker matching
Veal’s description and called for assistance. He was wearing blue jean cut-offs
and a black T-shirt. He was reportedly taken into custody without incident. Veal
was serving a four-year prison term on firearms possession charges, according to
Michelle Lyons of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. He reportedly had
one year to serve on his sentence. He escaped from Corrections Corporation of
America Pre-Parole Transfer Facility in Mineral Wells late Thursday night by
wedging a book between the top of a chain link fence and strands of razor wire
and slipping through the gap.
August 28, 2006 Statesman
Investigators from the Texas prison system apprehended Saturday an inmate who
escaped from a privately run pre-parole center in Mineral Wells. Harvey Veal,
43, was spotted by investigators around 8 a.m. hitchhiking along Highway 51 near
Granbury. He was taken into custody without incident, said Michelle Lyons,
spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Veal disappeared some
time between 7 and 9:15 p.m. Thursday while he was supposed to be attending a
class. A preliminary search failed to find Veal overnight, but it did find a
clipboard stuck in a fence, Lyons said.
25, 2006 Star Ledger
Search teams scanned the Mineral Wells area Friday after an inmate escaped
from a privately run pre-parole transfer center near Lake Mineral Wells State
Park. Harvey Veal, 43, disappeared some time between 7 and 9:15 p.m. Thursday
while he was supposed to be attending a class, said Michelle Lyons, spokeswoman
for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. A preliminary search failed to
find Veal overnight, but it did find a clipboard stuck in a fence, Lyons said.
Veal was serving a four-year sentence for a Tarrant County felony firearms
possession conviction, she said. She described the fugitive as 5 feet 7 inches
tall, weighing 150 pounds. He has a cut scar on the outside of his right
forearm, and a tattoo of a Texas flag and an M&M candy character on the outside
of his upper left arm, Lyons said. He was last seen wearing prison-issue white
pants and white shirt, both resembling hospital scrubs, she said. The prison is
operated for the TDCJ by Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation of
America. Mineral Wells is about 45 miles west of Fort Worth.
August 29, 2005 Dallas Morning News
Two inmates remained hospitalized Sunday after a fight among hundreds of inmates
at the Mineral Wells Pre-Parole Transfer Facility. Guards used tear gas Saturday
night to stop the fight that involved about 200 inmates at the facility,
authorities said.
August 29, 2005 Star-Telegram
About 200 inmates - some armed with broom handles, sticks and boards -- rioted
at a privately run prison in Mineral Wells late Saturday and early Sunday,
leaving 17 people injured, law enforcement officials said. Officials used tear
gas to quell the uprising at about 4 a.m. Sunday at the prison, which is run by
Corrections Corporation of America, Parker County Sheriff Larry Fowler said. "It
appears to have been race- or gang-related," Fowler said. "They generally
trashed the place." The incident at the 2,100-bed pre-parole transfer unit began
about 8 p.m. Saturday when several fights broke out among inmates, according to
a news release from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Those involved
were calmed, interviewed and placed in their living areas, the release said.
Then, about 9:30 p.m., several inmates in one building at the unit began
fighting, and they and some from another building spilled out onto a recreation
yard. More people continued to join the fights, and the fighting spread to a
second recreation yard.
August 28, 2005 AP
At least a dozen people were injured when inmates rioted at a privately-run
prison near Mineral Wells, law enforcement officials said. Workers at the
2,000-bed facility run by Corrections Corporation of America used tear gas to
quell the uprising early Sunday morning, said Parker County Sheriff Larry
Fowler.
Fowler said his department was called Saturday night about the riot. A Parker
County special operations team and four sheriff's units stood by outside as
prison personnel dealt with the situation. The
sheriff's department had been told some inmates had armed themselves with
boards, sticks, broom handles and broken off plumbing fixtures. Texas Department
of Criminal Justice spokesman Mike Diesca told Dallas-Fort Worth television
station WFAA that at least 12 people received non-life threatening injuries.
August 28, 2005 WFAA-TV
Law enforcement agencies were summoned to a disturbance at a privately-operated
prison unit in Mineral Wells on Saturday night. Officials said about two dozen
offenders got into a fight about 8 p.m. in the recreation yard of the
Corrections Corporation of America pre-parole transfer facility on Highway 180
in the Wolters Industrial Park. There were at least 500 inmates in the yard at
the time, said Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Mike Diesca. He
said at least 12 people received non life threatening injuries. Some of the
wounded were taken by helicopter ambulance to area hospitals; others were
transported by ground. Diesca said the situation was under control by 2 a.m.
Sunday after tear gas was used to restore order. An investigation was under way
into the cause. Sheriff and police units from Parker County, Palo Pinto County,
Mineral Wells and the Texas Department of Public Safety were called in to help
quell the disturbance.
May 31, 2002
Robert L. Moore didn't like the TV show his fellow inmates had voted to watch at
a Mineral Wells private prison Sunday afternoon, so he started an argument,
Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials said Thursday. Neither
Moore nor the other inmates reported the fight. Moore went to the
infirmary Monday, saying he had fallen. Prison officials said he had
bruises under both eyes and a cut on his lip. He was given pain medication
and sent back to his cell. On Tuesday, Moore became incoherent as he
complained of a head injury. He was taken to Palo Pinto General Hospital
and later transferred to Harris Methodist Fort Worth. On Wednesday, Moore
was pronounced dead at 4:20 p.m. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner's
Office preliminarily ruled the death a homicide. The Mineral Wells
Pre-Parole Transfer Facility is operated by Corrections Corp. of America and
houses 2,100 inmates. Most are classified as nonviolent, Todd said.
(Fort Worth Star Telegram)
June 2000
Twenty-three inmates and six staff members contract E. coli after eating a
gritty turkey-based chili. Kitchen hygiene has been a problem at the
for-profit private prison. (The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, June 28, 2000)
Minute Maid Park
Houston, Texas
Aramark
August 24, 2009 My Fox Houston
The family of a state worker hit and killed a year ago by an Aramark manager has
filed a lawsuit against Aramark and three of the bartenders who served the
employee. David Hall, 40, was hit last year while working in downtown Houston
last August. Prosecutors say Aramark Manager Ray Wilson was driving drunk after
leaving a game at Minute Maid Park. It was there where investigators say Wilson
was given free drinks, which led to the crash which claimed Hall's life. A
lawsuit was filed by Hall's family on Monday in civil court. Wilson was found
guilty in the death of hall just last week. He was sentenced to 15 years in
prison. In a statement issued to the media, President, ARAMARK Sports,
Entertainment & Conventions Marc Bruno said: "Our sincere sympathies go out to
Mr. Hall's family and friends. We have not yet seen the lawsuit and are
therefore not in a position to comment on it."
August 18, 2009 Houston Chronicle
Jurors sentenced a Pasadena man who worked at Minute Maid Park to 15 years in
prison Tuesday for killing a state worker while driving drunk minutes after
leaving a baseball game last year. Ray John Wilson, 72, a supervisor for
corporate caterer Aramark who worked at the downtown ballpark, was leaving an
Aug. 30, 2008, game when he veered around a Texas Department of Transportation
truck hitting David Hall Jr., 42, a road worker, who was assisting a cleanup
crew. Wilson's attorney's argued that he should get probation despite a DWI
conviction 15 years ago and a public intoxication in 2003 when police found him
passed out in his car. “He's already pushing the edge of the actuarial tables,
so 10 years probation would be probation for life,” defense attorney Dorian
Cotlar told jurors in closing arguments. Because the jury decided the car was
used as a deadly weapon, Wilson will not be eligible for parole until he serves
at least half of his sentence. They deliberated punishment in state District
Judge Susan Brown's court for about 45 minutes and also fined him $10,000. After
he struck Hall, Wilson continued for about a quarter of a mile before he was
stopped by a police officer in an unmarked car, prosecutors said. Investigators
said Wilson failed a field sobriety test, and his blood alcohol content exceeded
the legal limit. Assistant Harris County District Attorney Ryan Patrick reminded
jurors that Wilson, who was at the game on a date, was drinking for free while
being served by employees he supervised. An investigation by the Texas Alcoholic
Beverage Commission found substantial evidence that Aramark, which holds the
ballpark's concessions contract including selling alcohol, conducted business in
a way that led to the fatality, said TABC Capt. Rick Cruz. Cruz said Aramark's
beer and wine license is in jeopardy of being pulled, but the corporation's
liquor license, which also allows them to sell beer and wine, would not be
affected — meaning Minute Maid Park would not go dry and patrons would not
notice a difference. Calls to Aramark were not immediately returned.
August 11, 2009 Examiner
Jurors have begun hearing evidence in the trial of a man, accused of killing
a TXDOT worker and putting the Minute Maid Park liquor license in jeopardy. Ray
Wilson, 72 of Pasadena, is charged with felony Intoxication Manslaughter and
felony Hit and Run for the August 30, 2008 death of 42-year-old TXDOT worker
David Hall. Hall was working near University of Houston at the Travis onramp to
I-45 North when Wilson is accused of smashing through the roadblocks and running
him down. Police caught Wilson a short distance from the scene. Wilson sat in
the courtroom today as jurors started hearing the first witnesses testify
against him. A gag order is in effect, so lawyers involved in the case said they
were not able to comment. Sources involved in the investigation said a mandatory
blood draw after the crash showed Wilson had a Blood Alcohol Content of .14,
which is nearly double the legal limit. He refused all sobriety tests in the
field, according to police. Investigators told KPRC Local 2 Investigates that
Wilson was the guest of honor at a party during the ballgame at Minute Maid
Park, where fellow employees with Aramark told investigators they gave him six
to eight free drinks. Aramark is the primary vendor that holds a liquor license
for serving at the Astros ballpark. The Astros have declined to comment as the
Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission moves forward with an administrative case
against Aramark's liquor license at the ballpark.
June 11, 2009 Fox 26 News
FOX 26 News has learned the Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission may be going
after at least one of the liquor licenses at Minute Maid Park. This comes almost
a year after an Aramark manager was involved in a drunken driving crash that
claimed the life of a Houston man. Aramark is the food and beverage vendor for
Minute Maid Park. In that August 2008 crash, David Hall Jr. was allegedly hit
and killed by 70-year-old Ray John Wilson, who had just left the Astros game.
Sources close to the investigation tell FOX 26 News the beverage commission may
attempt to file a civil case to have at least one of the alcohol licenses pulled
at the ballpark. Sgt. Mike Burnett with the beverage commission would not
comment on camera. However, he did say there is an administrative case against
the vendor Aramark, the license holder at the ballpark. Wilson has been behind
bars at the Harris County Jail since the crash last year. He's set to go on
trial next month for manslaughter. Hall Jr.'s father says he would like to see
the liquor license at the stadium pulled. He says not only the driver but those
who sell the drinks are ultimately responsible. FOX 26 News called management at
the Astros for comment, and they referred us to Aramark. Officials with Aramark
issued the following response: "We take the responsible service of alcoholic
beverages very seriously and have industry-leading standards in place at each
venue where we provide food and beverage services. We do not comment on pending
matters."
Montgomery County
Psychiatric Hospital
Houston, Texas
GEO Care
July 10, 2009 Dallas Morning News
A private prison company's history of filthy conditions, sexual abuse,
suicides and riots in some of its Texas lockups isn't stopping the state from
paying it $7.5 million to run a new psychiatric hospital near Houston. Lawmakers
inserted an earmark into the state budget to fund the future Montgomery County
facility starting in 2011. But they said they didn't know until this week that
the county had selected the GEO Group to operate it, although GEO lobbyists were
pushing for it as early as February. The new facility came as a post-session
shock to mental health advocates, who acknowledge the need for it. But they say
they weren't informed about it and never would have signed off if they knew
Florida-based GEO was operating it. "Why would we want to use an entity that
hasn't had a stellar reputation?" asked Monica Thyssen, children's mental health
policy specialist with Advocacy Inc. "If the process had been more transparent,
there probably would have been other state officials who would've said, 'I don't
know if GEO is the best use of state dollars.' " GEO officials, who run more
than 50 facilities in the United States, including five mental health facilities
in Florida, declined to comment, saying in an e-mail that they don't discuss
"specific business development efforts and/or contracts." But state lawmakers
say the psychiatric facility, which by 2011 is expected to house more than 100
criminal offenders awaiting trials or competency findings, will solve a major
backlog. The Montgomery County jail has hundreds of inmates awaiting mental
health treatment. The nearest state forensic mental hospital is more than 100
miles away, and when a bed opens up, it takes at least two deputies to take an
offender there. "It's a problem we sorely need to address, instead of leaving
people who need mental health care in prison," said Sen. Bob Deuell,
R-Greenville, one of the Senate's budget writers. But the budgeting process and
the choice of contractor have raised some eyebrows. Department of State Health
Services officials, who oversee psychiatric care in Texas, say the Montgomery
County facility was not something they requested funding for in the budget. It
was added to the budget in conference committee. Mental health advocates, who
track psychiatric hospital legislation closely, say they never heard any public
discussion about it. And neither Deuell nor Sen. Tommy Williams, who represents
Montgomery County, knew until a reporter's phone call that county officials had
selected GEO subsidiary GEO Care to run the facility – though legislative
documents indicate the company was pushing for it as early as February. "I know
[GEO] has had problems," said Williams, R-The Woodlands. "Certainly I would
expect them to run it in accordance with our state guidelines. I'll insist on
that." GEO's track record in Texas has been rocky. In the midst of the Texas
Youth Commission's 2007 sexual abuse scandal, agency officials shuttered the
company's Coke County Juvenile Justice Center, saying they had found atrocious
conditions – including feces on the walls – at the facility. They also fired a
GEO prison worker after learning he was a convicted sex offender. Earlier that
year, an inmate in isolation at GEO's Dickens County facility slashed his
throat, leaving letters complaining of blood-coated blankets and pillows, and
floors and walls covered in mold. And in 2006, a woman committed suicide at a
GEO jail in Val Verde County, after complaining that she had been raped by
another inmate and sexually harassed by a guard. As recently as this winter,
inmates at GEO's Reeves County Detention Center rioted, starting fires and
taking hostages, to demand better health care. And in April, a Texas appeals
court upheld a $42.5 million verdict against the company for the 2001 death of
an inmate who was four days from finishing his sentence at a Willacy County
facility. The man was beaten to death by other inmates using padlocks stuffed in
socks. Montgomery County officials, who selected GEO to operate the psychiatric
facility late last month, say that the company has a good track record with its
other mental health hospitals and that they're not "overly concerned" with the
problems that have been documented in a few of Texas' 17 GEO lockups. A
presentation that GEO prepared for Texas lawmakers in February boasts of
improved clinical programming, shortened waiting lists, and the elimination of
the use of restraints and seclusion in its Florida psychiatric facilities.
Company executives say they won the support of wary mental health advocates in
that state. The GEO prison incidents "obviously shouldn't have happened,"
Montgomery County Commissioner Ed Chance said. "But when you're dealing with
inmates, you're going to have problems. You're going to have some headlines."
After the 2007 TYC scandal, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle raised serious
concerns with GEO. Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa, D-McAllen, said "a simple Internet
search" should have made GEO a bad contractor choice for the state. And Rep.
Jerry Madden, R-Plano, told lobbyists for the firm it was best if they didn't
contribute to his campaign at that time. But GEO has continued its full-court
press in Texas. Within months, these lawmakers and 13 others had accepted
campaign contributions from the company. "Some of their facilities are pretty
darn good, and some are not as good as the others," Madden said. "But that's the
exact same problem we have with the state-run facilities."
Nacogdoches, Texas
MTC
May 1, 2009 Daily Sentinel
The proposed private federal prison — the subject of months of debate in
Nacogdoches — will not be built here, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, said. The
federal government rejected a proposal by the private prison operator Management
and Training Corporation to build the facility because it was not competitive
enough, according to an April 28 letter from Amanda J. Pennel, a contracting
officer with the bureau of prisons. "After evaluating this proposal in
accordance with the terms of the solicitation, it was determined that this
proposal was not among the most highly rated proposals," the letter said. "A
proposal revision will not be considered," the letter continued. Proposals were
evaluated on criteria outlined in the federal acquisition regulation document,
including as price and past performance. The letter did not include any specific
information about why MTC's proposal was rejected, but MTC officials will be
able to request a "preaward debriefing" with further information. In a
statement, MTC Vice President Odie Washington said, "Although this project will
not move forward in the community, MTC looks forward to perhaps one day working
with community officials in the future." Officials with the city, county and the
Nacogdoches Economic Development Corporation endorsed MTC's plan last summer
because of the economic benefits they believed it would bring to the area. But
the proposed prison also drew local critics who said the prison would erode the
quality of life in Nacogdoches and said local government failed to consider the
possible negative consequences of the facility. If approved, the prison would
have been minimum security facility, primarily for holding illegal immigrants.
NEDCO president Bill King said the jobs and salaries the prison would have
created would have been helpful to Nacogdoches. "If you're going to have a
correctional facility, kind of the gold standard would be a federal minimum
security. They don't get much better than that," King said. "But it is what it
is. We gave it our best show and we're looking forward to the next challenge."
Several elected officials reached by telephone Friday shared their thoughts on
the news. "We were hoping that it would bring 300 jobs to Nacogdoches county, so
we're all a little disappointed. We needed those jobs, especially with the state
of the economy right now," County Judge Joe English said. Asked if he would
support another prison effort in the future, English said, "I think we're out of
the prison business in Nacogdoches County." Representatives from the city
weighed in on the issue as well. "The subject of the prison has definitely
caused a lot of turmoil in the community, and as much as I personally regret
that it's not coming, I'm glad that we finally have a closure to the project,"
Southwest Ward Commissioner Billy Huddleston Jr. said. Northeast Ward
Commissioner Randy Johnson said he was "very disappointed" that the prison would
not come because it would have helped the economy by creating jobs. Northwest
Ward Commissioner Don Partin shared a tempered reaction. "It was nothing to get
excited about because it was never a done deal," Partin said. "I'm just happy
that the system took care of itself. I'm happy everything happened not because
of anger or fear or greediness, but happened through the natural process." For
opponents of the prison, the news came as a victory. "This is the best news that
I've heard in a year or more," Paul Risk, chairman of the Citizens Opposed to
the Prison Site group that staged demonstrations and informational campaigns
against the project. "This prison would have been a blight on the image of
Nacogdoches. This is Christmas in May."
January 19, 2009 Daily Sentinel
Around 40 people attended a Citizens Opposed to the Prison Site (COPS) meeting
Monday, and the group's founder, Dr. Paul Risk, said the organization is moving
forward with a petition that could change the city charter. Risk introduced a
petition that would put an amendment on the ballot in May that would require the
city of Nacogdoches to provide for initiatives or referenda in its charter. Five
percent of registered Nacogdoches voters, or about 850 people, would need to
sign the petition requesting the amendment, Risk said. If approved, the citizens
of Nacogdoches could vote down or uphold decisions made by the city
commissioners. The COPS group formed last summer to protest a proposed federal
private prison that would be built inside Loop 224 on Northwest Stallings Drive.
The city commissioners, county commissioners and Nacogdoches Economic
Development Corporation unanimously backed the proposal, which would be built
and operated by Management and Training Corporation. If Nacogdoches is chosen
for the prison, MTC officials expect the facility to create 300 jobs and bring
in nearly $1 million per month in salaries. Starting wages for correctional
officers are likely to be around $30,000 to $32,000 per year, according to MTC
representatives. County Judge Joe English said it is still too soon to say if a
prison will end up in Nacogdoches, and he said city and county officials "don't
even know if we're in the top 100" prospective sites. Risk said the group has
made efforts to see if the county or city concealed information about the prison
before it was put to a vote in the respective commission meetings. The COPS
group recently made an open records request from the city and county for all
correspondence, including e-mails and phone logs, between the local officials
and MTC. The city provided about 2700 documents to the group, Risk said. Risk
contacted the attorney general's office after the county denied their request,
though English said the attorney general's office cleared the county of any
wrongdoing. The county complied with the law, but the COPS group did not follow
the correct procedures in their open records request, according to English.
"Their original request was addressed to (County Clerk) Carol Wilson. When they
send an open records request to Carol Wilson, they're going to get all the
records she has," English said. "They requested her letters, not the judge's or
the commissioners'. If they want information from my department, their (open
records request) needs to be addressed to me." The group later corrected their
request and English said the county supplied them with all available documents,
though he said the group would receive little, if any, new information. The COPS
group presented the commissioners with a number of articles and letters during a
public forum in October, and those same documents accounted for the majority of
the information the county delivered in response to the open records request,
English said. "They have to pay 10 cents per copy, and basically they just
bought back everything they gave us," English said. "I don't think they got what
they thought there were going to get." Risk also said NEDCO declined to provide
requested documents, though a lawyer from NEDCO said the organization is a
privately run entity that does not have to abide by the Freedom of Information
Act. The COPS group has also been circulating an informal petition with
signatures from people opposed to the prison. Risk said the group now has around
2,800 signatures, or about 4.5 percent of the county.
Newton County Correctional
Center
Newton, Texas
GEO Group (formerly Correctional Services Corporation)
July 15, 2010 News Express
The GEO Group, a Florida firm that contracts with local governments to run
jails, has agreed to pay $2.9 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging
indiscriminate strip searches of inmates at six facilities, including three in
Texas. The Frio County Detention Center in Pearsall, the Dickens County
Detention Center in Dickens and the Newton County Correctional Center in Newton
and jails in New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Illinois were named in the suit, which
was litigated in federal court in Pennsylvania. The suit alleged GEO employed a
uniform practice or policy of strip-searching all pre-trial detainees who
entered certain GEO-operated jails, regardless of the crime or violation for
which they were detained, and without making the legally required determination
of whether reasonable suspicion existed to justify a strip search. Inmates
incarcerated at the six jails between Jan. 30, 2006 and Jan. 30, 2008 qualify
for a share in the settlement, but they must call 1-877-234-4512, or visit
http://www.multistatestripsearchsettlement.com/index.html.
November 6, 2008 AP
The Idaho Department of Correction has terminated its contract with private
prison company The GEO Group and will move the roughly 305 Idaho inmates
currently housed at a GEO-run facility in Texas to a private prison in Oklahoma.
Correction Director Brent Reinke notified GEO officials Thursday in a letter.
Reinke said the company's chronic understaffing at the Bill Clayton Detention
Center in Littlefield, Texas, put Idaho offenders' safety at risk. An Idaho
Department of Correction audit found that guards routinely falsified reports to
show they were checking on offenders regularly — even though they were sometimes
away from their posts for hours at a time. "I hope you understand how seriously
we're taking not only the report but the safety of our inmates," Reinke told The
Associated Press on Thursday. "They have an ongoing staffing issue that doesn't
appear to be able to be solved." The contract will end Jan. 5. Reinke said the
department wanted to pull the inmates out immediately, but state attorneys found
there wasn't enough cause to allow the state to break free of the contract
without a 60-day warning period. In the meantime, Reinke said, Idaho correction
officials have been sent to the Texas prison to help with staffing for the next
two months. GEO will be responsible for transferring the inmates to the North
Fork Correctional Facility in Sayer, Okla., which is run by Corrections Corp. of
America. GEO will cover the cost of the move, Reinke said, but Idaho will have
to pay $58 per day per inmate in Oklahoma, compared to $51 per day at Bill
Clayton. Amber Martin, vice president for The GEO Group, of Florida, said she
couldn't comment on the audit or on Idaho's decision to end the contract. She
referred calls to the company spokesman, Pablo Paez, who could not immediately
be reached by the AP. As of Oct. 1, Idaho had nearly 7,300 total inmates. The
Bill Clayton audit describes the latest in a series of problems that Idaho has
had with shipping inmates out of state. Overcrowding at home forced the state to
move hundreds of inmates to a prison in Minnesota in 2005, but space constraints
soon uprooted them again, this time to a GEO-run facility in Newton, Texas.
There, guard abuse and prisoner unrest forced another move to two new GEO
facilities: 125 Idaho inmates went to the Dickens County Correctional Center in
Spur, Texas, while 304 went to Bill Clayton in Littlefield. Conditions at
Dickens were left largely unmonitored by Idaho, at least until inmate Scott
Noble Payne committed suicide after complaining of the filthy conditions there.
Idaho investigators looking into Payne's death detailed the poor conditions and
a lack of inmate treatment programs, and the inmates were moved again. That's
when the Idaho Department of Correction created the Virtual Prisons Program,
designed to improve oversight of Idaho inmates housed in contract beds both in
and out of state. The extent of the Bill Clayton facility understaffing was
discovered after Idaho launched an investigation into the apparent suicide of
inmate Randall McCullough in August. During that investigation, guards at the
prison said they were often pulled away from their regular posts to handle other
duties — including taking out the garbage, refueling vehicles or checking the
perimeter fence — and that it was common practice to fill out the logs as if the
required checks of inmates were being completed as scheduled, said Jim Loucks,
chief investigator for the Idaho Department of Correction. For instance, Loucks
said, correction officers were supposed to check on inmates in the
administrative segregation unit every 30 minutes. But sometimes they were away
from the unit for hours at a time, he said. The investigation into McCullough's
death is not yet complete, department officials said. The audit also found
several other problems at Bill Clayton. The auditor found that "the facility
entrance is a very relaxed checkpoint," prompting concerns that cell phones,
marijuana and other contraband could be smuggled past security. In addition, the
prison averages a 30 percent vacancy rate in security staff jobs, according to
the audit. Though it was still able to meet the
one-staffer-for-every-48-prisoners ratio set out by Texas law, employees were
regularly expected to work long hours of overtime and non-security staffers
sometimes were used to provide security supervision, according to the audit.
"Based on a review of payroll reports, there are significant concerns with
security staff working excessive amounts of overtime for long periods of time,"
the auditors wrote. "This can lead to compromised facility security practices
and increased safety issues." When the audit was done, there were 29 security
staff vacancies, according to the report. That meant each security staff person
who was eligible for overtime worked an average of 21 hours of overtime a week.
That extra expense was borne by GEO, not by Idaho taxpayers, said Idaho
Department of Correction spokesman Jeff Ray. The state's contract with GEO also
required that at least half of the eligible inmates be given jobs with at least
50 hours of work a month. According to the facility's inmate payroll report,
only 35 out of 371 offenders were without jobs. But closer inspection showed
that the prison often had several inmates assigned to the same job. In one
instance, nine inmates were assigned to clean showers in one unit of the prison
— which only had nine shower stalls. So although each was responsible for
cleaning just one shower stall, the nine inmates were all claiming 7- and 8-hour
work days, five days a week. GEO is responsible for covering the cost of those
wages, Ray said. "While the contract percentage requirement is met, the facility
cannot demonstrate the actual hours claimed by offenders are spent in a
meaningful, skill-learning job activity," the auditors wrote. Auditors also
found that too few inmates were enrolled in high school diploma equivalency and
work force readiness classes.
July 26, 2007 The Olympian
Department of Correction Director Brent Reinke next Thursday will visit a
private Texas prison where he intends to shift 56 inmates in September, after
problems including abuse by guards, deplorable conditions and a suicide emerged
at previous facilities in that state. Reinke, who concedes lax oversight by
Idaho contributed to problems, and three other Idaho officials will review the
Val Verde Correctional Facility and Jail in Del Rio, Texas, run by Florida-based
private prison firm The GEO Group. The prison area where Idaho inmates are due
to be housed at Val Verde is part of a new 659-bed addition, Reinke said. Still,
he wants to make sure the facility located near the Mexican border meets Idaho
standards so the recurring problems at the two previous GEO-run prisons aren't
repeated. "On contracts in general, we're going to be stepping that up," Reinke
told The Associated Press this week. "We want to take a firsthand look." About
450 Idaho inmates were first moved beyond state borders in 2005 to relieve
overcrowding at prisons here, where there are more than 7,000 inmates - but not
enough room to house them all. They were incarcerated at the Newton County
Correctional Center in Newton, Texas, until August 2006, when they were moved
following allegations of abuse by guards to the Dickens County Correctional
Center in Spur, Texas. But Reinke, who took over in January, acknowledges his
agency didn't do enough to scrutinize conditions at Dickens before Idaho inmates
were shipped there. And from August 2006 to March 2007, Idaho prison officials
only visited the Dickens County facility one time. The March 4 suicide by Scot
Noble Payne, a convicted sex offender, and a subsequent investigation
illuminated conditions that one Idaho prison official described as "beyond
repair." One concern: There have been problems at Val Verde, too. Inmate LeTisha
Tapia killed herself there in 2004 after alleging she was raped by another
inmate and sexually humiliated by a guard. And a black guard accused his captain
of keeping a hangman's noose in his office and a photo of himself in a Ku Klux
Klan hood in his desk. Val Verde County has been forced to hire a full-time
prison monitor to keep a watch on prison operations as part of a settlement with
Tapia's family. Some family members of Idaho inmates now at Dickens told the AP
they're pleased Reinke is scrutinizing Val Verde personally. Still, they said
they're frustrated their relatives are being moved again - especially since many
problems at Dickens have been remedied since Payne's suicide in March. "Things
are OK now," said the wife of a sex offender who asked not to be identified by
name. "They don't want to move." Reinke has pledged to improve oversight of
conditions at Texas prisons through what he's calling a "virtual prison" that
his agency adopted earlier this week. It's modeled after a similar system in
Washington state, he said.
June 6, 2007 AP
Under terms of his contraband sentence, a Texas prison guard who provided
illegal materials to Idaho inmates will only go to prison if he violates
conditions of his release. Those conditions include staying out of “honky tonks”
and “beer joints,” according to court documents. John Ratliffe, a former guard
at the Dickens County Correctional Center where hundreds of Idaho inmates are
housed, is also implicated in providing assistance to an inmate’s escape. But
Ratliffe has denied knowing Payne planned to escape. Footprints matched to
Payne, who later committed suicide, were found near Ratliffe’s home. Dickens
County prosecutors couldn’t be reached for comment on whether Ratliffe faces
additional charges related to the escape. Attempts to reach Ratliffe were
unsuccessful. His telephone number in Paducah isn’t listed. The 43-year-old
Payne was among inmates shipped to Dickens and another nearby facility in
Littlefield, Texas, in August 2006 due to problems they experienced at another
Texas facility, the Newton County Correctional Center. Those included incidents
in which the inmates were punched and doused with pepper spray by guards. Both
prisons are operated by The GEO Group of Florida. GEO officials said they took
quick action upon learning in December about Ratliffe’s contraband operation. It
included setting up a post office box where at least some prisoners’ families
sent items or money to be transferred to inmates, according to documents. “When
we have incidents of this kind, we conduct a full investigation, and if
disciplinary action is required, we take that action properly, and that’s what
we did in this case,” said Pablo Paez, a GEO spokesman. Ratliffe was placed on
unpaid leave, then fired, Paez said. Records show a chaotic scene in Paducah
before Payne was finally cornered by search dogs in a nearby riverbed. Ratliffe
allegedly threatened to commit suicide shortly after searchers found Payne’s
footprints near his backyard fence, prompting Texas Rangers to transfer Ratliffe
to the local courthouse “where a mental health warrant was signed by the judge,”
according to the GEO report. Idaho officials said they learned of Ratliffe’s
activities after Payne’s capture. “We found out about it on Dec. 11 in a
conversation between Warden Ron Alford and our contract compliance person Sharon
Lamm,” said Jeff Ray, a spokesman for Idaho prisons. Alford was transferred in
March to another GEO prison, after complaints from Idaho about conditions at
Dickens.
August 3, 2006 The Enterprise
Two dangerous Newton County Correction Center inmates escaped earlier this
year because a watchtower guard was too intimidated to shoot, according to a
tape recording obtained by The Enterprise. The guard in the tape admitted he
didn't fire his weapon June 12 despite seeing prisoners Rudolfo Garcia-Lopez and
Orlando Gonzalez-Leon scale the outer fence covered in barbed razor wire. The
recording was of the guard, who was then terminated, and Sheriff Joe Walker,
Chief Deputy Ricky Hall and an unnamed Texas Ranger. On watch in the northwest
tower near Texas 87, the guard had his firearm raised but didn't pull the
trigger. Walker, who conducted the taped interview, asked the guard why he
didn't shoot despite being less than 80 yards from the prisoners. "My timing was
slow, and I felt highly-ass intimidated," the guard said in the conversation
taped on a handheld digital recorder. Walker wouldn't identify the guard because
he didn't "want his name pulled through the mud." However, Walker did say the
guard could have stopped the prison break before it turned into a three-night
search. Garcia-Lopez and Gonzalez-Leon, both from Idaho, escaped at 6:30 p.m.
While law enforcement captured Gonzalez-Leon 90 minutes later, Garcia-Lopez was
on the loose for 56 hours and crossed the county line before Jasper police
detained him while he pedaled a stolen bicycle through the city. "There's 16,000
people in this county that elected him sheriff to protect them," Hall said to
the guard on the tape. "... From the way I look at it, you turned them loose on
my family." Prison guards and jailers can respond with deadly force to prevent
an inmate's attempted escape, Walker said. According to a Texas Commission on
Jail Standards official, the county sheriff and the jail administrators set a
jail's policy and procedure. Newton County owns the facility, but the Geo Group,
a private Florida-based company, manages it. In the tape, Walker said he held
the former guard responsible for the prison break. He could have shot one time
as a warning, at least, Walker said, and that would have been enough to knock
Garcia-Lopez and Gonzalez-Leon off the fence. "That probably would have changed
their mind about what they were doing," Walker said in the taped conversation.
"... My job is to put them in jail. This Texas Ranger, his job is to put them in
jail. It's them jailers out there at that penitentiary who keep their butts
inside those fences. I'm telling you, I hold you responsible because you should
have shot them." According to sheriff's department calculations, the prison
break and resulting manhunt cost at least $3,000 in deputy overtime hours, fuel,
food and water. Texas Department of Public Safety and state Parks and Wildlife
Department personnel also put in overtime hours. During a recent interview in
his office, Walker said another guard in the southwest prison tower saw the
escaped prisoners but couldn't get a shot at them without endangering another
guard who was circling the perimeter in a van. "She was right" for not shooting,
the sheriff said of the other guard. Walker said he had a meeting with prison
supervisors, instructing them to find "weak links" who are unwilling to perform
the job's entire duties, including shooting a gun to prevent a prison break. "I
hold their commissions, and I will dang sure sign off on them to F-5 them. F-5
means to terminate their commission," Walker said. "I'll do it." The prison
break was part of a string of episodes involving inmates since the Idaho
Department of Correction transferred 419 prisoners here in March to alleviate
prison overcrowding in their state. On April 7, an excessive use-of-force
incident ended with a supervisor's firing, an officer's demotion and another
officer's weeklong suspension without pay. Prisoners later engineered a sit-down
strike, insisting on butter for rolls and better television options. And on June
4, a deputy warden resigned after an excessive use-of-force incident May 30 in
which he punched an Idaho inmate, The Associated Press reported Wednesday. Idaho
prisoners are being transferred out to another Texas-located, Geo Group-managed
facility. In their place, Newton County and the Geo Group have agreed to house
400 Texas Department of Criminal Justice inmates.
August 2, 2006 Idaho Statesman
A deputy warden at a private prison in Texas resigned June 4 after punching
an Idaho inmate in the jaw May 30. A state report on the incident at the prison,
owned by The Geo Group Inc., corroborated claims made by an inmate and reported
June 21 by the Idaho Statesman that he had been punched in the jaw and then
pepper-sprayed after refusing an order from the deputy warden. "The Geo Group
was very responsive after the incident," said Idaho Department of Correction
spokeswoman Melinda Keckler. "We thought and they agreed that it was not an
appropriate use of force and not how inmates should be treated." As first
reported Tuesday on IdahoStatesman.com, the department released the report to
the Statesman after a public records request. The report said the incident at
the Newton County Correctional Center resulted from a lack of staff training and
knowledge of company and department policy. "Basic security practices were not
followed, and policy was violated in a number of areas," the report said. "The
need for the reactive use of force is questionable, but it can be established
that there was no need for the use of the pepper spray." The report said the
deputy warden should not have directly involved himself in the disturbance but
should have supervised his officers in defusing the situation. The deputy
warden's and inmate's names were redacted from the report provided, but in a
letter to the Idaho Statesman, inmate Randall Swink, 21, of Twin Falls, said he
was punched and pepper-sprayed. He did not say when.
July 14, 2006 The Enterprise
The Idaho Department of Correction didn't approve of certain staff behavior at
the Newton County Correctional Center, but in no way did it lead to 419 inmates'
planned transfer, an official said Thursday. With allegations of prisoner
mistreatment swirling, coupled with inmate protests and a two-man prison break
since the state placed the inmates in Newton, the Idaho Department of Correction
agreed to transport 419 of their inmates out of the Southeast Texas prison and
into another GEO Group-managed facility, said Pam Sonnen, Idaho Department of
Correction administrator of operations. The GEO Group, a private prison
management company overseeing operations in Newton, approached Idaho officials
about the transfer after the Texas Department of Criminal Justice contacted
Newton County to ask about housing 400 more Texas inmates. The state agency's
prisons were at 97.4 percent occupancy as of July 11, according to a department
spokeswoman, and by the end of 2007, an estimated 1,700 additional beds will be
needed. When the transfer of the Idaho inmates initially was announced Tuesday,
Idaho Department of Correction Director Tom Beauclair told The Associated Press
he'd become dissatisfied with the prison's ability to hire qualified staff.
Sonnen said the correctional center has holdover personnel from the prison's
previous management group, and those employees don't always follow the GEO
Group's practices. In 2005, the GEO Group bought out Correctional Services
Corp., which previously managed the Newton prison. "What I got out of our
investigations was they needed to do more training with their staff to
understand policies and procedures," Sonnen said. Problems arose almost
immediately after Idaho agreed March 14 to send its inmates to Newton, Sonnen
said. On April 7, she said, an excessive-use-of-force incident led to a
supervisor's firing, another employee's demotion and suspension of an officer
for a week without pay. On May 30, an inmate was doused with pepper spray, and
two other Idaho inmates escaped in June. Idaho prisoners also engineered a
sit-down strike demanding butter for their rolls and better television choices,
privileges they'd grown accustomed to, Sonnen said.
July 12, 2006 Statesman
Idaho inmates housed at a private Texas prison that has been criticized for
prisoner abuse will be moved elsewhere because the prison canceled its contract
with Idaho. And more Idaho prisoners will be headed out of state soon. It's
unclear where the 419 Idaho prisoners currently housed at the Newton County
Correctional Center will be sent, but the private prison in Newton, Texas,
notified the Idaho Department of Correction that it needs to move the prisoners
to make room for Texas inmates, department spokeswoman Melinda O'Malley Keckler
said Tuesday. Keckler said the decision had nothing to do with recent reports
that Newton prison employees abused Idaho prisoners, but said her department
agreed to the move. "The department is pleased with this change," she said.
Newton Warden Priscella Miles would not comment for this article, and no one
answered Tuesday evening at the Florida headquarters for the prison's parent
company, the Geo Group. One correctional officer was fired, one demoted and one
disciplined this spring after six Idaho inmates were forcefully cuffed and maced
at Newton in April.
June 25, 2006 Spokesman Review
Continuing problems with a private Texas prison that's housing hundreds of
Idaho's overflow inmates have even the head of the Idaho ACLU calling for Idaho
to build more prisons. "Bottom line, we probably have to immediately start
thinking about building more prisons in Idaho – which is a terrible thing for an
ACLU activist to say," said Jack Van Valkenburgh, head of the American Civil
Liberties Union of Idaho. "I want my money going to schools, I don't want it
going for prisons. But you've got to provide minimally adequate care." Van
Valkenburgh noted that he favors sentencing reform and more drug treatment as
"the way to solve the prison problem," but said Idaho is risking more crime in
the future by sending its inmates to facilities like the Newton County
Correctional Center in Texas. "My sense is the mentality of … this facility …
doesn't have rehabilitation and reintegration into society as a goal. Idaho now
has more than 400 inmates at the Newton County center, a former county jail
that's now a private prison run by GEO Group, formerly Wackenhut Corp. In less
than three months, there have been two escapes; three prison employees
disciplined after an incident in which they roughed up and sprayed pepper spray
on six Idaho inmates; and a demonstration in which 85 Idaho inmates refused to
return to their cells for hours in protest over conditions at the facility. A
public records request to the Idaho Department of Corrections yielded a stack of
complaints about the Texas lockup from inmates and their families. "We are
locked in these windowless rooms for 20+ a day," one inmate wrote. "Many inmates
are spending 22 hours a day on their bunks." Others complained of inattentive or
abusive guards, cold food, lack of recreation and programs, and fivefold
increases in the cost to families for phone calls to inmates. "This jail is so
dirty and unsafe," one inmate wrote. Another wrote about the guards: "This (sic)
people hate Mexicans. They made that clear to me right away. They don't like
whites either."
June 21, 2006 Idaho Statesman
An Idaho inmate said he was punched in the jaw by the deputy warden of a
private prison in Texas before being pepper-sprayed. Idaho Department of
Correction officials said Tuesday a staff member is compiling a report about the
May 30 incident and would release more information at the end of the week. The
department reported the incident June 12 and sent a staff member to Texas after
hearing from The Geo Group Inc., owner of the Newton County Correctional Center,
that an Idaho inmate had been pepper-sprayed for refusing to leave his cell. In
a letter to the Idaho Statesman received Monday, Randall Swink, 21, of Twin
Falls, said he was punched and pepper-sprayed. He did not say when. The
department would not say whether Swink was the inmate involved in the May 30
incident. Swink is serving two sentences for lewd and lascivious conduct with a
minor under age 16. He said he was mouthing off to correctional officers about a
dirty cup when a deputy warden asked him to leave his cell, and he refused.
Swink said he was cuffed and made a sarcastic comment to the warden before the
warden punched him in the jaw. Swink said he was pepper-sprayed and returned to
his cell for struggling as officers tried to strip search him. The Geo Group did
not return a call about the incident.
June 14, 2006 Idaho Statesman
A private prison in Texas is safe, Idaho's Department of Correction said Tuesday
after a string of incidents involving Idaho prisoners. But the American Civil
Liberties Union said security and living conditions at the Newton County
Correctional Center are unacceptable. The ACLU wants the department to move
prisoners elsewhere. One of two escaped Idaho inmates was still at large Tuesday
night after a Monday night prison break. Meanwhile, 84 Idaho inmates remained in
lockdown Tuesday after a Saturday protest of facility conditions, department
spokeswoman Melinda Keckler said. The prison, operated by The Geo Group Inc.,
fired one security staff member and disciplined two others after an April
incident when six Idaho prisoners were forcefully cuffed and maced. The
department said staff inexperience and lack of training contributed to the
excessive use of force. The prison houses 419 Idaho offenders who began arriving
in March because of overcrowding in Idaho prisons. Idaho ACLU Executive Director
Jack Van Valkenburgh said he is concerned with the prison's lack of security and
met with Correction Department Director Tom Beauclair. Officers are poorly
trained and the prison is understaffed, Van Valkenburgh said, referring to
letters he has received from roughly two dozen inmates. The letters said
corrections officers regularly complain of working more than 12 hours at a time,
and inmates have reported up to nine hours passing without an officer in their
tiers. "I have heard that there are times when inmates are having to shout and
bang on the doors to get some attention," Van Valkenburgh said. "If these
problems continue, I would hope the director would insist that money be spent on
housing elsewhere." Other complaints received have ranged from beatings to
severe overcrowding, Van Valkenburgh said. Some prisoners have been housed in
24-man, 33-by-37-foot cell tanks, he said.
June 13, 2006
Idaho Press-Tribune
A man convicted of aggravated assault and attempted kidnapping out of Canyon
County escaped from a prison in Southeast Texas on Monday evening. Rudolfo
Garcia-Lopez, 38, was serving a sentence of five to 20 years on the two felony
charges. Prison officials said Garcia-Lopez and another inmate, 27-year-old
Orlando Gonzalez-Leon, were seen going over a recreation yard fence while a
disturbance took place in another area of the prison. The escape occurred about
6:30 p.m. Gonzalez-Leon was returned to custody about 90 minutes after a search
of the area near the Newton County Correctional Center in Newton, Texas. Law
enforcement officers in Newton County were using tracking dogs and helicopters
to assist in locating Garcia-Lopez. Gonzalez-Leon is serving a 25- to 50-year
sentence on a second-degree murder conviction out of Twin Falls County. The
Texas facility is managed by the GEO Group Inc. At this time, 419 Idaho inmates
are housed at the Newton County Correctional Center. Teresa Jones, an Idaho
Correction Department spokeswoman, said the prison break occurred after guards
were called to a separate wing of the prison, giving the Idaho inmates an
opportunity to climb the fence. She was uncertain what caused the distraction.
“There were 25 Idaho inmates outside in the recreation yard,” she said. The
pair’s escape is just the latest in a string of incidents involving Idaho
inmates at the prison run by Geo Group Inc., based in Boca Raton, Fla. Idaho
officials have traveled repeatedly to the former county jail in Newton to
scrutinize the operation. On April 7, six Idaho inmates complained of abuse, and
one supervisor was fired while another guard was demoted after an investigation.
On May 30, another inmate was doused with pepper spray. And last weekend, 85
Idaho inmates staged a strike, demanding butter for rolls, more TV channels and
cheaper prices at the prison commissary. Before Monday’s prison break, Pam
Sonnen, administrator of operations for the Department of Correction, had said
that Idaho officials were again flying to Texas to review training procedures
for guards. Geo is also sending a staff member to the facility, according to a
news release. “We just want to be 100 percent sure about the training provided
to staff in Texas,” Sonnen said. “Use of force should always be a last resort to
gain inmate compliance.” Idaho corrections officials who have been to the Texas
facility said it doesn’t have the amenities of prisons in Idaho. It meets Idaho
requirements, but “it’s a very different cultural atmosphere than Idaho,” said
Jones, adding that disgruntled inmates unhappy with the move to Texas are one
cause of the incidents.
June 9, 2006 Idaho Statesman
One correctional officer was fired, one demoted and one disciplined after
six Idaho inmates were forcefully cuffed and maced at a private Texas prison in
April, the Idaho Correction Department said Thursday. A report by the prison's
parent company to Idaho officials said six Idaho prisoners were acting up in
their cells, throwing trays, and yelling and banging against their cells when
correctional officers arrived to remove them, said Pam Sonnen, the department's
operations administrator. The officers had a hard time cuffing the inmates, and
the situation escalated, she said. "They were taken to the ground and
handcuffed, inmates were struggling, staff were struggling," Sonnen said. "It
seemed from the reports that nobody was in charge, that there was no one there
to say, 'Let's stop and take a breath.'" The Statesman first reported the
incident last Friday. Sonnen said the improper use of force was due to
inexperience and poor training, and said staffers have since received training.
The prison, the Newton County Correctional Center, is owned by The Geo Group
Inc., formerly Wackenhut Corrections Corp. No medical reports showed that
prisoners had been beaten or further abused, Sonnen said. But inmate Eddie
Daniel said prisoners had been beaten. In a letter his sister, Fruitland
resident Josie Daniel, received April 14, he said he and six other prisoners had
been put in an isolation area without explanation for five days from April 3 to
April 7. On the fifth day they were handcuffed, beaten and maced by 15 people,
he wrote. "So these people came in ... and take turns beating us up," Daniel
wrote. "And when I say beating us I mean beating us, kicking us in the face ...
They went cell to cell during this." According to the letter, the beatings
stopped when the warden intervened. Sonnen said Daniel had not been directly
involved in the incident that got the correctional officer fired, though his
sister's complaints drew the state's attention to the situation. An initial
report sent by The Geo Group mentioned nothing about the use of force, nor did
it say employees had been disciplined, Sonnen said. "We received a report that
talked about our inmates having a disturbance," Sonnen said. "There was nothing
in there to make us think anything was wrong."
June 8, 2006 Spokesman-Review
A private prison in Texas has fired a supervisor, demoted an officer from
lieutenant to sergeant, suspended a prison guard and started new staff training
after an April incident in which six Idaho inmates there were roughed up and
sprayed with pepper spray. The state Department of Correction released that
information this week only after The Spokesman-Review filed a request under the
Idaho Public Records Law seeking documents about the incident. But state
correction officials said they weren't trying to hide anything. "Nobody's trying
to sweep anything under the carpet," said Jim Tibbs, chairman of the Idaho Board
of Correction. Pam Sonnen, administrator of operations for Idaho's prison
system, said, "We have no desire to hide any of this information." The incident
points out one of the key disadvantages of housing state prison inmates out of
state – a loss of control over the inmates by the state, corrections officials
said. But with Idaho's prisons overflowing and new prisoners arriving every day,
officials expect to send another 1,400 Idaho inmates out of state in the next
four years. The six Idaho inmates in Texas – among 420 Idaho prisoners now at
the Newton County Correctional Center – were angry over conditions at the
facility, Sonnen said. On April 7, they began raising a ruckus, throwing their
food trays out through slots in their cells, swearing at guards and "being
disruptive." Staffers first sprayed the inmates with pepper spray and gave
orders that were ignored, Sonnen said. "I think it kind of got out of hand a
little bit," she said. "I don't think the staff there were ready for a group
disruption." The guards then decided correctly to move the disruptive inmates
elsewhere to prevent the problem from spreading, Sonnen said. "You remove them
as quickly as possible from that unit … or the whole place goes up pretty
quick." But the guards bungled their "use of force" in trying to subdue and move
inmates, she said. "They were taking them to the ground, there was struggling
going on … I don't believe that staff was properly trained," Sonnen said. The
April 7 incident raised no eyebrows in the standard incident reports that
arrived in Idaho from the GEO Group Inc., formerly Wackenhut Corp., which
operates the Texas prison. But Sonnen said once she heard complaints from
inmates' relatives, who received letters about the incident, she began looking
into it. The GEO group sent Idaho Correction Director Tom Beauclair a report
Friday detailing the results of its own investigation of the incident. "This
review revealed use of force policy violations that stemmed from the supervisor
on duty's failure to adequately supervise/direct the use of force," said the
report, which was signed by Don Houston, senior vice president for GEO's central
region.
June 2, 2006 Idaho Statesman
Correctional officers at a private Texas prison have been disciplined for
abusing Idaho prisoners this spring, the state Correction Department said
Thursday. At least half a dozen department employees, including department
Director Tom Beauclair, flew to Texas after the department received complaints
from inmates and family members, department spokeswoman Melinda Keckler said in
response to an inquiry from the Idaho Statesman about allegations of abuse. The
state team inspected the Newton County Correctional Center in Newton, operated
by Geo Group Inc. The company disciplined security staff members in response to
the team's findings, Keckler said. "We have received concerns from several
parties, all in relation to one or two specific incidents in the Texas
facility," Keckler said. "(Department) employees interviewed offenders and staff
and observed the physical operations of the facility, and as a result of that,
some corrective action was taken on some employees in Texas." Keckler said she
could not describe the nature of the abuse or specify how prison employees were
disciplined. The media contact for the Geo Group was on vacation and could not
be reached, and the prison's warden would not comment. Keckler said the
department is satisfied that the Newton prison is complying with its agreement
with Idaho. The state has turned to out-of-state prisons to handle inmate
overflow from Idaho's jam-packed prisons. In mid-March, 150 prisoners were moved
to the Texas prison. Since then, 270 more Idaho prisoners have been transferred
from the Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton, Minn. after that private
prison needed to make space for more Minnesota prisoners. All out-of-state Idaho
prisoners are now housed at the 872-bed Newton prison, as are prisoners from
Arizona and Texas and federal immigrations and customs detainees. Josie Daniel,
a 32-year-old homemaker from Fruitland, said her brother, Eddie Daniel, an Idaho
inmate transferred to Texas in April, was interviewed by Correction Department
employees in response to abuses he and six other prisoners suffered in early
April. In a letter Josie Daniel received from her brother April 14, he said he
and six other prisoners had been put in an isolation area without explanation
for five days from April 3 to April 7. On the fifth day they were handcuffed,
beaten and maced by 15 people, the letter claimed. "So these people came in ...
and take turns beating us up," Daniel wrote. "And when I say beating us I mean
beating us, kicking us in the face ... They went cell to cell during this."
According to the letter, the beatings of the prisoners stopped when the warden
intervened. Eddie Daniel also said food, showers and recreation time were
withheld, and beatings continued after the first incident. "Even though we're in
Texas, Idaho is still responsible for us," he wrote. "You need to call IDOC and
let them know what's going on. Now every day they come to our cells threatening
to beat us again." Josie Daniel said she contacted at least five IDOC employees,
including Keckler, to report the abuse. Eddie Daniel is serving a six-year
sentence for drug trafficking and had already served six months of it in Idaho,
according to Josie Daniel, who served a two-year sentence herself for grand
theft that she committed when she was 19. Josie Daniel said her brother had
served five years in Idaho prisons for earlier crimes and never complained of
mistreatment or abuse. "My brother is the kind of person that he has a lot of
pride, and he's not going to ask anyone for help," Josie Daniel said. "My heart
sunk when I read this letter because he is pleading for help." Keckler said the
department had not received any abuse complaints at the private Minnesota
facility. Idaho staffers will continue with routine checks of the Texas prison
and will investigate any future complaints, she said. "Of course whenever we
have charges of abuse we take them very seriously," Keckler said.
March 9, 2003
An escaped jail inmate was captured early Sunday in downtown Newton, almost
exactly a week after he broke out of the Newton County Correctional Center by
cutting a hole in a fence, a Beaumont television station reported. Duncan
is the fifth inmate to escape from the Newton County Correctional Center since
1998, and each has been caught. (AP)
March 7, 2003
It's unclear what possessed convicted felon James Duncan to cut through a prison
fence here and head for the woods, but one thing is certain: He's
just as good at getting into places as he is at getting out. (The
Enterprise)
March 3, 2003
Residents here were concerned, but didn't seem too surprised to learn Sunday
that an inmate escaped from the Newton County Correction Center - after all,
it's the fifth escape in seven years. James R. Duncan, 38, an Arizona
inmate housed at the facility, escaped at approximately 2:30 a.m. Duncan was in
the fourth year of a seven-year, six-month sentence for the offense of armed
robbery. "They need to shut down that prison," said a resident who
declined to be named, visiting the store with his small daughter in tow.
"Those son of a guns are busting out like roaches," he said angrily.
Another woman who also declined to give her name, complained that though the
inmate escaped at 2:30, residents were not informed until after 6 a.m. After
past incidents, prison officials had promised to give prompt warning of danger.
Others in the store verified her statements. The prison, opened in 1991,
was originally pitched to the community as a minimum-security facility, but it
was found that it could not turn a profit, security measures were increased and
maximum-security inmates - referred to by some as "the baddest of the bad" -
were brought in. It has been a source of controversy ever since. The
first and by far most dramatic escape occurred in February of 1996, when Larry
Earl Pagan, a Hawaii inmate, escaped and abducted 51-year-old Wilma Parnell.
Pagan made it to Mexico with Parnell, where she made a break for it. Pagan was
later arrested. (The Beaumont Enterprise)
March 3, 2003
Southeast Texas law-enforcement officials were searching late Sunday for a
Newton County jail escapee. Investigators said 38-year-old James R.
Duncan, a state of Arizona inmate being housed in the Newton County Correctional
Center, broke out about 2:30 a.m. Sunday. Duncan is charged with armed
robbery. He was last seen wearing a two-piece orange jail uniform with the
letters "ADC" in black on the back of the shirt. Duncan is white, 6 feet, 4
inches tall, weighs 215 pounds and has bushy blond-brown hair and blue eyes. He
had blue jeans and a black jacket on. (Houston Chronicle)
January 4, 2003
An uprising by 82 Arizona inmates at a private prison in Texas caused an
estimated $15,000 in damage and lead the Department of Corrections to delay
transferring more prisoners to the facility until an investigation is completed.
Since November, 346 Arizona inmates have been transferred to the Newton County
Correctional Center under a contract with Correctional Services Corp., which
charges $38.25 a day per prisoner. On Thursday, inmates flooded
dormitories, tore up mattresses, destroyed TV sets and broke windows until the
prison staff fired pepper gas into the dormitories, the department said.
(AP)
July 21, 1998
A convicted rapist who cut his way out of a maximum security private prison and
then hitched a ride out of town was shot wounded Monday by a deputy who was
trying to arrest him. Saofaiga Loa Jr., 24, a Hawaii resident incarcerated
at the Newton County Correctional Center, escaped sometime before dawn,
authorities said. Using an unknown tool, Loa cut his way through two
security fences and was given a ride out of town, said Billy Bryan, a
spokesperson for Sarasota, Fla.-based Correctional Services Corp., which runs
the prison. (Houston Chronicle)
North Texas
Intermediate Sanction Facility
Fort Worth, Texas
GEO Group
Texas prison
boom going bust: by Mitch Mitchell, September 3, 2011,
Star-Telegram. Expose on troubles facing many communities that bought into
the private prison bonding scam.
March 2, 2007 Houston Chronicle
A convicted robber who escaped Sunday night from a Texas Department of Criminal
Justice facility in Fort Worth and who had ties to a Montgomery County couple
was apprehended early today in Corpus Christi. Eladio Diaz Jr. was apprehended
at about 3:30 a.m. today in Corpus Christi near a motel where he had been
staying, according to TDCJ spokeswoman Michelle Lyons. Law enforcement officials
went to the motel, acting on a tip. Diaz was taken into custody without incident
by TDCJ's Office of Inspector General, U.S. Marshals and local law enforcement,
Lyons said. He will remain in the Nueces County Jail on a felony escape charge,
as well as an outstanding felony robbery charge he faces there. The robbery
warrant was issued for him prior to his escape from the North Texas Intermediate
Sanction Facility in Fort Worth. Diaz was last seen at about 10 p.m. Sunday and
determined to be missing a short time later. Diaz's sister, Jacqueline Diaz
Chavez, 45, and her husband, Jose Chavez, 39, who live in the Montgomery County
town of Porter, were charged Tuesday with hindering apprehension and were jailed
in Montgomery County.
February 26, 2007 AP
Authorities were searching today for a convicted robber who escaped from a
facility for parole violators. Eladio Diaz Jr., 46, was last seen at about 10
p.m. Sunday at the North Texas Intermediate Sanction Facility in Fort Worth,
according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Diaz, who was convicted
of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon in Nueces County, began serving his
25-year prison sentence in 1991 and was released on parole in 2003. Diaz was
arrested in November in Nueces County and charged with making a terroristic
threat. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles in December revoked his parole
and assigned him to the North Texas Intermediate Sanction Facility, which is
operated by The Geo Group Inc. and serves as a short-term punishment facility
for parole violators. Since arriving there last month, Diaz was allowed to work
outside the facility as a trusty, according to the Texas Department of Criminal
Justice.
Nueces County Jail
Nueces County, Texas
Louisiana Correctional Services, Premier Management Enterprises, Aramark
June 2, 2010 KRIS TV
A Taft man who was detained at the LCS Detention Center in Robstown died this
past Saturday. Warden Mike Striedel said 27-year-old Leo Guajardo died from a
brain tumor. Striedel said Guajardo had been at the detention center since
January for taking the weapon of a U.S. Marshal. Striedel says Guajardo saw a
doctor Friday afternoon for high blood pressure, he was immediately put on
medication, but a couple hours later he claimed to feel dizzy. The Warden says
he was taken to the hospital and doctors found a massive brain tumor. His
condition worsened and eventually he was put on life support. Striedel says the
family decided to take him off life support Saturday night and he was pronounced
dead. The Texas Rangers will investigate the incident to make sure everyone at
the detention center did what they could to help Guajardo. The man's family is
not ready to make a statement yet, as they are preparing for Guajardo's funeral.
February 27, 2009 Caller-Times
Nueces County and the U.S. Marshals Service agreed to a deal to put federal
prisoners in the privately owned LCS detention facility in Robstown, which last
month laid off half its staff when it sat empty. Nueces County sends federal
prisoners to an LCS facility in Hidalgo County in exchange for $2 per prisoner
per day. The prison receives about $44 a day per prisoner. On Thursday, the
county signed an addendum to the contract, allowing the Robstown facility to
house federal prisoners, County Judge Loyd Neal said, but it won’t be paid for
it initially.
January 24, 2009 Caller-Times
LCS Corrections Services laid off half of its Robstown detention center
employees Friday because federal authorities have yet to transfer in prisoners,
but the company plans to offer jobs to some elsewhere. LCS, a private Lafayette,
La.-based prison company, expected to have a full house at its 1,100-bed
facility shortly after the prison opened in mid-November, but the center remains
empty after a contract with the federal government stalled, said Dick Harbison,
LCS vice president of operations. Of the 35 correctional officers laid off, six
will be offered positions at the LCS detention facility in Brooks County,
Harbison said. Short on correctional officers, Nueces County Jail will offer
jobs to 14 others, county officials said. Fifteen temporarily will be left
without jobs, Harbison said. To start the intake of federal prisoners from
agencies such as the U.S. Marshals Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement
and the U.S. Border Patrol, LCS needs Nueces County to sign an agreement with
marshals that will outline how much the federal government will pay for housing
their prisoners. Congress also must pass a 2009 budget, which should occur when
a continuing resolution allowing the federal government to operate under its
2008 budget expires in early March. The prison company intends to rehire the
laid-off employees and hire additional staff once prisoners start arriving,
Harbison said. Nueces County spent millions to clean up its jail's substandard
conditions that led to the June 2006 removal of federal prisoners. The federal
inmates haven't returned. County officials have been negotiating since January
2008 for a higher fee to house them at the jail. The contract also will include
fees for housing federal prisoners at two LCS facilities. Because the federal
government doesn't deal with private detention contractors, LCS is dependent on
a "pass through" contract, where the county gets a share of fees charged per
prisoner for passing through overflow federal prisoners to the company's private
facilities in Hidalgo County and Robstown. Nueces County Judge Loyd Neal said
Friday that the county, the U.S. Marshals Service and LCS are in agreement on
new rates for the jail and the LCS facilities. He wouldn't disclose the
negotiated rates. The proposed fees are awaiting review and approval from the
Office of the Federal Detention Trustee, which oversees federal detention
programs. The county, which received a $45.15 daily rate per prisoner prior to
their removal from the county jail, was seeking a raise to $61.49. County
officials previously have said that negotiations were stuck at about $53 a day
per prisoner. "The marshals and I have agreed on that rate. We have worked with
LCS, and they agree it is very favorable," Neal said. "We did this several
months ago, and we have been unable to get any kind of funding out of the
federal government. Until the new Congress and President (Barack) Obama reach an
agreement (on a budget) there is no money available for a new arrangement for
federal prisoners." The county receives $2 a day for each prisoner sent to LCS'
Hidalgo County facility, and LCS earns roughly $43. A similar pass through deal
is in the works for the Robstown facility once the county and the federal
government sign off on new rates. "The minute we hear anything at all we will be
contacting everybody to come back to work," Harbison said.
September 29, 2008 KRIS TV
The Nueces County sheriff is asking the company that makes the county jail
inmates' meals to change its policies after a knife disappeared from the jail
kitchen last week. Knives are kept under lock and key by the food manager's
office in the Nueces County Jail kitchen. Yet, on Sept. 19, the jail realized a
knife was missing early in the morning. Nueces County Sheriff Jim Kaelin said
both the jail and the McKenzie Annex went into immediate lockdown. "We searched
from the top floor to the bottom floor, every cell, every nook, every cranny
where someone might be able to hide a utensil such as that," Kaelin said. Even
so, they still have not found the knife. Kaelin pointed out that if an inmate
really wanted a knife, they would just make one. "I feel very confident the
knife is no longer in our facility," Kaelin said. He explained that the most
likely scenario was that the knife was laying on a table and somehow was knocked
into a trash receptacle. Then, it was carried and dumped into an outside
dumpster. The experience has prompted Kaelin to ask Aramark, the company
contracted to make the food, to change the way it operates. "The policy needs to
be changed. Their current system failed and I cannot afford to have them in our
kitchen and have that system fail," Kaelin said.
September 27, 2008 The Caller
A search of Nueces County Jail and Annex cells failed to turn up a chef's knife
missing from the jail's kitchen. Sheriff Jim Kaelin said the knife was
discovered missing the morning of Sept. 19. The cutlery, which belongs to jail
food provider Aramark Corp., was supposed to be kept in a locked box and logged
out for use by kitchen contractors. All of the company's knives have different
color handles so that they are easy to identify, Kaelin said. "Once we knew it
was missing, we locked down the jail and conducted a cell by cell inspection,"
Kaelin said. "No knife was uncovered in our operation. It's a big enough knife
that it would be difficult to conceal in any of the cells we have. It was either
taken by one of their employees or it fell off a table into the garbage bin and
then was thrown into the Dumpsters." Aramark sent a memo to Kaelin stating that
proper sign-out procedures were not followed and that disciplinary actions and
corrective training were taking place with the employee responsible. The company
also is revising its policy to include that kitchen knives will be tethered to
work stations, Kaelin said.
November 8, 2007 Caller-Times
A new commissary company started this week in Kleberg County Jail after
Premier Management Enterprises and the county mutually ended Premier's contract.
Premier was investigated in Bexar County for buying a trip to Costa Rica for
former Sheriff Ralph Lopez. Lopez resigned and pleaded no contest to three
charges related to the trip. Premier, based in Lafayette, La., also operated in
Kleberg County since former Sheriff Tony Gonzalez signed the contract in fall
2004. Sheriff Ed Mata said last month he wanted to end Premier's contract
because of the Bexar investigation and because of performance issues. Keefe
Commissary Network, based in St. Louis, began providing commissary services
Monday to the Kleberg County Jail. The one-year contract gives the county 24
percent of net sales, defined as gross sales minus non-commissioned items such
as stamps. Keefe was chosen over Swanson Sales Corp., which said in a proposal
it could offer up to 30.25 percent of net sales. Commissaries, which supply
snacks and some toiletries, are considered privileges for inmates. Texas law
gives sheriffs sole discretion over the contracts. A county's proceeds must be
spent on items or activities that contribute to inmates' well-being, such as
education, libraries, writing materials, clothing and hygiene items, according
to state law. Kleberg Chief Deputy Willie Vera said Keefe offered the better
overall package despite the lower commission. Some items will be marked up to
make up part of the difference. Plus, the company offered a one-year contract,
while Swanson initially wanted five, then agreed to three, Vera said. Premier
had signed a five-year contract with Gonzalez, and Vera said the current sheriff
isn't willing to sign such a long contract. "We have a year to evaluate this
company," Vera said. "If he needs to go out and search for another company the
door is still open." Keefe also recently began service to the Nueces County
Jail, making it easier for the company to add Kingsville to its routes, Vera
said. Keefe made the transition smoothly and the Kleberg County Jail was never
without commissary services, he said. Premier ran the Nueces County Jail
commissary under a contract signed by former Sheriff Larry Olivarez until Nueces
County Sheriff Jim Kaelin terminated the agreement after taking office in
January, citing performance issues. Keefe gives Nueces County a commission of 39
percent of net sales. Mata and Kaelin have said their staffs told them their
predecessors, Gonzalez of Kleberg County and Olivarez of Nueces County, went on
that trip to Costa Rica in August 2005. Neither Mata nor Kaelin has
documentation corroborating the reports. Gonzalez left office in 2004 after
losing an election to Mata, and Olivarez resigned in January 2006 to run for
county judge. Gonzalez and Olivarez have not responded to requests for
interviews. Premier's principals, Patrick and Michael LeBlanc, also own LCS
Correctional Services, which is building a private prison to house federal
inmates near Robstown.
October 1, 2007 Caller-Times
Two local sheriffs are distancing themselves from their predecessors'
decisions to award jail commissary contracts to a company involved in a criminal
investigation in Bexar County. Kleberg County Sheriff Ed Mata said last week
officials are researching ways to end that county's five-year agreement with the
company, Premier Management Enterprises. Nueces County Sheriff Jim Kaelin gave
Premier a 30-day termination notice on Jan. 24, after taking office. Former
Bexar County Sheriff Ralph Lopez resigned and pleaded no contest to accepting a
trip to Costa Rica from the principals of Premier. The Lafayette, La., based
company runs the county jail commissary. Neither Kaelin nor Mata has
documentation corroborating what their staffs have told them -- that their
predecessors, Larry Olivarez of Nueces County and Tony Gonzalez of Kleberg
County, went on that August 2005 trip. Neither Gonzalez nor Olivarez has
responded to requests for comment. There is no known investigation in Nueces or
Kleberg counties. "At this point no case has been submitted to me," Kleberg
County District Attorney John Hubert said. "If something is submitted to me, I
take every case on its own merits. I don't have any information other than what
I've read in the papers and -- no offense to anybody -- that's not really
evidence." Nueces County District Attorney Carlos Valdez was out of the office
late last week, and the Bexar County District Attorney's Office did not respond.
The FBI would not comment. Olivarez signed a contract with Premier five months
after the Costa Rica trip involving the former Bexar County sheriff. Gonzalez
signed a contract in September 2004. Premier's principals, Patrick and Michael
LeBlanc, also own LCS Correctional Services, which is building a private prison
to house federal inmates near Robstown. A receptionist at Premier referred all
questions to the company's chief executive officer, Chris Burch, who did not
respond. An attorney for the company, Tonya Webber of Corpus Christi, said her
clients have not been commenting because of the open investigation in Bexar
County. She said she would check with her clients for comment on the local
contracts but did not respond after that. Kaelin and Mata both cited performance
issues with Premier as reasons for terminating the contract. Mata said the Bexar
investigation also played a part. "What I'm trying to do is just protect this
county," Mata said. "I'm not trying to pass any judgment if something was done
wrong." Kaelin said his decision was based solely on Premier's performance. He
met with Premier officials about complaints before ending the agreement,
according to correspondence the Caller-Times obtained under the Texas Public
Information Act. Kaelin and Premier also tangled over payments. A new contract,
with Keefe Supply, also is potentially more lucrative for the county. The
Premier contract gave the county $130,000 or 31 percent of net sales, whichever
was greater. The new contract gives a minimum of 39 percent with the possibility
of 41 percent after the first year. Texas law gives sheriffs sole discretion
over commissary contracts. Commissaries supply snacks, such as chips, candy bars
and soda, as well as certain toiletries, for inmates. Friends and family put
money in an inmate's account to spend on commissary items. A county's proceeds
must be used for commissary staff, social needs of inmates (such as education or
counseling), libraries, writing materials, clothing, hygiene items or other
programs that contribute to inmates' well-being, according to state law. Kaelin
said he uses commissary profits to buy newspaper subscriptions, televisions and
uniforms. Kaelin said inmates frequently complained about Premier's service.
Under that system, inmates would order items to be packed into bags, shipped
from San Antonio and handed out the next day. Kaelin said his office received
numerous complaints about items being damaged or wrong. Keefe stores items at
the Nueces County Jail McKenzie Annex and brings items around on a cart twice a
week so inmates can choose and receive items immediately, Kaelin said. Premier's
accounting system also allowed inmates to buy on credit, and as a result some
inmates would leave custody owing money to Nueces County, Kaelin said. Keefe's
system charges inmates' accounts directly by scanning a bracelet inmates wear.
An inmate can't buy items unless there is enough money in the account.
September 9, 2007 San Antonio Express-News
Bexar County Sheriff Ralph Lopez and some of his friends weren't the only
ones in South Texas who enjoyed the benefits of helping Premier Management
Enterprises secure lucrative jail commissary contracts, according to interviews
and records examined by the San Antonio Express-News. Like Lopez, the sheriffs
of two other counties awarded contracts to the Louisiana jail services company,
and either they or their associates reaped financial benefits. Those sheriffs,
now out of office, also boasted to their staffs about going on a golf and
fishing trip to Costa Rica with Premier officials, the same trip that last week
forced Lopez to resign. Here in Kleberg County, then-Sheriff Tony Gonzalez, a
close friend of Lopez, gave Premier a contract to run his jail commissary when
he was in office in 2004 and has been paid by the company for consulting work of
an unknown nature. "I've done some consulting for them here and there," Gonzalez
told the Express-News during a brief interview at his ranch-style home on the
outskirts of Kingsville, declining to elaborate. "I'm just down here keeping my
nose clean." In Nueces County, one associate of former Sheriff Larry Olivarez,
another Lopez friend, reaped rewards after helping Premier win a jail commissary
contract there in 2005. The associate, a commercial real estate broker who was
appointed by the sheriff to an ad hoc committee that awarded the contract, later
earned a commission from the sale of 56 acres where LCS Corrections Services
Inc., another company owned in part by Premier's principals, is building a
private detention center, the Express-News has learned. In addition, the former
sheriff's chief deputy won political backing from LCS when he ran as a candidate
to replace Olivarez, who had stepped down to run for county judge. Premier,
which has come up repeatedly in an ongoing public corruption investigation in
Bexar County for doing favors for influential people in a position to help the
company, has denied any wrongdoing. That investigation, so far, has narrowly
targeted only individuals in Bexar County, such as Lopez and his longtime
campaign manager, John Reynolds, and Reynolds' financial relationship with the
sheriff's wife. Lopez, Reynolds and at least one of their associates helped
Premier land the local jail food commissary contract in 2005. As part of an
immunity deal with Bexar County District Attorney Susan Reed, the sheriff
resigned, effective Sept. 19, and pleaded no contest Tuesday to three
misdemeanor charges, two of which were related to the Costa Rica golf outing he
accepted from Premier. The deal protected him from further state prosecution;
his wife wasn't indicted. Reynolds, who played a key role in awarding the
contract to Premier, is suspected by Reed of bribery, extortion, theft, money
laundering and campaign finance violations. He also went on the Costa Rica trip
and received checks totaling more than $30,000 from Premier and one of its
owners for consulting and donations to fake charities Reynolds set up. An
associate of both Reynolds and the sheriff, John E. Curran, voted with Reynolds
on a jail board to give Premier the commissary contract, then won a contract
himself from Premier to provide temporary workers for the operation. Largely
unexamined is the broader picture of how Premier, its owners, Patrick and
Michael LeBlanc, and LCS conducted a business expansion with local government
partners throughout South Texas. A closer look at some of those operations
reveals similarities in conduct with local officials that have drawn none of the
law enforcement or media scrutiny seen in Bexar County. Nueces County Sheriff
Jim Kaelin, who succeeded Olivarez, is among those who have been watching the
news from San Antonio with keen interest because LCS is about to open an 800-bed
prison in his county. So far, no law enforcement agency has contacted him,
Kaelin said. Close relationships -- LeBlanc-run companies Premier and LCS
operate jail-related businesses in five South Texas counties. The first started
in Brooks County in 2000. They have embarked on an aggressive expansion in
recent years that has capitalized on tighter federal immigration control
policies. In addition to the work at Bexar County Jail, the companies also
operate jails, commissaries or full-scale prisons in Brooks, Kleberg, Hidalgo
and Nueces counties. They also run four jails in the LeBlancs' home state of
Louisiana and one in Alabama. Current Texas law makes sheriffs key gatekeepers
for contracts such as those sought by Premier and to a certain extent by the
prison-building LCS. Under current law, Texas sheriffs have almost unchecked
authority to contract management of their commissaries with no competitive
bidding. County commissioners must approve deals to build private prisons but
often keep their sheriffs closely in the loop as resident overseers and
advisers. Premier, LCS or sometimes both arrived in counties served by sheriffs
who maintained close personal relationships with one another and with Bexar
County's Lopez, according to interviews with personnel in several offices.
Lopez's office calendar for the past few years shows he often traveled to visit
Kleberg's Gonzalez on weekends for golfing and that Gonzalez traveled to San
Antonio. The calendar also shows a number of trips to visit Olivarez in Corpus
Christi, where he still lives in a house near a golf course. At the Kleberg
County Sheriff's Office, Gonzalez's former staffers say the three were often
joined in golfing and hunting outings by other sheriffs and elected officials in
counties where Premier or LCS are doing business today. Among them was Balde
Lozano of Brooks County, who did not return three calls for this story. "He kept
a close-knit circle of friends," said Yvonne Barbour, Gonzalez's former office
administrator. "I know Tony was a big golfer." Those relationships would later
prove mutually beneficial for the Louisiana companies and the sheriffs or their
friends. Gonzalez, for instance, used his relationships in Nueces County to help
Premier and LCS gain entrance there. Assistant Deputy Chief Peter B. Peralta,
who worked in the office when LSC first began courting county business,
remembered that it was Gonzalez who made the introductions. Later, Gonzalez
approved giving Premier a food commissary contract for his jail during his final
weeks in office. At some point either before or after Gonzalez left office in
late 2004, he accepted private consulting work from Premier's owners, he and a
company official acknowledged. When Gonzalez transferred the commissary contract
to Premier, two lifelong Kingsville residents, brothers who run a small local
grocery, felt the pain. Betos Community Grocery had held the contract since the
1970s and had come to rely on the modest commissary revenue as competition from
large grocery stores cut into Betos' bottom line. They were told they should
only bid for the contract if they had a sophisticated computer system. "We
didn't even get one computer until last year," said Juan Garza, who co-owns the
grocery with his brother Albert and supported Gonzalez's last failed re-election
bid. "It hurt." It remains unclear what kind of consulting work Gonzalez did for
the company or when it started. But former five-term Brooks County Judge Joe B.
Garcia recalled one occasion — after Gonzalez lost his election — that he came
calling, apparently after hearing that Garcia had begun agitating for Brooks
County to renegotiate better terms from its LCS detention center contract. It
was during this time that Gonzalez phoned Garcia wanting to meet for lunch and
talk about local LCS operations. "I've known Tony for a while. But I didn't want
to talk to him about my contract with LCS," Garcia said. Garcia remembered
another story he found disturbing, when Michael LeBlanc himself showed up at his
office, accompanied by the man Garcia had just beaten in the election. That
LeBlanc would travel to South Texas was not unusual; he often has personally
tended to his business affairs. But Garcia said what he heard made him feel
uncomfortable. "They said if I had a campaign debt, they would contribute to my
campaign," Garcia said. He said he told them he had no campaign debt to pay off
and wouldn't have accepted the offer even if he did. "A lot of people try to do
those type of things," Garcia said. "I've always been the type who, hey, I've
worked hard for my education. I don't have fancy cars, no ranches." Attorneys
for LCS and Premier have declined all requests for interviews regarding the
ongoing investigation in Bexar County or for this report. Last year, the
LeBlancs sued the Express-News, alleging they were libeled in articles the paper
published in late 2005. The lawsuit is pending. But Chris Burch, chief executive
officer of Premier, acknowledged that Gonzalez had done some consulting work for
the company under an arrangement with a predecessor, Ian Williamson, who is no
longer with the company. Burch said he was not privy to any details about that
work. Gonzalez still may be working for the company as a paid consultant, Burch
said. "I do know he has done some consulting work, but I'm not the one who put
this together." Benefits and campaign -- Like Gonzalez, then-Nueces County
Sheriff Olivarez helped Premier land a commissary deal in his jail during his
final days in office in late 2005. He then quit, as required, to run for county
judge. During his time as sheriff, LCS had a "pass through" contract with Nueces
to refer federal prisoners to its other Texas facilities, and it advanced a
proposal to build the 800-bed detention center, now nearing completion. The
project is expected to generate $800,000 for the county in inmate transfer
payments, plus $350,000 to $400,000 in taxes. The Express-News has learned an
ally of Olivarez benefited financially from LCS' effort to build the detention
center — after helping the sheriff give the jail commissary contract to Premier.
Corpus Christi commercial real estate broker and developer Tim Clower served in
late 2005 on an ad hoc selection committee the sheriff appointed to examine bids
for the commissary management job, according to the office of Kaelin, the
current sheriff. In February 2006, several months after Clower voted for the
commissary contract, he brokered a real estate purchase of 56.6 acres on behalf
of LCS for the $20 million detention center. The property's seller, Patricia Ann
Bernsen, said Clower's company approached her and brokered the purchase of her
farmland for $4,000 an acre, or $225,000. "He did get a commission, that's for
sure," Bernsen said, declining to say how much. "It was a good commission." On
average, commercial real estate agents earn between 6 percent and 10 percent,
according to one South Texas commercial real estate broker. At the time of the
sale, the 2006 sheriff's primary race was heating up. Clower co-signed for a
$20,000 campaign loan to Olivarez's former chief deputy, Jimmy Rodriguez, whose
opponent at the time was publicly criticizing him for helping bring LCS to town.
LCS went to Rodriguez's aid by lambasting his opponent. At one point in the
campaign, LCS went public with a threat to halt construction of its detention
center if Rodriguez did not win the Democratic primary. "We're not going to work
with or for someone who doesn't respect our company," Michael LeBlanc was quoted
in the Corpus Christi Caller-Times as saying about Rodriguez's opponent. "If Mr.
(Pete) Alvarez wins, we're out of Nueces County — plain and simple," LeBlanc
said. Rodriguez won the primary but lost the general election. Last week, he
insisted that he was paying off the $20,000 bank loan he said Clower co-signed.
"He's been a friend for a long time," Olivarez's former chief deputy said of
Clower. "He had a long history with the department before we even got there."
Clower did not return repeated calls seeking comment about the loan or his
commission on the LCS land purchase. Traveling together -- The Express-News
could not substantiate or refute comments from those in the Sheriff's Office
that Olivarez, while he was sheriff, went on the same Costa Rica trip in August
2005 with Lopez, Reynolds and Premier officials. Olivarez did not return
numerous phone calls or respond to a message left during a visit to his home.
Kaelin said Olivarez boasted of the Costa Rica trip and a separate hunting trip
to employees who remain on staff. Kleberg's Gonzalez, while in office, also told
some of his staff of going on the same Costa Rica trip, said Kleberg Sheriff Ed
Mata, who beat Gonzalez in the 2004 election. Mata conceded that he can't prove
the story, but he wondered why no one has investigated as in Bexar County.
Gonzalez, during the recent interview at his home near Kingsville, was asked
several times if he would deny going on the trip. He declined each time. The
Costa Rica trip was not the only reputed benefit Kaelin heard about in regard to
Olivarez. Shortly after taking office, Kaelin said, a staff person phoned him to
report that Olivarez had appeared with a small group of businesspeople seeking
to tour the detention center project. Kaelin said he was told that Olivarez had
represented himself as an "unpaid spokesperson for LCS." Kaelin called LCS
officials to inquire as to whether Olivarez might have been hired to run the
detention center, a prospect Kaelin worried would undermine his office's working
relationship with it. But he was told Olivarez had no known connection to the
company or employment prospects. Bexar Sheriff Lopez's office calendar indicates
he planned to attend the detention center groundbreaking with Olivarez on Feb.
23, 2006, after Olivarez had left office to run, unsuccessfully it turned out,
for judge. Today, Olivarez works as a manager for the Corpus Christi branch of
CGT Law Group International, according to a woman who answered the phone there.
Richard Harbison, a vice president in charge of LCS' Texas operations, is
certain that Olivarez has had no financial relationship with LCS. As he was
preparing to take his own vacation to Costa Rica, Harbison also said by phone
that he was unaware of any paid trips involving sheriffs in Texas and the
LeBlancs. Burch, of Premier, said he was not working for the company at the time
of the August 2005 trip. In Bexar County, where the public corruption
investigation has been in high gear lately, District Attorney Susan Reed has
said she is mainly interested in prosecuting local individuals such as Reynolds,
whom she called "rotten fruit." None of Premier's San Antonio offices have been
searched, Reed acknowledged. "I'm not finished, so I'm not ready to make any
definitive determination yet" about Premier, she said. The FBI and Texas
Rangers, which have been involved in the Bexar County investigation, aren't
commenting. Patrick LeBlanc, who last week formally became a candidate for the
Louisiana Legislature, is running in part on a message that he will fight
against political corruption that "robs us of our confidence in government."
Last week, he told the Lafayette Advocate that he has been cooperating with
investigators in Bexar County but couldn't elaborate. "We haven't done anything
wrong," he told the newspaper. "I would never, ever risk my integrity over
selling candy bars and potato chips."
July 14, 2006
Correctional News
Concern over conditions at the Nueces County Jail resulted in the removal of
55 federal inmates — a potential loss of nearly $1 million in revenue for the
county. County commissioners grew concerned after complaints of clogged
plumbing, lack of water and insect bites were brought forth by inmates housed in
the aging facility. Officials say that the facility requires renovations and
have ordered a full report on all reported problems. The U.S. Marshals Service,
which pays the county $45 per day to house federal inmates, transferred the
prisoners to facilities in Aransas, Jim Wells, Victoria, Karnes, Bee and Brooks
counties.
April 13, 2006 Caller-Times
The county's deal to build a $20 million detention center near Robstown is
on no matter what the outcome of November's general election between sheriff
candidates Jimmy Rodriguez, a Democrat, and Republican Jim Kaelin. LCS
Correction Services Inc. officials said earlier this week they'd pull out if
former police chief Pete Alvarez was elected as the Democrats' nominee for
county sheriff in Tuesday's primary runoff, but after Rodriguez's win, the
company's CEO says plans will move forward. "The dust will be flying out there
in late May or early June," said Michael LeBlanc, chief executive officer. The
company expressed reservations about the project after hearing ads supporting
Alvarez refer to a Louisiana-based corrections firm that owns facilities where
rapes and beatings occur. The ad said Rodriguez helped bring the company, which
was not named in the advertisement, to the area. LCS is based in Louisiana.
"We're not going to work with or for someone who doesn't respect our company,"
LeBlanc said Monday. "If Mr. Alvarez wins, we're out of Nueces County - plain
and simple." The facility would house federal inmates awaiting trial and is
expected to bring in about $800,000 for inmate transfers, plus $350,000 to
$400,000 in taxes. LCS broke ground on a federal detention facility between
Robstown and Driscoll last month. Alvarez said Wednesday that LSC should not
have discussed the candidates leading up to the runoff, calling it unethical.
"My problem is they got involved," he said. Rodriguez said last week he hoped
LSC would remain committed to the Nueces County project. "We need it," he said.
April 9, 2006 KRIS TV
The company proposing a detention center in Robstown has issued an ultimatum
that could effect the outcome of the Democratic runoff for sheriff. Friday
evening, LCS Correctional Services confirmed to 6 News that if Pete Alvarez
defeats Jimmy Rodriguez in the runoff on Tuesday, they won't build a federal
detention center here in Nueces County. Thursday, company officials told 6 News
they wouldn't make that kind of announcement until after the election, but
they've obviously changed their minds. Here's how it works, LCS wants to house
federal inmates. But those inmates technically would go through the Nueces
County Jail First, before being sent to the LCS Detention Center near Robstown.
The company said if there's a Nueces County Sheriff that doesn't have confidence
in the LCS operation, the inmates won't be sent to the private jail and the
company doesn't make money. It is the latest controversy in a race that seems to
have had plenty already. "If Pete gets elected, they will pull out," said
sheriff's Jimmy Rodriguez. He announced the company's ultimatum during a live
debate on the cable show "South Texas Politics". He said the company's president
told him that just a short time beforehand. He blames the campaign ads of Pete
Alvarez that questioned LCS's history of escapes and cases of abuse. "If you had
a company, and somebody attacked you and told lies about you and incited the
community to turn against you, and not to want you, I don't know if I would come
here either," Rodriguez said.
April 6, 2006 KRIS TV
LULAC claims a private prison company that county leaders approved poses a
danger to the community. LCS Correctional Services is planning to build a large
detention center in western Nueces County. Leaders of LULAC Thursday called it a
bad move, but supporters of the project said the complaint is merely for
political gain in the runoff election next week. At the news conference Thursday
afternoon, the president of LULAC said the community is tired of all the
mudslinging in the sheriff's race. But moments later she questioned one
candidate's involvement in what LULAC considers a deal that threatens public
safety. "We want to bring public attention to a potentially dangerous situation
brewing in Nueces County," said Nancy Vera. That situation is a federal
detention center being built between Robstown and Driscoll. Officials broke
ground on it back in February, but LULAC President Nancy Vera says LCS has a
history the public should know about. "We have discovered some very disturbing
information." Vera said. She claims LCS Correctional services has experienced
numerous escapes and cases of prisoner abuse. Vera is asking the commissioners
court and in particular Jimmy Rodriguez why those issues were never discussed. 6
News asked Jimmy Rodriguez if he felt LCS was a legitimate company. Rodriguez
replied, "I think LCS spoke for themselves. They're a reputable company."
Rodriguez said the idea that he had any direct involvement in the LSC contract
is completely misleading. He said it's just a political attack on a company
trying to make a large investment in the area. "$20 million investing, 300 jobs,
this is good for the economy, and to have it all put in jeopardy because of
incompetency is tragic," Rodriguez said. "The commissioners court met with LCS,
reviewed LCS, and awarded LCS. They thought it was a good thing. They handled
the contract."
April 5, 2006 Caller-Times
The latest political mudfest in the race for Nueces County sheriff is
originating in Pete Alvarez's political camp. Alvarez's new "Bad Jimmy"
television ads, claim that his opponent Jimmy Rodriguez is responsible for the
recent erroneous release of six jail inmates and that Rodriguez is responsible
for a series of lawsuits filed against Nueces County over problems with the
jail. Another Alvarez ad has raised questions about whether a Louisiana prison
administrator might ditch a plan to build a detention facility in the county.
The ad doesn't name the company in question, but says a Louisiana-based company
the county has contracted with has an unsatisfactory record with the treatment
of its inmates. The ad is aimed at the sheriff's department's administration for
its advocacy of the company. Last month LCS Correction Services Inc. broke
ground on a federal detention facility between Robstown and Driscoll. The
facility, under contract with Nueces County, is expected to bring in about
$800,000 for inmate transfers, plus $350,000 to $400,000 in taxes. A statement
released by the company said the owners were upset by the ad. "We admit the
operations of prisons do not create a perfect world because we deal daily with
imperfect people," Chief Executive Officer Michael LeBlanc said in the
statement. "But there has never been a death or a suicide at any LCS Corrections
facility in the Company's 16-year history." Company officials refused to comment
on whether the ad has now jeopardized the plans to build the corrections
facility, saying it might unfairly impact the election. Nueces County Precinct 4
Commissioner Chuck Cazalas said he didn't understand why Alvarez's ad targeted
Rodriguez for something former Sheriff Larry Olivarez championed. He also said
everything he knew about LCS indicated they were a quality firm. "I think they
are supposed to be a good company. Everything I heard about them was pretty
good," Cazalas said. "I understand . . . that the company is supposedly thinking
of pulling out." Alvarez said his ads are a response to ads Rodriguez is
running. The Rodriguez campaign says they did not fire the first negative
campaign volley, but they are preparing to fire back, with new ads targeting
Alvarez's record as police chief. "Pete's radio spot hitting on jail releases
was first," said Rodriguez's campaign consultant Jeff Butler. "We had a response
saying, 'No it's not true.' He hit us first, so we responded and it went from
there." Alvarez denied that his team was first on the assault. "I tried my best
to keep a professional and clean campaign and they decided to throw the garbage
out," he said. "And we have to defend ourselves. This is not something we
initiated from the beginning. The public needs to understand that what is being
said about me is simply not true." The Rodriguez campaign contends that ads they
are running against Alvarez are "infomercials" based on research and news
stories outlining Alvarez's record that have run on television and in the
newspaper in the past, Butler said. Butler said the Rodriguez camp is not
responsible for an anti-Alvarez flier mailed in February by political action
committee Citizens for Nueces County that may have sparked some of the rancor in
the campaign. The flier said Alvarez was more than a million dollars over budget
as police chief in 2001, that he tried to cover up an incident where his son was
driving drunk, that he had been sued for misconduct and retaliation and that he
had plagiarized a strategic plan. Butler said Tuesday the campaign also did not
put out a new flier that came out this week saying Alvarez treats women like
second-class citizens. The flier cites a Caller-Times article about a grievance
filed by female Corpus Christi police officers, who said Alvarez had "relegated
them to second-class status." Alvarez would not comment on specific allegations
Tuesday but reiterated that neither flier is true. The only member of the
political action committee listed in campaign filings is Roland Gaona, who could
not be reached for comment Tuesday. Though Alvarez and Rodriguez would not take
responsibility for throwing the first mud, both campaigns said Tuesday they are
prepared to duke it out to the last - the April 11 runoff. Rodriguez said he
hopes the nastiness won't get any worse. Butler nodded in response to whether he
thought the campaign would get any nastier and nodded again that the Rodriguez
team is ready for battle. "I knew the only way they could win was to go negative
on us," Butler said. "Especially after the primary when Pete only got 40
percent. Everybody knew who Pete was. His 40 percent told me that 60 percent of
the voters were voting against him." Alvarez said future ads from his camp will
come from watching what Rodriguez does and then responding. "We have to
strategize," Alvarez said. "This is a campaign, a political campaign. We have to
defend ourselves, or the public will begin to believe the nonsense his campaign
has come out with."
Oaks Treatment
Center
Austin, Texas
Browns Schools
August 28, 2003
The parents of two girls who said their children were raped at a treatment
center for troubled youth have sued the center. In a civil lawsuit filed
Wednesday in state District Court in Travis County, the girls' mothers accuse
the Oaks Treatment Center of being negligent in appointing a 19-year-old man to
supervise the shower and dormitory facilities for teenage girls. The center also
failed to properly screen, hire and supervise employees and did not provide
enough security and safeguards for patients, the lawsuit contends. "It's a
lot worse because these girls were there to get help for emotional and
psychological issues," said John Thomas, a lawyer representing one of the girls.
"And it's kind of like a boat coming up on a castaway on the ocean and throwing
them a life-preserver with rocks in it." The center, at 1407 W. Stassney
Lane in South Austin, is part of the Brown Schools, a network of therapeutic
programs for troubled children found throughout the United States. The
Brown School Behavioral Health System, its owners, McCown De Leeuw & Co. and
Psychiatric Solutions Inc. -- a Tennessee company that owns the Oaks Treatment
Center -- also have been sued. Representatives for the company could not be
reached for comment. Wednesday's lawsuit is not the first time the Brown
Schools has been surrounded by controversy. Chase Moody, a 17-year-old who was
enrolled in a camp in Mason County, died Oct. 14 after he was restrained by at
least three camp staff members because of what the company described as a
violent outburst. The On Track program was cited for 28 violations of
state standards in connection with Moody's death. The company appealed. A
criminal investigation is ongoing. Edward Johnson, the 19-year-old man
named in the lawsuit, pleaded guilty in one of the cases in state District Court
in June to indecency with a child by contact, a second-degree felony, and was
sentenced to five years in prison. The second case is still pending. The
girls' names and the names of their mothers were withheld because of the nature
of the crime. Howard Falkenberg, a spokesman for the Brown Schools, said
the company would study the lawsuit. "We regret any time there's an
accusation or an incident of this type" Falkenberg said. "These matters aren't
always quite as they seem, so you have to be careful in working them through."
The lawsuit claims officials at the Oaks Treatment Center lied to one of the
mothers, who lives in Alaska, when they told her that no current or former Oaks
employes had ever had a history of physical or sexual abuse and that there had
been no abuse at the Oaks or any of the Brown Schools. Those statements
were false, the lawsuit contends, because at least one former employee of the
Oaks had a history of committing physical and sexual abuse and youths had been
abused at the Brown Schools' facilities. The lawsuit seeks reimbursement
for mental anguish and medical expenses but does not specify an amount.
(American-Statesman)
June 20, 2003
The owners of a Hill Country wilderness camp where a teenager died in October
have filed a pre-emptive legal strike in an attempt to avoid litigation by the
boy's family and to keep the case in Mason County. The Brown Schools, a
Delaware corporation with operations based in Austin, filed a petition in state
District Court in Mason County earlier this month, asking a judge to rule that
any dispute over the death of 17-year-old Chase Moody at the On Track
therapeutic wilderness program be turned over to a binding arbitration panel.
The court filing, which names Chase's mother and father as defendants, says the
family agreed to as much in a contract signed by Chase's mother before the teen
was enrolled in the camp. Lawyers for the Brown Schools, which operates
youth-oriented therapeutic programs across the country, filed the petition June
6 -- the same day they met with the Moodys' lawyers, who include Johnnie
Cochran, the high-profile attorney who successfully defended O.J. Simpson.
David McLaughlin, a lawyer in the Cochran Firm who is working on the case,
called the Brown Schools' petition premature because the family has not sued.
"We're (still) weighing our options," he said Thursday. Howard Falkenberg,
the Brown Schools' spokesman in Austin, said company officials were aware that
the Moodys are considering legal action and filed the petition to make clear
their opinion that any dispute with the family should be handled outside the
courtroom. Should a judge disagree, Falkenberg said, the company at least
wanted to establish grounds for the case to be considered in Mason County.
"That's where the admissions agreement was signed, and that's where his
management was, and that's where his unfortunate death occurred," Falkenberg
said. "All those things just seem to argue that that's where the matter should
be handled." Chase, who lived with his mother in Richardson, was sent to
the camp to work out anger issues and other behavioral problems. He died there
Oct. 14 after being physically restrained by at least three camp staff members
because of what the company said was a violent outburst. According to an
autopsy, Chase suffocated on his own vomit, a report disputed by the Brown
Schools. Officials with the company have repeatedly said their staff acted
appropriately in handling the situation. State investigators disagree and
have accused the staff members involved of physical abuse in connection with the
death. The state also cited the camp for 28 violations of state standards after
a licensing investigation of the incident. The staff members are appealing
the findings, as is the Brown Schools, even though the company closed the camp
for unrelated reasons shortly after Chase's death. He was the fifth youth to die
after being restrained in the company's Texas facilities since 1988.
(Austin American-Statesman)
February 14, 2003
The Brown Schools, the Tennessee-based company whose Texas centers for troubled
teens have been cited by authorities in the deaths of several youths, announced
Thursday that it will sell its behavioral health-care business for $63 million.
Texas centers in the deal include the Oaks Treatment Center in Austin , the San
Marcos Treatment Center and the Laurel Ridge Hospital in San Antonio . All treat
emotionally and behaviorally troubled children and adolescents. In the sale,
three residential treatment centers in Virginia, Colorado and Oklahoma will be
turned over to Psychiatric Solutions Inc., a publicly traded company also based
in Tennessee. Dallas . In the past two decades, some of its operations have
come under scrutiny by various states and law enforcement agencies because of
restraint-related deaths and licensing and human rights' violations. Most
recently, 17-year-old Chase Moody of Richardson died in October after being
restrained at the company's now-closed Hill Country wilderness camp in Mason
County . The incident is the subject of a criminal investigation. Since 1988,
five youths, including Moody, have died after being restrained while in the
Brown Schools' care. Two of the deaths occurred at the Laurel Ridge facility in
San Antonio . The other two occurred at facilities that have since been sold by
the company. In addition, the Brown Schools of Virginia facility has been cited
more than 100 times for human rights and licensing violations since it opened in
January 2001. Some of the accusations were that staff members used unnecessary
physical restraints, acted physically aggressive, punished residents by refusing
to let them use the bathroom and injected residents with medication to control
them before exhausting other de-escalation options. In one case, a staff member
was accused of grabbing a boy by the neck, throwing him to the ground and
threatening to kill him. (American-Statesman)
March 12, 2002
Police are looking for a man charged in the rape of a 16-year-old girl at a
treatment center for troubled youth. Alexander Johnson, 51, is charged with
sexual assault of a child, a second-degree felony that could bring a sentence of
up to 20 years in prison. A warrant for his arrest was issued Thursday, but
authorities had not found him as of late Monday. The alleged assault is said to
have taken place last month at the Oaks Treatment Center, where the girl was a
patient. The center, at 1407 W. Stassney Lane in South Austin, is part of the
Brown Schools, a system that operates in 10 states and Puerto Rico and is
devoted to helping troubled children. Johnson was a desk counselor at the
center, which treats and houses about 70 children. The girl was receiving
psychiatric treatment, officials at the center said. Johnson was arrested in
1995 and was accused of beating his adolescent son. The charges were dismissed
after he attended parenting classes. Officials at the center said they were
unaware of the prior arrest. Allegations of misconduct and abuse are fairly
common at the center, but this is the first time police have filed charges of
sexual abuse, said Mack Wigley, director of the center. "We suspend employees
all the time," Wigley said. (Austin American-Statesmen)
Parker County Jail
Parker County, Texas
Community Education Centers
February 23, 2010 Mineral Wells Index
The second arson suspect was released Saturday from the Parker County jail after
posting $50,000 bond on a charge of arson. Like former Mineral Wells patrolman
John Gore, official records for alleged arson accomplice Jeff Gulley show no
issues during his time working as a patrol officer for Ranger in late 2006 and
2007. Current Ranger Police Chief Elton McCoy, who was not with the department
at the time, said Gulley's personnel records indicate Gulley resigned in good
standing to pursue another job in June 2007 and show no record of write-ups
during his several months on the Ranger police force. Gulley – along with Gore,
who faces four counts of arson – held a valid peace officer license in the state
when he was arrested Thursday on a charge of arson. Gulley also holds a
temporary jailer license from the state. Warden Ron King of Community Education
Centers, the contracting company managing the Parker County jail, confirmed
Monday that Gulley worked as a jailer in Parker County between June and
September and was not rehireable when he left. Before receiving a temporary
jailers license from the state, Gulley would have had to pass a college entrance
exam, a psychological exam and a physical exam, according to King. Gulley also
worked as a correctional officer with Corrections Corporation of America at the
Mineral Wells pre-parole facility between November 2008 and December 2009, CCA
spokesperson Maria White confirmed Monday. Fellow officers who worked with Gore
expressed surprise last week at his arrest. Police Chief Mike McAllester said
Gore had never been disciplined and was a model officer. McAllester said they
are investigating fires as far back as 2001. Gore and Gulley are reported to be
close friends and have known each other since they attended school together.
Gore was charged with three counts of arson Tuesday after he was stopped by a
Mineral Wells patrol officer near three suspicious fires in the Wolters
Industrial Park area and questioned. During the initial interview, Gore
reportedly provided information about seven fires, including the three fires
Tuesday, and provided information about a second suspect, according to police.
Parker County officials reported Gore confessed to starting a fire Feb. 3 which
destroyed a two-story storage building and implicated Gulley. During two
interviews with the Parker County Fire Marshal's office last week, Gulley
allegedly “exposed his involvement in the Feb. 3 arson” and confessed to being
involved with two other fires, a grass fire and a structure fire that did not
fully ignite.
Physicians Network Association
Lubbock, Texas
February 15, 2009 Trans Border Project
Complaints about medical care at the Reeves County Detention Center aren’t
new. In 2007 an inmate went on a hunger strike protesting inadequate medical
care. When inmates protested after the death of an inmate in solitary
confinement on December 12, 2008, they alleged that medical deficiencies and
malpractice were widespread. Six weeks later the immigrant inmates rioted again
with the same demands that they be provided with decent medical care. Juan Angel
Guerra, a South Texas attorney who was the former district attorney in Willacy
County, says some 200 inmates at the immigrant prison have enlisted his services
to address their concerns about medical and other abuses. During the week of the
Jan. 31 disturbance, the county kept the prison on “lockdown,” denying access to
reporters and all others, including Guerra. Neither the county, which owns the
prisons, nor GEO Group, which runs the immigrant prison, released any
information about the concerns of the rioting prisoners, simply saying in brief
releases that the “issues” were being resolved. Similarly, the Bureau of
Prisons, which contracts with Reeves County, to hold the immigrant prisoners,
ignored public requests for information. A full week after authorities said that
they restored control over the prison, County Attorney Alva Alvarez sent a
letter to Guerra denying his request to meet with his clients. "We are doing
everything possible to meet your request," Reeves County Attorney Alva Alvarez
wrote. "However, since the facility was destroyed, there is no secure place for
you to meet with your clients at this time." Reeves County Detention Center is
not a maximum-security prison. It has been variously described by prison
officials as a minimum or low-security facility – hence the “detention center”
designation. The immigrants detained at the Pecos prison are not violent
criminal offenders but rather immigrants, often legal ones albeit noncitizens,
who have been convicted generally of nonviolent felonies like drug possession
and various immigration violations. In the name of guaranteeing public safety,
Reeves County officials have kept the prison off limits to reporters and
attorneys. And in an apparent effort to keep the story about inmate protests
from gaining momentum in the media and to keep it away from the view of state
and federal officials, county officials and the private prison contractors have
refused to comment on prison conditions. Among those who have declined to
comment about the state of medical care at the detention center is the private
contractor that is responsible for this care. Leader in Correctional Healthcare
-- Physicians Network Association (PNA), a Lubbock-based company that calls
itself a leader in correctional healthcare,” has subcontracted with Reeves
County since 2002. As the owner of the prison, Reeves County has a contract with
the Bureau of Prisons to hold fedeal immigrant prisoners. But rather than run
the facility itself, the county subcontracts its responsibilities to GEO Group
to operate and manage the prison and to PNA to provide medical and dental care.
(See Medical Claims Part One) In its presentation as part of the negotiations
over its current contract with the county, PNA assured the county that “as a
subcontractor, PNA has fourteen years’ experience assisting operators exceed
expectations.” It emphasized the “cost-effective” character of its medical
services, and promised that it would “work as your partner to ensure appropriate
healthcare without compromising operations.” “We are recognized for our
responsiveness to the needs of our customers,” boasted PNA, referring as
“customers” to the private prison firms like GEO (with which it has ten
contracts) and counties like Reeves that own prisons not to the inmates it cares
for. PNA included GEO Group and Management and Training Corporation (MTC) among
its references, and it told the county: “PNA has never had a contract canceled
or been removed from a facility.” It noted that it was “proud of its record of
no substantiated grievances in any facility.” The Dec. 12 prisoner protest at
Reeves County Detention Center started when inmates saw the body of Jesus Manuel
Galindo removed from solitary confinement. Inmates contend that Galindo did not
receive medical attention for his epileptic seizures. The Galindo family says it
has filed a lawsuit against the Reeves County Detention Center. David Galindo,
the dead inmate’s brother, told a reporter after the second riot that started
Jan. 31, “The reason they’re having riots is because their personnel is doing
the wrong thing just like they did to my brother.” After the second disturbance
started, an inmate called the media. The Pecos prisoner said that the protest
began when prison officials placed Ramon Garcia, 25, in solitary confinement
after he complained of dizziness and feeling ill. “All we wanted was for them to
give him medical care and because they didn't, things got out of control and
people started fires in several offices,” said the inmate, who declined to give
his name for fear of reprisals by officials. Lana Williams, a family friend of
Garcia, told KFOX TV in El Paso that his medical neglect had been a problem
since August 2008. "He's gotten to the point where he can't walk down the hall
without holding on to the wall, and this has been going on and getting
progressively worse," said Williams. Garcia told her was being been placed in
solitary confinement whenever he complained about feeling ill. PNA’s Medical
Gulag -- It shouldn’t be surprising that long-running complaints about medical
cars abuses sparked the inmate protests at the Reeves County Detention Center.
Six years ago the Justice Department found widespread medical abuses at another
county-owned, privately run adult detention center, where the same
subcontractor, Physicians Network Association, was also the the medical services
provider. Concerned about civil rights violations at the detention center, the
Justice Department sent a study team from its Civil Rights division to
investigate the jail in May 2002 to determine if there were violations that
could be prosecuted under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act
(1997). On March 6, 2003 the Justice Department sent a letter and a long report
of its findings to Santa Fe County, which owned the jail and contracted with
Management and Training Corporation (MTC), a private prison firm, to operate the
jail. The county had an intergovernmental services agreement (IGSA) with the
Justice Department to hold detainees waiting trial who were under the custody of
the U.S. Marshals Service and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. MTC subcontracted
the medical services part of the IGSA contract to PNA. Summarizing its findings,
the Justice Department stated: “We find that persons confined suffer harm or the
risk of serious harm from deficiencies in the facility’s provision of medical
and mental health care, suicide prevention, protection of inmates from harm,
fire safety, and sanitation.” In its report, the Justice Department team
specified 52 actions that were needed “to rectify the identified deficiencies
and to protect the constitutional rights of the facility’s inmates to bring the
jail into compliance with civil rights standards. Thirty-eight of the 52
identified deficiencies related to medical services. The Justice Department
report concluded: “The Detention Center, through PNA, provides inadequate
medical services in the following areas: intake, screening, and referral; acute
care; emergent care; chronic and prenatal care; and medication administration
and management. As a result, inmates at the Detention Center with serious
medical needs are at risk for harm.” The Justice Department’s investigation was
sparked by the suicide of Tyson Johnson in January 2002 at the Santa Fe County
Detention Center. Johnson, who was awaiting a hearing on charges of stalking,
was a longtime sufferer of severe claustrophobia. In a New York Times (June 6,
2004) story on the Justice Department’s investigation and MTC, Suzan Garcia,
Johnson’s mother, said that had tried to contact the jail because she was
concerned about her son’s psychological condition. ''I called the jail and asked
to speak to a doctor, but they said they didn't have a doctor,'' Ms. Garcia
said. ''When I asked to speak to the warden, they just put me on hold and then
the phone would disconnect.'' According to the Justice Department’s finding and
associated reports, Johnson had asked to see a psychologist, but the 580-inmate
jail didn’t have a doctor let alone a psychologist or a psychiatrist. So Mr.
Johnson tried slitting his wrist and neck with a razor, and when that failed, as
the New York Times reported, he told the jail's nurse, Sheila Turner, “Today I
am going to take myself out.” A guard, Crystal Quintana, told investigators that
the nurse replied, ''Let him.'' Ms. Turner denies this, her lawyer said. As the
New York Times recounted: “Ten minutes later, Mr. Johnson, 27 and with no
previous criminal record, was found hanging from a sprinkler head in a
windowless isolation cell where he was supposedly being closely watched.”
Despite being placed on suicide watch, Johnson hung himself with a supposedly
“suicide-proof” blanket inside the isolation cell. His family contends that
instead of tending to his psychological problems, the medical staff neglected
him and taunted him. The NYT story by Fox Butterfield described the state of
mental healthcare for which PNA was responsible: “The nearest doctor on contract
was in Lubbock, Tex., a two-hour plane flight away, and he visited the jail on
average only every six weeks, seeing only a few patients each time, the report
found. The nurse had an order in her file to spend no more than five minutes
with any inmate patient, which the report said was not enough time. “There was
no psychologist or psychiatrist, and although the nurse had no mental health
training care, she was distributing drugs for mentally ill inmates, the report
said. “The jail did have a mental health clinician, Thomas Welter, who was
employed by Physicians Network Association, a subcontractor. But he never did
any evaluations of mentally troubled inmates, the report said. Instead, he
boasted to them about his own history of drug use, according to a recent
deposition by Cody Graham, who was then warden of the Santa Fe jail. Not long
after Mr. Johnson hanged himself, Mr. Graham escorted Mr. Welter to the gate and
told him not to come back.” Pattern of PNA Medical Malpractice -- The Justice
Department found a pattern of gross medical care deficiencies at the Santa Fe
jail. Among its findings were the following: · “PNA’s intake medical screening,
assessment, and referral process is insufficient to ensure that inmates receive
necessary medical care during their incarceration.” · “Even when PNA staff
identify inmates with serious medical needs during the intake process, they fail
to refer them for appropriate care.” · “Chart review revealed that of those
inmates in our sample who did receive the initial health screening, none were
referred to the Health Services Unit for the medical attention they needed.” ·
“The grievance system does not provide an avenue for resolving problems of
access to health services. The grievances we reviewed included a complaint from
one inmate who was supposed to have an x-ray, but had received no response from
the Health Services Unit despite having filed two grievances in three weeks.”
Seven Suicide Attempts, One Completed in Seven Months of MTC/PNA -- · “As of the
time of our visit, during the seven months since MTC assumed management of the
facility, there had been one completed suicide and seven attempted suicides. A
review of these incidents reveals that the Detention Center staff fail to
respond appropriately to inmates’ indications of mental health crises and
possible suicidality.” · “For example, one inmate answered several of the
initial mental health suicide screening questions in the affirmative, including
that he had recently experienced a significant loss, that he felt that he had
nothing to look forward to, and that he ‘just didn’t care.’ He reported that he
had been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and that he was taking an
antidepressant for this condition. He also stated that he felt that he needed to
see a psychologist. Despite these indicators, the screening nurse concluded that
the inmate needed only a routine mental health referral, as opposed to an
immediate mental health evaluation and determination whether mental health
services were necessary.” · “Another incident involved an inmate who cut her
wrists with a razor and was placed on a 15-minute suicide watch in the medical
unit. According to the subsequent investigation of the incident, the inmate was
upset because her medications were stopped. The inmate was treated for
lacerations to her wrists and released from suicide watch without ever receiving
a mental health evaluation or mental health clearance.” An inmate placed on
watch status in a medical unit cell for his own safety due to mental illness and
seizure disorder was able to cut both of his wrists with a razor blade within 5
minutes of his arrival in that cell. The only way that staff knew that the event
had occurred was when blood began running down the floor from his cell." Five
Minutes Per Patient -- · “The nurse practitioner’s personnel file included a
memo from the Vice President of Operations of PNA instructing her to see one
patient for each five minutes of scheduled clinical time. Many inmates,
particularly those with acute or chronic conditions, require significantly more
clinical attention to ensure that their needs are adequately addressed.” · “PNA
does not test for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). STDs are prevalent in
jail populations. Left untreated, STDs can cause brain and organ damage and
damage to fetuses. PNA’s failure to screen for STDs places the inmates and the
community at risk.” · “PNA fails to provide timely access to appropriate medical
care for inmates when they develop acute medical needs. Medical care is
unreasonably and unnecessarily delayed and, even when provided, often
inadequate.” · “Even once inmates succeed in getting to the Health Services
Unit, they frequently receive substandard care. We reviewed the medical records
of ten inmates seen for primary care by the nurse practitioner within a
one-month period. Six of the ten inmates received substandard care.” PNA’s
Failure to Respond to Acute Medical Needs -- “Additional chart reviews
confirmed PNA’s failure to respond to inmates’ acute medical needs. For example,
one inmate reported breast lumps and lumps in her armpit, chest pain, and
swelling in her legs and feet. Although a mammogram was ordered in October 2001,
it had not been done by the time of our visit to the Detention Center seven
months later.” · “At the time of our visit, the only physician providing
supervision or care at the Detention Center was the doctor who is the Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) of PNA and is based in Lubbock, Texas. As the CEO of PNA,
this doctor has numerous responsibilities, including supervising the medical
care at each of the facilities at which PNA provides care throughout the south
and southwestern United States. This physician was visiting the Detention Center
an average of once every six weeks, and saw only a few patients during each
visit. While he is available by telephone for consultation, he does not visit
the Detention Center frequently enough to provide adequate supervision. Given
the deficiencies in care and other problems identified in this letter,
additional physician supervision at the Detention Center is necessary.” No
Pre-Natal Care, Improper Treatment for Seizures -- · “PNA fails to provide
inmates with needed medications in a timely manner, and fails to monitor
medication in inmates with serious medical needs.” · “The Detention Center fails
to provide for continuity of medications for inmates upon arrival at the
facility. Several files we reviewed revealed that the nurse practitioner does
not continue the same medications for inmates that were prescribed for them
prior to their incarceration. Sometimes the nurse practitioner simply
discontinues the medication, and sometimes she changes the inmate’s prescription
to older, less expensive medications which are significantly less effective.” ·
“PNA fails to provide adequate prenatal care for pregnant inmates. Of the four
pregnant women at the Detention Center at the time of our visit, none had any
prenatal visit with an OB/GYN during their incarceration documented, despite the
fact that two of the women were in their third trimester of pregnancy and near
term.” · “An inmate had been prescribed a medication for his seizure disorder,
in addition to several other medications, and his blood levels of the seizure
medication had been measured. Although the laboratory results showed that the
amount of this drug in his system was not enough to achieve the intended
therapeutic effect, there was no reference to this finding anywhere else in his
medical record. Moreover, staff failed to respond appropriately, such as
adjusting his medication. Seven days later, the inmate attempted suicide by
cutting his wrists, then suffered a seizure.” Keeping it Cost-Effective -- ·
“PNA’s formulary does not contain effective medication for inmates with serious
medical needs such as hypertension, heart failure and diabetes. In addition, the
formulary includes many less expensive, less effective medications than are
currently available for the treatment of some diseases.” · “Some inmates at the
Detention Center are currently provided with less effective medications with
greater side effects than they had received prior to incarceration, which can
lead to deterioration in inmates with mental illness and end-organ damage in
inmates with diseases such as hypertension and diabetes.” · “Even when staff did
monitor medication levels, they failed to respond to indications that an
inmate’s dosage was inappropriate. Although the laboratory results showed that
the amount of this drug in his system was not enough to achieve the intended
therapeutic effect, there was no reference to this finding anywhere else in his
medical record. Moreover, staff failed to respond appropriately, such as
adjusting his medication. Seven days later, the inmate attempted suicide by
cutting his wrists, then suffered a seizure.” PNA and MTC Leave Town -- Neither
MTC nor PNA stuck around Santa Fe to help the country resolve its problems with
the Justice Department. Both MTC and PNA said they had to terminate their
contracts because they were losing money. Soon after the Justice Department
issued its findings in March 2004 on medical care and other problems at the
Santa Fe County Detention Center, PNA pulled out of its contract with MTC. A
year later in April 2005, MTC announced that it had “chosen to end this contract
because it has not been possible to operate profitably. Under two different
contracts and with two different medical providers, MTC and both medical
providers have lost money.” Before the private prison companies terminated their
unprofitable contracts, their personnel left town. MTC asked Warden Cody Graham
to leave his job in Santa Fe, and he transferred to another MTC county jail in
Gallup, New Mexico. According to a heart-rending investigative story in the
Santa Fe Reporter (April 2, 2003)on the death of a jail inmate because of
deficient medical care, PNA’s regional medical consultant left at the same time
as the warden. That PNA supervisor was Katherine Graham, wife of the MTC warden.
A story in the Albuquerque Journal (June 28, 2004) on the “tough negotiations”
following “state and federal audits slamming the facility for inadequate medical
services” reported, “PNA will not return if and when the county and MTC reach a
new agreement, jail administrators have said.” County Commissioner Paul Duran
recommended that the county would do a better job running the jail. He noted
that the Utah-based MTC – a for-profit company – was not providing enough
medical staffing or case managers to deal with inmate needs. “I think it’s the
profit element that is the root of all these problems.” The county did take over
management of the jail after MTC left, and worked with the Justice Department to
rectify its findings of deficiency. Judith Greene, director of Justice
Strategies, echoed Commissioner Duran’s observation. She told the New York
Times, ''This goes to the heart of the problem in the private prison business,''
Ms. Greene said. ''You get what you pay for.''
Potter County Jail
Potter County, Texas
Mid America
January 9, 2008 Avalanche-Journal
Lubbock County commissioners said there is nothing illegal about the
county's contract with the food services provider at the county jail, but they
will remain watchful of the pending criminal case against the company and its
president. Commissioner Bill McCay said Lubbock County is open and transparent
and if commissioners find any illegal contacts or attempts to make illegal
contact were made, the county would get out of the contract. Food service
company Mid America Services, Inc. and its president, Robert Wayne Austin Jr.,
are under indictment on bribery charges in Potter County stemming from
allegations of campaign donations by the company to the Potter County sheriff to
secure a bid as the jail food service provider for that county. For the time
being, however, Lubbock County will continue to use Mid America. "Everything (in
Lubbock County) was 100 percent copacetic," McCay said, adding commissioners
will keep an eye on the Potter County situation. "We'll be watching those
proceedings with great interest," he said. Lubbock County commissioners awarded
the jail food service bid to Mid America last summer, with the contract going
into effect October 1. McCay said Aramark and Canteen competed against Mid
America for the bid, but Lubbock County had experienced mixed results with
Canteen and Aramark in the past. "They started out great and then deteriorated,"
McCay said of the two previous food service providers. When it came time to
negotiate a new contract, McCay said an advisory committee directed
commissioners to go with Mid America. "They weren't the lowest bid, but they
were the best bid," he said. Commissioner Ysidro Gutierrez said the bidding
process required the committee to evaluate the contractors based on food
quality, delivery and service, personnel and supervision and security,
sanitation and safety. Sixteen days after the contract went into effect, a
Potter County grand jury indicted Mid America and Austin on bribery charges.
Also indicted were the Potter County sheriff and chief deputy on corruption
charges. The indictments claim Austin and Mid America offered benefits in return
for hiring and retaining the company's contract as food service provider for
Potter County. "When I first read that it made me nervous as a cat," McCay said.
"My initial reaction is no, they're not guilty,' but where there's smoke,
there's fire." If Mid America and its president are found guilty, Gutierrez said
the county commissioners will review the contract and procedures surrounding
that contract. While statute mandates the county enter contracts for one-year
periods, the contract with Mid America has a four-year renewable clause, meaning
commissioners can reassess the contract each fiscal year and decide whether to
continue using Mid America. "The real important thing is everyone deserves their
day in court," Gutierrez said.
Presidio County Jail
Marfa, Texas
Emerald
June 11, 2009 CBS 7 News/KOSA
The Presidio County Jail in Marfa is in the process of shutting down because
the county can't afford to run it. This will put fourteen jailers out of a job
and transfer close to a hundred inmates to another jail. Presidio County Sheriff
Danny Dominguez said: “The county is flat out broke they barely have enough to
make payroll, they barely have money coming in from tax revenue." Private prison
company Emerald Correctional unexpectedly ended their contract managing the
Presidio County jail. This Monday, county commissioners decided to shutdown the
facility for 60 days because there's no money in the budget to fund it.
On Track
Mason, Texas
January 9, 2003
A Mason County wilderness camp where a Dallas-area teenager died in October will
relinquish its operating license and forgo any plans to reopen, state and camp
officials said Wednesday. In
December, however, the parks department canceled the lease and gave the camp 120
days to vacate the property. Diane
Huggins, a spokeswoman for the Brown Schools, the Nashville, Tenn.-based company
that owns and operates On Track, said recent efforts to persuade parks officials
to reconsider have been unsuccessful.
Both parks officials and Huggins said troubles with the lease started before
17-year-old Charles Chase Moody died after being physically restrained by three
camp counselors Oct. 14.
Investigators with the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services,
the agency with authority over wilderness camps and youth-oriented residential
treatment centers, have accused the staff members of physical abuse and neglect
in connection with Moody's death.
Moody's death is also the focus of a criminal investigation. (The
Hutchinson News)
Reeves County Detention Center
Pecos, Texas
GEO Group,
Physicians Network Association
Companies Use
Immigration Crackdown to Turn a Profit: Expose on immigration by Nina
Bernstein at the New York Times, September 28, 2011
"Private
Prisons, Public Pain Despite a long record of abuses, GEO is still running Texas
prisons," Peter Gorman
"What's
Happening Inside Reeves?" Dan Rather Reports
Read Tom
Barry's Boston Review article here
December 8, 2010 ACLU
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas and El Paso co-counsel Mike
Torres and Leon Schydlower today announced the filing of a lawsuit against the
federal government and administrators of a West Texas for-profit prison on
behalf of the survivors of Jesus Manuel Galindo. Mr. Galindo, 32, died on
December 12, 2008, after suffering a seizure in solitary confinement where he
had been placed for complaining about the facility’s failure to provide him
medication to control his epileptic seizures. For a copy of Galindo, et al. v.
Reeves County, et al. (W.D. Tex. Dec. 7, 2010), go to http://www.aclutx.org/galindo
The suit names as defendants individual employees of the Federal Bureau of
Prisons, The GEO Group (which operates the for-profit prison), Reeves County and
the facility’s contracted medical provider, Physicians Network Association (PNA).
“The Galindo family has suffered a terrible loss, a loss that could have been
prevented if Reeves County Detention Center officials had responded to Jesus
Manuel Galindo’s repeated pleas for care as well as requests on Galindo’s behalf
from fellow inmates and his mother, Graciela Galindo,” said Mike Torres. “A
prison sentence should not be a death sentence because officials are unwilling
to provide basic medical care,” added Schydlower. Mr. Galindo’s death came after
repeated attempts by Galindo, his family and others to persuade prison and
medical staff to move him out of isolation and provide effective medication to
control his seizures. “U.S. taxpayer dollars were used to pay a for-profit
medical provider with a documented record of providing constitutionally
inadequate care, and federal officials looked the other way while inmates like
Mr. Galindo were denied access to the most basic medical necessities,” said Lisa
Graybill, Legal Director for the ACLU of Texas. “A prisoner’s citizenship status
does not matter when it comes to medical care – federal inmates are entitled to
equal protection of the law, and no inmate held in a United States prison should
be subject to the deliberate denial of life-saving medication, then left in
solitary to die.” In recent years, the federal government has increasingly
relied on private firms like The GEO Group, which operates the Reeves County
Detention Center (RCDC) in Pecos, to manage prisons where immigrant prisoners
serve criminal sentences, mostly for non-violent crimes like illegal entry.
Gouri Bhat, Senior Staff Attorney for the ACLU of Texas, said, “Prisoners at
RCDC face an impossible situation. Private prison officials cut costs and
provide deficient care, and the Bureau of Prisons won’t hear grievances about
private prisons. That is a Catch-22 with deadly consequences.”
July 23, 2010 Odessa American
A prisoner who helped broker an end to a Pecos prison riot in 2008 is suing the
company that runs the Reeves County Detention Center, claiming jail officials
retaliated against him and violated his rights in the aftermath of the infamous
riot. Paul Ohaegbu claims GEO Group jail officials reneged on a promise that he
and other prisoners involved in negotiations to resolve a hostage situation
would not face prosecution. Last year, a federal grand jury indicted Ohaegbu and
about two dozen of his fellow prisoners on federal riot charges. While several
of Ohaegbu’s co-defendants pleaded guilty and were sentenced to additional
prison time, prosecutors dropped the charges against Ohaegbu, citing
“insufficient evidence.” Ohaegbu claims jail officials became angry when the
charges were dropped and fabricated an incident report to “convict” Ohaegbu of
disorderly conduct at a disciplinary hearing and strip him of good time and
privileges. Ohaegbu, 51, is seeking several million dollars in actual and
punitive damages. Pablo Paez, a GEO Group spokesman, declined to comment on the
lawsuit, citing company policy concerning litigation. But an incident report of
the riot filed into court records shows jail officials dispute Ohaegbu’s claims:
“It was explained again to the inmates that there would be no retaliation for
the riot but that investigation and possible prosecution for these offense would
be pursued,” the report states, referring to negotiations that included Ohaegbu.
The charges against Ohaegbu stemmed from a riot involving more than 1,200
prisoners at the Pecos lockup in December 2008. Court documents show the
prisoners took two guards hostage and demanded better medical attention, food
and recreation. Ohaegbu, in a 14-page lawsuit he filed on his own behalf, offers
a detailed prisoner’s perspective of the chaos, attributing the uprising to the
outrage sparked by the death of Jesus Manuel Galindo, a 32-year-old epileptic
prisoner. “The inmates housed in the segregation became irate and started a fire
in one of the cells,” Ohaegbu said in the suit. “The general population inmates
saw a body bag being removed from segregation and became aware of the death.”
Court documents show the riot began after two prisoners in a cell across from
Galindo’s exposed the wires behind an electrical outlet and used them to set
fire to a mattress. “It sounds like a design flaw to me, but that’s how they
started it the best we can tell,” FBI agent Justin E. Fleck told a panel of 20
grand jurors last year, according to a transcript of the hearing. Earlier this
month, one of the prisoners charged with starting the fire, Alex Javier Morales
Romero, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting to cause a riot. He is awaiting a
sentencing hearing Sept. 30 in Pecos. His cellmate, Carlos Alberto
Morales-Rojas, pleaded guilty last year to misprision of a felony — failure to
report or concealing a crime — and was sentenced to time served. Ohaegbu, for
his part, denied any role in the rock throwing and vandalizing that Fleck
estimated resulted in about $1 million damage to the prison during the 24-hour
standoff. Rather, Ohaegbu claims he acted as an arbitrator between the
Spanish-speaking inmates and the jail administration. “Since neither the warden
nor the deputy speaks Spanish, the Mexican inmates requested the assistance of
plaintiff, an African inmate, to communicate their request to the Geo
administrators,” the suit states. “To alleviate inmate fear, the Geo Group, Inc.
warden, Dwight Sims, promised before the officials that no inmate would be
retaliated for the riot.” In November, Ohaegbu was sanctioned for “conduct that
disrupts the orderly running of the institution.” According to the suit, Ohaegbu
was stripped of 40 days good conduct time and 200 days of telephone and
commissary privileges. The prisoner claims he also was ordered to spent 30 days
in disciplinary segregation and given a “disciplinary transfer” to a federal
prison in Beaumont.
March 10, 2010 AP
A former food service worker at a publicly owned but privately run West
Texas prison says he accepted bribes to smuggle cell phones and other contraband
to prisoners. Sixty-two-year-old Frank Williams Jr. pleaded guilty Wednesday in
federal court in Midland. Prosecutors say Williams, who worked at the Reeves
County Detention Center in Pecos until being fired in 2008, admitted being
caught trying to smuggle two cell phones, three phone chargers and a Bluetooth
headset into the prison for inmates. Prosecutors said Williams also admitted
that one of the phones was used by an inmate to continue his work in drug
trafficking.
February 16, 2010 PR Newswire
Every day, thousands of federal inmates across the country are locked up in
prisons...prisons that answer more to their shareholders than they do to the
U.S. taxpayers. These private prisons are the subject of a months-long Dan
Rather Reports investigation. Since 1997, the U.S. government has been
outsourcing a growing percentage of its inmate population to private facilities.
But unlike federally-owned and operated prisons, private prisons are not
required to open their books or operations to public scrutiny. The focus of
Rather's investigation is the case of a 32-year-old illegal immigrant named
Jesus Galindo, who died in December 2008 of an epileptic seizure while in
solitary confinement at the Reeves County Detention Center in Pecos, Texas.
Reeves is a low-security facility run by the private prison giant The GEO Group.
Galindo was a federal inmate whose death sparked a series of riots with
prisoners demanding better medical care. The case and riots drew the interest of
human rights advocates. Was the death of Jesus Galindo due to a lack of medical
attention? Why had inmates at a detention center receiving millions of federal
dollars every year complained of medical neglect? And will the full story of
what's happening at this prison, and others like it, ever be known? The answer,
according to David Shapiro, an attorney at the ACLU National Prison Project, is
no, unless federal law is changed. He says that's because private prisons are
immune from one of the most powerful tools for the American public to learn what
is being done in its name. "They're not subject to the Freedom of Information
Act like other federal prisons," Shapiro said. "And the Freedom of Information
Act is an information lifeline that lets us know what's going on behind the
prison walls." The investigation explores how this one case in Texas could break
through the walls that have protected the private prison industry from public
scrutiny.
February 12, 2010 NewsWest 9
She took an oath to protect and serve, instead she broke the law. A former
Reeves County Detention Center corrections officer has been sentenced to a
little more than two years in federal prison. Kimberly Owens plead guilty to
accepting a bribe from an inmate's family member in return for smuggling in
contraband. Owens received a paid vacation to Mexico and cash from the inmate's
family member. After she serves her time, Owens will be under 3 years of
probation.
January 3, 2010 Midland Reporter-Telegram
El Paso attorneys are almost finished preparing a lawsuit against the
company that operates Reeves County Detention Center in Pecos and a Lubbock
physicians' group in the case of an epileptic 32-year-old inmate who died on
Dec. 12, 2008, one of the attorneys said. Representing the wife, three children
and parents of Jesus Manuel Galindo, Miguel "Mike" Torres said he will file suit
against the Geo Group of Boca Raton, Fla., which operates the 2,400 inmate
lockup for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, and Physicians Network Association of
Lubbock, which had been providing the inmates medical care when Galindo was
found dead in an isolation cell in the prison's Security Housing Unit. Efforts
were unsuccessful last week to reach Wayne Calabrese, Geo's president-CEO in
Boca Raton, Fla., and Dr. Vernon "Trey" Farthing, PNA board chairman. Torres
said he and co-counsel Leon Schydlower and defense lawyers have sought documents
and conducted extensive witnesses' depositions since the 7 a.m. discovery of
Galindo's body started a prison riot in which the recreation center was burned,
three inmates were hospitalized and 25 were charged with assault and other
crimes. Galindo, of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, was serving 30 months for
illegal entry into the U.S. Torres said the petition will be filed in Judge Bob
Parks' 143rd District Court in Monahans. "We're very close to filing and it is a
significant claim we're going to make," he said. "It's a very wrongful death and
we want to do our homework and be absolutely ready. A big part of this case has
been obtaining documents. PNA will also very likely be a party." Torres said
Galindo's relatives believe his medical needs were inadequately attended to
because they had been prevailing on prison officials to give him full doses of
his medicine, Dilantin, and administer it at the prescribed intervals. "We
really want to get justice for the family," said Torres, who had told of
attending the man's funeral at an "overflowing" south El Paso funeral home.
"There are a lot of layers to this case, but for us it's simple. They should
have provided medical care right there and treated him decently and they
didn't."
December 10, 2009 San Antonio Express-News
About 20 human rights activists gathered outside the New Braunfels office of a
private prison-management company on Thursday to demand that it improve
conditions at the Reeves County Detention Center. Grasping fake black coffins
and shouting for the closure of the detention center in Pecos, the protesters
garnered attention in the form of honks from drivers passing by the front of the
GEO Group Inc.’s central regional headquarters in the 1500 block of Common
Street. Members of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, the Grassroots
Leadership and other organizations were unsuccessful in getting a meeting with
GEO Group Inc.’s employees. Inmates have rioted at the facility twice since last
December. The first time, inmates were seeking better medical treatment. The
second riot began Jan. 31 and lasted nearly a week, leaving extensive damage at
the facility, which holds up to 2,000 inmates. “We are here to demand rights for
the immigrant prisoners who are held at the Reeves County Detention Center in
Pecos,” said Bob Libal, Texas campaigns coordinator for Grassroots Leadership.
“We know that nine prisoners at this facility have died in the last four years,
and that’s the reason we have the nine coffins out here in honor of those who
have passed away in that facility,” he said. “We also know prisoners at the
Reeves County Detention Center, many of whom are only serving time for
immigration violations, report conditions that include medical neglect, abuse by
guards, overcrowding, inadequate food and unsanitary conditions.” The
demonstration came on International Human Rights Day. Soon after protesters
tried to deliver a letter to GEO Group employees, New Braunfels police responded
to a call about people entering the building. No one was arrested in connection
with the protest. Employees of the GEO Group, both in New Braunfels and at its
world headquarters in Florida, did not respond to requests for comment. Terri
Burke, executive director of the ACLU of Texas, said the letter called on the
GEO Group to agree to a federal investigation into immigrant prisoners’ deaths
at the Reeves County center, to implement a grievance system and allow civil
rights groups to monitor conditions there. Maria Reynaga of Edinburg joined the
protest to speak out about conditions she said her brother has experienced as a
detention center inmate in Pecos. She said her brother, Manuel Carrillo, is a
legal resident immigrant arrested for drug possession and distribution in
Florida. She said Carrillo suffers from stomach ulcers but is unable to get
medicine. “He has to take some medicine or he’s going to be in stomach pain all
the time,” Reynaga said. “He has asked for the medicine more than a month ago,
and he still hasn’t gotten anything.”
November 24, 2009 AP
A former guard at the Reeves County Detention Center faces up to 15 years in
prison in a bribery and smuggled iPods investigation. Prosecutors in Midland say
28-year-old Katherin Elizabeth Terry of Pecos on Tuesday pleaded guilty to
accepting bribes. Terry acknowledged that three times during 2008 she accepted
money from the mother of an inmate, totaling $500, in exchange for agreeing to
smuggle banned iPods to the prisoner. A federal judge in March will sentence
Terry, who also faces a fine of up to $250,000.
October 12, 2009 Texas Observer
Last Dec. 12, on the outskirts of Pecos, Texas, the immigrants doing time in
the world’s largest privately run prison decided to turn the tables on their
captors. It was the Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, an important religious
holiday in Latin America. But the inmates were in no mood for celebration. The
motin, as the overwhelmingly Spanish-speaking inmates called their uprising,
began in the Reeves County Detention Center’s Special Housing Unit (SHU), better
known as solitary confinement, with two men—a Honduran and a Mexican—using the
wires in an electrical outlet to set a mattress on fire. They broke out the
windows of their cell, and when prison guards tried to extinguish the fire by
sticking a fire hose through a port in the door, the two broke the sink off the
wall and held it up as a shield. One brandished, but didn’t use, a “shiv,” a
crude jailhouse knife. Meanwhile, the two men yelled for other inmates to join
in the uprising. Soon, at 12:45 p.m., a lockdown order went out across the
prison. Staff tried to hustle prisoners on their way to lunch or the recreation
center back to their cells. Inmates in one of the housing areas refused, and
they forced the guards to release friends from their cells. “Open the doors or
we will take your keys,” the prisoners demanded, according to an FBI account.
“We’ll see who has control in a bit,” one inmate told a guard. The prison’s
emergency-response team deployed an arsenal including rubber bullets, pepper
spray, expulsion grenades and bean-bag guns. To little avail. The insurrection
quickly spread to the other housing areas. The rioters assembled in the outdoor
recreation yard armed with rocks, concrete, and steel poles as well as
horseshoes, hammers and box cutters they had pilfered from the recreation
building. Many of them, aware of the prison’s extensive surveillance system, hid
their faces with T-shirts, hats and bandanas. Some wore sunglasses. Two prison
employees were taken hostage. (Neither was harmed.) With more than 1,200 inmates
milling around outside and hordes of law enforcement officials, the prison must
have looked like a war zone. It was not mere anarchy, though. By midafternoon,
members of the FBI, Texas Rangers, DPS and the Odessa Police Department arrived
at the prison. As the crisis negotiators quickly found out, the riot had not
been prompted by gang infighting, racial tensions or a spontaneous outburst of
violence. The men incarcerated at the Pecos prison are considered
“low-security”; most are serving relatively short sentences for immigration
violations or drug offenses. All are set to be deported at the end of their
sentences. Leaders of the rebellion were demanding a meeting with the Mexican
Consulate, the FBI and the warden to discuss a number of grievances that they
said GEO Group, the prison company that manages the 3,700-bed facility, had
refused to address. The evening of the uprising, the inmates sent a delegation
of seven men—a Venezuelan, a Cuban, a Nigerian, and four Mexicans—to meet with
the authorities. They explained that the uprising had erupted from widespread
dissatisfaction with almost every aspect of the prison: inedible food, a dearth
of legal resources, the use of solitary confinement to punish people who
complained about their medical treatment, overcrowding and, above all, poor
health care. The delegates pointed to a string of deaths (according to public
records, five men died in Reeves between August 2008 and March 2009, including
two suicides) they attributed to the prison’s inattention to medical needs. The
riot had been sparked by the death of Jesus Manuel Galindo, an epileptic, who
had been carried out of the prison’s Special Housing Unit in a body bag that
same day. “Suspect(s) are talking about the guy being out of the shoe [SHU],”
the FBI report said. “Someone should have been there with him. Special housing
was not the place for [him].” The authorities jotted down the concerns and
promised to take them seriously. Twenty-four hours after it began, the uprising
was over. More than $1 million worth of damage had been done to the prison. Less
than two months later, on Jan. 31, the prison would be under inmate control
again—and this time the rioting would last for five days and end with one
building destroyed and some $20 million in damage. To critics of GEO and other
for-profit prison companies, the two huge riots in as many months—rare,
especially in low-security prisons—were the logical consequence of the largest
experiment in prison privatization to date. *** The story of the death of Jesus
Manuel Galindo is the story of a death foretold. For weeks, Galindo, a
32-year-old epileptic Mexican citizen who had lived in the United States since
he was 13, had been complaining to anyone who would listen that something
terrible was going to happen to him because of poor medical care. In May 2007,
Galindo was found illegally crossing the border in El Paso. Galindo, nicknamed
“Negro” for his dark complexion, was sentenced later that year to 30 months for
illegal re-entry (crossing into the U.S. after being deported). Ten years ago,
he would likely have been quickly deported, not prosecuted. But the Bush
administration piloted a “zero-tolerance” policy in Texas that eventually spread
across the border: All illegal border crossers would be arrested, detained and,
if possible, prosecuted in federal court. Prosecutions surged, as did the need
for detention centers, jails and prisons to hold the tens of thousands of newly
minted criminals. The Obama administration has more than embraced the policy.
The number of prosecutions for immigration crimes—almost 68,000—during the first
nine months of 2009 is on track for a 14 percent increase over 2008. More than
half of those prosecutions took place in Texas. The result has been a system
swamped with low-level immigration cases and prisons bursting at the seams with
illegal immigrants. Rather than build and run the facilities themselves, federal
agencies have turned in large part to private prison companies, such as
Corrections Corporation of America and GEO Group. In 2008, GEO reported more
than $1 billion in revenue, an 80 percent increase over 2005. Privatization has
been less profitable for others. GEO’s Texas facilities have been plagued with
suicides, filthy conditions, sexual abuse scandals, hunger strikes, riots and
lawsuits. Jesus Galindo became another case in point. According to his family,
Galindo had had seizures before his incarceration but they grew worse and more
frequent under the care of the Physicians Network Association, a Lubbock-based
medical services provider that serves 17,000 inmates in 24 facilities across the
nation. In 2002, Reeves County hired PNA to run the prison’s health care,
attracted by its promise to improve services and cut costs. (The county pays PNA
$6.03 per inmate per day, about $8 million a year at full capacity.) Four months
into their contract, then-warden Rudy Franco lauded PNA at a county
commissioners meeting for drastically reducing the number of surgeries, X-rays,
outside visits and other medical services, the latter of which had dropped from
3,148 to 222. On Nov. 12, Galindo was locked up in the Special Housing Unit. The
mostly Spanish-speaking inmates call it la celda de castigo, the punishment
cell. Prisoners and others say the SHU was frequently used to isolate and punish
men with health problems who complained about their medical care. According to
Galindo’s family, the prison authorities said they put him in the SHU to keep an
eye on him. “That’s not true,” says Jesus Galindo Sr., his father. “It was to
punish him.” Galindo pleaded with prison officials to return him to the general
population where he had friends who woke him up to take his pills and took care
of him during his frequent seizures. “He would say he was really afraid because
if he got sick who was going to help him?” says his mother, Graciela Galindo.
She begged officials to look after her son. “They told me he was in a high
security place; that was what the warden said, and that I should not worry about
him. They told me they were taking good care of my son.” Galindo did what he
could to reassure his family, singing love songs to his mother over the phone.
“He had hope,” his brother Jesus Galindo Jr. said. “He was real strong. The only
thing that bothered him was his condition. I saw him on his birthday [Nov. 29].
I said, ‘Hey, hang in there. Think of us like we think of you.’” Judy Madewell,
the public defender in charge of Galindo’s criminal case was so worried that she
sent an investigator to the prison on Dec. 4. The investigator, Octavio Vasquez,
urged the authorities to put Galindo back into the general population. On Dec.
9, Graciela talked to her son on the phone. “He told me to tell Belinda [his
daughter] to do a dance to the Virgin because he’s getting out of the SHU on
Friday [Dec. 12] ... and that if he wasn’t, to contact the jail.” The following
day, Dec. 10, Galindo wrote a letter to his family saying that he felt bad and
had asked the doctor and warden to do something. The letters begins in the
morning, with Galindo noting that a nurse had promised him that she would return
later that day to take his blood. Two days later, on Dec. 12, Graciela called to
see if her son had been released from the SHU. “I called and to my surprise he
was dead. They kept me on the phone for an hour. They said we have to wait for
the doctors. I told them please do something. But my son was already dead.”
“Mama, the day already passed and nothing,” he writes later that same day. “All
they did was walk up and down but here, where I am, no one even stopped. We’ll
see what happens tomorrow.” *** When Galindo was found in his cell, rigor mortis
had already set in. His body was purple and stiff. The El Paso County medical
examiner ruled the cause of death as epileptiform seizure disorder. A toxicology
report found “below-therapeutic levels” of Dilantin, a cheap anti-epileptic
drug, in Galindo’s blood and urine. The drug is only effective at certain
dosages, and a patient’s blood must be checked regularly to make sure it’s not
too high or low, says Robert Cain, an Austin neurologist who reviewed the
autopsy. “With multiple seizures, inadequate levels of medication and left in
isolation without supervision, he was set up to die,” Cain says. Galindo’s
experience was strikingly similar to those of other inmates under PNA’s care. In
2003, the Justice Department investigated the Santa Fe County Jail in New
Mexico, which was then run by Management & Training Corp. (MTC). Just as it does
at Reeves, PNA had a subcontract to provide health care there. The Justice
Department found nearly non-existent medical and mental health care, and
specifically noted PNA’s inattention to properly calibrating dose-sensitive
medications, especially anti-epileptics. “We found several instances in which
PNA failed to monitor inmates on these types of medications, even when inmates
reported experiencing side effects,” the report states. In one case, blood
testing showed that an inmate with a seizure disorder did not have enough of the
anti-seizure drug to be effective. The PNA medical staff did nothing, and seven
days later the inmate attempted suicide and then suffered a seizure. “Even with
all the attention from medical staff due to his suicide attempt, his seizure
medication blood level was not measured until four days” later, the report says.
No such authoritative report has been done for the Pecos prison. But in
interviews and correspondence, prisoners, their relatives, attorneys and
immigrant rights advocates describe a facility overrun with corruption and
dangerous cost-cutting measures. Prisoners writing to the Observer have made
allegations ranging from physical abuse to tacit arrangements between guards and
prisoners to traffic drugs and other contraband inside the facility. (GEO Group
declined to comment.) A prisoner we’ll call Juan, who asked that his real name
not be used for fear of retribution, describes an environment of fear where
hardened criminals serving long sentences live side by side with men who are
there solely for crossing the border illegally. Juan says that prisoners in the
jail are divided into groups based on their home state in Mexico with the tacit
approval of the guards and the warden. Prisoners who have money and can buy
influence and authority run these groups. These bosses dole out punishments and
determine with the guards who gets sent to the punishment cell, Juan says. “We
are threatened and beaten if we complain. While [the prison bosses] can have
cell phones and other benefits that are forbidden.” Another prisoner, Jose—who
also asked that his name be changed—writes that he has hepatitis. “I begged for
medicine and they sent me a bottle that was unsealed and only half full,” Jose
writes. “I haven’t received treatment for my hepatitis since December 2008.”
“The problem with Reeves is that there are no medical services,” says Graciela
Arredondo, the mother of a man who served part of his sentence at Reeves. “They
won’t bring a doctor if you are sick. They don’t want to spend the money, but
these are human beings and they deserve medical services.” After the riots in
December and January, the ACLU of Texas called on the Department of Justice’s
Office of the Inspector General to investigate the prisoners’ charges. This
wouldn’t be the first time the OIG was asked to look into reports of abuse at
the Reeves facility. In 2006, an investigation resulted in the arrests of five
employees at the jail for smuggling drugs into the facility and having sex with
inmates. Because it hasn’t received an answer from the OIG, the ACLU is starting
its own investigation. “Riots are relatively rare, and are an indicator of
serious problems at a facility,” says Lisa Graybill, legal director for the ACLU
of Texas. ”We continue to receive complaints that the Bureau of Prisons and its
contractors, GEO and Physicians Network Association, are systemically failing to
address life-threatening and chronic medical conditions of detainees.” None of
this is surprising to longtime prison activist Bob Libal, co-coordinator of
Grassroots Leadership, an Austin nonprofit that fights private prisons.
“Conditions at GEO facilities have been horrendous, and it stretches across
every type of facility,” says Libal. “It’s case after case after case. Whether
Coke County, Val Verde, Dickens County, Reeves, Pearsall, it’s one horrendous
thing after another.” In 2007, the Texas Youth Commission removed 197 youths
from GEO Group’s Coke County Juvenile Justice Center after inspectors found
deplorable conditions including filthy cells that reeked of feces and urine,
insects in the food, and inmates only being allowed to shower and brush their
teeth every few days. A year before, the family of 23-year-old LeTisha Tapia
sued GEO Group after Tapia killed herself at the Val Verde County Jail, which
the company runs. Tapia had told her family that she was raped, beaten, sexually
humiliated and deprived of psychological and medical treatment in retaliation
for telling the warden about guards allowing inmates to have sex with each
other. The suit was settled out of court. In the past two years, the state of
Idaho has pulled out of contracts at two GEO-operated jails—the Dickens County
Correctional Center, near Spur, and the Bill Clayton Detention Center in
Littleton—citing chronic understaffing, a lack of required treatment programs,
and suicides linked to squalid conditions. In a lawsuit set to go to trial in
March, two detainees at the GEO-run South Texas Detention Complex in Pearsall
claim that the company “intentionally and systematically violates the rights of
mentally disabled detainees.” Echoing the Reeves County allegations, both of the
plaintiffs, Miroslava Rodriguez-Grava and Isaias Vasques Cisneros de Jesus,
allege that instead of treating them for their mental disabilities, GEO put them
in segregation for extended periods of time. “I think that any time you insert
profit into the equation that care and also the rehabilitative elements of
corrections goes out the window,” said Libal. “They try to do things as cheap as
possible. You get what you’re paying for in a lot of ways.” *** The Pecos
prison, a remote, austere correctional campus flanked by farmland and a weirdly
out-of-place cemetery, sprawls across several acres a few hundred yards from
Interstate 30. To travelers zipping by at 80 mph, the facility is little more
than a blur of barbed wire and guard towers. But to the people of Reeves County
(population 13,137), it’s an engine of progress. In the mid-1980s, with the
regional economy devastated by the Texas oil bust, local business and government
leaders decided to move into a recession-proof industry that was exploding in an
increasingly criminalized America: prisons. In 1986, the county built a 300-bed
prison. The prison filled rapidly with federal inmates, pumping revenue into the
county’s budget and adding decent-paying jobs to the local work force. By 2002,
Reeves had 2,000 beds. In 2003, the county completed construction on a $39
million, 960-bed unit only to find that the feds had no interest. “They built a
$39 million prison on speculation,” said Jon Fulbright, a reporter for the Pecos
Enterprise. While the prison sat empty, payments on the bonds, reduced to junk
status, were coming due. On the verge of default, county officials begged the
Bush administration to send prisoners and hired Randy DeLay, former House
Majority Leader Tom DeLay’s brother, to lobby in Washington, D.C. That’s when
Wackenhut Corrections Corp., now GEO Group, rode to the rescue. In November
2003, GEO agreed to take over management of the whole 3,000-bed prison complex
and soon struck a deal with the Bureau of Prisons to fill the new unit. Despite
the troubles at the Pecos prison under GEO management, local officials are
grateful. “A lot of people criticize GEO but I don’t,” says Sheriff Arnulfo
“Andy” Gomez. “We had a hard time and they pulled us out. They’ve got lobbyists
and all that.” Besides, he says, “You’re going to have trouble in every prison.”
Some more than others. On Jan. 31, a month and a half after the first uprising,
prisoners at the Reeves County Detention Center rose up again. Prison and law
enforcement officials have released little information on the disturbance, but
inmates, advocates and family members say it began when Ramon Garcia, 25, was
forced into solitary confinement after complaining of dizziness and feeling
sick. “We spoke with the warden and we told him to take our countryman out of
the punishment cell and take him to the hospital because he needs medical
attention,” an inmate told Laura Rivas, an advocate with the National Network
for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. “We told them that if they were not going to
do it then we would do it, we would take him out, because we have more strength,
and they laughed at us. And that’s when it all started.” Lana Williams, a friend
of Garcia’s family, told KFOX-TV in El Paso that Garcia had been put into
solitary confinement whenever he complained of feeling sick. “He’s gotten to the
point where he can’t walk down the hall without holding on to the wall, and this
has been going on and getting progressively worse,” Williams said. During the
five-day takeover, the inmates drafted another list of demands: better medical
treatment, adequate food (especially for those who are ill or have diabetes) and
no guard retaliation against any person. “To them, we don’t matter,” the inmate
told Rivas. “If we die, it doesn’t matter to them. The only thing that interests
them is money—nothing more.”
September 10, 2009 CBS 7 News
The business manager for the Reeves County Detention Center is behind bars
after being arrested on an embezzlement warrant out of New Mexico. 39-year-old
Keith Clark has nine charges of credit card fraud against him. The Reeves County
Sheriff's Office says the warrant stems from an incident that happened in
Albuquerque. Clark worked for the GEO Group, which manages the RCDC facility.
All employees are required to have a background check. The GEO Group declined to
comment on Clark when we contacted them today. No bond has been set yet.
August 3, 2009 NewsWest 9
A former worker at the Reeves County Detention Center will spend the next
two and a half years behind bars. Moises Martinez worked as a case manager. He
had money wired into his account to sneak tobacco and other contraband into the
private prison, several times last summer. After he gets out from jail, he will
spend three years on probation.
June 17, 2009 Midland Reporter-Telegram
The death of a 32-year-old epileptic inmate in solitary confinement at
Reeves County Detention Center last Dec. 12 touched off the first of two riots
that saw fires set and hostages taken, said an attorney who represents the
inmate’s family. Some of the privately-run federal lockup’s 2,400 inmates, many
of them illegal immigrants, had complained of woeful health care after the riots
west of Pecos on Dec. 12-13 and Jan. 31-Feb. 1. But the story now centers on
32-year-old Jesus Manuel Galindo of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, who El
Paso lawyer Miguel “Mike” Torres” claims was improperly treated. Representing
Galindo’s wife, three children and parents with co-counsel Leon Schydlower,
Torres said Wednesday that a doctor with a Lubbock physicians’ group that
contracts with the prison examined Galindo just before his death. “The doctor
said Jesus had an attitude problem because he was complaining about the lack of
medical treatment that killed him three days later,” said Torres. “He had no
business being in the SHU (Security Housing Unit) because he was only in for
minor infractions, not fighting or worse. His mom had been calling almost daily
to say he was not feeling well and was having seizures. “She mailed the prison
his medical records, but they sent them back with a curt note that said, ‘Don’t
send these again.’ When they found him at 7 a.m. Dec. 12, rigor mortis had set
in, which meant he had been dead for three to five hours. I attended his funeral
and the small neighborhood funeral home in south El Paso was filled to
overflowing. It was tragic because he was a young man.” Torres, who is taking
steps toward a civil lawsuit against the company operating the prison, said
Galindo’s former cell mates touched off the riot because they had feared that
result. “Everything we learned is that they were worried sick about this guy,”
he said. “They tried to contact the administration and say, ‘Bring him back and
we will watch him.’ You have to take this type of medication (Dilantin) at
precise times at well-monitored therapeutic levels.” Judy Madewell, a federal
public defender in San Antonio who was handling Galindo’s appeal of a 30-month
term for illegal re-entry into the U.S., said she has “had concerns for a long
time because RCDC has had a number of problems with inmates getting proper
medical attention. “My secretary translated a letter in which Jesus said, ‘I’m
afraid I’m going to die and no one will find me!’” Madewell said. “We feel
horrible about what happened and feel like there is a lot of responsibility on
the facility’s part.” She reported sending Octavio Vasquez, an investigator with
the federal defender’s office in Alpine, to spend three hours with Galindo on
Dec. 4. “He was in the SHU for minor disciplinary infractions,” Madewell said.
“Octavio went to the authorities and said, ‘He needs removing from solitary,’
and they said, ‘Yes, we will move him out by this weekend.’ He was still there
when he died eight days later. “Jesus told Octavio the prison was not giving him
his meds often enough and lowered the dosage. He was a gentle person — not a
problem client and as far as I know not a problem inmate.” Assistant Federal
Defender Charlotte Harris of Alpine, whose office represented Galindo after his
arrest, said the Geo Group of Boca Raton, Fla., runs RCDC with support from
Reeves County. “It’s better for the government to run prisons, rather than
private companies, because corners can be cut if you have a profit motive,” said
Harris. A call to the prison last week was referred to Geo’s Florida
headquarters, where a spokesman asked questions be submitted in writing by
e-mail. The questions had not been answered Wednesday. Geo also operates Lea
County Correctional Facility at Hobbs, N.M., according to references. Two prison
recreation specialists were released unharmed after the first riot. The rec
center was torched during that melee, and smoke poured from a housing unit
during the second, broadcast by CNN, after which three inmates were
hospitalized, one missing a finger. Charged with assault and other crimes, 25
inmates will be tried in Pecos and Midland, a court official said. Six former
RCDC employees — four guards, a life skills teacher and a case manager — have
been indicted since March for accepting bribes to smuggle marijuana, tobacco and
cell phones. Four pleaded guilty, one was convicted by a jury and the sixth
awaits trial, according to records. Reeves County Hospital Administrator Al
LaRochelle said Wednesday that his hospital has not worked at the prison in at
least nine years, if ever, and he is not interested in it doing so. Noting RCH
occasionally treats prisoners in its emergency room and does some pre-arranged
surgeries, LaRochelle said, “You need experience running an inmates’ health care
facility. “Anytime you start looking at low bid contracts, that’s not my cup of
tea. I’m not a fan of that type of arrangement. If I can’t provide the quality,
I don’t want to do the work.”
June 2, 2009 AP
A federal jury in Midland convicted a 21-year-old former prison guard of
smuggling contraband to inmates. Jacob C. Guzman of Pecos was convicted Tuesday
of accepting bribes, attempted destruction of evidence and attempted smuggling
of contraband to prisoners. The federal inmates were at the county-owned but
privately managed Reeves County Detention Center in Pecos. The prison, owned by
Boca Raton, Fla.-based The GEO Group Inc., was the site of inmate riots in
December and January. Guzman faces up to 15 years in prison. Sentencing is Aug.
29. Prosecutors say Guzman in 2008 accepted $600 from someone in Tennessee to
smuggle cell phones, tobacco and MP3 players to an inmate. Guzman was indicted,
along two other former employees, earlier this year.
April 1, 2009 Odessa American
Juan Angel Guerra said he wasn't surprised when two riots recently broke out at
the Reeves County Detention Center. As district attorney in Willacy County in
South Texas, Guerra charged a prison's private operator with murder in
connection with the death of a prisoner there in 2001. Like the Pecos prison,
the facility there is operated by the Boca Raton, Fla.-based Geo Group. "If you
look at the map, and you see how they're spreading across the country it's
frightening," Guerra said of private prisons. "But you know when you start
complaining is when it's your brother, it's your wife." Along with the Geo
Group, Guerra has also indicted former Vice President Dick Cheney, claiming that
his investment in private prisons made him culpable in abuse. The charges were
later dismissed. "I would have loved to have taken that to trial," Guerra said.
But, instead, Guerra is out of office after losing in a primary in his
re-election bid last year. So he has taken his fight north. Guerra said he now
represents more than 250 inmates, all illegal immigrants, at the Reeves County
Detention Center. The prison, which holds 2,400 inmates, had separate riots in
December and January that heavily damaged the facility. The county-owned prison
has had an agreement with the Geo Group since 2003. The facility houses federal
immigration violators under a contract with the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Guerra said he's representing the inmates because it's hard for them to find or
afford attorneys. "Nobody else is representing them," he said. "Nobody else
knows enough." Guerra said he initially represented the inmates for free, but he
now asks families for a $100 donation to assist with his expenses. The attorney
said he hasn't been able to see his clients because the prison hasn't allowed
any attorneys or family members into units 1 or 2 since the riots. "They're my
clients," he said. "That's a basic right that anybody who's detained on United
States soil has, is the right to see an attorney." Guerra said the prison cites
safety concerns in not permitting him to enter. "For somebody to say you can't
see your client because we're concerned about your safety, and then they have
another death, what are you supposed to do, just walk away?" he said. The other
death Guerra refers to is that of Jose Manuel Falcon, who died March 5, after
the riots had ended, of wounds prison officials ruled was a suicide. So Guerra
has been camping out just down the road from the prison. He said he won't leave
until he's able to see his clients. He sleeps in his pickup, which is surrounded
by 90 white crosses, made of wooden stakes. He said they represent 90 inmates
who died at private prisons in the United States. While the crosses are all in
remembrance of illegal immigrants, he said he would soon add 90 more to
commemorate U.S. citizens who died under similar circumstances. Falcon's mother,
Santos Aguallo, recently joined him at his camp. With Guerra translating, she
said she didn't believe her son's death was a suicide. "All she wants to know is
why did they take away his life? He only had two months to go," Guerra said. The
attorney also questions the suicide ruling. "Give me another example of a guy
committing suicide by cutting his throat," he said. "It doesn't happen." Guerra
dismisses those who say he has no business being in Pecos. "If I got a guy
indicted for murder and something happens and it's the same guy, am I outside my
jurisdiction?" he said. Guerra said the prison told him he would be allowed to
see 10 of his clients today. If he can see his clients, he promises to leave
Pecos. But his fight won't be over until private prisons are shut down. In 2007,
Guerra was charged himself on indictments that he extorted money from a bail
bonds company and used his office for personal business. He said the charges,
which were later dismissed, were politically motivated. Guerra said private
prisons are intentionally understaffed, and the companies work to keep inmates
in longer, all so the companies can continue to bring in $80 a day per inmate
and keep as much of it as possible. Officials at the Reeves County Detention
Center declined comment onsite, saying they would issue a written statement
Tuesday afternoon. As of Wednesday evening, the Odessa American hadn't received
any statement. Efforts to reach Reeves County Judge Sam Contreras and County
Attorney Alva Alvarez were also unsuccessful. Raul Tavarez of Odessa said his
brother-in-law Auden Amancio Castillo sent a letter to Guerra because he fears
he'll be sent to Pecos. Castillo is currently in the Ector County Detention
Center facing felony possession of a controlled substance charges. Tavarez said
he'd like to join Guerra's cause. "I'm glad that somebody has the initiative to
get involved with them and make a point to be involved with these guys," Tavarez
said. "I'm glad we've got somebody like that who's a voice for these guys."
March 28, 2009 NewsWest 9
A Pecos street was covered in white crosses on Saturday symbolizing inmates in
private prisons who have lost their lives. A local attorney representing inmates
inside the Reeves County Detention facility asked family members to make crosses
to represent their loved ones. Juan Guerra has been camped outside the detention
center now for weeks. He says he wants authorities to allow him inside the
facility to talk to his clients. In the meantime, this weekend he placed each
cross along side the road just outside the prison. "All these crosses symbolize
all the people who have died in private prisons in the last three years. We have
over about 90 identified so far, but everyday we find out more that are dying,"
Pecos inmate attorney, Juan Guerra, said. About 180 crosses were places along
the road. Guerra plans on camping out until Thursday. No word yet as to how long
those crosses will stay up.
March 20, 2009 Action 4 News
A Rio Grande Valley family continues to search for justice after their nephew
died while serving time in a private West Texas prison. Jose Manuel Falcon was
two months shy of his release from the Pecos prison when he died. The
32-year-old died Thursday, March 12, at the Reeve County Detention Center.
Falcon spent five years there. Family members called it a harsh sentence for
being caught illegally in the U.S. without papers. They claim corruption at the
prison ultimately took his life. Falcon's aunt said they cut him and they
removed his eyes; his legs were bruised and his body was mutilated. "It was
horrible," she said. According to former Willacy County District Attorney, Juan
Guerra, an inmate is five times more likely to die in a private prison than in a
government prison. Guerra is representing the Falcons. Since 2001, Guerra has
made it his mission to investigate what he calls injustices at private prisons.
Currently, he represents roughly 250 inmates, and he claims he's been denied
access numerous times to visit with his clients. "Private prisons are out there
to make money. They have very few guards, they're treated inhumane. In my
opinion, the meals are just ridiculous and the medical attention is just not
adequate." said Guerra. The exact cause of death is listed as suicide. But
Falcon's family vowed to continue investigating his death. They will make their
trip to Pecos next week and place 160 homemade crosses in the prison's front
lawn, which represent inmates who have died in private prisons this year.
March 19, 2009 Valley Morning Star
Attorney Juan Angel Guerra will continue his quest to meet with clients in
the Reeves County Detention Center in Pecos by lining the prison's fence with
crosses that represent the 160 inmates who have died there, including a
33-year-old Alamo man who died last week. On Wednesday, Guerra and Jose Falcon's
family worked on the crosses, which will feature the name of each inmate that
has died. He planned to leave Thursday night. Guerra said detention center
officials said Falcon committed suicide. However, Guerra said that's impossible
as Falcon was nearing the end of his sentence. "Two more months and he would
have been out," Guerra said. Falcon was completing his five-year prison sentence
after he crossed into the United States from Mexico illegally for the second
time. He was previously arrested on the same charge 10 years ago, Guerra said.
"They're saying he committed suicide, but there's no way," Guerra said, adding
that bruises and cuts found on Falcon's body are consistent with defensive
wounds. Since February, the detention center has been on lockdown following a
riot that damaged the facility. County officials have denied Guerra access to
the facility and his clients, saying it's too dangerous, letters to the former
Willacy County district attorney show. The Reeves County Detention Center, about
350 miles northwest of San Antonio, is managed by the GEO Group, which a grand
jury under Guerra indicted last year in the death of an inmate in a Raymondville
facility. Charges were later dropped. Families for his other clients - more than
200, Guerra said - are concerned about the safety of their family members. "If
people are rioting, something is going on," Guerra said. "They're not being
treated right." Members of Falcon's family, who live in Alamo, are expected to
travel with Guerra to Pecos in protest, he said. Along with the crosses they'll
place at the entrance of the facility, they'll also take signs that urge
government control of these prisons. "We need to make people aware that people
are inside there," he said when asked why the signs and crosses are necessary.
March 19, 2009 KRGV
A spokesman for the GEO Group, a private prison company that runs the Reeves
County Detention Center in Pecos released a statement to NEWSCHANNEL 5. The
statement reads: On March 5, 2009, at approximately 6:40PM, inmate Jose Manuel
Falcon took his life by self inflicting numerous lacerations with a disposable
razor blade. At the time of the incident the inmate was in a single cell and
there is no evidence of foul play. In accordance with state law, the custodial
death of inmate falcon was investigated by the Texas Rangers and it has been
determined through the investigation that the death was suicide. A Texas Rangers
spokesperson tells NEWSCHANNEL 5 they still consider Falcon's death an open
case.
March 17, 2009 KRIS TV
Three employees at a county-owned but privately managed West Texas prison have
been indicted on charges that they took bribes to smuggle in contraband, the
U.S. Attorney's Office announced Tuesday. Moises B. Martinez Jr., a prison case
manager, and guard Sylvia Castillo Chairez were indicted last week in Midland.
Jacob C. Guzman was indicted on Jan. 28, though his Midland lawyer, Dan Wade,
believes a second indictment was also issued last week. All three defendants
worked at the Reeves County Detention Center in Pecos. Martinez and Chairez
turned themselves in Tuesday morning. Guzman turned himself in earlier.
Investigators said the three are accused of taking cash from inmates to smuggle
in contraband including tobacco and cell phones. According to an indictment
against Guzman, investigators allege the guard was paid $100 by someone in
Tennessee to smuggle tobacco into the prison in September 2008. When the tobacco
was found during a search before Guzman could go into the jail, the indictment
alleges, he tried to destroy it. Wade declined to comment on the case against
Guzman Tuesday. Court records do not list lawyers for Martinez or Chairez.
Investigators said Martinez is accused of taking five bribes, ranging from $500
to $900 to smuggle contraband into the prison between June and July 2008.
Chairez is accused of taking six bribes of $500 to $1,100 to smuggle cell phones
into the prison between November 2007 and June 2008. Investigators said Chairez
was paid by someone in New York. The Reeves County Detention Center, a sprawling
prison complex at the edge of Pecos, is owned by the county but run by Boca
Raton, Fla.-based GEO Group Inc. The prison houses about 3,000 federal criminal
immigrant inmates. The facility suffered widespread damage in two riots in as
many months in December and January. Relatives of inmates at the jail have
claimed that poor conditions, including a lack of medical care, prompted the
inmates to riot. County officials have said repairs could cost up to $20
million. The charges announced Tuesday are not related to either riot.
February 25, 2009 KRIS TV
A pair of destructive prison riots in the span of two months at a county-owned
but privately managed West Texas prison have cost more than $1.1 million in
repairs, according to Reeves County records. The Reeves County Commission
unanimously approved more than $948,000 in repair bills from the riots during a
regular meeting Monday and previously OK'd about $320,000 in repair costs.
Reeves County Judge Sam Contreras said it may be some time before officials know
the total cost of the riots. The first incident was sparked by an inmate's death
in December, and the second incident erupted Jan. 31. But insurance officials
have estimated its repairs could exceed $20 million, Contreras said. "They said
we won't know until all the bids come in," Contreras said Wednesday. In the
latest incident, which relatives of inmates said was sparked by poor medical
care and other conditions inside the sprawling prison complex, inmates caused
widespread damages, even setting fire to one building. Contreras said two
recreation buildings suffered substantial damage in the second riot and one may
be demolished.
February 15, 2009 Trans Border Project
Complaints about medical care at the Reeves County Detention Center aren’t
new. In 2007 an inmate went on a hunger strike protesting inadequate medical
care. When inmates protested after the death of an inmate in solitary
confinement on December 12, 2008, they alleged that medical deficiencies and
malpractice were widespread. Six weeks later the immigrant inmates rioted again
with the same demands that they be provided with decent medical care. Juan Angel
Guerra, a South Texas attorney who was the former district attorney in Willacy
County, says some 200 inmates at the immigrant prison have enlisted his services
to address their concerns about medical and other abuses. During the week of the
Jan. 31 disturbance, the county kept the prison on “lockdown,” denying access to
reporters and all others, including Guerra. Neither the county, which owns the
prisons, nor GEO Group, which runs the immigrant prison, released any
information about the concerns of the rioting prisoners, simply saying in brief
releases that the “issues” were being resolved. Similarly, the Bureau of
Prisons, which contracts with Reeves County, to hold the immigrant prisoners,
ignored public requests for information. A full week after authorities said that
they restored control over the prison, County Attorney Alva Alvarez sent a
letter to Guerra denying his request to meet with his clients. "We are doing
everything possible to meet your request," Reeves County Attorney Alva Alvarez
wrote. "However, since the facility was destroyed, there is no secure place for
you to meet with your clients at this time." Reeves County Detention Center is
not a maximum-security prison. It has been variously described by prison
officials as a minimum or low-security facility – hence the “detention center”
designation. The immigrants detained at the Pecos prison are not violent
criminal offenders but rather immigrants, often legal ones albeit noncitizens,
who have been convicted generally of nonviolent felonies like drug possession
and various immigration violations. In the name of guaranteeing public safety,
Reeves County officials have kept the prison off limits to reporters and
attorneys. And in an apparent effort to keep the story about inmate protests
from gaining momentum in the media and to keep it away from the view of state
and federal officials, county officials and the private prison contractors have
refused to comment on prison conditions. Among those who have declined to
comment about the state of medical care at the detention center is the private
contractor that is responsible for this care. Leader in Correctional Healthcare
-- Physicians Network Association (PNA), a Lubbock-based company that calls
itself a leader in correctional healthcare,” has subcontracted with Reeves
County since 2002. As the owner of the prison, Reeves County has a contract with
the Bureau of Prisons to hold fedeal immigrant prisoners. But rather than run
the facility itself, the county subcontracts its responsibilities to GEO Group
to operate and manage the prison and to PNA to provide medical and dental care.
(See Medical Claims Part One) In its presentation as part of the negotiations
over its current contract with the county, PNA assured the county that “as a
subcontractor, PNA has fourteen years’ experience assisting operators exceed
expectations.” It emphasized the “cost-effective” character of its medical
services, and promised that it would “work as your partner to ensure appropriate
healthcare without compromising operations.” “We are recognized for our
responsiveness to the needs of our customers,” boasted PNA, referring as
“customers” to the private prison firms like GEO (with which it has ten
contracts) and counties like Reeves that own prisons not to the inmates it cares
for. PNA included GEO Group and Management and Training Corporation (MTC) among
its references, and it told the county: “PNA has never had a contract canceled
or been removed from a facility.” It noted that it was “proud of its record of
no substantiated grievances in any facility.” The Dec. 12 prisoner protest at
Reeves County Detention Center started when inmates saw the body of Jesus Manuel
Galindo removed from solitary confinement. Inmates contend that Galindo did not
receive medical attention for his epileptic seizures. The Galindo family says it
has filed a lawsuit against the Reeves County Detention Center. David Galindo,
the dead inmate’s brother, told a reporter after the second riot that started
Jan. 31, “The reason they’re having riots is because their personnel is doing
the wrong thing just like they did to my brother.” After the second disturbance
started, an inmate called the media. The Pecos prisoner said that the protest
began when prison officials placed Ramon Garcia, 25, in solitary confinement
after he complained of dizziness and feeling ill. “All we wanted was for them to
give him medical care and because they didn't, things got out of control and
people started fires in several offices,” said the inmate, who declined to give
his name for fear of reprisals by officials. Lana Williams, a family friend of
Garcia, told KFOX TV in El Paso that his medical neglect had been a problem
since August 2008. "He's gotten to the point where he can't walk down the hall
without holding on to the wall, and this has been going on and getting
progressively worse," said Williams. Garcia told her was being been placed in
solitary confinement whenever he complained about feeling ill. PNA’s Medical
Gulag -- It shouldn’t be surprising that long-running complaints about medical
cars abuses sparked the inmate protests at the Reeves County Detention Center.
Six years ago the Justice Department found widespread medical abuses at another
county-owned, privately run adult detention center, where the same
subcontractor, Physicians Network Association, was also the the medical services
provider. Concerned about civil rights violations at the detention center, the
Justice Department sent a study team from its Civil Rights division to
investigate the jail in May 2002 to determine if there were violations that
could be prosecuted under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act
(1997). On March 6, 2003 the Justice Department sent a letter and a long report
of its findings to Santa Fe County, which owned the jail and contracted with
Management and Training Corporation (MTC), a private prison firm, to operate the
jail. The county had an intergovernmental services agreement (IGSA) with the
Justice Department to hold detainees waiting trial who were under the custody of
the U.S. Marshals Service and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. MTC subcontracted
the medical services part of the IGSA contract to PNA. Summarizing its findings,
the Justice Department stated: “We find that persons confined suffer harm or the
risk of serious harm from deficiencies in the facility’s provision of medical
and mental health care, suicide prevention, protection of inmates from harm,
fire safety, and sanitation.” In its report, the Justice Department team
specified 52 actions that were needed “to rectify the identified deficiencies
and to protect the constitutional rights of the facility’s inmates to bring the
jail into compliance with civil rights standards. Thirty-eight of the 52
identified deficiencies related to medical services. The Justice Department
report concluded: “The Detention Center, through PNA, provides inadequate
medical services in the following areas: intake, screening, and referral; acute
care; emergent care; chronic and prenatal care; and medication administration
and management. As a result, inmates at the Detention Center with serious
medical needs are at risk for harm.” The Justice Department’s investigation was
sparked by the suicide of Tyson Johnson in January 2002 at the Santa Fe County
Detention Center. Johnson, who was awaiting a hearing on charges of stalking,
was a longtime sufferer of severe claustrophobia. In a New York Times (June 6,
2004) story on the Justice Department’s investigation and MTC, Suzan Garcia,
Johnson’s mother, said that had tried to contact the jail because she was
concerned about her son’s psychological condition. ''I called the jail and asked
to speak to a doctor, but they said they didn't have a doctor,'' Ms. Garcia
said. ''When I asked to speak to the warden, they just put me on hold and then
the phone would disconnect.'' According to the Justice Department’s finding and
associated reports, Johnson had asked to see a psychologist, but the 580-inmate
jail didn’t have a doctor let alone a psychologist or a psychiatrist. So Mr.
Johnson tried slitting his wrist and neck with a razor, and when that failed, as
the New York Times reported, he told the jail's nurse, Sheila Turner, “Today I
am going to take myself out.” A guard, Crystal Quintana, told investigators that
the nurse replied, ''Let him.'' Ms. Turner denies this, her lawyer said. As the
New York Times recounted: “Ten minutes later, Mr. Johnson, 27 and with no
previous criminal record, was found hanging from a sprinkler head in a
windowless isolation cell where he was supposedly being closely watched.”
Despite being placed on suicide watch, Johnson hung himself with a supposedly
“suicide-proof” blanket inside the isolation cell. His family contends that
instead of tending to his psychological problems, the medical staff neglected
him and taunted him. The NYT story by Fox Butterfield described the state of
mental healthcare for which PNA was responsible: “The nearest doctor on contract
was in Lubbock, Tex., a two-hour plane flight away, and he visited the jail on
average only every six weeks, seeing only a few patients each time, the report
found. The nurse had an order in her file to spend no more than five minutes
with any inmate patient, which the report said was not enough time. “There was
no psychologist or psychiatrist, and although the nurse had no mental health
training care, she was distributing drugs for mentally ill inmates, the report
said. “The jail did have a mental health clinician, Thomas Welter, who was
employed by Physicians Network Association, a subcontractor. But he never did
any evaluations of mentally troubled inmates, the report said. Instead, he
boasted to them about his own history of drug use, according to a recent
deposition by Cody Graham, who was then warden of the Santa Fe jail. Not long
after Mr. Johnson hanged himself, Mr. Graham escorted Mr. Welter to the gate and
told him not to come back.” Pattern of PNA Medical Malpractice -- The Justice
Department found a pattern of gross medical care deficiencies at the Santa Fe
jail. Among its findings were the following: · “PNA’s intake medical screening,
assessment, and referral process is insufficient to ensure that inmates receive
necessary medical care during their incarceration.” · “Even when PNA staff
identify inmates with serious medical needs during the intake process, they fail
to refer them for appropriate care.” · “Chart review revealed that of those
inmates in our sample who did receive the initial health screening, none were
referred to the Health Services Unit for the medical attention they needed.” ·
“The grievance system does not provide an avenue for resolving problems of
access to health services. The grievances we reviewed included a complaint from
one inmate who was supposed to have an x-ray, but had received no response from
the Health Services Unit despite having filed two grievances in three weeks.”
Seven Suicide Attempts, One Completed in Seven Months of MTC/PNA -- · “As of the
time of our visit, during the seven months since MTC assumed management of the
facility, there had been one completed suicide and seven attempted suicides. A
review of these incidents reveals that the Detention Center staff fail to
respond appropriately to inmates’ indications of mental health crises and
possible suicidality.” · “For example, one inmate answered several of the
initial mental health suicide screening questions in the affirmative, including
that he had recently experienced a significant loss, that he felt that he had
nothing to look forward to, and that he ‘just didn’t care.’ He reported that he
had been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and that he was taking an
antidepressant for this condition. He also stated that he felt that he needed to
see a psychologist. Despite these indicators, the screening nurse concluded that
the inmate needed only a routine mental health referral, as opposed to an
immediate mental health evaluation and determination whether mental health
services were necessary.” · “Another incident involved an inmate who cut her
wrists with a razor and was placed on a 15-minute suicide watch in the medical
unit. According to the subsequent investigation of the incident, the inmate was
upset because her medications were stopped. The inmate was treated for
lacerations to her wrists and released from suicide watch without ever receiving
a mental health evaluation or mental health clearance.” An inmate placed on
watch status in a medical unit cell for his own safety due to mental illness and
seizure disorder was able to cut both of his wrists with a razor blade within 5
minutes of his arrival in that cell. The only way that staff knew that the event
had occurred was when blood began running down the floor from his cell." Five
Minutes Per Patient -- · “The nurse practitioner’s personnel file included a
memo from the Vice President of Operations of PNA instructing her to see one
patient for each five minutes of scheduled clinical time. Many inmates,
particularly those with acute or chronic conditions, require significantly more
clinical attention to ensure that their needs are adequately addressed.” · “PNA
does not test for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). STDs are prevalent in
jail populations. Left untreated, STDs can cause brain and organ damage and
damage to fetuses. PNA’s failure to screen for STDs places the inmates and the
community at risk.” · “PNA fails to provide timely access to appropriate medical
care for inmates when they develop acute medical needs. Medical care is
unreasonably and unnecessarily delayed and, even when provided, often
inadequate.” · “Even once inmates succeed in getting to the Health Services
Unit, they frequently receive substandard care. We reviewed the medical records
of ten inmates seen for primary care by the nurse practitioner within a
one-month period. Six of the ten inmates received substandard care.” PNA’s
Failure to Respond to Acute Medical Needs -- “Additional chart reviews
confirmed PNA’s failure to respond to inmates’ acute medical needs. For example,
one inmate reported breast lumps and lumps in her armpit, chest pain, and
swelling in her legs and feet. Although a mammogram was ordered in October 2001,
it had not been done by the time of our visit to the Detention Center seven
months later.” · “At the time of our visit, the only physician providing
supervision or care at the Detention Center was the doctor who is the Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) of PNA and is based in Lubbock, Texas. As the CEO of PNA,
this doctor has numerous responsibilities, including supervising the medical
care at each of the facilities at which PNA provides care throughout the south
and southwestern United States. This physician was visiting the Detention Center
an average of once every six weeks, and saw only a few patients during each
visit. While he is available by telephone for consultation, he does not visit
the Detention Center frequently enough to provide adequate supervision. Given
the deficiencies in care and other problems identified in this letter,
additional physician supervision at the Detention Center is necessary.” No
Pre-Natal Care, Improper Treatment for Seizures -- · “PNA fails to provide
inmates with needed medications in a timely manner, and fails to monitor
medication in inmates with serious medical needs.” · “The Detention Center fails
to provide for continuity of medications for inmates upon arrival at the
facility. Several files we reviewed revealed that the nurse practitioner does
not continue the same medications for inmates that were prescribed for them
prior to their incarceration. Sometimes the nurse practitioner simply
discontinues the medication, and sometimes she changes the inmate’s prescription
to older, less expensive medications which are significantly less effective.” ·
“PNA fails to provide adequate prenatal care for pregnant inmates. Of the four
pregnant women at the Detention Center at the time of our visit, none had any
prenatal visit with an OB/GYN during their incarceration documented, despite the
fact that two of the women were in their third trimester of pregnancy and near
term.” · “An inmate had been prescribed a medication for his seizure disorder,
in addition to several other medications, and his blood levels of the seizure
medication had been measured. Although the laboratory results showed that the
amount of this drug in his system was not enough to achieve the intended
therapeutic effect, there was no reference to this finding anywhere else in his
medical record. Moreover, staff failed to respond appropriately, such as
adjusting his medication. Seven days later, the inmate attempted suicide by
cutting his wrists, then suffered a seizure.” Keeping it Cost-Effective -- ·
“PNA’s formulary does not contain effective medication for inmates with serious
medical needs such as hypertension, heart failure and diabetes. In addition, the
formulary includes many less expensive, less effective medications than are
currently available for the treatment of some diseases.” · “Some inmates at the
Detention Center are currently provided with less effective medications with
greater side effects than they had received prior to incarceration, which can
lead to deterioration in inmates with mental illness and end-organ damage in
inmates with diseases such as hypertension and diabetes.” · “Even when staff did
monitor medication levels, they failed to respond to indications that an
inmate’s dosage was inappropriate. Although the laboratory results showed that
the amount of this drug in his system was not enough to achieve the intended
therapeutic effect, there was no reference to this finding anywhere else in his
medical record. Moreover, staff failed to respond appropriately, such as
adjusting his medication. Seven days later, the inmate attempted suicide by
cutting his wrists, then suffered a seizure.” PNA and MTC Leave Town -- Neither
MTC nor PNA stuck around Santa Fe to help the country resolve its problems with
the Justice Department. Both MTC and PNA said they had to terminate their
contracts because they were losing money. Soon after the Justice Department
issued its findings in March 2004 on medical care and other problems at the
Santa Fe County Detention Center, PNA pulled out of its contract with MTC. A
year later in April 2005, MTC announced that it had “chosen to end this contract
because it has not been possible to operate profitably. Under two different
contracts and with two different medical providers, MTC and both medical
providers have lost money.” Before the private prison companies terminated their
unprofitable contracts, their personnel left town. MTC asked Warden Cody Graham
to leave his job in Santa Fe, and he transferred to another MTC county jail in
Gallup, New Mexico. According to a heart-rending investigative story in the
Santa Fe Reporter (April 2, 2003)on the death of a jail inmate because of
deficient medical care, PNA’s regional medical consultant left at the same time
as the warden. That PNA supervisor was Katherine Graham, wife of the MTC warden.
A story in the Albuquerque Journal (June 28, 2004) on the “tough negotiations”
following “state and federal audits slamming the facility for inadequate medical
services” reported, “PNA will not return if and when the county and MTC reach a
new agreement, jail administrators have said.” County Commissioner Paul Duran
recommended that the county would do a better job running the jail. He noted
that the Utah-based MTC – a for-profit company – was not providing enough
medical staffing or case managers to deal with inmate needs. “I think it’s the
profit element that is the root of all these problems.” The county did take over
management of the jail after MTC left, and worked with the Justice Department to
rectify its findings of deficiency. Judith Greene, director of Justice
Strategies, echoed Commissioner Duran’s observation. She told the New York
Times, ''This goes to the heart of the problem in the private prison business,''
Ms. Greene said. ''You get what you pay for.''
February 12, 2009 KWES
About twenty people have gathered outside the Reeves County Courthouse in Pecos
to protest the Geo Group, which runs the Reeves County Detention Center. The
group is chanting and holding signs. The signs say the government should run
prisons and not private companies. Inmates at the Reeves County Detention Center
have rioted twice in the past three months. A riot in December caused at least
$1 million in damage. Crews are still accessing damage from the last riot. In
both riots the inmates demanded better healthcare and better treatment.
February 11, 2009 Valley Morning News
County lawyers in this West Texas city have told attorney Juan Angel Guerra
that he cannot meet with his clients inside a prison plagued by riots. In a
letter sent to Guerra, Willacy County's former district attorney, Reeves County
officials state that his visit would be unsafe. "We are doing everything
possible to meet your request," Reeves County Attorney Alva Alvarez wrote.
"However, since the facility was destroyed, there is no secure place for you to
meet with your clients at this time." Before receiving notice of the county's
decision, Guerra headed to the Reeves Detention Center in Pecos, which is
managed by the GEO Group. Guerra said he would file a request to a federal judge
to gain access to nearly 200 clients. In her letter, Alvarez said the county
hopes to accommodate Guerra in the near future.
February 9, 2009 AP
Officials at a West Texas prison where inmates rioted for nearly a week have
started cleanup and repairs. Reeves County Judge Sam Contreras today said
insurance adjusters have been at the county-owned but privately managed prison
complex in Pecos since Friday. Workers are clearing debris and getting damage
estimates at the Reeves County Detention Center. The Associated Press reports
records show a riot in December that left one housing unit damage has cost the
county at least $320,000 in repairs. Contreras believes most of the cost will be
covered by insurance. Inmates and relatives say the latest riot, which started
Jan. 31 and ended late Thursday, was prompted by poor treatment -- including
medical services. The prison is managed by Boca Raton, Fla.-based The GEO Group.
February 6, 2009 AP
It turns out inmates in the troubled Pecos prison get their medical care from a
Lubbock-based company. The Associated Press cites inadequate food and health
care as possible reasons for two prison riots in two months. The sheriff there
denies it. The Pecos prison is owned by Reeves County and managed by a private
company (GEO Group). As of Thursday night the Associated Press reported fires
are still burning from the most recent riot. The Associated Press says it
confirmed that Lubbock-based Physicians Network Association provides the health
care. Trey Farthing, President, confirmed that his group provides health care
for the Reeves County facility but declined further comment.
February 6, 2009 KRISTV
As officials in a remote West Texas county have sought to keep their local
prison full and financially viable, it has become the scene of mounting inmate
unrest, including two riots in the last six weeks. Reeves County faced a major
boondoggle _ a prison without prisoners _ when it turned to a private company,
The GEO Group Inc., about five years ago to manage its sprawling detention
center and fill it with federal inmates. The influx of prisoners has allowed the
facility, the county's largest employer, to stay in operation, but not without a
series of disturbances and protests, some of them incendiary. The prison and its
management have come under increasing scrutiny as authorities dealt with the
latest incident, a riot that started Jan. 31 and left buildings heavily damaged.
The riot followed a similar disturbance in another portion of the prison in
December. Two employees were taken hostage and an exercise room was burned. That
incident caused at least $320,000 worth of damage, according to county records.
These and other matters detailed in news accounts and court documents indicate
widespread tension among inmates over a variety of issues, most notably medical
treatment. And, for some observers, they give more voice to the oft-stated
criticism of private prisons. "Generally, these (disturbances) are not random,"
said Bert Useem, a Purdue University sociology and anthropology professor who
has written extensively on prison issues. "They occur in prisons that are facing
serious difficulties." The GEO Group did not respond to an e-mail from The
Associated Press seeking comment. The publicly traded company based in Boca
Raton, Fla., has attracted scrutiny before over conditions in its prisons. In
2007, the Texas Youth Commission fired the company after nearly 200 teenage
offenders were removed from a juvenile justice center it operated in Bronte,
citing health and safety violations. The company has also come under fire for
its operation of a facility that houses illegal immigrant detainees in Pearsall,
Texas. A federal lawsuit charges that two Mexican immigrants were not treated
for their mental illnesses. Meantime, correctional officers at the facility are
threatening to strike over pay and working conditions. "They operate as a
bare-bones, profit-making machine," said Howard Johannssen, an official with the
union representing the Pearsall officers. In Reeves County and Pecos, its
largest town, The GEO Group is largely viewed as the savior of a sinking ship.
At the time the company was hired to manage the prison, the county was unable to
find enough inmates to fill a newly built third unit. The lack of prisoners put
the county at risk of defaulting on the bonds used to finance the unit's
construction. Since joining forces with The GEO Group, the county has filled the
center with more than 3,300 federal inmates, including more than 1,207 in unit
III, turning the situation around. Many of the prisoners are non-U.S. citizens.
The facility employs more than 500 people, most of whom work for the county, and
has become increasingly important to the economy as the area has lost several
other employers in recent years. "Any small community with a prison that employs
that number of people would see (the value of having such a facility)," said
Robert Tobias, executive director of the Pecos Economic Development Corporation.
The significance of The GEO Group's work on the county's behalf was underscored
in January 2006 when the Pecos Area Chamber of Commerce gave the company its
"Citizen of the Year" award. At the presentation, chamber president Jim
Dutchover cited the company for injecting an "infusion of ideas and money" into
the community. But recent events have cast the situation in a different light,
leaving the impression that the prison, while full, has been poorly run.
"Prisoner riots are a relatively rare occurrence," wrote the American Civil
Liberties Union in a letter to the Department of Justice requesting that it
investigate the center. "For this reason, two serious disturbances within a
two-month period at a single facility is sufficient cause for great concern."
According to information posted on the Web site of another advocacy group, the
National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, the latest riot began when
authorities refused to respond to prisoners' request that a gravely ill inmate
be released from solitary confinement and transferred to a hospital. A federal
lawsuit filed by an inmate in 2007 claims prisoners were sprayed with mace after
staging a hunger strike to protest the quality of medical care and meals. As
part of the suit, filed without an attorney, the prisoner included an undated
memo purportedly from a prison official saying he was working toward improving
meals, medical care and recreational equipment. The prison was accredited last
month by the American Correctional Association, the nation's only such program
for adult and juvenile detention facilities. The accreditation, required by the
federal Bureau of Prisons, was based largely on the results of an on-site audit
in October in which representatives of the organization would have reviewed
paperwork and interviewed inmates outside the presence of prison authorities,
said James Gondles, the group's executive director. "To my knowledge, our
auditing didn't raise any red flags," he said. However, because of the riots, it
is likely that another auditing team will be sent to the prison, Gondles said.
"Are we concerned when an incident happens at an accredited facility?" he said.
"The answer is yes."
February 5, 2009 Permianbasin360
Around 10:30 this morning, inmates started new fires inside the Reeves County
Detention Center. According to the GEO Group, who manages the facility the fires
began when they were moving inmates from the central area inside the prison to
secure housing. Management is also saying two areas that were already badly
damaged in last weekend’s riot were set on fire again. A short time after the
fires started, former Willacy County DA Juan Angel Guerra was outside the
prison. He says he’s now a private attorney, with more than fifty clients
inside. But, he couldn’t get in to see them. “All I need to do is go in there.
Tell them to calm down, and we will go to Federal Court with your grievance.
Don't burn anything, don’t' get hurt. Stop making it harder on yourselves....
but instead, we're on lockdown. Like, we have animals in there. These are human
beings," he said. Guerra has a history of going after the GEO Group, and other
private prisons, saying they’re making money while taking advantage of inmates,
employees, and even the cities and counties where the prisons are. “They get 80
dollars a day and that goes to the GEO. Subtract that two dollars they get 78
dollars. If the country tries to get more money they're breaking the law,"
Guerra said. DPS is now back on the scene, helping secure the perimeter again.
The Pecos Fire Department was also on hand, putting out the fires. The GEO Group
is saying no inmates or staff were hurt, and that the secure housing is still
intact. But, Guerra says as long as private prisons like this exist, we’ll
continue to see protests like these. “They’re taking advantage of all these
people inside. And the people understand that, and that's what's happening
here," he said. A source has told KMID things are wrapping up the Reeves County
Detention Center. KMID has confirmed that RCDC No. 1 and RCDC No. 2 are fully
insured with replacement value. The County will be meeting with the insurance
company tomorrow to review the facility’s insurance policy. Also, something to
keep in mind is that so far the insurance company has agreed to pay for the
damages in RCDC No. 3 from December’s riot. The insurance company has already
approved the first payment of about $130,000.
February 5, 2009 AP
More than five days after inmates started rioting for a second time in as many
months at a remote West Texas prison thick, black smoke continued to billow
above parts of the sprawling complex. Officials at the county-owned and
privately managed prison refused to comment publicly about the ongoing situation
for a fifth day. In two written statements issued Thursday from The GEO
Group-operated prison where federal criminal immigrants and others are being
held, officials said the situation was stable and “approximately two-thirds of
the inmate population had been safely processed” and moved to secure parts of
the prison. “They were all going in slowly but surely; I thought they would all
be in this morning but they weren’t,” Reeves County Chief Deputy Victor Prieto
told The Associated Press. In the midst of Thursday’s apparent chaos at the
prison, the American Civil Liberties Union called for a federal probe of the
compound. “Such an investigation should focus on both the immediate causes of
the disturbances as well as the root causes, which may involve poor conditions
ranging from inadequate medical care to poor food, ventilation, etc.,” Elizabeth
Alexander, director of the ACLU National Prison Project, and Terri Burke, the
ACLU of Texas’ executive director, wrote in a letter to the Justice Department.
Fire initially broke out in one of the unsecured prison buildings damaged during
earlier rioting about 10 a.m. Thursday, shortly before GEO Group, the Boca
Raton, Fla., company that operates the prison, issued a statement for the
facility saying the situation was returning to “more normal.” Smoke continued to
waft intermittently above the prison throughout the day, and at times could be
seen from as far away as 15 miles. The company also said there had been no
incidents or injuries involving any of the prison’s nearly 3,000 inmates or
staff during the past 24 hours. For much of Thursday, law enforcement and
emergency workers streamed in and out of complex, which sits just off busy I-20
on the outskirts of oil-rich Pecos in Reeves County, about 175 miles east of El
Paso. Rented equipment, including portable flood lights and a bucket truck, were
carted onto jail property, which has been cordoned off by local deputies and
jailers. Several deputies told reporters that the riot was subsiding. One deputy
who stood guard along a road leading to the prison said he suspected the inmates
were growing tired of living in recreation areas and eating cold food after
having destroyed parts of their living quarters and kitchens. Meanwhile, an
attorney who said he was contacted by relatives of more than 50 inmates arrived
at the prison Thursday. Juan Angel Guerra, the former Willacy County District
Attorney who has been a longtime and vocal opponent of privately run prisons and
The GEO Group, said a request to meet with those inmates and help mediate their
grievances, which he said involved inadequate health care and food, were denied.
Prieto said inmates were receiving adequate health care inside the troubled
jail. Trey Farthing, president of the Lubbock-based Physicians Network
Association, confirmed that his group provides health care for the Reeves County
facility but declined to comment further.
February 5, 2009 NewsWest9
A fire has erupted at the Reeves County Detention Center in Pecos. The Pecos
Enterprise reports that the recreation center at Reeves County Detention Center
Building I is on fire. Inmates have also set some garbage piles on fire in the
yard of the prison. NewsWest9 viewers report heavy black smoke coming from the
prison on Interstate 20. Prisoners started rioting at the facility this past
weekend. Inmates and family members of inmates have told NewsWest9 they are
demanding better healthcare. At that time, three inmates were hurt, but those
injuries were described as minor. RCDC is a low-level security federal prison
that holds inmates with immigration violations. According to a press release
from the Reeves County Judges Office, the facility was moving to more normal
operations as of Thursday morning. The press release was issued before the fires
broke out. Two-thirds of the inmates at RCDC were back in housing as of Thursday
morning and more inmates were to be moved into housing throughout the day
Thursday. It is unclear how these latest fires will affect those plans.
February 4, 2009 AP
About 20 SWAT team officers have entered the grounds of a remote West Texas
prison that was heavily damaged by a weekend riot. The officers, wearing helmets
and some carrying shields, walked single file onto the grounds Reeves County
Detention Center on Wednesday afternoon. It was unclear whether they were
entering the buildings where rioting occurred because roads leading to the
low-security prison were closed to media. It's the second day in a row officers
in SWAT gear entered the prison, which officials deemed uninhabitable following
the Saturday riot. Earlier Wednesday, county officials said in a news release
that progress had been made in efforts to clean up the prison. Staff members and
some inmates were cleaning through the night, but the center's still not fit to
return to normal operations, the county said.
February 3, 2009 KGBT-TV
Ignaica Medellin is trying her best to enjoy the pleasant Los Fresnos
weather on Tuesday. But her mind is somewhere else these days after a chilling
phone call on her birthday from her son about his jail cell being on fire. As
she looks at a picture of her 39-year-old son, she wonders whether he was
injured in the riot at the Reeves County Detention Center in Pecos, Texas. Her
son has been an inmate for the past 10 years but expected to be released in
September. Medellin says she last spoke to her son on Sunday and he told her
that they were being held outdoors in a yard until the riot could be controlled.
He said he was very cold, but that he was okay. This riot has been the second in
as many months and Medellin says her son had alleged the inmates were rebelling
because of the lack of medical attention they received in the private prison.
February 3, 2009 AP
A weekend riot at a federal prison caused “significant” damage, the prison’s
operator said on Tuesday. Law enforcement officers and equipment were being
moved in and out of the Reeves County Detention Center on Tuesday. From behind a
sheriff’s roadblock limiting access to the prison, a small forklift could be
seen entering the compound and garbage trucks left hauling what appeared to be
debris. The GEO Group Inc. said in a statement that inmates in two of the
prison’s three units remain under staff view in a central area of the complex.
The Boca Raton, Fla.-based company said inmates remain “cooperative and
compliant.” Sidia Molina, of Houston, the wife of an inmate accused of being in
the U.S. illegally, said the riot started because the inmates don’t think they
are receiving adequate medical care. “It’s 100 percent what it is,” she said.
“It’s not lack of food or clothing. What they’re complaining about is the
medical. The people are not getting medical treatment.” Pablo Paez, a spokesman
for GEO Group Inc., said in an e-mail on Tuesday to the Associated Press that
the company does not provide medical services or health care. Medical services
at the prison are provided by a physicians’ association “under a direct contract
with the county,” the e-mail stated. Attempts to reach county officials by
telephone were unsuccessful Tuesday.
February 3, 2009 AP
The company that runs a federal prison in West Texas says "significant" damage
from the second riot in less than two months has left the facility unable to
resume normal operations. The GEO Group Inc. said in a statement Tuesday that
inmates in 2 of the Reeves County Detention Center's three units remain under
staff view in a central area of the complex. The Boca Raton, Fla.-based company
says inmates remain "cooperative and compliant" after a riot that started
Saturday afternoon. The company says there have been no serious injuries to
staff or inmates. The two buildings affected by the latest riot house up to
2,200 criminal immigrants. The third unit was the site of a December riot that
officials said ended with minor injuries. The GEO Group says the riots appear
unrelated.
February 1, 2009 CNN
A riot at a Texas detention center was ended Sunday. One prison building was
heavily damaged, and about 700 inmates were going to spend the night in tents,
authorities said. The disturbance began Saturday at the Reeves County Detention
Center near Pecos in west Texas, and hundreds of inmates continued rioting
overnight in the second such incident at the facility in less than two months.
April Orsoco with the Reeves County Sheriff's Office said the office was
notified by the prison about 4 p.m. Sunday that "they got it under control."
Orsoco did not have details on how the situation ended, but she said no injuries
were reported as the incident ended. The office reported it had no explanation
for the rioting. Three inmates were hospitalized Saturday after fighting began,
one with a severed finger, according to the sheriff's office. In addition to
prison personnel, sheriff's deputies and officers from several other agencies
remained at the facility Sunday night. With one of three buildings at the
detention center damaged extensively in the rioting, "the warden is trying to
figure out where [the prison] can house the inmates," Orsoco said. She said the
tents were set up on prison grounds, and inmates would be transferred to other
prison facilities on Monday so damage could be repaired. The prison is a
2,400-bed, low-security facility, operated by Geo Group Inc. It houses federal
prisoners as well as inmates from other states. As many as 2,000 inmates from
two of the center's three buildings began fighting in the prison yard about 4:30
p.m. Saturday, according to the sheriff's office. The center is about 430 miles
from Dallas, Texas. On December 12, inmates took two workers hostage and set
fire to the recreation area. Those inmates surrendered later that night.
February 1, 2009 AP
Inmates at a privately run federal prison in western Texas started a riot
and set at least one fire Saturday for the second time in less than two months,
authorities said. There were no immediate reports of injuries. The disturbance
broke out in an area of the Reeves County Detention Center that houses up to
2,000 inmates, corrections officer Matt Guerra said. "They took over the
compound," he said. "They burned half the stuff over there." Guerra said rioting
inmates were close to a control area where "they can open practically
everything." He said he could see smoke coming from the area. Guerra said prison
officers were safe but that he wasn't sure whether inmates were injured.
Helicopters and Department of Public Safety troopers from the Pecos area had
descended on the facility. "You name it, we've got it out there," Guerra said.
DPS spokeswoman Tela Mange said earlier that the disturbance was in the prison
yard. She said she had no information on injuries. A spokeswoman for the Reeves
County Sheriff's Department said he had no information about the riot. Sylvia
Garza, an executive secretary at the prison, said officials had no comment. In
December, rioting inmates at the facility about 430 miles west of Dallas sought
better medical treatment. Officials said there were minor injuries. The GEO
Group, based in Boca Raton, Fla., has run the lockup through contracts with
Reeves County and the Federal Bureau of Prisons since 2003. The prison holds
more than 2,400 inmates. Pablo E. Paez, a spokesman for GEO, did not immediately
respond to phone or e-mail messages Saturday night.
February 1, 2009 CNN Thousands of inmates rioted at the Reeves County Detention
Center in Texas on Saturday, the second disturbance at the prison facility in
the last two months. As many as 2,080 inmates from two of the center's three
buildings began fighting in the prison yard about 4:30 p.m. CT, said county
Sheriff's Office Dispatcher Anna Granado. Authorities from several law
enforcement agencies responded to quell the violence. However, officials had not
brought the unrest under control as of 1 a.m. Sunday, according to the sheriff's
office. Officials said they do not know what prompted the riots. Three inmates
were hospitalized, including one with a severed finger, the sheriff's office
said. On December 12, inmates took two workers hostage and set fire to the
recreation area at the center in Pecos, located about 430 miles west of Dallas.
The inmates, who had made several demands, surrendered later that night. The
prison is a 2,400-bed, low-security facility, operated by Geo Group Inc. It
houses federal prisoners as well as inmates from other states.
January 31, 2009 NewsWest 9
NewsWest 9 has learned of a riot occurring at the Reeves County Detention
Center in Pecos. Callers have been flooding the NewsWest 9 newsroom with calls
regarding the riot. NewsWest 9 Reporter Diane Tuazon just reported the riot is
still going on and it is currently not under control at this time. Numerous
police departments are currently on the scene including DPS Troopers and the
Reeves County Sheriff's Department. The riot apparently started around 4p.m. on
Saturday afternoon. A helicopter is flying over the scene assisting with the
riot, and a CareStar helicopter has been dispatched to the facility. Still no
word on what may have caused the riot or if there are any injuries. This is the
second riot at the Reeves County Detention Center in the past few months. In
December prisoners rioted and set a recreational building on fire. They also
took two workers hostage. That riot lasted for hours and the workers were
released unharmed. The Reeves County Detention Center is run by the Geo Group
and houses federal inmates who are being held on immigration charges.
December 17, 2008 NewsWest 9
For the second time in less than a week an inmate has been found dead at
Reeves County Detention Center. The first death happened this Friday and as a
result more than 1200 inmates started a riot. The inmates held two people
hostage and burned down the recreational facility. Geo Group officials confirmed
that a second inmate died at Lubbock University Medical Center Sunday night.
They believe it was due to natural causes. Autopsy results are still pending.
December 13, 2008 KWES
The second hostage at the Reeves County Detention Center III has been
released after a riot broke out around 1:00 Friday afternoon. NewsWest9 first
reported there were hostages at the prison, but officials denied that before
finally saying the information was true. One hostage was let go Friday evening.
The second was free by midnight. The two freed hostages are recreation
specialists and are ages 57 and 60. The recreation specialists oversee the
building where the private prison keeps its sports equipment. The two are
civilians are and not guards. It was not immediately clear what condition the
released hostages were in. NewsWest9 has learned that the prison will begin
allowing prisoners back into RCDC III in small groups early Saturday morning.
NewsWest9 has learned that an inmate did die Friday morning of natural causes.
We do not know if that death had anything to do with riot, but the inmates
demanded better healthcare and food. The inmates also wanted to speak with the
Mexican Consulate. Most of the prisoners are illegal immigrants. It is unclear
if those demands were met by the prison staff. The recreation center near
building III was set on fire early Friday afternoon. Black smoke was coming out
of the building for a time, but the fire had died down after burning for an hour
or so. That building was left to smolder most of Friday. The Reeves County
Detention Center is located on West County Road 204 and is a private prison. It
is run by the Geo Group, which runs facilities all over the country including
one in Lea County, New Mexico. Authorities set up a one mile perimeter around
the facility. West County Road 204 has been blocked off. Multiple agencies are
on the scene including the Reeves County Sheriff's Office, Pecos Police, DPS,
Pecos County Sheriff's Office, Andrews County Sheriff's Office and the Border
Patrol.
December 12, 2008 AP
Inmates started a riot at a privately run prison in West Texas, setting at
least one fire. The Pecos Enterprise is reporting that Reeves County emergency
officials were called to the prison, run by the Geo Group for the county Friday
afternoon. Fire crews and additional law enforcement were called to the
sprawling prison complex after a fire broke out in one building. It was unclear
Friday afternoon what prompted the riot or if anyone inside the prison had been
injured, or how many inmates were involved. A woman who answered a phone call
from The Associated Press at the Reeves County Detention Complex warden's office
said she had no comment and hung up. The Geo Group, based in Boca Raton,
Florida, has run the jail through contracts with Reeves County and the Federal
Bureau of Prisons since 2003. The prison holds more than 2,400 inmates.
December 12, 2008 KWES
Two people are being held hostage at the Reeves County Detention Center III
after a riot broke out around 1:00 Friday afternoon. The two hostages are
recreation specialists and are ages 57 and 60. The recreation specialists
oversee the building where the private prison keeps its sports equipment. The
two hostages are civilians are and not guards. NewsWest9 first reported there
were hostages at the prison, but officials denied that before finally saying the
information was true. NewsWest9 has learned that an inmate did die Friday
morning of natural causes. We do not know if that death had anything to do with
riot, but we have learned the inmates are demanding better healthcare and food.
The inmates also wanted to speak with the Mexican Consulate. Most of the
prisoners are illegal immigrants. The recreation center near building III was
set on fire early Friday afternoon. Black smoke was coming out of the building
for a time, but the fire had died down after burning for an hour or so. The
Reeves County Detention Center is located on West County Road 204 and is a
private prison. It is run by the Geo Group, which runs facilities all over the
country including one in Lea County, New Mexico. Authorities have set up a one
mile perimeter around the facility. West County Road 204 has been blocked off.
Multiple agencies are on the scene including the Reeves County Sheriff's Office,
Pecos Police, DPS, Pecos County Sheriff's Office, Andrews County Sheriff's
Office and the Border Patrol.
January 20, 2005 Odessa American
GEO Group, which manages Reeves County Detention Center, has hired a
former member of the Texas Boards of Pardons and Paroles as the new warden for
Reeves County Detention Center 1 and 2.
Tony Garcia started work Wednesday at RCDC 1 and 2 in Pecos. Garcia was with the
Texas Department of Criminal Justice Institutional Division from 1980 to 2001.
He was then appointed to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles by Gov. Rick
Perry in 2001 and served as chief commissioner. Texas Ranger Brian
Burzynski said an investigation continues into tampering with government
documents at the Reeves County Detention Center. The Texas
Rangers have also confirmed other investigations. Along with the Texas Rangers,
the FBI is also involved in the multiagency probe.
January 6, 2005 Odessa American
Two Reeves County corrections
officers have resigned over sexual molestation charges. Sheriff Arnulfo “Andy”
Gomez said he investigated claims by inmates at the prison at the request of
Detention Center III Warden Martin McDaniel.
Agapita Martinez, 31, was indicted for improper sexual activity with a person in
custody. According to the indictment, while a corrections officer at RCDC III,
Martinez “intentionally engage(d) in sexual contact” with a male inmate “by
touching the genitals” of the inmate “with intent to arouse or gratify the
sexual desire” of the defendant. Roque
Ybarra, 29, was charged with the same offense and has bonded out, but has not
been indicted, according to the District Clerk’s Office.
January 4, 2005 Odessa American
Under Texas’ “Doctrine of Forgiveness,” Reeves County Judge Jimmy
Galindo can’t be removed from office for acts he supposedly committed before his
re-election in 2003, a district court judge has ruled.
Galindo and former county commissioners Felipe Arredondo and Herman Tarin are
accused of acts of official misconduct and acts of incompetence. The forgiveness
doctrine, which Parks said has always been part of state law, prohibits an
official’s removal from office for acts committed in a previous term in office.
According to the order issued by Parks, the only grounds for removal is the
decision by the Reeves County Commissioners Court in the summer of 2001 to build
the 960-bed Reeves County Detention Center III. According to the suit, Hanks
wants: * Commissioners to nullify a contract with Washington, D.C., lobbyist
Randy DeLay, brother of House Majority Leader U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay. Randy DeLay
was hired to help Reeves County lobby to get more federal inmates from the
federal Bureau of Prisons. * Reinstate employees moved to jobs with the Reeves
County Detention Center from other county offices. RCDC has three units — R1 and 2 house inmates from the federal
Bureau of Prisons and unit 3 houses inmates from the State of Arizona. GEO
Group, formerly Wackenhut, manages the prison for the county, which owns the
facility. Hanks’ lawsuit also claims Galindo and
commissioners built Reeves County Detention Center Unit 3 knowing it would not
get inmates from the federal Bureau of Prisons, leading to the near financial
ruin of the county. The suit also claims nepotism on the part of Galindo,
conflict of interest and refusal to provide public information.
The Texas Rangers have confirmed that there are several investigations going on
in Reeves County, but Lt. Bob Bullock said he could not comment further.
Along with the Texas Rangers, the FBI is also involved in the multiagency probe,
Bullock said.
December 14, 2004 Odessa American
An Austin law firm will represent Reeves County in a lawsuit seeking
removal of the county judge and two commissioners from office. Allison, Bass and Associates LLP was retained by Reeves County
earlier this month, County Judge Jimmy Galindo said.
Robert L. Hanks of Pecos filed the suit in 143rd District Court to remove
Galindo and commissioners Felipe Arredondo and Herman Tarin for mismanagement of
the Reeves County Detention Center and financial irregularities, among other
claims. Arredondo, representing Precinct 1, lost his bid for re-election
and Tarin, representing Precinct 3, did not run again.
Along with these actions, Hanks wants: Galindo to stop all nonessential
spending. Commissioners to nullify a contract with Washington, D.C., lobbyist
Randy DeLay, brother of House Majority Leader U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay. Randy DeLay
was hired to help Reeves County lobby to get more federal inmates from the
federal Bureau of Prisons. The suit also asks that county
employees moved to the prison be reinstated to their former jobs.
At Monday’s meeting, commissioners approved paying Randy DeLay $93,953 owed to
him.
August 12, 2004
District Judge Bob Parks on Wednesday dismissed a petition filed by a
Pecos resident to remove Reeves County Judge Jimmy Galindo and two county
commissioners from office. Filed in 143rd District Court by Robert L. Hanks, the
suit alleges Galindo and commissioners built Reeves County Detention Center unit
3 knowing that it would not get inmates from the federal Bureau of Prisons,
leading to the near financial ruin of the county. It also claims nepotism on the
part of Galindo, conflict of interest and refusal to provide public information.
The lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice, meaning Hanks could refile it. “I’m
not surprised at all because I know how he (Parks) works.” The lawsuit alleges:
Commissioners built Reeves County Detention Center Unit 3 knowing it would not
get inmates from the federal Bureau of Prisons, leading to the near financial
ruin of the county. It also claims nepotism on the part of Galindo, conflict of
interest and refusal to provide public information. William W. Nelson, chief of
privatized corrections contracting with the Bureau of Prisons, wrote a letter to
Galindo in response to his visit of June 14, 2001. The visit was to tell the
Bureau of Prisons of Reeves County’s “intention to build more prison housing in
Reeves County, Texas.” “We appreciate the information you have shared with us
and have notified the appropriate bureau staff. Although the bureau cannot make
an absolute commitment at this time, should the need arise to house additional
federal offenders in Texas, your facility will be given the opportunity for
consideration,” the letter said. The suit also said Galindo, Tarin, Arredondo
and former commissioner David Castillo knew there would not be adequate
workforce in town to operate the prison because the completing date was set for
a year-and-a-half after the closing of the former Anchor Foods plant. But
Galindo, Tarin, Arredondo and Castillo built the $40 million prison “with no
inmates, no employees and no way to pay the payments except for the general fund
of Reeves County,” the lawsuit said.
“And to make matters even worse, defendants Reeves County Judge Jimmy B. Galindo
and these defendant commissioners removed the $4 million Reeves County had in
savings as financial backup for the Reeves County prison system. These funds
were used to pay the cost overruns and mistakes in the construction of Reeves
County Detention Center II. These facts were know to (Galindo and commissioners)
before the start of construction on Reeves County Detention Center III,”
In November 2003, the county hired GEO Group, formerly Wackenhut, to run the
RCDC on a 10-year contract.
Hanks also claims he was refused public information under the Texas Open Records
Act by Galindo and his secretary, Sylvia Garcia; that Galindo violated state
nepotism law by having his mother and a distant cousin, Randy Baeza, hired at
the prison; and that he has a conflict of interest doing business with a cousin.
The suit further charges that Galindo transferred their budgeted salaries back
into the general fund to help pay for a Washington lawyer and lobbyist to
encourage the Bureau of Prisons to send more inmates to RCDC 3, get better
salaries for prison staff and better reimbursement for housing inmates. (Odessa
American)
May 26, 2004
Despite several large fights and riots at two out-of-state private prisons in
the last several weeks, state officials say they have no plans to reverse course
and bring home any of the 2,000 inmates in Texas and Oklahoma. On Saturday, more
than 40 inmates in a Pecos, Texas, prison owned by the Geo Group created a
disturbance, damaging the prison. Earlier this month, about 70 inmates were
injured in a fracas at Corrections Corporation of America's Watonga, Okla.,
prison. The two recent events are in addition to a hunger strike and large
fight in the Pecos prison and problems in 2002 at another private Texas
prison, which included several inmate escapes while a state review found an
unacceptable quality of service from the company. About 240 inmates
participated in a fight in the Watonga prison yard, with at least 70 suffering
injuries. (AP)
May 2, 2004
Groups of Arizona prisoners transferred to a Texas private prison staged fights
and hunger strikes to either improve conditions or earn transfers back to
Arizona. The incident report from Wackenhut Corp.'s Pecos, Texas, prison
officials recommends eight inmates be sent back to Arizona because they are
security problems. The report details a fight between two groups of
prisoners, with at least 14 taking part in the late-night April 10 fight. The
subsequent investigation showed that some inmates from each group were
conspiring to get back to Arizona. The decision last year by the Arizona
Legislature to ship about 2,000 inmates to out-of-state prisons angered some
inmate family members, mainly because contact with inmates will be limited by
the financial ability to travel to either Texas or another prison in Oklahoma.
(Arizona Daily Star)
November 22, 2003
Reeves County’s pending contract with Wackenhut Corrections Corp. to run the
Reeves County Detention Center is one of the items on the agenda for the Reeves
County Commission meeting set for 10 a.m. Monday. Commissioners approved
an agreement with the Boca Raton, Fla., company to run the RCDC Nov. 3.
One of the conditions of the 10-year contract was to cut prison employees from
414 to 344. Don Houston, vice president of Wackenhut’s Central Division in New
Braunfels, said Friday no further layoffs are planned in the near term. An
amendment to the county’s agreement with Wackenhut is up for commission approval
as well that would reduce Wackenhut’s management fee, Houston said. It is
currently $333,333 a month. He would not say how much of a fee reduction was
offered, but that it was “substantial.” (OA Online)
November 17, 2003
With layoffs pending at the Reeves County Detention Center, local agencies are
prepared to help affected workers. The Pecos Technical Training Center of Odessa
College and Pecos Workforce Network plan to go to the prison sometime next week
to let laid-off workers know about available services. “We as a campus here in
Pecos along with some other agencies will try to get involved in the layoff
process. We will provide financial aid services and admissions services. We plan
to sit with them and complete the applications,” said Michelle Workman, campus
director of Pecos Technical Training Center. Reeves County Commissioners
approved a contract with Wackenhut Corrections Corp. of Boca Raton, Fla., on
Nov. 3 to manage the RCDC. One of the conditions of the 10-year contract was to
cut prison employees from 414 to 344. County Judge Jimmy Galindo could not
be reached for comment. A call to the RCDC was referred to Galindo as well.
RCDC has three units with 3,025 beds, but the third unit, RCDC-3, is largely
empty. The prison houses mostly inmates from the federal Bureau of Prisons
and the U.S. Marshal Service. The 344 — the number of positions the Bureau
of Prisons requires to run the facility — includes a management team which would
work for Wackenhut consisting of the warden, assistant warden, deputy warden,
department heads and key positions with fiduciary responsibility. It
wasn’t clear how many people would be laid off or when. But people in the
community have known for two to three weeks that the layoffs were coming,
Workman said. Elva Arreguy, manager of Pecos Workforce Network, said her
agency will offer information on job searching. Arreguy said the agency conducts
job-search workshops and can help get aid for workers if they want to train for
something else. “We will provide the same rapid response we do for anyone
who becomes dislocated,” Arreguy said. She added that the Department of Human
Services will probably be on hand as well to let workers know what services that
agency has available. Those laid off would be given a chance at other jobs
at Wackenhut prisons, but they wouldn’t necessarily be paid the same wage.
Wackenhut designs, builds, finances and operates prisons worldwide. It operates
11 facilities in Texas and has a prison in Hobbs, N.M. Some $89 million in
certificates of participation bonds were sold to pay for the prison. The third
unit was financed with the proceeds of 2001 certificates of participation.
The bonds were downgraded Sept. 3 to BB and on Monday were lowered to CCC by
Fitch Ratings in New York City. The Bureau of Prisons never committed to
putting inmates in the third RCDC unit, according to a press release from Fitch
Ratings. “While discussions with BOP are ongoing, the continuing delay
causes Fitch to be skeptical that the prior relationship between RCDC and BOP
will resume anytime soon, and the positive nature of that relationship was a key
rating factor. …” the news release said. CCC ratings indicate a high
default risk, according to the release. If Wackenhut or the county were
successful in improving occupancy at RCDC, the rating would be reviewed at a
later date, the release said. (OA Online)
August 29, 2003
A bid to make money by jailing federal prisoners may end with a West Texas
county losing its jail and defaulting on a $40 million bond note. Reeves
County counted on the federal Bureau of Prisons to pay it to house up to 3,000
illegal immigrants by this fall, but the bureau says it never made any
promises. The county now owes $475,000 on its first loan payment for a jail
expansion completed in March. Failing to pay by Sept. 1 means the county could
lose all three buildings making up the Reeves County Detention Center because
the county used two older buildings for collateral. "Hundreds of jobs will
be lost and our local economy will be destroyed," county Judge Jimmy Galindo
wrote in a letter this summer to President Bush, asking him to intervene with
the Bureau of Prisons. About 500 people work at the jail in Pecos, more
than 200 miles east of El Paso, making it the county's single largest employer.
The jail can house up to 3,000 inmates; the expansion added 960 beds.
Galindo has said the county built the third jail building based on Bureau of
Prisons projections that the federal government would need to house 175,000
inmates in jails across the country by September 2003. The bureau already
relies on Reeves County to house 2,043 federal inmates, mostly low-security
"criminal aliens," spokeswoman Traci Billingsley said. "We made it clear
to them we could make no promises or commitments," to house more inmates, she
said. County Commissioner Felipe Arredondo said while the county would
continue to negotiate with the bureau, commissioners must look for other
customers. He said county officials are talking with the U.S. Marshals service
about holding prisoners arrested in Arizona and West Texas. However,
Michael Troyanski, with the U.S. Marshals Service in El Paso, said the agency
won't guarantee a specific number. "We are not going to commit," Troyanski
said. "The prisoner population is fluid, it goes up and down with the tide."
Other possible sources, Arredondo said, are illegal immigrants awaiting
deportation by the Department of Homeland Security and Arizona state prisoners.
Arizona's prisons exceed capacity by about 4,000 inmates, said Jim Robideau, a
spokesman for the Arizona Department of Corrections. The department considered
the Reeves County jail about a month ago, he said, but wasn't aware of any
negotiations or a pending agreement. Galindo maintains the county charges
less than anyone else in the nation to house prisoners, $47.33 a day per inmate,
and doesn't understand why the federal government would choose other jails.
Bureau of Prisons spokesman Dan Dunne said location, not cost, is the reason.
"We don't have an immediate need for beds in the South-Central region," he said.
Arredondo said the county would need a commitment of 600 additional prisoners to
make it's payment. He wouldn't discuss what would happen if the county failed to
get such a contract. "We haven't even looked at that because I don't think
it's coming," he said. If the county misses the payment, the bond holders could
put the jail up for sale or hire a private company to run it. The nation's
largest for-profit prisons operator, Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections
Corporation of America, is one company closely watching the situation, said
Laurie Shanblum, CCA senior director for business development. Increased
border security and more arrests for drug and immigration violations since the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has made West Texas attractive to companies like CCA,
she said. "Our current philosophy is very conservative," she said. "We
wouldn't get involved without strong assurances that there is light at the end
of the tunnel. "Some Reeves County residents have criticized commissioners
for spending $120,000 to hire House Majority leader Tom DeLay's brother, Randy,
to lobby the Bureau of Prisons. Arredondo said the county must compete with
national firms such as CCA in lobbying the government for business. "We've
always been struggling. It's not an easy task," Arredondo said. "We built (the
jail) so we can employ people and Pecos won't blow away. ... It just goes with
being in West Texas and not having any big factories or industries." (AP)
Rio Grande Detention Center
Laredo, Texas
GEO Group
December 14, 2009 Texas Tribune
Some Texas sheriffs are looking to an unlikely source to get them out of the
hole as private prisons win away federal contracts for inmates and put the
financial squeeze on county jails. Federal prisoners translate to dollars to
local detention facilities — mainly county jails — which are reimbursed at a
rate that can exceed $50 a day for each federal inmate they house. But
competition from private prisons in Texas continues to shrink that potential
pool of inmates for smaller, poorer counties, leading some local governments to
ask help from an agency better known for its fever tick riders than building
jails. The Department of Agriculture is currently considering whether and how it
will grant or loan Webb County about $5 million, said Sheriff Martin Cuellar,
which will be used to build a new county-owned jail. “We build another jail
elsewhere and house the regular state prisoners [there],” said Cuellar. “We
could also have the current jail filled with federal prisoners and that could be
something very profitable to the county.” County governments and the U.S.
Marshals Service negotiate federal-prisoner contracts, some of which used to be
a steady secondary source of revenue for Webb. But Cuellar’s future plans could
be thwarted by the region’s brand new detention facility, the privately owned
Rio Grande Detention Center, which undoubtedly wants to see all of its roughly
275,000 square feet put to use. The new prison is nestled just outside the City
of Laredo’s boundaries and can house 1,500 inmates, including up to 68 female
detainees. Opened in October 2008, the detention facility was for years a source
of bitter dispute because of opposition to the detention center’s owner and
operator, the Florida-based GEO Group, and its record of alleged human-rights
abuses within the confines of its facilities in Texas. Local officials
nonetheless hailed the facility as a job creator, and a source of revenue
through utility contracts with Webb County. But Cuellar says the county is
losing $500,000 annually because inmates are going to GEO instead of the county
lockup. Cuellar said it's helpful knowing people at the federal level, in this
case, his older brother, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, who the sheriff said
has helped guide the department in the right direction. “Through what they call
the Rural Communities Facilities Program there is a way that you can use funding
to build community centers, you can build city halls or you can even build
jails,” said Rep. Cuellar, a member of the House Agriculture Committee.
March 11, 2009 Pro 8 News
Laredo police are called out to the Rio Grande Detention Center for
assistance after a situation with the inmates. A helicopter could be seen
circling around the prison around seven this evening. Sources say a riot may
have broken out behind the detention center walls but neither representative
from the Geo Group nor Laredo police could confirm those details. According to
police, officers were called out to assist the situation, which was controlled
after 20 minutes. Pro 8 News tried to obtain details from the Rio Grande
Detention Center but were asked to leave the premises.
May 17, 2007 Laredo Morning News
The Geo Group came to Laredo on Wednesday bearing cash for both the City of
Laredo and Webb County. But in what seemed like a sudden impulse move at a news
conference, George Zoley, Geo CEO and founder, doubled the amount he planned to
give the entities from $125,000 each to $250,000 each in general funds. The Geo
Group has been awarded a federal contract to build the privately-owned Rio
Grande Detention Center off of U.S. 83. “We are very grateful for your support
because something of this magnitude, of this complexity couldn’t have started
this quickly without it,” Zoley said. “This is a big project and we want to be
good corporate partners.” The Geo Group did not leave empty handed, however.
Mayor Raul Salinas and Erasmo Villarreal, city Building Department director,
presented the company with its building permit. County Judge Danny Valdez and
Precinct 2 Commissioner Rosaura “Wawi” Tijerina also signed an agreement for the
water and utilities, which the county will provide.
Rolling Plains
Regional Jail and Detention Center
Haskell, Texas
Emerald Corrections
February 5, 2010 Houston Chronicle
Luis Dubegel-Paez, a 60-year-old Cuban immigrant, lay on the floor of
Rolling Plains Detention Center with no pulse, his face flushed, his pupils
dilated. For months before he collapsed at the detention center near Abilene, he
had been complaining to nurses about chest pain and heart problems, asking to
see a doctor. “Can't stand the pain,” Dubegel-Paez wrote on a sick call slip on
Jan. 1, 2008. In response, he was treated by a nurse at the center's medical
clinic and given cold medicine. As the weeks passed, he filed more urgent
requests to see a doctor — only to be given more cough medicine and Tylenol by
nurses, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement records. While
Dubegel-Paez waited to see a doctor, inspectors working for ICE toured the
facility Feb. 26, 2008, to check that it complied with ICE's own detention
standards. The inspectors rated the center “acceptable,” noting no deficiencies
in its medical care. It was only after Dubegel-Paez collapsed and died in March
2008 that ICE's inspectors noted in a report that medical care for about 500
detainees at the facility was being provided only by eight vocational nurses
with minimal nursing or physician supervision. The case highlights what critics
have called pervasive problems with ICE's enforcement of detention standards. A
review of more than 800 pages of inspection reports obtained by the Houston
Chronicle through a Freedom of Information Act request shows that inspectors
have, in some instances, given positive reviews to facilities with serious
problems — ranging from inadequate medical care to poor grievance procedures. In
many cases, ICE has required facilities with deficiencies to make improvements,
though inspectors often failed to note in subsequent reports whether changes
were made. After Dubegel-Paez's death, inspectors noted that the Rolling Plains
facility failed to meet a number of ICE's detention standards, including care
for chronic illness and responding to sick call requests. But ICE officials
still did not downgrade the center's rating because of staffing problems in the
medical unit, records show, and continue to place a growing number of detainees
there. ICE officials said they are in the process of overhauling the nation's
immigration detention system, including its monitoring procedures, and plan to
improve oversight of medical care. “The problems that occurred in 2007 and 2008
are terrible problems, and as an institution and an agency we have to address
them and take them extraordinarily seriously,” said Brian Hale, ICE's public
affairs director in Washington, D.C. “But I also do have to point out that was
something that occurred in the past, and this new administration ... is
committed to ensuring that doesn't happen again. We take it very seriously.” Are
changes enough? ICE officials said they plan to announce changes this spring to
strengthen their detention standards, which are designed to ensure that
detainees have basic protections while in custody. The agency has relied on
300-plus detention centers, private prisons and local jails to house about
400,000 immigrants annually — with roughly one in four detained in Texas. Hale
said ICE is reducing the number of facilities to improve oversight. The agency
also plans to station government monitors at the centers and jails that house
the largest numbers of ICE detainees, he added. Linton Joaquin, who has
investigated detention centers' compliance with ICE's standards as general
counsel with the National Immigration Law Center, said ICE's planned measures
are positive, but “they are so inadequate in comparison to the scope of the
problem.” ICE officials have reported that the majority of inspected facilities
complied with the agency's detention standards, though a 2008 Inspector General
audit found reviewers had not been effective in identifying certain serious
problems at facilities. Locally, the Houston Contract Detention Facility has
received high marks in reviews. Inspection reports obtained by the Chronicle,
which date from early 2007 through February 2009, show ICE has placed detainees
in facilities that have failed to meet some minimum requirements outlined under
its own standards for detainee care, with violations ranging from failure to
accommodate religious diets to lack of formal disciplinary procedures. Access to
adequate medical care continues to be one of the most difficult and
controversial issues for ICE, which has recorded 107 detainee deaths since 2003,
including more than a dozen in Texas. ICE's records documented a wide range of
medical care problems at facilities rated as acceptable, including a complete
lack of on-site medical care at one Dallas-area jail approved for housing
short-term detainees, and chronic staffing problems at larger facilities. An
inspection report for the South Texas Detention Complex in Pearsall documented a
severe staffing shortage in 2007 in the medical unit, with 19 vacancies out of
46 positions. The reviewer wrote that the facility, which at the time held about
1,250 detainees, was meeting ICE's standard for medical access at an
“acceptable” level, though he noted that employees were staying after hours to
complete basic duties. When inspectors returned a year later, in April 2008, ICE
had increased the number of detainees held at the facility to 1,547 — despite
continuing problems with the medical unit. Hiring a key issue -- The inspector
noted the facility, which is owned and operated by the GEO Group, was having
trouble meeting a standard ICE requirement that all detainees have a medical
exam within 14 days of admission. The medical unit had 10 vacancies at the time
of inspection. “These positions are critical to the delivery of health care and
compliance with all ICE standards,” the inspector wrote, giving the facility a
“good” rating. The center continues to suffer from staffing shortages, with 24
vacancies out of 69 authorized positions in its medical unit, though ICE
officials noted that the government is actively recruiting and hiring for those
spots. GEO Group spokesman Pablo Paez declined comment. On March 14, the day
that Dubegel-Paez died, he filled out a final sick call slip and complained to
his cell mate about chest pains before being seen by a nurse. He was being held
while ICE officials tried to arrange his deportation to Cuba. “I have an
emergency to see the doctor about my heart problems that I been having for the
last couple days, and I have been getting dizzy a lot,” he wrote on the sick
call slip. According to ICE's report, the nurse gave him two Tylenol pills and
scheduled him for a sick call appointment the following Monday. An autopsy ruled
his cause of death was heart disease. Still, weeks after Dubegel-Paez's death,
the acting chief of ICE's Detention Standards Compliance unit affirmed the
center's “acceptable” rating without any requirement to improve medical
treatment. Arthur Anderson, the warden of Rolling Plains center, operated by
Emerald Companies, did not return phone calls seeking comment. The facility now
has an on-site physician only six to 10 hours a week and eight full-time nurses,
ICE reported. ICE has continued to increase the number of detainees housed
there, averaging 537 a day last year.
May 11, 2008 Washington Post
Neil Sampson, who ran the DIHS as interim director most of last year, left that
job with serious questions about the government's commitment. Sampson said in an
interview that ICE treated detainee health care "as an afterthought," reflecting
what he called a failure of leadership and management at the Homeland Security
Department. "They do not have a clear idea or philosophy of their approach to
health care [for detainees]," he said. "It's a system failure, not a failure of
individuals." A new director for health services arrived six months ago,
following a stretch when the agency was run first by Sampson and then by a
second interim director. The new boss is LaMont W. Flanagan, who brought with
him the credential of having been fired in 2003 by the state of Maryland for bad
management and spending practices supervising detention and pretrial services.
An audit found that Flanagan had signed off on payments of $145,000 for employee
entertainment and other ill-advised expenditures. His reputation was such that
the District of Columbia would not hire him for a juvenile-justice position.
"Another death that needs to be added to the roster," Diane Aker, the DIHS chief
health administrator, tapped out in an e-mail to a records clerk at headquarters
on Aug. 14, 2007. Juan Guevara-Lorano, 21, was dead. Guevara, an unemployed
legal U.S. resident with a young son, was arrested in El Paso for driving
illegal border-crossers farther into the city. He was paid $50. An entry-level
emergency medical technician, with barely any training, had done Guevara's
intake screening and physical assessment at the Otero County immigration
compound in New Mexico. Under DIHS rules, those tasks are supposed to be done by
a nurse. After two difficult months in detention, Guevara had decided not to
appeal his case. He would go back to Mexico with his family. But on Aug. 4, he
came down with a splitting headache, what he called a nine on a pain scale of
10, his medical records show. The rookie medical technician prescribed Tylenol
and referred Guevara to the compound's physician "due to severity of headache
... and dizziness," according to medical records. But Guevara never saw a
doctor. Eight days after the first incident, he vomited in his cell. The same
junior technician came to help but was unable to insert a nasal airway tube.
Guevara was taken to a hospital, where doctors determined an aneurism in his
brain had burst. His wife, pregnant at the time with their second child,
recalled that she rushed to the hospital but ICE guards would not let her
inside, until the Mexican Consulate interceded. Guevara's mother waited five
hours before they let her in. By then he was brain-dead. "My son is not coming
back," sobbed Ana Celia Lozano months later, sitting in Guevara's small mobile
home as her grandson played on the floor. "I want to know how he lived and died,
nothing more." What appears to be the most incriminating document in Guevara's
case has been partially blacked out. Still, what is left shows that he did not
receive adequate care. "The detainee was not seen or evaluated by an RN,
midlevel or physician. . . . At the time of the incident on 8/12/2007, the
detainee was seen and examined by EMTs." Each immigration facility is allotted a
different number of positions, and a shortage of doctors and nurses is not
unusual at centers across the country. Records from February show that about 30
percent of all DIHS positions in the field were unfilled. ICE officials said
last week that the current vacancy rate is 21 percent. Concern about the
vacancies is voiced repeatedly at clinical directors' meetings. "How do we state
our concerns so that we can be heard? . . . this is a CRITICAL condition. . . .
We have bitten off more than we can chew," a physician wrote in the minutes of
one meeting last summer. In some prisons, the staffing shortages are acute. The
Willacy County detention center in South Texas -- the largest compound, with
2,018 detainees -- has no clinical director, no pharmacist and only a part-time
psychiatrist. Nearly 50 percent of the nursing positions were unfilled at the
1,500-detainee Eloy, Ariz., prison in February. At the newly opened 744-bed
Jena., La., compound, nurses run the place. It has no clinical director, no
staff physician, no psychiatrist and no professional dental staff. Last August,
Sampson, who was then DIHS interim director, warned his superiors at ICE that
critical personnel shortages were making it impossible to staff the Jena
facility adequately. In a vociferous e-mail to Gary Mead, the ICE deputy
director in charge of detention centers, he wrote: "With the Jena request we
have been re-examining our capabilities to meet health care needs at a new site
when we are facing critical staffing shortages at most every other DIHS site.
While we developed, executed and achieved major successes in our recruitment
efforts we have been unable to meet the demand." The slow ICE security-clearance
process forced many job applicants to go elsewhere, Sampson wrote. Of the 312
people who applied for new positions over the past year, 200 withdrew, he wrote,
because they found other jobs during the 250 days it took ICE, on average, to
conduct the required background investigations. Last week, ICE officials said
the average wait had decreased recently to 37 days. These shortages have
burdened the remaining staff. In July 2007, a year after Osman's death in Otay
Mesa, medical director Hui strongly complained to headquarters about workload
stress. "The level of burnout . . . is high and rising," she wrote in an e-mail.
"I know that I have been averaging approximately 2-6 hrs of overtime daily for
the past 2 months. I will no longer be able to sustain this pace and will be
decreasing the number of hours that I work overtime. This being said, more will
be left undone because we simply do NOT have the staff." The overcrowding has
created a petri dish for the spread of diseases. One mission of the Public
Health Service is to detect infectious diseases and contain them before they
spread, but last summer, the gigantic Willacy center was hit by a chicken pox
outbreak. The illness spread because the facility did not have enough available
isolation rooms and its large pods share recycled air, but also because security
officers "lack education about the disease and keep moving around detainees from
different units without taking into consideration if the unit has been isolated
due to heavy exposure," noted the DIHS's top specialist on infectious diseases,
Carlos Duchesne. The staff was forced to vaccinate the entire population in
mid-July. In one 2007 death, memos and confidential notes show how medical staff
missed an infectious disease, meningitis, in their midst. Victor Alfonso
Arellano, 23, a transgender Mexican detainee with AIDS, died in custody at the
San Pedro center. The first three pages of Duchesne's internal review of the
death leave the impression that Arellano's care was proper. But the last page,
under the heading "Off the record observations and recommendations," takes a
decidedly critical tone: "The clinical staff at all levels fails to recognize
early signs and symptoms of meningitis. . . . Pt was evaluated multiple times
and an effort to rule out those infections was not even mentioned." Arellano was
given a "completely useless" antibiotic, Duchesne wrote. Lab work that should
have been performed immediately took 22 days because San Pedro's clinical
director had ordered staff members to withhold lab work for new detainees until
they had been in detention there "for more than 30 days," a violation of agency
rules. "I am sure that there must be a reason why this was mandated but that
practice is particularly dangerous with chronic care cases and specially is
particularly dangerous with . . . HIV/AIDS patients," Duchesne wrote. "Labs for
AIDS patients . . . must be performed ASAP to know their immune status and where
you are standing in reference to disease control and meds." Given the frequency
with which ICE moves people within the detention network, keeping track of
detainees is critical to stopping the spread of infectious illnesses. The
purchase of an electronic records system named CaseTrakker in 2004 was supposed
to help. But according to internal documents and interviews, CaseTrakker is so
riddled with problems that facilities often revert to handwritten records. A
study at one site found that it took one-third more time to use CaseTrakker than
to use paper. Thousands of patient files are missing. Recorded data often cannot
be retrieved. Day-long outages are common. When detainees are transferred from
one facility to another, their records, if they follow them, are often
misleading. Some show medications with no medical diagnoses, or "lots of
diagnoses but no meds," according to Elizabeth Fleming, a former clinical
director at one compound in Arizona. After Yusif Osman's death and the discovery
of the problem with his computerized records, the DIHS ordered a review of all
charts at the Otay Mesa center. During the review, auditors also found that 260
physical exams were never completed as required. The nurse responsible for the
error in Osman's case was reprimanded, but the computer problem was not fixed.
The CaseTrakker system "has failed and must be replaced," Sampson, the DIHS
interim director, wrote to his ICE supervisors in August. In January 2008,
medical director Shack told colleagues that CaseTrakker "is more of a liability
than the use of paper medical record system," according to the minutes of a
meeting. It "puts patients at risk." ICE officials said last week that they are
not satisfied with CaseTrakker and are working to replace it. Along with being
at the mercy of computer glitches, detainees suffer from human errors that deny
or delay their care. And with few advocates on the outside, they are left alone
to plead their cases in the most desperate ways, in hand-scribbled notes to
doctors they rarely see. "I need medicine for pain. All my bones hurt. Thank
you," wrote Mexico native Roberto Ledesma Guerrero, 72, three weeks before he
died inside the Otay Mesa compound. Delays persist throughout the system. In
January, the detention center in Pearsall, Tex., an hour from San Antonio, had a
backlog of 2,097 appointments. Luis Dubegel-Paez, a 60-year-old Cuban, had
filled out many sick call requests before he died on March 14. Detained at the
Rolling Plains Detention Facility in the West Texas town of Haskell, he wrote on
New Year's Day: "need to see doctor for Heart medication; and having chest pains
for the past three days. Can't stand pain." Ten days later he went to the clinic
and became upset when he wasn't seen. He slugged the window, yelled, pointed at
his wristwatch. He was escorted back to his cell. Another of his sick call
requests said: "Need to see a doctor. I have a lot of symptoms of sickness ...
as soon as possible!" The next was more urgent: "I have a emergency to see the
doctor about my heart problems ... for the last couple days and I been getting
dizzy a lot." The next day, Dubegel-Paez collapsed and died. His medical records
do not show that he ever saw a doctor for his chest pains.
April 18, 2006 AP
Two Wyoming inmates have been recaptured after escaping from a Texas jail
over the weekend, according to the Wyoming Department of Corrections. Joe
Wilkinson, 41, gave himself up about two hours after the escape Saturday and
didn't get very far from the Rolling Plains Regional Jail and Detention Center
in Haskell, Texas, corrections spokeswoman Melinda Brazzale said Monday. Robert
Dix, 25, was arrested Sunday night, about 34 hours after the escape. He, too,
didn't get far from the prison. Haskell is about 50 miles north of Abilene,
Texas. Wyoming keeps many of its inmates there because it doesn't have enough
room for them at prisons in Wyoming.
Rolling Plains Technical
Foundation
Sweetwater, Texas
Texson
December 3, 2000
Leslie Broadwell isn't bitter that she lost her job right before Thanksgiving
with only one weeks notice. Actually she spoke quite respectfully of her former
employer who recently filed for bankruptcy. When the adult drug-rehabilitation
facility here was shut down they were told that they would receive there checks
the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. When they failed to arrive they were told
that they would receive them the day after Thanksgiving. They also failed to
come then either. Then they were told that they won't be paid for there lat two
weeks of work because their former employer, Texson Management Group Inc. of
Austin filed for bankruptcy. In its bankruptcy claim, which was filed Nov.
20 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Texson listed nearly $5 million in claims from
20 of its largest unsecured creditors. Texson representatives have refused to
return numerous calls by The Avalanche-Journal seeking comment. In addition,
about 80 others were left without jobs in October when Texson pulled out of a
Juvenile facility it also managed in Sweetwater. Most of the people from the
adult facility have copies of their last time card. They're still hoping to
receive their final paycheck. (The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Dec 2, 2000)
San Antonio Jail
San Antonio, Texas
GEO Group
September 19, 2008 AP
Imagine Mayor Will Wynn hiding copies of the Chronicle because it contained
something mean about him. That's exactly why LareDOS, the alternative newspaper
in Laredo, is suing the town mayor. The paper claims that on June 5, 2007, Mayor
Raul Salinas ordered staff at Laredo International Airport to remove the
May/June issue from the stands because it contained a satirical cartoon
lampooning him. The publication has video footage of Salinas directing staff to
remove the papers. The cover story, written by Editor María Eugenia "Meg"
Guerra, addressed the close relationship between Salinas and private prison firm
Geo Group. The cover image, inspired by 19th century Mexican artist José
Guadalupe Posada's Calaveras print El Jarabe en Ultratumba (The Folk Dance
Beyond the Grave), featured the council as skeletons dancing on money. "The
mayor has a pretty thin skin," said Guerra. The bimonthly publication and the
Texas Civil Rights Project filed suit on Sept. 9 in federal Southern District of
Texas Court in Laredo against the city and Salinas for First Amendment
violations. TCRP Director Jim Harrington called the case "about abuse of power"
and added, "You see this pattern going on around in the country, where
politicians will suppress free speech even though they know they'll lose the
case."
May 1, 2008 San Antonio Express-News
A 35-year-old man who escaped from a downtown private jail March 30 and was
captured a few days later in Boerne faces new charges related to his caper.
Esequiel Pena, who was being held on a federal parole violation, apparently got
through the fence of a recreation yard, then scurried down the fire escape of
the GEO Central Texas Detention Facility and was gone for almost a day before
his escape was noticed. He was captured April 2 by the Lone Star Fugitive Task
Force and Boerne officers. Pena was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury
on escape charges.
April 11, 2008 Laredo Morning Times
An investigation into last week's escape of an inmate from a private
detention facility in downtown San Antonio is continuing, GEO officials said
Thursday. Esequiel Peña, 35, was reported missing from the Central Texas
Detention Facility on March 31. He was arrested without incident the morning of
April 2 at an apartment in Boerne, north of San Antonio, by members of the Lone
Star Fugitive Task Force and the Boerne Police Department, according to the San
Antonio Express-News. Peña was behind bars for violating terms of his supervised
release. He had been convicted of a weapons violation. The detention facility is
operated by The GEO Group Inc., based in Florida. GEO is currently constructing
a 1,500-bed facility in southern Webb County under federal contract. Whenever
something happens at a GEO-run facility, the company conducts a "thorough
investigation," said Pablo Paez, GEO's director of corporate relations. "In this
particular case, we are reviewing all the circumstances that led to that
incident," Paez said Thursday, adding that he could not release any details at
this point. "Many of these findings are security-sensitive. Also, there is the
ongoing investigation." Paez said once the investigation is complete, the
company will take all necessary steps. "We take all appropriate actions with
regard to policy and procedure as well as physical plant improvements," Paez
said. Peña escaped around 3 p.m. on March 30 from a recreation area enclosed by
a chain-link fence, located at the top of the building, eight floors up,
according to the Express-News. A U.S. Marshals Service news release said Peña
somehow squeezed through the fence and apparently climbed down a fire escape to
get away. It was unclear why the facility did not discover that Peña was missing
until nearly 24 hours had passed. That's one of the things under investigation.
April 2, 2008 WOAI
The Lone Star Fugitive Task Force was notified of the escape and launched a
massive manhunt for Esequiel Pena. (News 4) A inmate who escaped from a San
Antonio jail was captured Wednesday morning. Officers with The Lone Star
Fugitive Force and the Boerne Police Department caught up with fugitive Esequiel
Pena in Boerne around 11:30 a.m. Pena was being held in a 8-story level room at
the GEO Group Holding Jail in Downtown San Antonio when he escaped. It's
believed Pena squeezed through a fence and then made his way to a fire escape
and disappeared on Sunday, April 30th. The Lone Star Fugitive Task Force was
notified of the escape and launched a massive manhunt for Pena. A concerned
citizen spotted Pena at a Boerne apartment complex and called the Boerne Police
Department. Boerne police then contact the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force. Boerne
Police Department Assistant Chief Jim Kohler said "Boerne is a wonderful place
to live and work and we will not tolerate the likes of Pena coming into our
community. I am proud of the citizen that came forward and I am also proud of
the way the Boerne Police Department handled this matter. It was a great
cooperative effort between us and the LSFTF." Officers from both the Lone Star
Fugitive Task Force and the Boerne Police Department worked together, and Pena
was arrested without incident at the apartment complex. The United States
Marshal for the Western District of Texas LaFayette Collins said "Because of the
reputation of the LSFTF, the Boerne P.D. did not hesitate to call us. A spirit
of cooperation is essential in our line of work. Today's arrest of a wanted and
dangerous felon bears that out."
April 1, 2008 KENS 5 News
Could an inmate’s escape from a federal jail downtown two days ago have been
prevented? One woman told KENS 5 that she tried to warn guards that Esequiel
Pena had broken out, but she says they didn’t listen. The woman said she told
two guards about the escape, but neither did anything about it. "Where is he
right now? How do we know he hasn't hurt somebody or kidnapped somebody?" said
the woman, who does not want to be identified. The woman said she was sitting in
the parking lot at the federal jail when she saw Pena make his escape. "He
crossed his arms and kinda got nervous, which kinda got my attention. Once he
came around the GEO sign, I saw his bottom half, and I said, ‘Wait a minute,’"
the witness said. It was Sunday afternoon, around 3:30 — about 26 hours before
Pena was ever reported missing — when she said Pena came out from the back
corner of the jail in full inmate uniform. "The inmate wasn't five minutes down
the road by the time I hit the doors to report it," she said. The woman says she
was taken aback by the guard’s lack of urgency. "He never asked me if he was
white, Hispanic, African American. I described the clothing,” she said. “All he
asked was, ‘Was he wearing tennis shoes?’" Now, as authorities search for the
convicted felon, considered armed and dangerous, the woman is angered knowing
Pena could have been caught sooner. The company that owns the facility, The GEO
Group, told KENS 5 they’re investigating the incident.
April 1, 2008 AP
Officials want to know how a convicted felon escaped from a privately owned
jail across the street from San Antonio police headquarters. Nobody noticed he
was gone for a full day -- and he remains at large. Thirty-5-year-old Esequiel
Pena escaped fled the private jail sometime between Sunday afternoon and Monday
afternoon. U.S. Marshals believe Pena is in the San Antonio area. Spokesman
Thomas Smith says Pena apparently pulled back chain-link fencing around a
rooftop recreation yard and climbed down an eight-story fire escape. Pena was at
the Central Texas Detention Facility for violating terms of his supervised
release. He was previously convicted of an unspecified weapons charge and
re-arrested for a different offense. The facility is operated by The GEO Group,
which is assisting in the investigation.
March 31, 2008 KSAT
A man who escaped from a jail facility downtown had quite a headstart on law
enforcement. Esequiel Pena escaped from the GEO Group Jail sometime between
Sunday and Monday afternoons when he pulled open a recreation yard fence and
climbed down an eight-story fire escape, according to a press release from the
Lone Star Fugitive Task Force. Pena was originally sentenced to more than 15
years in prison on weapons charges, but was awaiting transfer into a release
program when he was at the facility, according to the release. He has a history
of mental problems, according to the release.
May 12, 2007 WOAI TV
San Antonio Police arrested a prison guard Saturday after an undercover
investigation. He’s accused of smuggling drugs into a private jail where he
works. Undercover narcotics investigators said 31-year-old Hector Almanza agreed
to smuggle an ounce of black tar heroin into the prison for a fee of $800; he
reportedly stated he had smuggled things into the prison before with success,
like a cell phone. According to the report, Almanza also told the undercover
officer he didn’t want to get caught by police, as another guard was previously
arrested for smuggling on May 11th. Almanza is currently being held in Bexar
County Jail, awaiting transfer into the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.
February 23, 2007 Express News
Bond was set at $50,000 Friday for a guard charged in a plot to smuggle
crack into a privately run San Antonio jail housing federal prisoners. Cedric
Darnell Chambers, 21, appeared before the U.S. magistrate, charged with
attempted possession of cocaine base. He was arrested Thursday after undercover
San Antonio police officers caught him in a deal to smuggle 11 grams of crack
into the jail, at 218 S. Laredo St., run by Florida-based The Geo Group Inc.
Calls to that company were not returned. Chambers could face as many as 40 years
in prison if convicted of the charge.
October 21, 2004 Express News
The Justice Department is reviewing a local case against the Texas Mexican Mafia
to determine whether it warrants a death-penalty prosecution against one of its
alleged generals. The development, revealed for the first time Wednesday, puts
lawyers for Jimmy "Panson" Zavala, 35, on notice that, if the Justice Department
certifies the case for death-penalty prosecution, they'll be fighting for his
life. Also revealed Wednesday was a foiled escape attempt by alleged gang
members, including Zavala, at the San Antonio jail run by the GEO Group, which
holds pretrial federal inmates for the U.S. Marshals Service.
The Sept. 18 attempt, which resulted in the beating of a guard, prompted the
Marshals Service to split up several alleged members, including Zavala, and send
them to other jails in the area.
August 11, 2004
A private corrections company has agreed to pay more than $98,000 to settle a
civil-rights lawsuit alleging negligence by staff at a San Antonio jail led to
an inmate giving premature birth. U.S. District Judge Fred Biery today finalized
the agreement — which was reached months before and preceded a ruling by another
judge that would have given the former Wackenhut Corrections Corp. the victory
in the suit filed in 2002 by Melissa Villarreal. Villarreal, 32, was
incarcerated at the company's jail downtown in 2001 on federal charges that she
violated conditions of the probation she got for drunken driving on Randolph Air
Force Base. Her lawsuit claimed the jail denied her adequate medical care, which
resulted in the premature birth of her son, Logan Daniel Flores, who weighed 1
pound and six ounces when he was born at University Hospital on Nov. 7, 2001.
The suit alleged he had medical complications that continue today, and that
Villarreal was denied to see the boy or provide him with milk after he was born.
This February, U.S. Magistrate Judge Pamela Mathy noted the company documented
that it gave Villarreal adequate medical attention during her pregnancy. The
judge also noted that, because the infant was never in the jail's care, the
company could not have violated the child's constitutional rights. The judge
granted the corrections company summary judgment, which would have dismissed the
case, but Mathy wasn't aware a settlement had been negotiated before she ruled,
said Villarreal's lawyer Frank Menchaca. "This was plan B just in case the
summary judgments did get granted against us, and that is exactly what
happened," Menchaca said. (Express-News)
Smith County Jail
Smith County, Texas
Corplan/Correctional Services Corporation
November 7, 2005 Tyler Morning Telegraph
Smith County commissioners picked Lee Lewis Construction Inc. of Lubbock, along
with Dallas architects Wiginton Hooker Jeffry PC, with which to enter into
negotiations for the design and construction of a new Smith County Jail. In
Monday's meeting of the Smith County Commissioners Court, Commissioner JoAnn
Hampton explained that the three private firms that responded to the recent
Request for Proposals were evaluated according to a specific set of criteria.
The next highest was Correctional Services Corporation, with a score of 55, she
said. Hale-Mills received 51 points. The court, with Gary's help, also looked at
the potential legal entanglements of each of the three firms, after they were
forced to reject an early RFP due to the legal troubles of bidder CorPlan.
September 1, 2005 Tyler Morning Telegraph
Smith County commissioners on Tuesday could vote to put a bond referendum for a
new criminal justice complex on the Nov. 8 ballot, County Judge Becky Dempsey
confirmed Thursday. Commissioners have not yet picked a specific proposal, but
have three to choose from, she said. The prices in those proposals from private
firms range from $46.52 million to $55.71 million.
"We have some preliminary numbers already, and I'm working with our bond counsel
on exact wording," Judge Dempsey said. "We have to fill in some blanks, but I'm
hopeful we can do that in the jail workshop on Tuesday." Also, all three
of the firms that submitted proposals failed to provide the disclosure of their
legal troubles commissioners wanted; they've been asked to provide that
information to the county by Friday. Any firm that fails to do so presumably
would be considered out of the running.
August 25, 2005 Tyler Morning Telegraph
If the instructions weren't explicit enough before, Smith County officials say,
they'll make it perfectly clear: The private firms offering proposals to build a
new jail complex must disclose all their legal troubles immediately. Assistant
District Attorney Michael Gary will send a letter on Friday, he told attendees
at a public hearing on the jail that county commissioners held in Lindale on
Thursday. Smith County officials are wary of such lawsuits
because in July, they threw out a proposal by Corplan Corrections for a new
facility after learning of a growing scandal in Willacy County. Their vote was
not based on the bribery-related convictions of three county officials there,
but on the "contingent liability" of a lawsuit filed in May against Corplan and
Hale-Mills Construction by Willacy County. They wish to avoid any more such
surprises, they say. The private proposals were one issue that emerged at the
public hearing attended by more than two dozen citizens at the county offices in
Lindale. Sheriff J.B. Smith began the hearing with a brief presentation on jail
overcrowding, followed by County Judge Becky Dempsey explaining what
overcrowding is doing to the county's finances.
August 24, 2005 Tyler Morning Telegraph
A general partner of Hale-Mills Construction says his firm's proposal to build a
criminal justice complex for Smith County is in full compliance with the
county's request for proposals, and that a lawsuit filed by Willacy County
alleging that his firm conspired to bribe officials there will soon "dry up and
blow away." Smith County commissioners have expressed concern that not one of
the five proposals submitted last week included the disclosure about lawsuits
and criminal charges that they asked for in the request for proposals. And all
five lead firms have either sued or been sued over construction projects or jail
operations in that period. The merit of the lawsuits filed by or faced by each
of the companies is not the issue, county commissioners say; it's that they
didn't tell the county about the lawsuits when asked in the RFPs.
In July, Smith County threw out a proposal by Corplan Corrections for a new
facility after they learned of a growing scandal in Willacy County. Their vote
was not based on the bribery-related convictions of three county officials
there, but on the "contingent liability" of a lawsuit filed in May against
Corplan and Hale-Mills by Willacy County. The lawsuit claims that Corplan and
Hale-Mills conspired to bribe county commissioners, to be selected for a $14.5
million project.
August 22, 2005 Tyler Morning Telegraph
The most recent round of proposals for a new Smith County jail and sheriff's
office are in, with private firms offering to build and run a new facility for
sums ranging from $46.52 million to $55.71 million for construction, and $31.65
to $45.51 per day, per prisoner for privatized operations. But Hale-Mills
Construction, a firm linked to a South Texas prison project scandal, has
apparently submitted a proposal that doesn't disclose that the firm is being
sued by Willacy County. That county alleges that Hale-Mills and Corplan
Corrections conspired to bribe Willacy County officials in order to win a
project. Smith County commissioners in July threw out a proposal by Corplan
Corrections for a new facility after they learned of a growing scandal in
Willacy County. Their vote was not based on the bribery-related convictions of
three county officials there, but on the "contingent liability" of a lawsuit
filed in May against Corplan and Hale-Mills by Willacy County. The lawsuit
claims that Corplan and Hale-Mills conspired to bribe county commissioners, in
order to be selected for a $14.5 million project. Smith County commissioners
added extra language to their new Request for Proposals to avoid any more such
surprises. "List all criminal charges, lawsuits or alternative dispute
resolutions to which Respondent is a party or has been a party in the past five
years and the nature of the issue," the county's RFP reads. "Indicate if and how
each was resolved." No such disclosure about the Willacy County lawsuit appears
to be in the Hale-Mills proposal packet.
June 27, 2005 Tyler Paper
It's no longer a choice between public and private, Smith County officials say -
it's a matter of combining the best of both to come up with a workable solution
to jail overcrowding. In Monday's jail workshop session, county
commissioners agreed in principle that a new jail should be publicly financed,
privately built and run by the county. County Judge Becky Dempsey added,
"It's more cost effective for us to do our own financing." That's because
generally, government entities can borrow money more cheaply. Corplan, when
discussing financing the facility itself, cited an interest rate of 5.125
percent. Smith County, on the other hand, could get an interest rate of 4.8
percent or less. Over the 20-year life of millions of dollars worth of bonds,
that extra point of interest would add up. "Just a slight difference in
interest rates over 20 years could prove quite costly," Judge Dempsey said.
December 9, 2002
A private jail contractor drew interest and skepticism Friday from members of a
committee formed to study Smith County's jail space crunch. But after
touring the county's cramped facilities, CSC Vice President Bill Bryan conceded
whether or not county leaders embrace his product, they need to do something -
and fast. "My hat's off to the sheriff and his staff," said Bryan. who
retired as chief jail administrator in Bell County before joining the staff of
the nationwide CSC. Bryan said a lack of infirmary and space for one is
causing medical bills to skyrocket because inmates constantly must be
hospitalized for ailments that could be treated in an onsite infirmary.
The county's jail facilities, which consist of 755 beds, failed the most recent
state inspection due to overcrowding. Bryan joked he would be glad to take
the inmates at a 900-bed facility his company recently opened in Newton County.
CSC currently contracts with four counties in Texas and open spaces in those
jails are rented to counties and other states with overcrowded facilities.
Bryan said CSC has a large contract with Arizona and has been able to nearly
fill its Texas facilities with Arizona prisoners. Friday's committee
meeting consisted of the sheriff and jail staff, his administrative staff,
County Auditor Ann Wilson, purchasing agent Jacque Pelson, attorney "Buck"
Files, who represents the county in jail matters, and Taxpayers Association
President JoAnn Fleming. Answering a question from Files, Bryan said
indemnity clauses and insurance could be built into a contract for liability
purposes. Still, Files was skeptical about contracting jail services,
which would mean bringing in inmates from other states to fill empty beds.
"The more inmates we have, the more problems we have," Files said. (CLEAT
News)
South Texas
Intermediate Detention Center
Houston, Texas
GEO Group
May 30, 2007 AP
A 25-year-old prison escapee was captured Wednesday on a jogging trail behind
the Harris County Jail — headquarters for one of the largest contingents of law
enforcement officers in the state of Texas. Andrew Dell Coley traveled only
about seven blocks during his more than 40 hours on the lam before an off-duty
university police chief jogging near the Harris County Jail nabbed him. Coley, a
convicted car thief from Galveston County, apparently lacked a plan after
escaping from the privately run South Texas Intermediate Sanction Facility in
downtown Houston on Monday evening. He was spotted there by Chief Rick Boyle of
the University of Houston-Downtown Police Department, who jogs the trail three
or four days a week. Boyle, clad only in shorts and a T-shirt, recognized
Coley's tattoo from information sent to law enforcement and ran back to the
university to summon help. Boyle then watched Coley until help could arrive.
Coley noticed he was being watched and immediately continued his run of
self-inflicted bad luck. "I don't know if he knew where he was, because he ran
straight toward the jail," Boyle said. Boyle caught up with the escapee and took
him into custody. He then marched Coley inside the jail, where he is now being
held on an escape charge. Michelle Lyons, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department
of Criminal Justice, said officials believe Coley escaped by getting through a
layer of fencing into a ventilation system that runs to another part of the
building. He then apparently kicked out a wall panel and was able to flee. He
had been in custody since January 2006.
May 29, 2007 AP
A convicted car thief from Galveston County escaped Monday evening from a state
prison in downtown Houston, officials said. Texas Department of Criminal Justice
officials said Andrew Dale Coley, 25, serving two years for unauthorized use of
a motor vehicle, was noticed missing about 7 p.m. Monday from the South Texas
Intermediate Sanction Facility. Agency spokeswoman Michelle Lyons said
authorities suspect Coley managed to get through a layer of fencing into a
ventilation system that runs to another part of the building. He then apparently
kicked out a wall panel and was able to flee. Coley has been in state custody
since January 2006. The prison, which can hold up to 450 inmates, is operated
under contract by The GEO Group Inc., a private corrections firm based in Boca
Raton, Fla. The prison, opened in 1993, houses low-risk offenders under active
supervision who have violated the terms of their release to parole or mandatory
supervision. Prison authorities said Coley was serving time for a nonviolent
offense, but any escapee should be considered dangerous.
South Texas Detention Complex
Pearsall, Texas
GEO Group (Formerly
Correctional Services Corporation)
May 26, 2011 KSAT 12
A group of prison guards who work at the South Texas Detention Complex in
Pearsall have taken to the streets in protest, calling for a salary increase.
About 25 people, carrying signs that read "Unfair Wages" walked in a circle in
the street outside the facility Thursday morning. Watch Katrina Webber's Report
Many of them are members of Local 304, a labor union which represents some
prison guards and police officers. "This is not a strike. It's a picket," said
Officer Tim Stone, a spokesman for the group. "We have not had a (significant)
raise in six years and we feel we deserve one." Stone, however, did say his
employer has given workers a 50 cent per hour cost of living increase on
occasion. In the latest contract being negotiated, Stone said, there is no wage
increase at all. Stone said the guards are protesting on their own time, hoping
to send a message to their employer, The GEO Group Inc. The Florida-based
company owns the facility on Veteran Drive in Pearsall, operating under a
contract with the federal government to house undocumented immigrants. The
prison warden refused to comment about the issue, referring media to an email
address for the public information officer. In an emailed response, Pablo Paez,
vice president of Corporate Relations, said, "As a matter of policy, our company
cannot comment on employment-related matters." Stone said the guards began
picketing at 6 a.m. and would continue, in shifts, until 6 p.m. each day. He
said it's unclear whether the union will call a strike should the company not be
willing to adhere to their demands.
February 5, 2010 Houston Chronicle
Luis Dubegel-Paez, a 60-year-old Cuban immigrant, lay on the floor of
Rolling Plains Detention Center with no pulse, his face flushed, his pupils
dilated. For months before he collapsed at the detention center near Abilene, he
had been complaining to nurses about chest pain and heart problems, asking to
see a doctor. “Can't stand the pain,” Dubegel-Paez wrote on a sick call slip on
Jan. 1, 2008. In response, he was treated by a nurse at the center's medical
clinic and given cold medicine. As the weeks passed, he filed more urgent
requests to see a doctor — only to be given more cough medicine and Tylenol by
nurses, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement records. While
Dubegel-Paez waited to see a doctor, inspectors working for ICE toured the
facility Feb. 26, 2008, to check that it complied with ICE's own detention
standards. The inspectors rated the center “acceptable,” noting no deficiencies
in its medical care. It was only after Dubegel-Paez collapsed and died in March
2008 that ICE's inspectors noted in a report that medical care for about 500
detainees at the facility was being provided only by eight vocational nurses
with minimal nursing or physician supervision. The case highlights what critics
have called pervasive problems with ICE's enforcement of detention standards. A
review of more than 800 pages of inspection reports obtained by the Houston
Chronicle through a Freedom of Information Act request shows that inspectors
have, in some instances, given positive reviews to facilities with serious
problems — ranging from inadequate medical care to poor grievance procedures. In
many cases, ICE has required facilities with deficiencies to make improvements,
though inspectors often failed to note in subsequent reports whether changes
were made. After Dubegel-Paez's death, inspectors noted that the Rolling Plains
facility failed to meet a number of ICE's detention standards, including care
for chronic illness and responding to sick call requests. But ICE officials
still did not downgrade the center's rating because of staffing problems in the
medical unit, records show, and continue to place a growing number of detainees
there. ICE officials said they are in the process of overhauling the nation's
immigration detention system, including its monitoring procedures, and plan to
improve oversight of medical care. “The problems that occurred in 2007 and 2008
are terrible problems, and as an institution and an agency we have to address
them and take them extraordinarily seriously,” said Brian Hale, ICE's public
affairs director in Washington, D.C. “But I also do have to point out that was
something that occurred in the past, and this new administration ... is
committed to ensuring that doesn't happen again. We take it very seriously.” Are
changes enough? ICE officials said they plan to announce changes this spring to
strengthen their detention standards, which are designed to ensure that
detainees have basic protections while in custody. The agency has relied on
300-plus detention centers, private prisons and local jails to house about
400,000 immigrants annually — with roughly one in four detained in Texas. Hale
said ICE is reducing the number of facilities to improve oversight. The agency
also plans to station government monitors at the centers and jails that house
the largest numbers of ICE detainees, he added. Linton Joaquin, who has
investigated detention centers' compliance with ICE's standards as general
counsel with the National Immigration Law Center, said ICE's planned measures
are positive, but “they are so inadequate in comparison to the scope of the
problem.” ICE officials have reported that the majority of inspected facilities
complied with the agency's detention standards, though a 2008 Inspector General
audit found reviewers had not been effective in identifying certain serious
problems at facilities. Locally, the Houston Contract Detention Facility has
received high marks in reviews. Inspection reports obtained by the Chronicle,
which date from early 2007 through February 2009, show ICE has placed detainees
in facilities that have failed to meet some minimum requirements outlined under
its own standards for detainee care, with violations ranging from failure to
accommodate religious diets to lack of formal disciplinary procedures. Access to
adequate medical care continues to be one of the most difficult and
controversial issues for ICE, which has recorded 107 detainee deaths since 2003,
including more than a dozen in Texas. ICE's records documented a wide range of
medical care problems at facilities rated as acceptable, including a complete
lack of on-site medical care at one Dallas-area jail approved for housing
short-term detainees, and chronic staffing problems at larger facilities. An
inspection report for the South Texas Detention Complex in Pearsall documented a
severe staffing shortage in 2007 in the medical unit, with 19 vacancies out of
46 positions. The reviewer wrote that the facility, which at the time held about
1,250 detainees, was meeting ICE's standard for medical access at an
“acceptable” level, though he noted that employees were staying after hours to
complete basic duties. When inspectors returned a year later, in April 2008, ICE
had increased the number of detainees held at the facility to 1,547 — despite
continuing problems with the medical unit. Hiring a key issue -- The inspector
noted the facility, which is owned and operated by the GEO Group, was having
trouble meeting a standard ICE requirement that all detainees have a medical
exam within 14 days of admission. The medical unit had 10 vacancies at the time
of inspection. “These positions are critical to the delivery of health care and
compliance with all ICE standards,” the inspector wrote, giving the facility a
“good” rating. The center continues to suffer from staffing shortages, with 24
vacancies out of 69 authorized positions in its medical unit, though ICE
officials noted that the government is actively recruiting and hiring for those
spots. GEO Group spokesman Pablo Paez declined comment. On March 14, the day
that Dubegel-Paez died, he filled out a final sick call slip and complained to
his cell mate about chest pains before being seen by a nurse. He was being held
while ICE officials tried to arrange his deportation to Cuba. “I have an
emergency to see the doctor about my heart problems that I been having for the
last couple days, and I have been getting dizzy a lot,” he wrote on the sick
call slip. According to ICE's report, the nurse gave him two Tylenol pills and
scheduled him for a sick call appointment the following Monday. An autopsy ruled
his cause of death was heart disease. Still, weeks after Dubegel-Paez's death,
the acting chief of ICE's Detention Standards Compliance unit affirmed the
center's “acceptable” rating without any requirement to improve medical
treatment. Arthur Anderson, the warden of Rolling Plains center, operated by
Emerald Companies, did not return phone calls seeking comment. The facility now
has an on-site physician only six to 10 hours a week and eight full-time nurses,
ICE reported. ICE has continued to increase the number of detainees housed
there, averaging 537 a day last year.
February 11, 2009 KRIS TV
Guards at one of the nation's largest immigrant detention facilities have
approved a new labor contract rather than strike. Union workers at the South
Texas Detention Facility in Pearsall ratified the new deal late Wednesday that
union leaders say promises improved equipment and increases the likelihood of
wage increases. Chief union negotiator Howard Johannssen said the new three-year
contract passed by a slight margin but declined to release the vote.
Negotiations with The GEO Group Inc. had been ongoing for months. Guards
threatened to walk off the job unless a deal was reached this week, and brought
about 100 picketing signs to the negotiating table. About 1,400 detainees are
being held at the South Texas facility because of their immigration status, and
more than 300 workers there are union members. A strike would have been the
latest problem in Texas for GEO, a Boca Raton, Fla.-based private contractor
disrupted by two recent inmate riots at a West Texas federal prison.
February 10, 2009 AP
Guards at the largest immigrant detention facility in Texas readied to strike
Tuesday in a dispute with the same private contractor running a West Texas
prison disrupted by two inmate riots in as many months. Unionized workers at the
South Texas Detention Facility in Pearsall say that unless The GEO Group Inc.
agrees to better wages and working conditions Tuesday, more than 300 employees
could walk off the job as early as this week. Negotiations began in August, and
union officials said the meeting with GEO in San Antonio was the last chance to
hammer out a deal. About 1,400 detainees are being held at the facility because
of their immigration status. "I'm hoping (GEO) will be serious this time," said
Ricardo Luna, 50, a detention officer at the facility and the union president.
"But I don't know. It could go either way." GEO spokesman Pablo Paez did not
immediately return an e-mail Tuesday morning seeking comment. Immigrations and
Customs Enforcement, which contracted GEO to run the facility, has previously
said the agency is "prepared to respond appropriately" no matter the outcome but
did not elaborate. A strike would be the latest problem in Texas for GEO, a Boca
Raton, Fla.-based private contractor that is still sorting out two inmate riots
since December at a federal prison the company manages in Reeves County. The
latest riot began Jan. 31 and ended Thursday in the remote West Texas town of
Pecos. The disturbance left buildings heavily damaged, sent smoke billowing from
the facility, and SWAT teams driving inside and out. Inmates and relatives have
told news media the riot was prompted by poor treatment, including medical
services. Another riot in December left one housing unit damages and cost the
county at least $320,000 in repairs. In San Antonio, union workers arrived to
the bargaining table prepared with 100 red picketing posters that read, "ON
STRIKE AGAINST GEO GROUP INC. — UNFAIR." Luna said the safety of detention
officers has been compromised by poor equipment and new guards who he says have
not received the proper training. Located about 60 miles south of San Antonio,
the Pearsall detention center is the only unionized GEO facility in the nation,
union officials say. Workers are seeking increased wages, more affordable health
benefits and improved working conditions. The standard wage there is $14.37 an
hour, according to union officials. Negotiations last broke off in January.
January 14, 2009 News 4 WOAI
News 4 WOAI has learned guards could go on strike at a detention center in
our area. Negotiations over a pay raise have stalled and it could end up costing
you money. The South Texas Detention Complex in Pearsall is where illegal
immigrants are held while waiting to be deported. But soon those detainees may
have no one to guard them. The union’s chief negotiator Howard Johannssen says,
“This employer refuses to give them a pay raise of any sort.” That employer is
GEO, a private company hired by the government to run the prison. After six
months of negotiations GEO says the offer is now final and it doesn't include a
raise. The union says it hopes it doesn't come down to a walkout, but if it does
it’ll work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to set a strike date.
Johanssen says, “I want the inmates in a safe place. I want the people who
protect them in a safe place, but we cannot go on as we're going on now.” If
there is a strike, one possibility would be that all the detainees would have to
be moved to other facilities across the state and that would be a huge expense
to taxpayers. A union representative estimates it'd be 10-15 million dollars to
make the arrangements to move the detainees. The union is scheduled to meet at 7
p.m. Wednesday to discuss its options. If union members reject GEO’s offer, a
strike is possible. GEO, based in Florida, says its policy is not to comment on
negotiations. ICE Statement: News 4 WOAI received the following... "Discussions
are underway between the GEO Management staff at the South Texas Detention
Complex (STDC) in Pearsall, Texas, and the union that represents its bargaining
unit employees. GEO is under contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) to operate and maintain STDC. The employees involved in these
discussions are not employed by ICE or the Department of Homeland Security. ICE
is not directly involved in these discussions. Any questions regarding specific
issues under discussion should be directed to GEO or to its union." "ICE is
committed to ensuring that all ICE detainees — at the STDC and throughout the
country — are maintained in a safe, secure and humane environment. Whatever the
result of the ongoing discussions at STDC, ICE is prepared to respond
appropriately to ensure the continuation of safe and secure operations at the
facility." "ICE encourages all the parties involved to continue their efforts to
reach a fair and equitable agreement. However, it would be inappropriate for ICE
to comment or speculate regarding hypothetical situations, especially while
discussions and negotiations are underway."
December 17, 2008 Houston Chronicle
Attorneys for 10 Somali men held in an immigration detention center in South
Texas allege that federal immigration officials segregated and interrogated
their clients after they left a Muslim prayer service, saying they were subject
to "discriminatory and unethical" questioning. Lawyers for the asylum seekers
said the men — detained at the South Texas Detention Complex in Pearsall — were
targeted because they were Muslim and from Somalia. The lawyers contend that
their clients were segregated into a separate dormitory for two to three days
after they left a Dec. 8 prayer service at the detention facility celebrating
the Muslim holiday, Eid. The Somalis were not given the opportunity to contact
their lawyers, according to a letter the attorneys sent Monday to several
federal agencies including the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Civil
Rights and Civil Liberties. Carl Rusnok, a spokesman with Immigration and
Customs Enforcement, said the agency is researching the allegations in the
letter, which was forwarded to ICE's public affairs office Tuesday by a Houston
Chronicle reporter. Rusnok declined to answer a reporter's questions Wednesday.
"Until that research is completed, no further specific information is available
on the issue," Rusnok said.
May 16, 2008 WOAI
Jail guards are reportedly sexually abusing some female illegal immigrants held
there. In response to our investigation, groups like LULAC plan to visit the
immigration facility in Pearsall to demand answers. "We are committed. We are
not going away," said Gabriel Velasquez, with the Cesar Chavez March for
Justice. He and other civil rights leaders are reacting to allegations that
guards at this immigration facility in Pearsall are taking advantage of some
female detainees, and that those guards are preying on the women for sex while
claiming to be able to help them with their immigration cases. "These
allegations are horrible, horrible. There's nothing to do but go and try to get
accountability," said Velasquez. The allegations first came to light in a News 4
Trouble Shooters investigation with the help of a former detainee and a former
employee of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. Since our story aired
earlier this month, more former and current guards have contacted us to confirm
the allegations. They told us guards hired by a private company called GEO are
forcing themselves on the women at the Pearsall facility. That includes one
former guard who was fired after he got a detainee pregnant, according to
documents obtained by the Trouble Shooters. This case, and others, has these
activists demanding changes. "I'm hopeful the GEO organization will understand
that if they have a problem, all they need to do is fix that problem," said
Velasquez. He added, "We do want to thank Brian Collister for breaking this
story in the city and bringing this to the public." This coalition of human
rights groups plans to visit the facility and try to speak to the warden next
Tuesday. If the warden won't meet with them, they're planning to protest. News 4
will be in Pearsall to bring you the outcome and to continue our investigation.
May 16, 2008 WOAI
In at least one case, a guard reportedly got a female detainee pregnant. It’s
all happening at the South Texas Detention Complex in Pearsall. News 4 Trouble
Shooter Brian Collister brings you the fall out from his investigation. We’ve
heard from several more former guards at the South Texas Detention Complex in
Pearsall since we aired our investigation. They all say the sexual abuse of
female immigrants there has been going on for years and the people running the
facility are trying to cover it all up. The agency that runs the facility is
finally commenting, and so is a US Congressman. The San Antonio Field Office
Director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Marc J. Moore, sent
us the following statement early Tuesday evening: “The allegations raised in the
news story have been referred to the Office of the Inspector General.
Additionally, ICE is now sending a Detention Facilities Inspection Group (DFIG)*
team to review compliance with ICE detention standards and will make
recommendations based on the results of its review.” (Read full statement
below.) “This is shocking,” said Scott Medlock, attorney for the Texas Civil
Rights Project in Austin. “This is outrageous that this is going on, and that
nothing appears to being done about it.” Medlock said the detainees who are
being assaulted probably feel they have no one to turn to. “The greatest threat
to them is, ‘we’re going to deport you, to get you out of here before you get a
chance at relief in your immigration case,’ so that makes them very afraid to
step up and say, ‘these are problems in this facility,’ or, ‘I am being
abused.’” Our investigation shows that abuse has been reported to the government
agency that runs the facility, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE. A
former detainee told the News 4 Trouble Shooters she told ICE investigators
about the widespread problem last year. “I told them everything that was going
on in the kitchen. How even the lieutenants were doing stuff,” she explained.
ICE is still not talking about these cases, which includes former guard Joseph
Canales. We’re told Canales was fired after getting a detainee pregnant, but
surprisingly that case was apparently not investigated by ICE. In a report
obtained by the Trouble Shooters, ICE had the private company that hires the
guards, GEO, to investigate the possible crime. Medlock said, “This report
you’ve discovered says that they let the GEO group do the investigation of what
happened. That’s really letting the fox guard the hen house.” We’ve also tried
to get answers from two area congressman. The Pearsall facility is in Henry
Cuellar’s district, and Lamar Smith sits on the committee overseeing the agency
that runs the facility. So far, neither has offered a comment on what we
uncovered. We’re not stopping there. We’ll be back with more as we continue to
uncover more from what’s been going on inside the Pearsall facility. ICE
Statement: The allegations raised in the news story have been referred to the
Office of the Inspector General. Additionally, ICE is now sending a Detention
Facilities Inspection Group (DFIG)* team to review compliance with ICE detention
standards and will make recommendations based on the results of its review. ICE
would also like to make it clear that no employee has been, nor will be,
terminated or disciplined for reporting misconduct at any facility that houses
ICE detainees. Regarding your additional questions, ICE will continue to review
and will provide any other publicly releasable information when appropriate.”
Marc J. Moore San Antonio Field Office Director U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE)
May 16, 2008 WOAI
Startling allegations of sexual assault are coming out about a facility that
holds illegal immigrants. It’s said to be happening in Pearsall, just about an
hour outside of San Antonio. News 4 Trouble Shooter Brian Collister is
uncovering how some guards may be victimizing the women they are supposed to be
protecting. Many of the immigrants held here are women. Some have fled abuse in
their home country, only to be reportedly abused again behind these bars. A
former detainee, who asked us not to identify her told us, “It was going on a
lot. It was going on almost all the time, the sexual abuse.” She claims sexual
abuse came from the guards. She said while she was there she rejected advances
by one of the guards, but said other girls were too scared to put up a fight.
“Some of the guards actually tried to force themselves on the girls and that
they’ve told them that if they ever said anything about it, that they have the
power with ICE to deport them,” explained this former detainee. The guards work
for a private company called GEO, hired by Immigration and Customs Enforcement,
or ICE, to run the prison. Sexual contact with detainees is not allowed. In
fact, it’s a crime. The former detainee said, “Some of the girls ended up
pregnant by some of the officers there.” She added one of those who got pregnant
was a girl from Guatemala, named Marley. Marley’s case is mentioned in an
incident report obtained by the News 4 Trouble Shooters. It details how last may
a guard reported being told by another guard that he’d had sex with a Marley,
who has already been deported back home. That guard accused of having sex with
Marley was Joseph Canales. The Trouble Shooters tracked him down, but he told us
he didn’t get anyone pregnant, then added: “Whatever happened, happened a long
time ago.” After the incident report, Canales was fired, but ICE will not tell
us if they referred the case for prosecution. The US Attorneys Office told us it
has no case against Canales. Still, there are other sexual assaults we’ve
uncovered. We obtained an email sent by an ICE officer to his supervisors
notifying them that a detainee had told him about a GEO sergeant who was having
sex with one of the female detainees. The ICE officer who wrote that e-mail sat
down with us, but asked us not to identify him. He said some of the GEO guards
prey on the female detainees by lying to them and promising they can help them
stay in the United States. “If they had the opportunity,” he explained, “some of
the guards were just touching, groping, but if they had the opportunity they had
sex with them. The female detainees, a lot of them, were willing because they
thought it was…somehow their chances of staying were going to increase. That’s
not the case whatsoever. If ICE can keep it under wraps, they will keep it under
wraps.” To keep it under wraps, he said he was fired for reporting what was
going on. And he is not alone. We’ve also talked to a former GEO guard who said
she, too, was fired after reporting sexual abuse. While ICE would not provide a
spokesperson to speak with us on camera, the man in charge did recently speak to
News 4 for another story on how they deport illegals and said this about how
detainees are treated. Marc J. Moore, ICE Field Office Director said recently,
“I think ICE has a clear commitment to not only safe detention but also humane
detention.” A spokesman for GEO told us they didn’t know of any sexual assault
cases, but when Trouble Shooter Collister asked about the incident in this
report, we got no response. The people who run this prison may not want to talk
about it, but we’re not done digging. We’ll follow up with more in the coming
days and weeks.
May 11, 2008 Washington Post
Neil Sampson, who ran the DIHS as interim director most of last year, left that
job with serious questions about the government's commitment. Sampson said in an
interview that ICE treated detainee health care "as an afterthought," reflecting
what he called a failure of leadership and management at the Homeland Security
Department. "They do not have a clear idea or philosophy of their approach to
health care [for detainees]," he said. "It's a system failure, not a failure of
individuals." A new director for health services arrived six months ago,
following a stretch when the agency was run first by Sampson and then by a
second interim director. The new boss is LaMont W. Flanagan, who brought with
him the credential of having been fired in 2003 by the state of Maryland for bad
management and spending practices supervising detention and pretrial services.
An audit found that Flanagan had signed off on payments of $145,000 for employee
entertainment and other ill-advised expenditures. His reputation was such that
the District of Columbia would not hire him for a juvenile-justice position.
"Another death that needs to be added to the roster," Diane Aker, the DIHS chief
health administrator, tapped out in an e-mail to a records clerk at headquarters
on Aug. 14, 2007. Juan Guevara-Lorano, 21, was dead. Guevara, an unemployed
legal U.S. resident with a young son, was arrested in El Paso for driving
illegal border-crossers farther into the city. He was paid $50. An entry-level
emergency medical technician, with barely any training, had done Guevara's
intake screening and physical assessment at the Otero County immigration
compound in New Mexico. Under DIHS rules, those tasks are supposed to be done by
a nurse. After two difficult months in detention, Guevara had decided not to
appeal his case. He would go back to Mexico with his family. But on Aug. 4, he
came down with a splitting headache, what he called a nine on a pain scale of
10, his medical records show. The rookie medical technician prescribed Tylenol
and referred Guevara to the compound's physician "due to severity of headache
... and dizziness," according to medical records. But Guevara never saw a
doctor. Eight days after the first incident, he vomited in his cell. The same
junior technician came to help but was unable to insert a nasal airway tube.
Guevara was taken to a hospital, where doctors determined an aneurism in his
brain had burst. His wife, pregnant at the time with their second child,
recalled that she rushed to the hospital but ICE guards would not let her
inside, until the Mexican Consulate interceded. Guevara's mother waited five
hours before they let her in. By then he was brain-dead. "My son is not coming
back," sobbed Ana Celia Lozano months later, sitting in Guevara's small mobile
home as her grandson played on the floor. "I want to know how he lived and died,
nothing more." What appears to be the most incriminating document in Guevara's
case has been partially blacked out. Still, what is left shows that he did not
receive adequate care. "The detainee was not seen or evaluated by an RN,
midlevel or physician. . . . At the time of the incident on 8/12/2007, the
detainee was seen and examined by EMTs." Each immigration facility is allotted a
different number of positions, and a shortage of doctors and nurses is not
unusual at centers across the country. Records from February show that about 30
percent of all DIHS positions in the field were unfilled. ICE officials said
last week that the current vacancy rate is 21 percent. Concern about the
vacancies is voiced repeatedly at clinical directors' meetings. "How do we state
our concerns so that we can be heard? . . . this is a CRITICAL condition. . . .
We have bitten off more than we can chew," a physician wrote in the minutes of
one meeting last summer. In some prisons, the staffing shortages are acute. The
Willacy County detention center in South Texas -- the largest compound, with
2,018 detainees -- has no clinical director, no pharmacist and only a part-time
psychiatrist. Nearly 50 percent of the nursing positions were unfilled at the
1,500-detainee Eloy, Ariz., prison in February. At the newly opened 744-bed
Jena., La., compound, nurses run the place. It has no clinical director, no
staff physician, no psychiatrist and no professional dental staff. Last August,
Sampson, who was then DIHS interim director, warned his superiors at ICE that
critical personnel shortages were making it impossible to staff the Jena
facility adequately. In a vociferous e-mail to Gary Mead, the ICE deputy
director in charge of detention centers, he wrote: "With the Jena request we
have been re-examining our capabilities to meet health care needs at a new site
when we are facing critical staffing shortages at most every other DIHS site.
While we developed, executed and achieved major successes in our recruitment
efforts we have been unable to meet the demand." The slow ICE security-clearance
process forced many job applicants to go elsewhere, Sampson wrote. Of the 312
people who applied for new positions over the past year, 200 withdrew, he wrote,
because they found other jobs during the 250 days it took ICE, on average, to
conduct the required background investigations. Last week, ICE officials said
the average wait had decreased recently to 37 days. These shortages have
burdened the remaining staff. In July 2007, a year after Osman's death in Otay
Mesa, medical director Hui strongly complained to headquarters about workload
stress. "The level of burnout . . . is high and rising," she wrote in an e-mail.
"I know that I have been averaging approximately 2-6 hrs of overtime daily for
the past 2 months. I will no longer be able to sustain this pace and will be
decreasing the number of hours that I work overtime. This being said, more will
be left undone because we simply do NOT have the staff." The overcrowding has
created a petri dish for the spread of diseases. One mission of the Public
Health Service is to detect infectious diseases and contain them before they
spread, but last summer, the gigantic Willacy center was hit by a chicken pox
outbreak. The illness spread because the facility did not have enough available
isolation rooms and its large pods share recycled air, but also because security
officers "lack education about the disease and keep moving around detainees from
different units without taking into consideration if the unit has been isolated
due to heavy exposure," noted the DIHS's top specialist on infectious diseases,
Carlos Duchesne. The staff was forced to vaccinate the entire population in
mid-July. In one 2007 death, memos and confidential notes show how medical staff
missed an infectious disease, meningitis, in their midst. Victor Alfonso
Arellano, 23, a transgender Mexican detainee with AIDS, died in custody at the
San Pedro center. The first three pages of Duchesne's internal review of the
death leave the impression that Arellano's care was proper. But the last page,
under the heading "Off the record observations and recommendations," takes a
decidedly critical tone: "The clinical staff at all levels fails to recognize
early signs and symptoms of meningitis. . . . Pt was evaluated multiple times
and an effort to rule out those infections was not even mentioned." Arellano was
given a "completely useless" antibiotic, Duchesne wrote. Lab work that should
have been performed immediately took 22 days because San Pedro's clinical
director had ordered staff members to withhold lab work for new detainees until
they had been in detention there "for more than 30 days," a violation of agency
rules. "I am sure that there must be a reason why this was mandated but that
practice is particularly dangerous with chronic care cases and specially is
particularly dangerous with . . . HIV/AIDS patients," Duchesne wrote. "Labs for
AIDS patients . . . must be performed ASAP to know their immune status and where
you are standing in reference to disease control and meds." Given the frequency
with which ICE moves people within the detention network, keeping track of
detainees is critical to stopping the spread of infectious illnesses. The
purchase of an electronic records system named CaseTrakker in 2004 was supposed
to help. But according to internal documents and interviews, CaseTrakker is so
riddled with problems that facilities often revert to handwritten records. A
study at one site found that it took one-third more time to use CaseTrakker than
to use paper. Thousands of patient files are missing. Recorded data often cannot
be retrieved. Day-long outages are common. When detainees are transferred from
one facility to another, their records, if they follow them, are often
misleading. Some show medications with no medical diagnoses, or "lots of
diagnoses but no meds," according to Elizabeth Fleming, a former clinical
director at one compound in Arizona. After Yusif Osman's death and the discovery
of the problem with his computerized records, the DIHS ordered a review of all
charts at the Otay Mesa center. During the review, auditors also found that 260
physical exams were never completed as required. The nurse responsible for the
error in Osman's case was reprimanded, but the computer problem was not fixed.
The CaseTrakker system "has failed and must be replaced," Sampson, the DIHS
interim director, wrote to his ICE supervisors in August. In January 2008,
medical director Shack told colleagues that CaseTrakker "is more of a liability
than the use of paper medical record system," according to the minutes of a
meeting. It "puts patients at risk." ICE officials said last week that they are
not satisfied with CaseTrakker and are working to replace it. Along with being
at the mercy of computer glitches, detainees suffer from human errors that deny
or delay their care. And with few advocates on the outside, they are left alone
to plead their cases in the most desperate ways, in hand-scribbled notes to
doctors they rarely see. "I need medicine for pain. All my bones hurt. Thank
you," wrote Mexico native Roberto Ledesma Guerrero, 72, three weeks before he
died inside the Otay Mesa compound. Delays persist throughout the system. In
January, the detention center in Pearsall, Tex., an hour from San Antonio, had a
backlog of 2,097 appointments. Luis Dubegel-Paez, a 60-year-old Cuban, had
filled out many sick call requests before he died on March 14. Detained at the
Rolling Plains Detention Facility in the West Texas town of Haskell, he wrote on
New Year's Day: "need to see doctor for Heart medication; and having chest pains
for the past three days. Can't stand pain." Ten days later he went to the clinic
and became upset when he wasn't seen. He slugged the window, yelled, pointed at
his wristwatch. He was escorted back to his cell. Another of his sick call
requests said: "Need to see a doctor. I have a lot of symptoms of sickness ...
as soon as possible!" The next was more urgent: "I have a emergency to see the
doctor about my heart problems ... for the last couple days and I been getting
dizzy a lot." The next day, Dubegel-Paez collapsed and died. His medical records
do not show that he ever saw a doctor for his chest pains.
May 6, 2008 WOAI
Reaction is coming into a News 4 Trouble Shooters investigation into sexual
assaults at a South Texas Immigration Detention Facility for illegal immigrants.
In at least one case, a guard reportedly got a female detainee pregnant. It's
all happening at the South Texas Detention Complex in Pearsall. News 4 Trouble
Shooter Brian Collister brings you the fall out from his investigation. We've
heard from several more former guards at the South Texas Detention Complex in
Pearsall since we aired our investigation. They all say the sexual abuse of
female immigrants there has been going on for years and the people running the
facility are trying to cover it all up. The agency that runs the facility is
finally commenting, and so is a US Congressman. The San Antonio Field Office
Director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Marc J. Moore, sent
us the following statement early Tuesday evening: "The allegations raised in the
news story have been referred to the Office of the Inspector General.
Additionally, ICE is now sending a Detention Facilities Inspection Group (DFIG)*
team to review compliance with ICE detention standards and will make
recommendations based on the results of its review." (Read full statement
below.) "This is shocking," said Scott Medlock, attorney for the Texas Civil
Rights Project in Austin. "This is outrageous that this is going on, and that
nothing appears to being done about it." Medlock said the detainees who are
being assaulted probably feel they have no one to turn to. "The greatest threat
to them is, 'we're going to deport you, to get you out of here before you get a
chance at relief in your immigration case,' so that makes them very afraid to
step up and say, 'these are problems in this facility,' or, 'I am being
abused.'" Our investigation shows that abuse has been reported to the government
agency that runs the facility, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE. A
former detainee told the News 4 Trouble Shooters she told ICE investigators
about the widespread problem last year. "I told them everything that was going
on in the kitchen. How even the lieutenants were doing stuff," she explained.
ICE is still not talking about these cases, which includes former guard Joseph
Canales. We're told Canales was fired after getting a detainee pregnant, but
surprisingly that case was apparently not investigated by ICE. In a report
obtained by the Trouble Shooters, ICE had the private company that hires the
guards, GEO, to investigate the possible crime. Medlock said, "This report
you've discovered says that they let the GEO group do the investigation of what
happened. That's really letting the fox guard the hen house." We've also tried
to get answers from two area congressman. The Pearsall facility is in Henry
Cuellar's district, and Lamar Smith sits on the committee overseeing the agency
that runs the facility. So far, neither has offered a comment on what we
uncovered. We're not stopping there. We'll be back with more as we continue to
uncover more from what's been going on inside the Pearsall facility.
May 6, 2008 WOAI
Startling allegations of sexual assault are coming out about a facility that
holds illegal immigrants. It's said to be happening in Pearsall, just about an
hour outside of San Antonio. News 4 Trouble Shooter Brian Collister is
uncovering how some guards may be victimizing the women they are supposed to be
protecting. Many of the immigrants held here are women. Some have fled abuse in
their home country, only to be reportedly abused again behind these bars. A
former detainee, who asked us not to identify her told us, "It was going on a
lot. It was going on almost all the time, the sexual abuse." She claims sexual
abuse came from the guards. She said while she was there she rejected advances
by one of the guards, but said other girls were too scared to put up a fight.
"Some of the guards actually tried to force themselves on the girls and that
they've told them that if they ever said anything about it, that they have the
power with ICE to deport them," explained this former detainee. The guards work
for a private company called GEO, hired by Immigration and Customs Enforcement,
or ICE, to run the prison. Sexual contact with detainees is not allowed. In
fact, it's a crime. The former detainee said, "Some of the girls ended up
pregnant by some of the officers there." She added one of those who got pregnant
was a girl from Guatemala, named Marley. Marley's case is mentioned in an
incident report obtained by the News 4 Trouble Shooters. It details how last May
a guard reported being told by another guard that he'd had sex with a Marley,
who has already been deported back home. That guard accused of having sex with
Marley was Joseph Canales. The Trouble Shooters tracked him down, but he told us
he didn't get anyone pregnant, then added: "Whatever happened, happened a long
time ago." After the incident report, Canales was fired, but ICE will not tell
us if they referred the case for prosecution. The US Attorneys Office told us it
has no case against Canales. Still, there are other sexual assaults we've
uncovered. We obtained an email sent by an ICE officer to his supervisors
notifying them that a detainee had told him about a GEO sergeant who was having
sex with one of the female detainees. The ICE officer who wrote that e-mail sat
down with us, but asked us not to identify him. He said some of the GEO guards
prey on the female detainees by lying to them and promising they can help them
stay in the United States. "If they had the opportunity," he explained, "some of
the guards were just touching, groping, but if they had the opportunity they had
sex with them. The female detainees, a lot of them, were willing because they
thought it was...somehow their chances of staying were going to increase. That's
not the case whatsoever. If ICE can keep it under wraps, they will keep it under
wraps." To keep it under wraps, he said he was fired for reporting what was
going on. And he is not alone. We've also talked to a former GEO guard who said
she, too, was fired after reporting sexual abuse. While ICE would not provide a
spokesperson to speak with us on camera, the man in charge did recently speak to
News 4 for another story on how they deport illegals and said this about how
detainees are treated. Marc J. Moore, ICE Field Office Director said recently,
"I think ICE has a clear commitment to not only safe detention but also humane
detention." A spokesman for GEO told us they didn't know of any sexual assault
cases, but when Trouble Shooter Collister asked about the incident in this
report, we got no response. The people who run this prison may not want to talk
about it, but we're not done digging. We'll follow up with more in the coming
days and weeks.
November 1, 2007 Laredo Morning Times
When Wendolyne Morales received a letter from the Corrections Corporation of
America on Saunders Street, and then spoke with the detainee's wife in
Wisconsin, she knew she was onto something. The KLDO-Univision investigative
reporter spent six months working on a series of 10 stories related to Tomas
Contreras, a resident alien detained at the border for a drug charge and fine he
paid nearly 20 years ago. With the help of photographers Elsa De Leon, Guillermo
Rodriguez, Ruben Carranza and Sammy de la Garza, Morales did stories on the
detainee's plight with the government's mandatory detention law. In particular,
the last one she filed in June, after Contreras was released, propelled her into
the big leagues. This weekend, at a sumptuous gala event in Dallas, her name was
announced after the presenter said, "And the Emmy goes to … " Morales had just
become Laredo's first television reporter to win an Emmy Award. "I feel very
happy and I'm so proud to belong to the team that I do," she said. "More than
anything, it feels good to know that our competitors were the big sharks." Her
entry beat out six other English- and Spanish-language reporters from the
Houston, Dallas and San Antonio television markets in the Lone Star Emmy
category for Specialty Assignment Report-Single News Story. Since the Emmys
opened a chapter in Texas five years ago, this is the first time a KLDO entry
made it into the finals, and the first time that a Laredo television news
network brought home a trophy. A native of Guanajuato, Mexico, Morales came to
Laredo in the seventh-grade and graduated from Cigarroa High School and the
Vidal M. Treviño School of Communications and Fine Arts, where she focused on
television, film and communications. She is pursuing a bachelor's degree in
communications and previously worked for Univision in Corpus Christi. Dressed in
a long, red evening gown that Saturday night, Morales was accompanied by Maria
Montoya, Maria de la Luz de Alba and Alma Blanco. These are her best friends,
"my sisters," she said, describing them as her mentors and role models when they
worked together at another local television station several years ago. "We
grabbed hands and when the announcer said my name, we screamed," Morales said.
"I was so excited and emocionada (emotional) and when I get like that I stumble
my words. I didn't even know what I was saying." What attracted Morales to her
award-winning story was how the mandatory detention laws, enacted immediately
after 9/11, are dividing families and creating undue hardship and suffering, she
said. Meant to catch terrorists at points of entry, the mandatory detention laws
are now detaining people, regardless of their immigration status, for crimes
committed decades ago. "They need to modify the laws because they are punishing
people who went through the whole process to come into the country legally,"
Morales said. "They are detaining people for long periods of time, for six
months or longer," Morales said. "It's dividing families and making people lose
their jobs, because what job is going to wait six months for you to come back?"
In her stories, Morales focused on Contreras, a resident alien and successful
businessman in Wisconsin. He was detained for an 18-year-old drug charge by
Laredo officials at the bridge upon returning from a family vacation in Mexico.
In 1989, Contreras was fined for drug possession when police found cocaine
residue in a car he was borrowing from a friend. Contreras has since built up a
successful career. As part of her series, Morales filmed part of Contreras'
family protesting outside CCA on a cold early Saturday morning, even though she
and the photographer, Guillermo Rodriguez, are off weekends. She also
interviewed Contreras after he was released six months later and learned about
the mistreatment and poor conditions facing detainees behind bars. After she
spoke with his wife in January, Morales said she knew she had to "at least
investigate." She began calling CCA officials and U.S. Customs officials in San
Antonio, and stayed on top of the story. "When we won on Saturday, we were able
to show that Hispanic reporters can also put out an excellent product and can
compete with the big North American chains," she said.
October 24, 2007 San Antonio Express-News
One was diagnosed with schizophrenia. The other was manic-depressive. But as
far as the federal immigration detention system is concerned, the pair say,
their illnesses were checked at the door. The cases of two immigrants in South
Texas reflect the systematic medical maltreatment detainees face across the
country as the government rushes people in and out to save a buck by skipping
treatment, said Javier Maldonado, a San Antonio immigration lawyer. Maldonado is
representing Miroslava Rodríguez Grava and Isaías Vásquez Cisneros, Mexican
immigrants held at the South Texas Detention Complex, a 1,904-bed federal
immigration prison in Pearsall. Vásquez was released last year and since gained
U.S. citizenship, while Rodríguez remains in Pearsall. Both were U.S. permanent
residents when they were detained. Maldonado declined to discuss their felony
convictions, which made them deportable. Once in prison, their mental illnesses
went untreated, according to a federal suit Maldonado filed last month against
the GEO Group, the private contractor hired to run the Pearsall prison. "It's a
complete disregard for people with mental disabilities," he said. "They're doing
nothing or very little for (detainees), in many cases leading to their deaths."
Mark Kosanovich, a San Antonio lawyer hired by the Florida-based company that
manages about 50,000 prison beds in 18 states, declined to comment. His court
response denied any wrongdoing and pointed to the government as responsible for
detainee health care. Maldonado said he eventually will include U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Public Health Service, which runs medical
clinics inside immigration prisons, where more than 60 detainees have died in
the past four years. Public Health Service officials referred calls to ICE
officials, who declined to comment. At a congressional hearing this month, an
ICE administrator denied accusations of poor treatment and said the death count
is minuscule given the massive volume of detainees. The San Antonio lawsuit
comes on the heels of increased scrutiny of the medical care of those detained
for civil violations of immigration law. The government recently settled a
lawsuit by agreeing to changes at a detention center for families northeast of
Austin. Another suit alleges maltreatment at a prison in San Diego, Calif. It
and three others were deemed in violation of ICE's national detention standards
— including medical care — in a report issued last year by the inspector general
for the Homeland Security Department, the ICE parent agency. Detainees' top
complaint is typically poor medical care. The issue was further thrust in the
national spotlight after the deaths of three detainees in separate prisons in
August, including one in El Paso, prompting an inquiry from the U.S. House
Homeland Security Committee — yet to be answered by ICE — and a hearing by the
House immigration subcommittee. "This is just another way of murdering people
and it cannot be tolerated," U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., chairman of the
subcommittee, said by phone. The attention extends beyond U.S. borders.
Florentín Meléndez, president of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights,
said he received U.S. approval this month to visit immigration prisons,
including the T. Don Hutto Family Residential Facility near Austin, starting in
December. "It's really worrisome to see all these reports," Meléndez said by
phone from El Salvador. "We're interested in making sure people are being
treated well — they're human beings before they're illegals." Not all prison
managers for the private and public outfits that contract with ICE to house
immigrant detainees are happy with their middleman role concerning medical care.
One prison warden openly accused ICE of landing him in legal trouble by refusing
to approve medical care he sought for one of his inmates. "We believe that the
policies that are being followed by the (Public Health Service) are designed to
try to minimize the medical expense by dragging out the requests for medical
care so that the ... inmate can be deported before the cost is incurred," Thomas
Hogan, warden of York County Prison in Pennsylvania, said in a court affidavit
last year. The government has rejected allegations of delaying or denying care,
saying detainees have a top-notch network of more than 600 doctors and nurses
with a $100 million budget. In his testimony to the House immigration panel,
Gary Mead, assistant director of detention and deportation for ICE, said all
detainees get two medical screenings and about a fourth of them enter the system
with chronic ailments, such as diabetes, that are promptly treated. Mead said
detainees submit more than 40,000 medical requests annually, of which 90 percent
are approved with an average wait of a day and a half. And 64 deaths in four
years is remarkably low considering the agency processed about 1 million
detainees in the same period, Mead said. They may have survived, but Rodríguez's
and Vásquez's treatment was inhumane since their jailers knew about their
diagnosed conditions, their lawsuit alleges. The lawsuit argues that the pair's
rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act were
violated. Not only did they not get adequate treatment and medication, but the
medical staff accused them of faking their illnesses, the lawsuit states. It
says the GEO Group retaliated against Rodríguez, who also had polio and can't
walk on her own, by "purposefully misdiagnosing her condition, denying her
adequate treatment and reasonable accommodations, removing her crutches, and
stripping her naked and placing her in an isolation room." As for Vásquez, now
back with his family in San Antonio, the suit seeks justice for past abuse.
Though his records listed him as schizophrenic, guards accused him of being a
phony and stopped the psychiatric treatment he received from the Veterans
Affairs Department. "Plaintiff has suffered and continues to suffer emotional
pain and anguish as a result of defendant's actions," according to the suit.
July 19, 2007 The Capital Times
Tomas Contreras, a Madison businessman held for 81 days earlier this year when
he tried to re-enter the United States, is working to expose the cruelties,
including a two-week stay in an isolation chamber, that he said he was subjected
to at privately run detention centers in Texas. "One night after midnight, I was
sleeping and a whole bunch of people showed up. They tied me up and beat me,"
Contreras, his voice catching, told a forum on immigration issues in Whitewater
last week. Contreras appeared with a "Reality Tour" of the state organized by
Voces de la Frontera -- a rally at the State Capitol in Madison, a forum in
Whitewater, a stop in Milwaukee -- to tell of what he calls abuses in U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers. "Every time I get
into what was going on back there, what happened to these people, it breaks me,"
Contreras said in a recent interview at his family's east side carpet cleaning
business. The experience took 90 pounds off his 260-pound frame, he said, weight
that he's putting back on since he was released following an order by a federal
judge on March 30. Contreras was taken into custody in early January after a
computer check at the border as he and his family were returning from Mexico.
The check turned up a 1989 arrest in Illinois, where a trace of cocaine was
found in the car in which Contreras was riding. He said he paid a $250 fine and
was told he would have no record. Although he has lived legally in the United
States since 1964, Contreras is not a U.S. citizen, so his drug conviction was a
deportable offense under a 1996 law. He has crossed the border without incident
many times since then, but ICE recently upgraded its computers at the border,
which may be why he was detained this time. Tough Texas treatment: Contreras was
held at three ICE facilities in Texas run by private companies under contract
with the federal government. At the Laredo Processing Center in Laredo, run by
Tennessee-based Corrections Corp. of America, a national prison services giant,
Contreras said he was placed in a large dormitory with 80 or more men from
around the world. He saw fights among detainees and unprovoked force used by
guards on detainees. His objections to rough treatment by guards of other
detainees brought threats of retaliation, he said. Contreras launched a hunger
strike and encouraged others to join him in protest of treatment there, as his
wife, Carmen, gave reports on the protest to Spanish-language media. Contreras
said in an interview that he and six other men who challenged guards' treatment
of detainees were shackled and beaten as they were transferred to another
facility. He said after he was awakened in the middle of the night and yanked
from his bunk, his wrists and ankles were shackled to his waist, and he was
prodded repeatedly -- hard -- by a guard wielding a police baton. Because their
shackled feet could not step up high enough to get into a transport van,
Contreras said, he and others we picked up and thrown in. "They tossed us all in
there like animals." Contreras said the incident left bruises on his legs and
arms, and his arms were cut when guards used tools to snap off the plastic
restraints. He was transferred to Corrections Corp.'s Webb County Detention
Center, also in Laredo, where he continued his hunger strike. After a letter
from U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin to ICE officials, solicited by Contreras' family,
he said he was transferred to the South Texas Detention Complex in Pearsall, run
by the international GEO Group Inc. After a dispute with a guard about an
assignment to a lower bunk, which Contreras said was made by GEO's medical unit,
he said he was put in a 5-foot-by-6-foot isolation cell. He stayed in the metal
cell, with bunk, toilet and sink, for two weeks, he said. The prescribed periods
of release, for showering, exercise and visits, sometimes were not given because
there weren't enough guards on duty, he added. Steve Owen, Corrections Corp.'s
director of marketing, referred requests for comment to ICE, saying that was
ICE's policy. Nina Pruneda in ICE's public affairs office in San Antonio said
she could find no record in Contreras' file "of the things he said he witnessed
and endured. We are looking into the matter." GEO spokesman Pablo Paez said as a
matter of policy, the company does not comment on "third party allegations" like
those made by Contreras, but said that all of GEO's facilities are run in
accordance with the American Correctional Association's standards for humane
treatment. A spokesperson in Baldwin's office said they had received no further
requests from Contreras since his release, but said Baldwin would ask the House
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to "investigate issues raised by
the Contreras case in its review of possible civil liberties violations and its
review of the consequences of privatizing basic government services." The
committee, under Chairman Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., is reviewing Bush
administration practices and policies. Waxman's office said that on Baldwin's
request, the committee would look into it. "If she thinks this is an important
issue, the committee will treat it very seriously," Waxman said in a prepared
statement. Contreras said he and six others held in the detention centers are
preparing a federal suit. The San Antonio attorney he said was representing them
did not return calls seeking comment. Contreras said the suit will seek to force
the government to improve conditions at the prison. "I'm not doing it for the
money. I'm doing it so they treat people right," Contreras said. "Somebody has
got to say enough is enough.' "
May 18, 2005 San Antonio Express-News
Overcoming some last-minute glitches, homeland security officials have
opened the doors to the country's largest and most modern immigrant detention
center. The $49.5 million South Texas Detention Complex is to begin housing
detainees in the next month or two. It has room for 1,020 of them — 850 men, 150
women and a temporary holding area for 20 minors. The massive, high-tech
structure — the main corridor stretches one-fourth of a mile — isn't immune to
technical difficulties. During the tour, an administrator had trouble opening
and closing a back entrance through which detainees will arrive and be
processed. The door could be opened both automatically and manually, but the
operator inside and the guard outside spent several frustrating minutes before
getting it to work. "It's a brand-new facility," ICE supervisor Valentín De La
Garza said with a smile. "There are still some kinks left to be worked out."
T. Don Hutto Correctional
Center
Taylor, Texas
CCA
Click here for The New Yorker
expose on Hutto
October 20, 2011 Chicago Homeland Security Examiner
Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) posed difficult questions and concerns to the
Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Janet Napolitano, at
this week’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Of particular concern for
Durbin, was the state of immigration detention facilities, especially the
Willacy Detention facility in Texas. According to documents obtained by the ACLU
more than 180 sexual abuse complaints have been reported in immigration
detention centers since 2007, nearly a third of which came from Texas. According
to the Huffington Post, “other states had far lower reports of detainee sexual
abuse, with the next highest reports coming from California (17), Arizona (16)
and Florida (12). (10/21/2011). Senator Durbin sought further information and
assurances from Secretary Napolitano regarding this issue. Senator Durbin, the
second highest ranking member in the Senate Democratic leadership, remarked that
detainee centers have become a huge industry in which DHS spends more than $1.7
billion dollars yearly. Yet, the issue of sexual abuse at the immigration
centers has barely reached public attention. Much of Senator Durbin’s framing of
the issue stemmed from a recent “Frontline” television expose. Durbin noted at
the Senate Judiciary hearing, that “there was an aspect of this program that was
particularly troubling. Maria Hinojosa in part of that program described a woman
who was a victim at this Willacy facility. She had been raped and her identity
was hidden from the camera. She told her story about how it was virtually
impossible for her to even seek justice in this circumstance because she was
totally at the mercy of the guards in this privatized facility.” (Transcript of
Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, October 20, 2011) According to the
Huffington Post, the ACLU obtained information under the Freedom of Information
Act documenting that “detention officers broke a rule that detainees must not be
transported without a same-sex officer present. Detention officers are also
instructed to call supervisors with their departure and arrival times when
transporting detainees, according to a 2007Immigration and Customs Enforcement
document.” Senator Durbin underscored his concern by noting that some 85 to 90
percent of those who were detained under civil charges, not criminal charges,
but people with civil charges do not have benefits of counsel. Durbin further
noted, “That the due process requirements are very limited on their behalf, and
that many times they’re in facilities that are privatized… As a group
immigration detainees are especially vulnerable to sexual abuse, and its effect
on the detainees due to social, cultural, language isolation, poor understanding
of U.S. culture and the subculture of U.S. prisons and the often traumatic
experiences they’re endured in their culture of origin. The commission (i.e.,
The National Rape Elimination Commission) issued proposed standards. The
Department of Justice is now finalizing its national standards to prevent,
detect, and respond to prison rape. In April of this year I wrote a letter to
Attorney General Holder emphasizing the importance of strong standards.” In
addition Senator Durbin mentioned the bipartisan support he received from
Senator Sessions (R-Alabama) and others in passion the Prison Rape Elimination
Act of 2003 which aimed at eliminating sexual abuse while in custody in the U.S.
We want zero tolerance on this.” (Transcript of Senate Judiciary Committee,
10/20/2011) At this point in the hearing Senator Durbin asked DHS Secretary
Napolitano “What is the Department of Homeland Security doing to ensure that
immigration detainees are safe from sexual abuse, whether they’re ICE facilities
or contract facilities? Secretary Napolitano’s response was not reassuring for
immigrants or Senator Durbin. She replied, “When I took over as Secretary, we
found that there were little or no standards being applied uniformly across all
the many detention facilities that we use in –in the ICE context…Others are
privatized, companies like Correction Corporations of America. We have to have
beds, and in particular given our priorities and how we are managing the system,
we need beds that are near the southern border…As part of the process I brought
in someone to actually look at the standards and we redid our contracts with
some of the private providers.” (Transcript, Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing,
10/20/2011) Secretary Napolitano tried to explain the process she instituted
since coming to DHS. She said, “We do have a process by which we are regularly
auditing and overseeing what is happening there. But that is not to say there
aren’t cases that are particularly horrific.” She further mentioned that she was
not familiar with the “Frontline” documentary focusing on sexual abuses at
immigrant detention centers but would review it and get back to the Senator
Durbin. Earlier this year the ACLU sued the Department of Homeland Security
regarding sexual abuses at immigration detention centers. The ACLU of Texas has
filed a suit in behalf of three women who say they were assaulted by detention
guards and officers. The victims say they were abused on the way to the airport
after posting bond to be released from detention facilities. According to
theHuffington Post, “The three women were held for a time in the T. Don Hutto
Residential Center in Taylor ,Texas. The 512 bed facility, is privately run on a
government contract by private prison giant Corrections Corporations of
America.”
October 19, 2011 American Independent
Amid a national push to expose incidents of sexual abuse at immigrant detention
facilities across the country, the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas filed
a federal suit Wednesday on behalf of three women who say they were sexually
abused at a Central Texas facility with a history of abuse. The suit names
Donald Dunn, a former employee at the T. Don Hutto Residential Center in Taylor,
just east of Austin, who pled guilty last fall to charges he abused women he was
driving to the airport and Greyhound stations. Allegations by one victim
prompted his arrest and a nationwide search for more victims, the Taylor Daily
Press reported last year. “Eight female victims were discovered, and during the
investigation, Dunn admitted to abusing them during transports,” the Press said.
Along with Dunn, though, the suit also names U.S. Immigration Customs and
Enforcement and the Corrections Corporation of America — the country’s largest
private prison operator, which runs the Hutto facility, for ignoring regulations
that should have kept Dunn from driving the women on his own. “The lawsuit
alleges that ICE, Williamson County and CCA were deliberately indifferent and
willfully blind to the fact that Dunn and other employees regularly violated the
rule that detainees not be transported without another escort officer of the
same gender present,” the ACLU said in a statement. According to the suit, each
of the three anonymous women — asylum seekers from Brazil, Guatemala and Eritrea
— were being released from the facility after passing “credible fear”
interviews, to await a hearing on their cases, when they were assaulted. The
women say Dunn pulled over on the way to drop them off at the airport or bus
station, groped them, told them to undress and exposed himself to them. Between
October 2009 and May 2010, the suit claims, Dunn assaulted six other women too.
A CCA spokesman was not immediately available to comment on the complaint. “The
long history of rampant sexual abuse at ICE detention centers, coupled with the
availability of the same opportunity Dunn exploited in the form of at least 22
documented failures of other male officers to comply with the same policy,
supports a reasonable inference that other male escort officers at Hutto engaged
in similar abuse,” the suit claims. The Hutto Detention Center, once a
residential center for holding whole families of immigrants, has been plagued by
complaints about poor conditions and family separation, and has been an ACLU
target in the past. Separate allegations of sexual abuse at the facility even
prompted an ICE investigation in 2007. Bob Libal with Grassroots Leadership — a
group that promotes accountability for private prison operators and runs a
visitation program to the Hutto facility — said the fact that CCA continues to
operate the facility shows what light consequences the country’s largest private
prison operators face. “This is the second time that there’s been an
inappropriate sexual event at Hutto, and ICE didn’t cut the contract,” Libal
said. “There’s no impact for the company that allowed this to happen.” After
years of campaigning by the ACLU, Grassroots Leadership and other groups, the
Hutto facility was converted from a family detention center to a 500-bed
facility for women who’ve come to the U.S. seeking asylum. The suit filed
Wednesday in Austin is part of a nationwide effort by the ACLU to uncover
records of sexual abuse and call for accountability. The group found more than
200 allegations of sexual abuse in immigrant detention centers across the
country from 2007 to 2010 returned from a public records request. “It is clear
there is an urgent need for the government to recognize just how pervasive a
problem the sexual abuse of immigration detainees is and take immediate steps to
fix the problem and ensure that everyone in the government’s care is protected,”
said David Shapiro, staff attorney with the ACLU National Prison Project. “The
detainees in immigration detention are a particularly vulnerable population.
Even one incident of sexual abuse is one too many.” The group found 56
allegations of sexual abuse in Texas, far more than the next-highest total, 17
complaints in California. “It’s pretty disturbing, and pretty telling, that such
a high percentage of the sexual assaults happen here in Texas,” Libal said.
September 7, 2011 The Statesman
A former residential supervisor at the T. Don Hutto Correction Center in Taylor
pleaded guilty this week to molesting women he was transporting them from the
center to the airport or bus terminal. Donald Dunn pleaded guilty to two federal
deprivation of rights charges, according to a press release from the U.S.
Attorney’s Office. Dunn admitted to touching illegal female immigrants “in a
sexual manner” between December 2009 and May 2010, the release said. He said
that he would stop the vehicle along the way, order them to get out and convince
them he was conducting a legitimate search, it said. Dunn has not been sentenced
but faces up to one year in federal prison and a fine up to $100,000 for each
charge, the release said.
November 9, 2010 American-Statesman
A former resident supervisor at a federal immigrant detention center in Taylor
was sentenced Tuesday to a year in jail and two years of probation after
admitting to groping female residents of the facility. In a deal with
prosecutors, Donald Charles Dunn, 30, pleaded guilty on Sept. 8 in a Williamson
County court to three counts of official oppression and two counts of unlawful
restraint in connection with groping residents of the T. Don Hutto Residential
Center, said Dee Hobbs, chief of the criminal division for the Williamson County
attorney's office. He was sentenced to one year in jail — the maximum sentence
for a Class A misdemeanor — for each of the five charges. Three of the sentences
will run concurrently, Hobbs said. Two of the official oppression sentences were
probated; Dunn will serve them as two years of probation when he is released
from jail, Hobbs said. Dunn waived his right to an attorney before his first
court hearing in September and decided to talk directly to prosecutors instead,
Hobbs said. "He basically came in and took responsibility for his actions,"
Hobbs said. Dunn also agreed to relinquish his private security license and not
seek to get it back during his jail term or probation period, Hobbs said. As
part of his job as resident supervisor, Dunn drove men, women and children who
were out on bail from the detention center, which is overseen by U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport,
officials said. On May 11, one of the women reported to an airport employee that
Dunn had inappropriately touched her, officials said.
August 25, 2010 Washington Independent
Days after the ACLU called for additional protections against sexual abuse of
immigrant detainees, Human Rights Watch issued a report today demanding
Congressional action to improve detention center conditions. The calls come
after the Aug. 19 arrest of a former guard at the T. Don Hutto Residential
Center in Texas, who was accused in May of groping three women on their way to
deportation. Sexual abuse allegations at Hutto were particularly disturbing
because the facility was lauded as a symbol of ICE’s year-long detention reform
effort, as The Texas Independent pointed out last week. But Human Rights Watch
argued they were not an isolated incident, claiming the problem is more
widespread than officials realize because detainees are often deported or
otherwise unable to report abuse. ICE already made some steps toward preventing
sexual abuse in detention centers after Hutto abuse allegations surfaced in May.
Officials plan to publish revised standards for dealing with sexual assault. ICE
will also prohibit guards from searching or transporting detainees of the
opposite gender. Official policy already bans male staffers from being alone
with female immigration detainees — a rule contract guards at Hutto, a
Corrections Corporation of America facility, were allegedly breaking. In May,
ICE ordered the prison contractor to stop allowing male guards to be alone with
female immigrant detainees.
August 20, 2010 KXAN
Williamson County authorities said Friday that eight victims had been identified
in connection with a former transport officer at the T. Don Hutto immigration
detention facility , who police say groped several women he was supposed to be
taking to airports and bus stations. No sexual assault charges have been filed,
however -- although Williamson County officials said they may be later on.
Currently, Donald Charles Dunn, 30, faces three charges of official oppression
and two charges of unlawful restraint in connection with five victims police
said were molested in Williamson County. Charges have not yet been filed in
connection with three more victims authorities said were attacked in Travis
County. President Obama and Congressional members have been briefed on this case
because of its association with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
Nineteen women have been interviewed so far, from Texas to Florida to Washington
D.C., and another 11 still could be victims -- though they haven't been located.
In his year of employment at the Taylor facility, Dunn transported 72 people
from the facility - where they were being bonded out -- to airports or bus
stations, so they could wait for their immigration hearings in locations near
family or friends or employment. Thirty of the people he transported were women.
Williamson County officials said that they were tightening their grip over the
facility being run by the Corrections Corporation of America after it was
discovered during the investigation that Dunn was not supposed to be
transporting those women alone -- but that the facility was required, for the
women's safety, to have two officers on board the vehicle with the detainees.
CCA is a private, for-profit company that runs jail and detention facilities,
and has come under fire for cutting corners. Dunn was arrested in Austin
Thursday after police said he admitted stopping the van during the early morning
trips, at locations in Williamson and Travis counties, and touching them
inappropriately for his own "self gratification." Dunn, a resident supervisor at
the facility and employee of Correction Corporation of America, told officers
that on these trips, "he told the women he was going to 'frisk' them and then
inappropriately touched their breasts, crotch and buttocks," according to a news
release by the Williamson County Sheriff's Office. "Mr. Dunn indicated to
Detectives that he had done this to numerous other women while performing his
duties as a transport officer," the release said. Dunn told officers he had done
this with several women, while he was transporting them late at night, and would
stop at several locations in Williamson and Travis counties to abuse them on the
way to Austin Bergstrom International Airport. The women were being given the
rides to the airport and bus stations as a courtesy while they were out on bond,
awaiting immigration hearings.
August 20, 2010 KXAN
A former employee of a federal immigration detention center has been arrested
after police say he admitted to groping several women he was supposed to be
transporting to the airport after being released on bond. Donald Charles Dunn,
30, a resident supervisor at the T. Don Hutto facility in Taylor and employee of
Correction Corporation of America, told officers that on these trips, "he told
the women he was going to 'frisk' them and then inappropriately touched their
breasts, crotch and buttocks," according to a news release by the Williamson
County Sheriff's Office. "Mr. Dunn advised that he didn’t do this for safety
concerns but as self gratification," the release said. "Mr. Dunn indicated to
Detectives that he had done this to numerous other women while performing his
duties as a transport officer." Dunn told officers he had done this with several
women, while he was transporting them late at night, and would stop at several
locations in Williamson and Travis counties to abuse them on the way to Austin
Bergstrom International Airport. The women were being given the rides to the
airport and bus stations as a courtesy while they were out on bond, awaiting
immigration hearings. The first report came on May 11, 2010 , when Austin police
told Williamson County Sheriff's deputies that a woman had alerted an airport
official that she had been abused on the way to the airport from the facility in
Taylor. That's when detectives met with Dunn and listened to his description of
groping "numerous women" while doing his duties as a transport officer. "A large
scale investigation into the current locations of other possible victims began
immediately after Mr. Dunn’s interview," the news release said. "Detectives from
Williamson County and Immigration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(Office of Professional Responsibility/San Antonio) set out to make contact with
several of the possible victims, who had located across the country since
bonding out of the facility. "Mr. Dunn was subsequently terminated from his
contract employment with Correction Corporation of America when the allegation
was first reported to authorities." The investigation revealed that all of the
possible victims of Mr. Dunn had been released on bond from the facility and
were being transported to the Austin-Bergstrom Airport or bus station when the
attacks occurred. It was during these "courtesy transports" that Dunn would stop
at different locations in the areas of both Travis and Williamson County. Three
women said they'd been inappropriately touched. Two of those victims said they
were taken against their will to a location near a convenience store, during
which one woman said she thought she'd either be killed or raped.
May 28, 2010 AP
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is investigating allegations that a guard at
a central Texas detention facility sexually assaulted female detainees on their
way to being deported. Agency spokesman Brian Hale said Friday the guard has
been fired and Corrections Corporation of America, which manages the prison, is
on probation pending the investigation's outcome. Several women who were held at
T. Don Hutto detention facility in Taylor, Texas, were groped while being patted
down and at least one was propositioned for sex, ICE said. "We understand that
this employee was able to commit these alleged crimes because ICE-mandated
transport policies and procedures were not followed," David Sanders, the
Homeland Security Department's contracting officer said in a letter to
Corrections Corporation of America obtained by The Associated Press. ICE has
ordered Corrections Corporation of America to make changes, including not
allowing male guards to be alone with female detainees. Messages left with
Corrections Corporation America officials seeking comment were not immediately
returned and a public affairs officer stationed at Hutto had left for the day.
The 490-bed Hutto facility is a former prison where children and their parents
were previously held. As part of the Obama administration's immigration
detention reforms, ICE ended the family detentions at Hutto and converted it to
a facility for female detainees. The changes were considered a symbol of the
overhaul of immigration detention, where some detainees had died due to medical
neglect and U.S. citizens were illegally held. As part of the plan, ICE
officials said they would step up monitoring of its largest detention centers,
removing that role from private companies that operate the facilities under
contract with ICE. "This case at Hutto, it's inevitable when you are dealing
with such a massive web of detention with such little oversight," said Jacki
Esposito, policy coordinator for Detention Watch Network, which monitors
immigration detention centers. Hale said ICE is working to prevent the guard
under investigation from working again for the federal government and pursuing
financial penalties against the company. It has also set up sexual harassment
training for detention staff.
October 7, 2009 San Antonio Express-News
In a move that could affect the revenues of private prison firms and county
jails, the Obama administration said Tuesday it will review, renegotiate and
possibly terminate some of its more than 300 contracts for detaining
unauthorized immigrants. The announcement by Department of Homeland Security
Secretary Janet Napolitano is part of an overhaul aimed at ending the reliance
on penal institutions for detainees with noncriminal immigration violations or
valid asylum claims. The overhaul, first announced in August, followed scathing
reports and lawsuits by the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups
alleging inhumane conditions, denial of medical care, and isolation in remote
areas with limited access to pro-bono legal aid. Napolitano, in a news
conference with Immigration and Customs Enforcement Assistant Secretary John
Morton, said she inherited a scattered “nonsystem” of government and privately
run facilities that needed to be monitored. “It's a huge range of detainees,”
she said, “from those who have criminal records who need to be in a very
prisonlike setting to those who have no record at all and indeed have come
seeking asylum.” The system has ballooned from 5,000 beds in 1994 to more than
32,000 beds in 2008, used by about 380,000 detainees that year. Napolitano said
the capacity to detain people would remain, but the standards of “health and
safety, law, and indeed human decency” needed to be enforced. Plans include
centralizing operations, doubling the personnel involved in detention center
oversight, building new facilities in urban locations near immigration service
providers, and housing detainees in converted hotels, nursing homes, or other
residential facilities. Detainees would be classified by risk, with nonviolent,
noncriminal populations such as recently arrived asylum seekers sent to less
prisonlike environments. Detainees with criminal convictions would remain in
jails. There are also plans for an online system to locate detainees, something
family members and even attorneys are not always able to do. The practice of
detaining families at the T. Don Hutto Family Residence Center in Taylor, which
drew criticism because of its cells and barbed wire, has already ended. The
facility is now being used to house female detainees. It was unclear what effect
the changes will have on private firms or communities that draw revenue from
jailing detainees, but Willacy County Sheriff Larry Spence said the reduced
population at the Willacy Detention Center in Raymondville — at 3,000 beds the
nation's largest — has been apparent and may cause problems for a county that
counts on jobs, taxes, and revenue from it. “I know the numbers are down from
what they used to be,” he said. “It means the county hasn't had the same amount
of money coming in.” The county subcontracts with Utah-based Management &
Training Corp., a private prison management firm. Kathleen Walker, past
president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said she expected
quite a few disappointed contractors. “I would imagine that in the state of
Texas, where we have so many different county facilities and independent
facilities run by contractors, that they are not going to like seeing a
potential dip in revenues to retirement centers or abandoned hotels,” she said.
“But to put people in on civil violations with people that have felony exposure
is really just not acceptable.”
September 18, 2009 KRIS TV
The last immigrant families have departed a disparaged former Texas prison that
housed them while they awaited decisions in their immigration cases, officials
said Friday. The families have been deported, paroled or released while they
pursue asylum or another immigration status to remain in the U.S., Immigration
and Customs Enforcement said in a statement. Less than two dozen children and
adults remained at the T. Don Hutto facility in Taylor last week and the last
four families left by Thursday. ICE has said Hutto will now house only female
detainees. More women are expected to arrive there in the next week, advocates
said. Federal officials announced last month that Hutto would no longer hold
immigrant and asylum-seeking families as part of a Department of Homeland
Security plan to reform detention policies. Families arriving at the U.S. border
and entry points from now on either will be placed under supervision or detained
at the much-smaller Berks Family Residential Center in Leesport, Pa. Hutto
opened as a family detention center in 2006 to ensure the families would show up
to immigration court. ICE wanted to end the "catch and release" practice that
had permitted families in the U.S. illegally to remain free while awaiting a
court hearing. Some borrowed other people's children and posed as families to
avoid detention, ICE officials maintain. But Hutto quickly drew criticism over
conditions and treatment of children. Guards working for the for-profit
Corrections Corporation of America and trained to detain violent criminal adults
were in charge of overseeing sad, sick or restless children - from babies to
teenagers. Parents complained children were disciplined with threats of being
separated from their family. ICE has said all at Hutto were treated humanely.
September 9, 2009 AP
As immigrant children and their parents depart a disparaged former Texas
prison that housed them while they awaited decisions in their immigration cases,
advocates are questioning if the government has fully thought out what happens
to the families now. Federal officials announced last month that the T. Don
Hutto facility in Taylor would no longer hold immigrant families and they
instead would be detained at the much smaller Berks Family Residential Center in
Leesport, Pa. But with only 84 beds — and more than 100 people once housed at
Hutto — some advocates wonder if there will be enough space, or if immigrants
will be released. "We still have a lot of questions and would like to hear more
details," said Denise Gilman, of the Immigration Clinic at the University of
Texas School of Law, which along with other advocates filed a lawsuit contending
that family detention at Hutto was inhumane. Hutto is set to stop holding
immigrant families by the end of the year, government officials say, and
families have slowly been leaving. Instead of transferring the families to
Berks, the government has been trying to process the cases of families at both
facilities. The Texas facility went from holding 127 men, women and children
last month to just 22 people this week. They were either deported to their home
countries or released while they pursue asylum or another immigration status to
remain in the U.S. As the change takes place, advocates are watching to see if
the Pennsylvania facility has better conditions, if cases are handled fairly and
if new problems arise because of the shift. Hutto opened as a family detention
center in 2006, ending a so-called "catch and release" practice that had
permitted families to remain free while their immigration cases were settled.
The facility was necessary, ICE officials maintained, because many never showed
up in court or some borrowed other people's children and posed as families to
avoid detention. But the facility quickly drew criticism, and The American Civil
Liberties Union and other advocates sued the government in 2007 over the
detention facility's conditions. Attorneys and UT law students visiting Hutto to
assist detainees with their immigration cases were astonished by the prison-like
setting and regimen. Children wore drab prison scrubs. Razor wire encircled the
site. They lived in tiny cells furnished with bunk beds and a steel toilet and
were subjected to head counts several times a day. Guards with the for-profit
Corrections Corporation of America trained to detain criminal adults were
overseeing children. Parents said guards disciplined children with threats of
being separated from their family. The Berks facility, by contrast, is a former
nursing home and with a reputation among attorneys for being more family
friendly. Younger children stay with their parents, while teenagers sleep in
separate rooms. One former resident told The Associated Press adults and
children went on field trips during her stay, refrigerators in the hallways were
stocked with fruit and juice and an interfaith prayer group is available. But
still, the stays can be far from smooth.
September 2, 2009 Taylor Daily Press
Williamson County Commissioners voted Tuesday to end their contract with
Corrections Corporation of America, the contracted operator of the T. Don Hutto
Residential Center for illegal immigrants. County Judge Dan Gattis said the move
was more of a “housekeeping” procedure than an indication the county no longer
wishes to contract with CCA to operate the facility. Gattis said Monday the
county is waiting for Immigrations Customs Enforcement to draft a new contract
so the facility can continue to hold women. In early August the Obama
administration ordered children and families at the facility to be placed in a
Pennsylvania facility deemed more suitable for children. Families were expected
to be moved in a matter of weeks and to be fully removed within months. The
Taylor facility’s population of families had fallen in recent years. To help
fill the 512-bed facility, ICE began housing female detainees at the facility.
By mid 2008, an entire wing of the former medium security prison was devoted to
housing women. Without that contract in hand, Gattis said he felt a need to
terminate the county’s contract with CCA just in case the ICE contract does not
come through. “To protect ourselves we’re giving notification to CCA,” Gattis
said. “It’s one of those legal things we felt we needed to do because the funds
come from the county.” CCA’s contract with Williamson County will expire at the
end of this year. Gattis said he hopes to have a new contract with ICE before
that, but if not, CCA will be forced to cease operations at the south Taylor
facility.
August 7, 2009 LA Times
Pledging more oversight and accountability, the Obama administration announced
plans Thursday to transform the nation's immigration detention system from one
reliant on a scattered network of local jails and private prisons to a
centralized one designed specifically for civil detainees. The reforms are aimed
at establishing greater control over a system that houses about 33,000 detainees
a day and that has been sharply criticized as having unsafe and inhumane
conditions and as lacking the medical care that may have prevented many of the
90 deaths that have occurred since 2003. "With these reforms, ICE will move away
from our present, decentralized jail-oriented approach to a system that is
wholly designed for and based on our civil detention needs," U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement Assistant Secretary John Morton told reporters. "The
population that we detain is different than the traditional population that is
detained in a prison or a jail setting." The federal immigration agency plans to
review the use of 350 local jails, state prisons and private facilities,
including more than a dozen in California. Within five years, officials said,
detainees without criminal records probably would be held in fewer,
less-restrictive locations with more federal oversight. Morton also announced
that the agency would stop sending families to the controversial T. Don Hutto
Family Residential Facility in Texas and instead hold them in the agency's only
other family facility, which is in Pennsylvania. The Texas facility, which will
continue to house women, opened in 2006 and faced lawsuits over substandard
living conditions. A settlement resulted in changes to how children were
treated. Immigrant rights advocates welcomed the changes but said there was
still no clear policy on how detention facilities would be penalized if problems
were found. "We are encouraged that the administration is taking a hard look at
what has traditionally been a dark spot in our immigration system," said Karen
Tumlin, a staff attorney at the Los Angeles-based National Immigration Law
Center. "However, only time will tell if the reforms announced today amount to
lasting change or simply creative repackaging of prior policies." Tumlin and
others said the detention standards needed to be made legally binding to
guarantee immigrants access to counseling, family visits, legal materials and
recreation time. Legislation has been introduced aimed at accomplishing this.
Advocates also said that the government should use less punitive and less costly
alternatives to detention, such as ankle bracelets or intensive supervision, for
certain immigrants. "We are very disappointed by the failure to discuss
alternatives to detention in the proposal," said Ahilan Arulanantham, an
attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. "The
system now detains thousands of people who are not a danger and not a flight
risk." To increase oversight, the immigration agency would place federal
monitors in 23 large facilities, which house more than 40% of the detainees. The
agency also plans to hire experts in healthcare administration and detention
management, and someone to review medical complaints.
March 18, 2009 Taylor Daily Press
The ultra-hip movie, multimedia and music festival South by Southwest, taking
place this week in Downtown Austin, will feature screenings of a documentary
depicting the controversial immigrant family prison located right here in Taylor
— the T. Don Hutto Residential Facility. The film, titled The Least of These, is
a 62-minute portrayal of recent story lines following the immigrant detention
complex, with the successful lawsuit over inhumane conditions perpetrated by
University of Texas law professor Barbara Hines and the American Civil Liberties
Union taking center stage. It traces the evolving policy of housing children at
the facility, showing how when it first opened in 2006, the facility had scant
educational programs for children — just one hour of coloring according to one
child featured in the film — that were reportedly against the law. After
catching the attention of Hines and her pro-bono team of UT Law students, media
attention began to grow, albeit slowly. But the lawsuit took off when members of
the ACLU’s national office were contacted and began to help Hines in a lawsuit
that attempted to shut the entire facility down. The film features several local
shots of downtown Taylor and interviews with some local residents. It also
features the story of 9-year-old Kevin Majid, a Canadian citizen and son of
Iranian immigrants who was detained at the facility. His family intended to
return to Canada after being deported, but had to make an unscheduled stop in
Puerto Rico after a man died on their flight. The chance layover landed them in
Taylor for more than 100 days. When Canadian media became aware a citizen was
being held in a U.S. facility for illegal immigrants, T. Don Hutto came under
the spotlight of international media. Brothers Clark and Jesse Lyda directed the
movie. During a post-viewing question and answer session Monday, the brothers
remarked about the challenges of a film subject intentionally shrouded in
government secrecy due to government policy. “We tried to tell a story of both
sides, but unfortunately the government didn’t let us tell their case,” Jesse
Lyda said. Instead the Lyda’s used archival footage of Bush administration
officials to tell the story themselves. It regularly features a Bill O’Reilly
interview with Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff contradicting
things Hines and activists say they saw with their owns eyes. In a humorous
moment, O’Reilly pledges to “take his word for it,” directly after Chertoff
misspeaks. The filmmakers admitted their story will likely not alter many
people’s opinions of immigration, but they hoped to at least spread the word of
the T. Don Hutto Facility, a place they still find many people have little
awareness of. One item of misinformation they found was that detainees were
criminals. In many cases, Hines said, immigrant detainees came to the border and
immediately declared their intentions to seek asylum, thereby never entering the
country illegally. However, they soon found themselves in handcuffs and at the
facility, she said. Any resident of Taylor will know the outcome of Hines’
attempt to shut down T. Don Hutto. It still stands, and many locals still earn
their daily bread at the former medium security prison. However, the lawsuit was
not entirely unsuccessful, with government agencies and operator Corrections
Corporation of American being forced to change their policy in attempts to make
the facility more “child-friendly.” But the film begs the question, is detention
ever child friendly?
July 25, 2008 Taylor Daily Press
Outgoing 9-1-1 calls placed by immigrants detained at T. Don Hutto
Residential Facility in Taylor will soon be blocked after Immigration Customs
Enforcement changes the phone system in the former prison. The block affects
telephones used specifically by immigrants housed in the facility. Also blocked
will be all incoming phone calls. The change came as part of a change in the
contract between Williamson County and Immigration Customs Enforcement billed as
“Modification ... relating to Low Cost Telephone Services” on the county
commissioners’ agenda Tuesday. The commissioners voted 5-0 in favor of the item
with no discussion of the matter. After the vote, County Judge Dan Gattis said
he was unaware the alteration in the agreement effectively blocked outgoing
9-1-1 phone calls. Regional Spokesman for ICE Carl Rusnok said the ability of
residents at T. Don Hutto to place 9-1-1 phone calls is unnecessary because of
the presence of trained medical professionals inside the facility. “(T. Don)
Hutto residents already have access to emergency attention by contacting any
on-site resident supervisors. Medical professionals and facilities are also on
site and can provide immediate services inside the center while ... personnel
alert outside emergency responders through the 9-1-1 system, if deemed
necessary,” Rusnok said in an e-mail response. Rusnok also said blocking 9-1-1
calls prevents any possibility of abuse. Local League of United Latin American
Citizens member and T. Don Hutto critic Jose Orta said ICE and Corrections
Corporation of America, which operates the facility, were “covering themselves”
from any possible calls to police. He referenced an alleged sexual assault that
occurred in the facility in May of 2007. That incident led to the firing of a
CCA employee after he was caught on a surveillance camera sneaking in and out of
a detainee’s cell. No charges were ever filed against the employee in that
instance because of a now-corrected loophole in federal law. The order approved
Tuesday also expresses that phones should have access to toll-free numbers that
will allow residents to use prepaid phone cards they purchase while at the
facility, though it makes no mention of toll-free numbers to consulates or
embassies. “(Immigrants are) already hogtied as far as reaching out into the
community,” Orta said. “I get calls all the time — desperate families — they
Google and see they are at the facility and sometimes they can’t find their
family members. If (residents) can’t call out without these telephone cards, who
knows how they’ll ever get in touch.” Assistant County Attorney Hal Hawes, who
submitted the deal to the commissioners’ court, said blocking 9-1-1 calls would
not cause any problems at the facility. “They (CCA employees) provide security
already,” Hawes said. “They have a good sense of when 9-1-1 needs to be called.”
The text of the alteration refers to 10 telephones being purchased and service
with the capabilities of blocking 9-1-1 calls. The cost of the alteration is
$942.01, a relatively small expenditure for the county. Orta only partially
blamed commissioners for letting the agreement slip through without any debate.
“This is the sad part about the county commissioners; they’re not privy to all
that goes on in T. Don Hutto. Every time they amend their contract ... ICE ...
is not going to be forward about their intentions,” he said. Grassroots
organizer and frequent protester of the facility Bob Libal said not allowing
immigrants to place emergency phone calls is unsafe and that residents need
access should they feel a need to call the police. “It certainly doesn’t seem
like a good safety measure. And if ICE is upholding (T. Don) Hutto as a place
that is safe and secure, that doesn’t seem like a very appropriate action,”
Libal said.
June 19, 2008 Nashville Scene
In this week's cover story, we profile CCA and its starring role in a series of
scandals and embarrassments across the country. Perhaps the worst of the
assorted controversies is the Nashville company's neglectful management of the
T. Don Hutto Residential Center in a dusty Texas town, which, until people began
to notice, was a cheaply run gulag for immigrant families—the type of place
where mothers and sons once shared open toilets in the same tiny cell.
Meanwhile, I should add, CCA's well-respected CEO, John Ferguson, sits on the
elite board of the Nashville symphony while corporate counsel Gus Puryear
belongs to the rich and lilly white Belle Meade Country Club. So, unlike the
families in their care, Gus and John probably take for granted the luxury of a
quiet moment on the throne. Anyhow, we digress: CCA along with the Immigration
and Customs Enforcement Division, which contracts with the private jailer,
ultimately reformed the Hutto facility after the ACLU took them to court. So it
is a better place now. But why wasn't it like that when it opened? Although CCA
deserves most of the blame for the initial conditions at the Hutto facility, ICE
can't claim innocence. Privately, ICE's own inspectors sharply castigated the
private company for how it ran Hutto, saying at one point that “CCA's attitude
is one of complacency and disinterest in their work performance.” But publicly
the federal immigration agency proudly touted the improvements to Hutto without
noting that it took a lawsuit to convince CCA that providing prenatal care to
detainees is kind of necessary. Even more revelatory is another secret memo from
ICE that details why a detention facility in Laredo would have been preferable
to Hutto, which is located hours from the border in Taylor, Texas. First sent
anonymously to lawyer Barbara Hines, a professor at the University of Texas who
helped bring the lawsuit against the Hutto facility, the memo is an odd and
contradictory document. Nearly all of it expresses concern for the comfort and
integrity of the immigrant detainees and states a strong preference for housing
families at a more suitable facility in Laredo. But the last part of the
document, if I'm reading it correctly, seems to suggest that another
disadvantage of Hutto is that it is close to Austin, where there's a strong
activist community. As it turns out, it was that community that highlighted the
problems with the place. After the jump, some excerpts of the memo: “The Laredo
facility has an 'open dorm' concept; the dorms at Hutto are cells within bars.”
“Barbed wire completely surrounds the Hutto facility, whereas Laredo has barbed
wire on the backside which is not visible in front of the building.” “Hutto has
not passed previous inspections as an ADULT facility. It appears that it would
be more difficult to meet standards for juveniles.” “The railroad trains
frequently block intersections to the Hutto facility thus making access
difficult. Evacuations at Hutto would be more difficult. In the case of a train
derailment, the risk of hazardous material by families would be present.”
“Austin, which is 25 miles from Hutto, has a broader NGO and CBO base that have
typically been very strong advocates for immigrants. The Political Asylum
Project of Austin also known as PAPA is a pro-bono agency actively involved in
the advocacy for immigrants.”
June 19, 2008 Nashville Scene
Located in a bland, almost anonymous Green Hills office park of fake lakes
and fountains is the headquarters of the nation’s largest private prison
company, which, at the moment, may be the most disparaged corporation in the
country. Since its inception in 1983, CCA has encountered legions of angry
detractors who believe that the business of punishing criminals should not
be—well, a business. But if the company has become accustomed to criticism over
the years—like a best-selling author whose novels garner predictably bad
reviews—it is now mired in a series of scandals, embarrassments and
public-relations catastrophes that may tar its reputation for years to come. In
the last 18 months alone, CCA has been the target of several stinging lawsuits
supported by detailed affidavits and third-party reports alleging dangerous and
inhumane practices that have put inmates’ lives at risk. Whistle blowers, once
in positions of trust at CCA, have emerged from the shadows to tell vivid tales
of corporate misconduct. Federal authorities have castigated the publicly traded
corporation for operating an immigration detention facility in Texas on the
cheap. And at that CCA complex—which at one point forced children of immigrant
detainees to dress in prison garb—dozens of incarcerated women and children have
come forward with gut-wrenching tales of anguish and neglect. Here in Nashville,
CCA’s officers volunteer on the boards of noble nonprofits. But the company’s
local detention center, far removed from the world of tony fundraisers and
white-tie dinners, has been the setting for a string of grim events. One inmate
beat his cellmate to death. A mentally ill man apparently went nine months
without being allowed a shower. And another inmate lost his ear in a fight. So
considering the company’s problems in its own backyard, not to mention its
near-epic failings in Texas, it may seem odd to begin our story at a CCA
facility in West Tennessee, where last May a few inmates brawled inside a prison
chapel. The disturbance at the Hardeman County Correctional Center, located in
the tiny town of Whiteville, was no different from any other jailhouse scuffle,
and it’s not clear that anyone was even hurt. But an inmate who saw the fight—and
maybe even threw a punch or two—got a lesson about the workings of CCA’s
particular brand of law and order and its longtime penchant of avoiding
scrutiny. On May 16, 2007, James Ingram, an inmate from Memphis who battled a
drug problem, was serving a 17-year sentence for aggravated robbery at the
medium-security prison. Clean-cut and not much older than 30, Ingram was walking
to his pod at the time of the brawl and overheard a group of inmates fighting at
the chapel. Ingram fell into a fetal position to demonstrate, in his lawyer’s
words, “a spirit of surrender and cooperation.” If that sounds implausible,
consider the next part of the inmate’s story. After prison officials quelled the
fight, they took Ingram to a back room and demanded that he give up the names of
the prisoners who squared off. Ingram saw who was involved, but he wouldn’t
talk. So the warden, a 40-something man named Glen Turner and the brother of one
of CCA’s corporate vice presidents, placed him in solitary confinement. Shortly
after, Turner shoved him to the ground and Ingram fell on his back. The warden
then punched him in the face, opening a 2-inch cut below his eye. Typical
convict hogwash, right? The state didn’t agree. Ingram called a lawyer, who
called the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) to look into what happened.
Joined by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, TDOC investigated the incident
and determined that Turner assaulted Ingram by “throwing him to the floor and
striking him at least twice in the head with the closed fist of his right hand.”
In August, Ingram resigned as warden. A month later, he pled guilty to a charge
of official oppression. It’s not clear when CCA’s headquarters learned what
happened at its West Tennessee prison. But state authorities hint that company
officials were slow to act. In an email to his colleagues, Jerry Lister, then
TDOC’s acting director of internal affairs, notes that it was only when his
department learned of the allegations from Ingram’s lawyer that “anyone at the
facility [began] to acknowledge the excessive use of force by Warden Turner.” As
a private company, CCA doesn’t have to answer for what happened at its prison.
It refused a request from the Scene to review Turner’s original résumé, job
application and disciplinary file. Meanwhile, TDOC never issued a press release
about the findings of its investigation. As a result, the publicly traded company
escaped the rounds of bad publicity that a state-run prison would have endured
had one of its wardens pummeled an inmate. Until now, the media has never
reported the details of Turner’s attack on Ingram. But if CCA was able to dodge
a PR nightmare last summer, its luck has since faded. Now it can’t seem to serve
so much as a cold meal without landing in hot water. The well-heeled company finds
itself embroiled in an array of ugly incidents, both in Nashville and throughout
the country, that have been featured on the pages of national newspapers and
magazines and in the bold type of heavy-hitting lawsuits. Taken separately, the
company’s struggles may not seem extraordinary. The business of incarceration is
a rough one, even for those who don’t view it as a business. But for CCA, which
for most of the decade has been able to avoid criticism from everyone other than
a thin cast of anti-privatization foes, there seems to be a growing series of
corroborated accounts that sketch a new portrait: that of a reckless, callous
enterprise that treats inmates—even those who haven’t been convicted of a
crime—as if they were cattle. Maybe, then, it’s appropriate that we move our
story to cattle country. Elsa is a sturdy woman in her mid-20s with soft, round
cheeks and straight, black hair that she sometimes pulls behind her head. Before
she found herself locked up in a dusty Texas town, she lived in Honduras with
her two children, Richard and Angelina. Here is her story: Elsa was happy in her
native country and “didn’t need anything from anyone to be well-off.” Then one
day, while walking on a quiet road, a man grabbed her hair and put a gun to her
head. He forced her to take off her clothes, and then he hit her. He called her
a “perra” or bitch and laughed as he ran his weapon over her body. Elsa cried
and screamed and then, after being raped, begged for her life. “Please don’t
kill me. I have two children.” The man struck her again, but let her live so
that he could haunt her once more, showing up on a whim at her friend’s place to
let her know he could have her again whenever he chose. The man’s father worked
for the local police department, and Elsa knew the only way to flee him was to flee
Honduras with Richard and Angelina. When she arrived in the United States, an
immigration agent took her and her family to the T. Don Hutto Residential Center
in Taylor, Texas, 30 miles north of Austin. It would be anything but a safe
haven. In 2005, Michael Chertoff, secretary of the Department of Homeland
Security, which runs the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Division (ICE),
ended the practice of “catch-and-release”—which permitted undocumented
immigrants like Elsa to remain free at-large while they awaited their day in
court. Under catch-and-release, no-shows were common. So after 9/11, the specter
of illegal immigrants from all over the world roaming the country became a
security issue. Pilot programs sprung up that tracked immigrants with electronic
bracelets, though Chertoff went with a draconian plan instead: Throw many of
these men, women and children in Hutto, a former medium-security prison that was
surrounded by a 15-foot fence topped with rings of barbed wire when it reopened
in 2006 as a place for immigrant families. After she arrived in Taylor, Elsa and
her family shared a tiny living area, where they’d be loudly awoken at 5:45 a.m.
Elsa, Richard and Angelina then had 20 minutes to eat breakfast. When they
didn’t finish on time, guards would just snatch their food and throw it in the
trash. “When this happens, the children cry and cry,” Elsa later explained in an
affidavit that chronicled her plight. The detention center was very cold, so much
so that the guards walked around wearing gloves. But they’d yell at Elsa if she
asked for a blanket. One time they came into her cell and confiscated two of her
sweaters. “They don’t care that we are cold,” she said. “They don’t care if we
eat or if we don’t eat.” Elsa and her children wore prison uniforms and spent
hours in their pod, often with no toys or books for the kids. One day, Elsa and
her family were in the doctor’s office, where all the kids were playing with
crayons. Angelina drew a picture, but a guard grabbed the girl’s artwork. She
cried a lot at Hutto, wondering what her family had done wrong. “Mommy, where is
God that he doesn’t want to help us? Mommy, tell God to come and take us out of
here and take us to our house,” Elsa recalled her daughter saying. “Mommy, why
do they have us as prisoners if we have never killed anybody?” In March 2007,
the ACLU helped bring suit against Michael Chertoff and the immigration officers
who ran Hutto. As a part of that litigation, attorneys collected more than 20 affidavits
from detainees like Elsa, nearly all of whom were bidding to receive political
asylum from their home countries. The detainees hail from different
continents—some are adults, others young children—but they all tell the same
story because they lived it together. Raouitee Pamela Puran fled her home
country, where her husband was kidnapped and murdered. Seeking political asylum
in the United States, she and her daughter Wesleyann wound up at Hutto. The
young girl, just 4 years old, had trouble sleeping. It was always cold, and it
didn’t help that the guards kept turning the lights on and off in their living
quarters. The food was awful too. When Wesleyann would talk to her aunt on the
phone, she’d plead with her to cook her chicken curry and rice. That always
stung her mom. Even worse, Wesleyann would hear the guards threaten the children
who acted up. If you don’t behave, they’d tell them, we’re going to separate you
from your parents. Wesleyann was terrified. A sixth-grader at a junior high
school in Ohio, Aissha Ibrahim came to Hutto with his mother, brother and sister
on Nov. 30, 2006. Aissha, whose family had fled war-torn Somalia, said in an affidavit
that when his sister Bahja got in trouble, the guards threatened to take her
away from her family. Another guard told Aissha that if he complained, he would
never see his mother again. “I would be scared if I never got my mom back, and I
would think of how she took care of me when I was a baby,” he said. Just about
every affidavit from a child or mother portrayed Hutto the same way—as a rough
and cold place, where kids lie awake at night hungry and crying in the dark. And
if they act up, like children often do, a guard would threaten to remove them
from their families. To hear the stories from inside the walls, Hutto seems more
like a medieval dungeon than a 21st century facility run by a wealthy company.
“The conditions were shocking,” says Barbara Hines, a University of Texas law
professor who spent many hours inside the facility representing detainees.
“There were children in prison garb dressed like their parents; it was like an
adult prison system. Seven times a day parents and their children were required
to stay in their pods so they could be counted. Laser beams shined through the
cells at night.” Just about everyone else who walked through the gates at Hutto,
including federal authorities, saw it as a deeply troubling facility. In March
2007, ICE inspectors visited Hutto and, in their own distinct bureaucratic
language, corroborated the anguished accounts of the detainees. The inspectors
noted that their “overall review of the facility can be accurately rated as deficient”
and determined that the staff wasn’t following basic standards of detention.
“The Review Team’s observation of CCA’s overall attitude is of disinterest and
complacency in their work performance,” the agency noted in its report. A month
later, an interoffice memo from ICE said that at Hutto, CCA is “losing staff as
quick as they can hire them.” That’s because the company was only paying its
detention officers around $10 an hour, nearly $4 less than what they could make
at the county jail. “As long as CCA continues to hire employees at this rate per
hour, they will continue to experience the problems they are currently
experiencing on the floor,” read the memo. “The current problems CCA is
experiencing are a direct result of what ‘they are paying their employees for.’
Unfortunately, it is at ICE’s expense.” Among other issues, the Scene asked CCA
to address the portrayal of Hutto that emerges from both federal officials and
the people who lived there. The company declined to comment on any and all
matters in this story, instead emailing news clips and a U.S. magistrate’s
report of the facility. That report, which came three months after the ACLU filed
its federal lawsuit, depicted a more humane place than other earlier accounts
and noted, “there have been attempts to ‘soften’ the feel of the building.” The
magistrate observed that the staff removed door locks and hung murals on the
walls, “although the building still retains a very institutional feel.” In
August, the ACLU announced a settlement with ICE over the treatment of immigrant
families at the Hutto facility. The settlement called for several common-sense
measures, including installing privacy curtains around toilets in common areas
and letting kids play with toys in their rooms. All 26 children and their
parents who took part in the suit were released into the custody of family
members who are legal residents of the United States. By all accounts, Hutto is
no longer as oppressive as it was when Elsa and her family first arrived from
Honduras. But why didn’t CCA get it right from the start? Or to put it more
bluntly, why did a rich company—one with $388 million in revenues last
quarter—have to be told by the ACLU to cease treating innocent children like
criminals? “The point I’d like to make is that none of these changes were done
voluntarily,” says Hines, the attorney. “When you look at CCA and ICE, the
question is, how would this facility have been if no one found out about it?”
The apathetic treatment of Hutto’s immigrants was hardly an anomaly. CCA also
operates a detention facility in San Diego that drew a separate ACLU lawsuit
last year. In the complaint, the group claims that CCA routinely denied basic
medical care to immigrant detainees with hepatitis, diabetes and other serious
illnesses. One man from Ghana died from heart failure after the center’s staff
allegedly asked him to fill out some paper work—even though he was seen kneeling
on the floor of his cell and complaining of chest pains. At jails and prisons
across the country, inmates routinely die under dire circumstances; some commit
suicide after nurses fail to fill their anti-psychotic prescriptions, others find
themselves on the wrong end of a baton stick. And in fairness, CCA doesn’t have
a monopoly on jailhouse horror stories. For every dark tale of cruelty at CCA,
there is an equal travesty in a county jail or federal penitentiary. The
difference, though, is that CCA can duck responsibility for what happens inside
its walls, whereas a government-run facility can’t. CCA doesn’t have to turn
over the disciplinary file of a disgraced guard or give a press conference when
one of its inmates escapes over the fence. It has the luxury to operate in the
shadows and turn a booming profit without having to explain how it runs the
business. We don’t know a lot about Patrick Perry, a onetime captain for CCA’s
Metro Detention Facility, located on Harding Road in South Nashville. But we do
know that on the morning of Jan. 31, 2008, Perry arrived at the Metro Health
Department to talk about his employer and offer a glimpse into some of its
secret practices. Metro Health officials would later write a memo detailing what
the captain told them. Perry was worried about a troubled inmate named Frank
Horton, who was imprisoned on a drug conviction and had stayed in the same
segregation cell since May 2007. Perry said that CCA’s policy dictates that an
inmate has to leave his cell at least once every three days or else guards need
to remove him by force. But at CCA’s Harding facility, the warden reprimanded
the staff if they followed this policy. That’s because every time they had to
escort an inmate against his will, it raised the facility’s “use of force”
numbers. And that placed the Metro Detention Center in a negative light when CCA
officials evaluated it against its other jails and prisons across the country. At
first blush, the warden’s directive may not seem out of order. If an inmate
doesn’t want to leave his cell, why should the guards care? But Frank Horton was
a special case. As Perry told Metro officials, the 23-year-old inmate seemed
disoriented and was speaking gibberish. At the very least, he needed medical
care. (Metro Health Department officials say they made sure Horton received a
psychiatric screening after their visit with Perry, but say they can’t divulge
any more details due to privacy concerns.) Horton’s mother, Cytherea Braswell,
had tried to visit her son before Christmas but says that a guard couldn’t find
the necessary forms. She later had a lawyer, John Clemmons, drop in to see him
in March, after she learned her son wasn’t well. When Clemmons arrived, a guard
told him that Frank was just fine, that he’d received a shower and a shave. But
when he went to see his client, what he saw troubled him. “He had a big, unkempt
goatee, and some stubble on his face and lint on his hair,” Clemmons says. “He
was completely naked except for a blanket draped around him, and when they
walked me back there, they didn’t act like this was unusual.” Now contemplating
a lawsuit against CCA, Clemmons says that his client went nine months without
taking a shower, which dovetails with Perry’s account of how Horton went the
better part of 2007 without leaving his cell. Even worse, Horton appeared as if
he were completely oblivious to the outside world and lost in his own muddled
thoughts. Brawell says that, as a child, her son was diagnosed with
hyperactivity and mild to moderate bipolar disorder. As a young adult, he worked
at a Waffle House and played basketball with his friends. With the right
treatment, she says, he could live a normal life. “He was an average person,”
she says. “He had a job, he went to work every day, he had friends. He knew how
to take care of himself.” But when Clemmons went to visit Braswell’s son, he was
talking in the same mysterious language that Perry described in his visit with
Metro officials. It was an odd blend of broken Spanish and English, and Horton
spoke it as if it were his native tongue, repeating the same incoherent phrases
to identical questions. “When I saw him, he was in a state where he had no
awareness of his mental capacity,” Clemmons says. With the help of the Metro
Legal Department and the Davidson County Sheriff’s office, Clemmons was able to
transfer Horton to a state facility for inmates with special needs. Now in the
process of researching his case, Clemmons isn’t sure what kind of, if any,
mental health treatment his client received behind bars. For that, he may
subpoena Patrick Perry to discover whether the CCA facility risked Horton’s
health to polish its internal data. “When I was there, the only medical staff I
saw was a nurse who merely walked from window to window and looked at the
inmates through a slot in the door,” he says. “It just looked like all they were
concerned with was that their physical well-being was intact.” In his meeting
with Metro Health officials, Patrick Perry also said that an alarm for inmates to
trigger in the event of an emergency wasn’t working. He added that CCA knew the
call system was a problem “but did nothing about it.” The former captain may find
himself testifying about that observation as well. Two weeks before Perry came
forward, Gerald Townsend, a 36-year-old inmate at the Harding facility who loved
scary movies, died at Vanderbilt University Medical Center after being diagnosed
with internal bleeding. His spleen was ripped open and blood had flooded his
lungs. In his final hours, Townsend told a nurse that Ronnie Sullivan, his
22-year-old cellmate, assaulted him. Metro police later charged Sullivan with
Townsend’s murder. Attorney Blair Durham is representing Townsend’s mother,
Jackie, who plans to file a suit against CCA this week. Durham says he’s learned
that inmates were banging on their cells as Sullivan began to assault his
cellmate. But no one rushed to help. Durham also heard that the alarm, which
could have saved Townsend’s life, wasn’t working. A month after Townsend’s
death, an inmate fled the same jail through an air vent. At first, the company
announced that the man, who had a history of escape attempts, was simply hiding
inside the grounds. A day or so later, when the Scene called to see if he had
been found, the company refused to comment. Earlier this year, after CCA endured
a series of PR nightmares at the Metro Detention Center during which the company
largely ducked interviews with the media, the private jailer reassigned the
facility’s warden, Brian Gardner. For the Davidson County Sheriff’s office, which
contracts with CCA to run the Harding jail, the company needed to reevaluate its
management of the facility. “We are satisfied that CCA has responded with a
policy change as well as the fact that they have changed their management since
these incidents have occurred,” says Karla Wiekal, the sheriff’s spokesperson.
“At some point, (CCA) recognized there needed to be a leadership change and at
this point forward we will see if these changes are effective.” In June 2007,
President George Bush nominated CCA corporate counsel Gus Puryear to a federal
seat in the U.S. District Court of Middle Tennessee. Initially viewed as a safe
bet to receive a lifetime appointment, Puryear faltered badly in his hearing
before the Senate Judiciary Committee in February, appearing to some as arrogant
and unprepared. The 39-year-old nominee, who twice served as debate coach for
Vice President Dick Cheney, struggled in particular to explain how his company
handled the brutal 2004 death of Nashville inmate Estelle Richardson, at one
point wrongly stating that the guards initially charged in connection with her
murder were “exonerated.” Now Puryear’s bid has turned into an unofficial
referendum on CCA, and it appears unlikely that the Senate will confirm him
before the end of Bush’s presidency. It’s been that kind of year for the private
jailer. Puryear’s struggles, playing out awkwardly on a big stage, make up just
the latest bout of bad publicity for the Nashville company, which has also been
battered in the national press. In February, The New Yorker reported the definitive
story about the company’s Hutto facility in Texas. The magazine detailed how
immigrant families shared a tiny cell with a bunk bed, thin mattress and an
exposed toilet, while ill-trained guards rounded them up seven times a day for a
head count. Then in March, Time.com detailed the accusations of a former
high-ranking CCA official who claimed that the company repeatedly misled state
and local authorities about the rate of violent incidents at the prisons and
jails it had under contract. In May, The New York Times chronicled how an ailing
detainee was treated at a CCA facility in New Jersey just before he lapsed into
a coma and died. The paper uncovered records that show that the man, a
52-year-old tailor from Guinea who overstayed a tourist visa, was “shackled and
pinned to the floor of the medical unit.” He vomited and moaned and then was
dumped in a disciplinary cell for 13 hours, even though he was foaming at the
mouth. Operating 65 facilities in the country with more than 70,000 inmates and
detainees in its custody, CCA will never have a perfect record. But what may say
more about the company anchoring a Green Hills office park is not the middle-aged
detainee who died of a heart failure or the sinister warden who struck an
inmate, but the 9-year-old boy who was forced to live like a common criminal.
Kevin Yourdkhani, whose parents fled from torture in their native Iran, wound up
at CCA’s Hutto facility on Feb. 9, 2007. There, he shared a small cell with his
mother and had to climb a tall ladder to get to his bunk bed. He slept right
next to an open toilet that smelled. The boy also complained about the food—he
called it “garbage”—saying that all he was ever fed were beans. “We are lucky if
we get 30 minute to eat,” he said an affidavit for the ACLU’s lawsuit against the
place. “It is usually 20 minutes, and they are always rushing.” In his pod, a
small living area that he shared with other detainees, the children were always
sick. Lots of kids had eye infections. Kevin attended school but rarely learned
anything. All he did was watch “Spanish movies” and color and draw pictures. One
day his father, who was being kept at another part of the facility, came to
visit Kevin. That infuriated a guard, who told Kevin that he would be placed in
foster care if his dad ever dropped by to see him again. “I cried and cried so
much that I lost my energy and went to sleep.”
January 21, 2008 Taylor Daily Press
In May of last year, a guard had sex with a female detainee at the T. Don
Hutto Residential Center. Federal law criminalizes sex between detained inmates
and guards, regardless of whether the relations are consensual. However, the
U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, an agency under the Department of
Homeland Security, falls within a loophole, only recently fixed through
Congressional action, that prevented the prosecution of the guard. With more
than 400 pages of documents logging the ICE investigation into the incident in
Taylor, no charges were ever filed against the guard, an employee of Corrections
Corporations of America, the for- profit company that owns and operates the
facility. Following an open records request filed by the Taylor Daily Press, ICE
released less than 80 pages of the investigation, most of which is redacted and
blacked out, including names, ages, identifying information, a photo of the
alleged victim and detailed testimony from both parties. On Saturday, May 19, a
guard was videotaped just before midnight crawling out of a detainee's room, “in
an attempt to avoid the (security) camera,” according to the ICE report.
Security officers monitoring the cameras saw him leaving the woman's room and
contacted CCA supervisors. According to the ICE reports, later viewings of
security tapes show the guard entering the room on two occasions that night -
once at 11:29 p.m. and leaving at 11:36, when he is shown “adjusting his pants
around the belt area.” He reentered at 11:37 p.m. before crawling out about 10
minutes later. For the next two days, CCA employees, Immigration and Customs
Enforcement officers, a Taylor Police Department officer, Williamson County
Sheriff's deputies and a Georgetown Police Department crime scene specialist
filed through T. Don Hutto. The outcome of the investigation, which included
testimony from both parties, semen samples found on the concrete floor of the
room, fingerprints on the toilet seat and sink and surveillance tapes of the
common area where the guard patrolled, was nothing. Both state and federal
prosecutors have since said they could not pursue the case. Officers called for
a possible sexual assault -- The night of the incident, in the very early hours
of May 20, CCA officials interviewed both the alleged victim and the guard. The
guard was immediately placed on administrative leave; he was officially fired
the next day. The company called ICE, which contracts out the facility to CCA to
house immigrants seeking asylum with their families. In fact, the alleged
victim's son was in the room during the sexual encounter, according to the ICE
report. The son's age was not reported but the victim's room contained a crib.
When the ICE Incident Response Team arrived, they determined the case might
carry criminal charges and called the Taylor Police Department. “Based on our
learned information ... it was clear this investigation was to proceed as a
criminal matter and that the local law enforcement agency with investigational
jurisdiction was to be notified,” the report states. Pete Del Angel, an ICE
official from San Antonio, called the Taylor dispatcher, requesting an officer
go to the center to investigate the incident. “And medical staff here thinks
there might have been some foul play,” Del Angel said. Sgt. Mark Clark of Taylor
PD arrived just before 5 p.m. on Sunday, May 20, according to a TPD call for
service report. After he arrived, Clark asked the dispatcher to see if a sexual
assault nurse examiner was working at Johns Community Hospital at the time. T.
Don Hutto falls under the jurisdiction of the sheriff's office, so Clark
requested sheriff's deputies take the case. Williamson County acts as a local
intermediary between Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the center's
contractor, CCA. Sheriff's deputies arrived just before 6 p.m. on a call for
“sexual assault,” according to a sheriff's incident report. An hour later, Det.
Larry Hawkins requested a crime scene specialist from Georgetown PD, who arrived
at 8 p.m. ICE investigators and the Georgetown officer collected seminal fluid
and fingerprints from the room. The female detainee was examined by an emergency
nurse at a Williamson County hospital, who reported to the Williamson County
Sheriff's Office that the woman sustained trauma to her vaginal area. The female
detainee and her son were taken to a hotel before being transported to an
“alternative facility,” according to ICE spokeswoman Nina Pruneda. The victim
was later deported. Officially, ICE continued investigating the case under a
possible charge of official oppression. Crime avoided both state and federal
jurisdiction -- On Monday, May 21, the Williamson County District Attorney's
Office declined to prosecute the case, according to the ICE report. Jana McCown,
first assistant district attorney, said the incident and possible charges of
official oppression did not fall under Texas law because T. Don Hutto is a
federal detention facility. In state law, official oppression - a public
servant's abuse of their post for sexual advances - only applies to incidents in
municipal, county, state or juvenile detention centers, McCown said. So the case
moved to the U.S. District Attorney's office in Austin, and the FBI San Antonio
division investigated. U.S. District Attorney Tony Brown also declined to
prosecute the case, according to ICE documents, despite sexual activity between
a guard and detainee being against federal law. According to U.S. federal code,
“Whoever “knowingly engages in a sexual act with another person who is in
official detention; and under the custodial supervisory, or disciplinary
authority of the person so engaging; or attempts to do so, shall be fined under
this title, imprisoned not more than one year, or both.” However, the law only
applies to prisons under the U.S. Attorney General, which does not include ICE
detention centers, an oversight and loophole in the law only changed in July
2007. The problem arose with the creation of the Department of Homeland Security
in 2003. The new federal agency took over the detention of immigrants from
Immigration and Naturalization Services, an agency under jurisdiction of the
Department of Justice, according to a press statement from the office of Sen.
Dianne Feinstein, D-California. Feinstein sponsored an amendment that upon
enactment would extend the current federal law to immigrants in detention under
ICE. “The Justice Department could not pursue these allegations because it was
no longer a federal crime,” a press release states. However, four years passed
between the time homeland security took over the detention of immigrants and
when the loophole was fixed - just a few months after the incident at T. Don
Hutto. Charges will never be filed in the Taylor assault - according to Scott
Gerber, a spokesman for the senator, the change in legislation is not
retroactive.
December 11, 2007 AP
Immigrant advocates have filed complaints over an 8-year-old girl who was
separated from her pregnant mother by immigration authorities and left without
her for four days at a detention center established to hold families together.
Attorneys with the Immigration Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law
sent a complaint on Monday to the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at
the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees detention of immigrants.
They also made a complaint to the Texas Department of Protective Services on
Nov. 29, said Barbara Hines, a law professor who helps oversee the clinic. After
being caught in South Texas in August, the child and her mother were sent to the
T. Don Hutto Family Residential Facility, a former Central Texas prison where
noncriminal immigrant families are held while their cases are processed. They
were awaiting a decision on a bid for asylum, which they eventually lost. When
agents attempted to deport the woman in October, she wouldn't comply. As a
result, she was considered a high risk for disruptive behavior and moved to a
South Texas detention center in Pearsall on Oct. 18., according to U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Guards and ICE staff watched over the child
for four days and the pair were reunited when they were deported, ICE spokesman
Carl Rusnok said. ICE officials have previously said detaining families at the
facility is meant to help "children remain with parents, their best caregivers"
while they are processed for deportation. They also told the Texas Department of
Family and Protective Services that parents would be at the facility with their
children and would be responsible for their care, so state regulation wasn't
needed.
November 16, 2007 Houston Chronicle
An 8-year-old girl was separated from her pregnant mother and left behind
for four days at a detention center set up to hold immigrant families together
while they await outcomes to their cases. U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement officials say they had to transfer the Honduran woman because she
twice resisted attempts to deport her and was potentially disruptive. ICE
spokesman Carl Rusnok said guards and ICE staff watched the child after her
mother was removed from the T. Don Hutto Family Residential Facility. But others
are critical of the agency's handling of the case, saying it put the girl at
risk and is another example of why the facility should be closed. "Here, it's
the government itself that has the custody of this child and then leaves her
without proper supervision," said Denise Gilman, who oversees the Immigration
Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law, which provides legal services
to Hutto detainees. The 28-year-old mother and child lost a bid for asylum and
are back in Honduras. But Immigration Clinic attorneys plan to file a complaint
with the federal government. Since opening last year near Taylor, the Hutto
facility has been exempt from state child-care licensing requirements. ICE
officials told the state Texas Department of Family and Protective Services that
parents would be at the facility with their children and would be responsible
for their care, so state regulation wasn't needed. But if the state's child care
licensing division receives a complaint indicating child care is being provided,
it could investigate, said Patrick Crimmins, a spokesman for the Department of
Family and Protective Services. ICE officials have previously said detaining
families at the facility is meant to help "children remain with parents, their
best caregivers" while they are processed for deportation.
November 5, 2007 KLBJ News Radio
A letter from Immigration and Custom's Enforcement charges illegal workers were
employed at an immigrant detention center in Taylor. In a letter dated May 23,
2007 to Williamson County Judge Dan Gattis, Senior, Contracting Officer Susan D.
Erickson with the US Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
writes, “There have been two other recent incidents whereby CCA has contracted
for services they have been performed by workers that are not legally authorized
to work.” CCA is Corrections Corporation of America, the private jail firm that
operates the T Don Hutto Residential Center. ICE is contracted with Williamson
County. The county, in turn, is contracted with CCA. In a written response,
dated May 26, 2007, Acting Administrator of the facility Evelyn Hernandez with
CCA says, “CCA contracted for services that were performed by workers not
legally authorized to work in the US.” Hernandez then goes on to list what
actions the company is taking to insure this does not happen again. KLBJ
obtained the two letters as part of an on-going Open Records Request. Last week,
the Williamson County Judge and Commissioners voted to authorize CCA and ICE to
begin having direct contact, rather than routing communication through the
county. The commissioners court also voted to authorize the Williamson County
Sheriff to appointed liaisons between the facility and the court. Six people
from the sheriff’s department are now performing this duty. Included in the
appointees are three detectives, a captain and two sergeants. Detective John
Foster is one of the officers on the team. Foster says they have been asked to,
“go in and examine and look and continue to look at ….how things actually work
at the facility.” Over-time and additional cost for these officers will be paid
for by CCA. The county has asked to be reimbursed $5,000 per month. In addition,
the commissioners amended the contract with CCA to include indemnity for the
county in the event the operators of the facility are sued. The county is asking
for a $250,000 line of credit from CCA to insure funds would be available from
the private jail firm to cover any legal costs associated with representing the
county in any future lawsuits.
November 2, 2007 Austin Chronicle
The dirty little secret is out: The T. Don Hutto Family Residential Center, a
detention facility for immigrant families in Taylor, has employed undocumented
workers, as well as contractors with criminal records. The revelation has put
Williamson County, which administers the center for owner-operator Corrections
Corporation of America, in an embarrassing legal bind. The infractions, ironic
as they are, were cited in an official reprimand of CCA by the U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement and addressed to County Judge Dan Gattis on May 23. The
reprimand only came to light in October, when WilCo commissioners began airing
concerns about mounting liability. But it was an alleged sexual assault of a
detainee by a guard on May 19 that was the most likely source of the county's
jitters over liability. WilCo and CCA were to "ensure that such an incident not
occur again," the reprimand stated. Commissioners initially voted to notify ICE
and CCA of the county's intention to terminate its contract, but they reversed
course at their Oct. 9 meeting after CCA put on a pageant to save the lucrative
deal. CCA employees pleaded for their jobs, and a teacher described her pride at
teaching "Third World children who ... don't know how to use a toilet." It was
the liability issue that most consumed commissioners. CCA lawyer Jay Brown
insisted that 2006 court decisions had strengthened commissioners' "governmental
immunity" against such claims. The court took the bait, resolving to discuss the
matter in executive session. However, the American Civil Liberties Union, which
has won 10 lawsuits filed on behalf of 26 immigrant detainees, is currently
analyzing the county's liability. According to a far-reaching report – "Locking
Up Family Values: The Detention of Immigrant Families" – published by the
Women's Commission for Refugee Women & Children and the Lutheran Immigration and
Refugee Service, Hutto staff and providers may have crossed the line numerous
times. In an interview, the report's author, Michelle Brané, said the report
addresses only the more serious documented incidents. In the medical wing, for
example, pregnant detainees were X-rayed with no lead screen; detainees received
dental work without anesthesia; pregnant women were not allowed milk and were
shackled when taken outside the facility for checkups. Additionally, the report
reveals that overheated water scalded children at times. To punish children
deemed unruly, guards "would turn up the air conditioning so that the room
became very cold" and would turn off hot water for bathing, the report states.
But the worst offense was that so-called errant parents and their children lived
under the threat of being separated. Concerning the alleged sexual assault of a
detainee, the question remains: Why was the guard not arrested or prosecuted? No
one at the Oct. 9 commissioners' meeting seemed to know or care. CCA Senior Vice
President Damon Hininger said the county was investigating the case, but Sheriff
James Wilson said he didn't know the whereabouts of the case file and that
District Attorney John Bradley had decided to forgo prosecution. FBI spokesman
Erik Vasys said a subsequent federal inquiry was scrapped, too, but concurred
that guard-on-detainee sexual contact is a felony in Texas and generally
regarded as official oppression. Neither the sheriff's office nor the FBI has
jurisdiction in the case, officials from both agencies said. Carl Rusnok,
spokesman for ICE's Office of Professional Responsibility, said that the
county's investigation "clearly established it was not sexual assault, after
evidence and statements from the CCA employee and detainee indicated and
established that the encounter was consensual." ICE believes the county should
have the case file, since it served as the primary investigative agency. ICE
also referred the case to the FBI for any potential federal charges.
Ultimately, on June 12, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Austin declined to
prosecute the case. Two days later, ICE's Office of Professional Responsibility
closed its case. In any event, the alleged incident created a major stir. The
detention facility was cordoned off, and a police officer noted in a report that
an injury had occurred and a rape test was performed at a local hospital. But
with no arrest, specific tapes or test results might never be disclosed.
Detainees reacted in fear, Austin immigration lawyer Barbara Hines said. "Some
of my clients were worried after the incident because they had adolescent
daughters," Hines added. Generally, said Brané, author of the Hutto report, a
climate of fear existed at Hutto, with alliances between detainees and guards
forged for "protection." "I interpreted 'alliances' to mean 'favors,'" Brané
said. That, coupled with the threat of separation from family members, could
have contributed to a milieu of extortion, even retribution. ICE, too, grew
concerned about detainee safety, noting in its reprimand, "Sub-contractors were
found to have criminal histories that were not conducive to the family
residential environment of the facility and those workers were denied access."
If law enforcement passed the buck on the alleged assault, ICE is currently
assuming no blame for the 10 undocumented workers the agency arrested and
deported. Nor is CCA at fault, according to Rusnok. "It is the responsibility of
the provider of services [not CCA] including subcontractors to ensure the
workers they provide have legal status," he said. Could it be that there's only
one culprit left in the equation – the county? As the Hutto story continues to
unfold, immigration activists again this week called on officials to close the
controversial detention center. A crowd of activists arrived at the Williamson
County Courthouse Tuesday after a vigil and two-day walk from the facility in
Taylor.
November 1, 2007 Laredo Morning Times
When Wendolyne Morales received a letter from the Corrections Corporation of
America on Saunders Street, and then spoke with the detainee's wife in
Wisconsin, she knew she was onto something. The KLDO-Univision investigative
reporter spent six months working on a series of 10 stories related to Tomas
Contreras, a resident alien detained at the border for a drug charge and fine he
paid nearly 20 years ago. With the help of photographers Elsa De Leon, Guillermo
Rodriguez, Ruben Carranza and Sammy de la Garza, Morales did stories on the
detainee's plight with the government's mandatory detention law. In particular,
the last one she filed in June, after Contreras was released, propelled her into
the big leagues. This weekend, at a sumptuous gala event in Dallas, her name was
announced after the presenter said, "And the Emmy goes to … " Morales had just
become Laredo's first television reporter to win an Emmy Award. "I feel very
happy and I'm so proud to belong to the team that I do," she said. "More than
anything, it feels good to know that our competitors were the big sharks." Her
entry beat out six other English- and Spanish-language reporters from the
Houston, Dallas and San Antonio television markets in the Lone Star Emmy
category for Specialty Assignment Report-Single News Story. Since the Emmys
opened a chapter in Texas five years ago, this is the first time a KLDO entry
made it into the finals, and the first time that a Laredo television news
network brought home a trophy. A native of Guanajuato, Mexico, Morales came to
Laredo in the seventh-grade and graduated from Cigarroa High School and the
Vidal M. Treviño School of Communications and Fine Arts, where she focused on
television, film and communications. She is pursuing a bachelor's degree in
communications and previously worked for Univision in Corpus Christi. Dressed in
a long, red evening gown that Saturday night, Morales was accompanied by Maria
Montoya, Maria de la Luz de Alba and Alma Blanco. These are her best friends,
"my sisters," she said, describing them as her mentors and role models when they
worked together at another local television station several years ago. "We
grabbed hands and when the announcer said my name, we screamed," Morales said.
"I was so excited and emocionada (emotional) and when I get like that I stumble
my words. I didn't even know what I was saying." What attracted Morales to her
award-winning story was how the mandatory detention laws, enacted immediately
after 9/11, are dividing families and creating undue hardship and suffering, she
said. Meant to catch terrorists at points of entry, the mandatory detention laws
are now detaining people, regardless of their immigration status, for crimes
committed decades ago. "They need to modify the laws because they are punishing
people who went through the whole process to come into the country legally,"
Morales said. "They are detaining people for long periods of time, for six
months or longer," Morales said. "It's dividing families and making people lose
their jobs, because what job is going to wait six months for you to come back?"
In her stories, Morales focused on Contreras, a resident alien and successful
businessman in Wisconsin. He was detained for an 18-year-old drug charge by
Laredo officials at the bridge upon returning from a family vacation in Mexico.
In 1989, Contreras was fined for drug possession when police found cocaine
residue in a car he was borrowing from a friend. Contreras has since built up a
successful career. As part of her series, Morales filmed part of Contreras'
family protesting outside CCA on a cold early Saturday morning, even though she
and the photographer, Guillermo Rodriguez, are off weekends. She also
interviewed Contreras after he was released six months later and learned about
the mistreatment and poor conditions facing detainees behind bars. After she
spoke with his wife in January, Morales said she knew she had to "at least
investigate." She began calling CCA officials and U.S. Customs officials in San
Antonio, and stayed on top of the story. "When we won on Saturday, we were able
to show that Hispanic reporters can also put out an excellent product and can
compete with the big North American chains," she said.
October 31, 2007 KXAN
The T. Don Hutto Residential Center is under scrutiny again, this time by the
Williamson County Sheriff's Office. The move comes just one day after Williamson
County commissioners voted to continue their contract with the residential
center. The controversial facility in Taylor holds illegal immigrants, including
women and children. The county gets a dollar a day per person that's held at the
Hutto facility, but with a new amendment, the county will get an extra $5,000 to
hire a liaison between Corrections Corporation of America, Immigration and
Customs Enforcement and the county. The money is going to the sheriff's
department, and that means that CCA is now being watched. A reported sexual
assault at the immigration detention center involving a guard and a detainee
happened in May. Recently, a CCA employee commented on the assault. "It was not
an assault. It was something that was consensual," said Evelyn Hernandez of the
CCA. "Although that happened when I was first at the facility, and that's
something that's not going to be tolerated." The guard was fired, and federal
authorities closed the investigation, saying there was no criminal activity.
However, lawyers with the Texas Civil Rights Project said the incident was swept
under the rug, and there is no such thing as consensual sex between an employee
and a detainee inside the center's walls. "It's obviously a real problem when
[there is] a balance of power that exists, so, you can't have consensual sex,"
said Jim Harrington of the Texas Civil Rights Project. "Texas law clearly states
that you can't."
October 30, 2007 American-Statesman
Williamson County leaders backed off plans Tuesday to sever ties early with the
owner of a much-criticized immigrant detention center in Taylor. Instead, county
commissioners voted unanimously to continue their contract with Corrections
Corp. of America, which operates the T. Don Hutto Residential Center. Earlier
this month, commissioners took steps to end the contract with CCA by October
2008. While the facility has been controversial, commissioners said they were
worried about the county's potential liability stemming from its relationship
with the center. CCA subsequently offered free legal protection and $250,000 for
the county should it ever face litigation. Commissioners said Tuesday that CCA's
offer assuaged their fears. The contract will now expire at its original date,
Jan. 31, 2009. Commissioners said they'll discuss the possibility of extending
the contract closer to its expiration date. The 512-bed center holds immigrant
children and their families while they await decisions in their immigration
cases and has drawn protests for its treatment of detainees. The county
disburses federal funds to CCA, but commissioners say the county has no
authority over what happens at the center.
October 10, 2007 American-Statesman
Williamson County leaders put off plans Tuesday to potentially sever ties with
the owner of a much-criticized immigrant detention center in Taylor. The delay
came after officials with Corrections Corp. of America, in an effort to sway
county commissioners' plans, offered free legal protection and $250,000 for the
county should it ever face litigation for its involvement with the T. Don Hutto
Residential Center. Commissioners were scheduled to vote on a notice to
terminate their contract with Corrections Corp. but instead asked county
attorneys to review the company's offer. The contract is set to expire Jan. 31,
2009, but county officials voted last week on steps to end it sooner, by next
October, citing potential liability concerns. Corrections Corp. subsequently
offered to find and pay for legal representation for the county should
litigation arise. The company is also offering the county $250,000 worth of
credit in case it loses or has to settle a suit, said Steven Owen, a spokesman.
Owen said negotiations are ongoing, so the amount could change. The 512-bed
center holds immigrant children and their families while they await decisions in
their immigration cases and has drawn protests for its treatment of detainees.
The county disburses federal funds to Corrections Corp., but commissioners say
the county has no authority over what happens at the center. No lawsuits have
been filed against the county since it entered the contract a year ago, County
Judge Dan A. Gattis said. Commissioners said it was too soon to comment on
whether Corrections Corp.'s offers changed their opinion about leaving the
contract early. "I want to hear all the facts. I want to know what our true
liability is," Commissioner Valerie Covey said. Assistant Williamson County
Attorney Hal Hawes said he will probably report back to commissioners in two to
three weeks. If commissioners vote to end the contract early, federal rules
require Corrections Corp. to find another government entity to partner with;
otherwise the contract for housing detainees would be subject to competitive
bidding. Owen said the company would comply with those rules if the county ended
the contract early or if it didn't renew the contract after 2009. He said it was
too soon to comment on what would happen to the center if Corrections Corp.
didn't win the bid or find a partner. "I don't want to speculate, but obviously
we've invested a good deal of time and money," he said. "Our hopes and our
efforts will always be to keep that institution operational."
October 3, 2007 CBS 11TV
Williamson County officials agreed Tuesday to prepare a notice telling the
federal government they plan to end a contract next year for a detention center
that houses immigrant families. The Central Texas county is home to the T. Don
Hutto Family Residential Facility, a former prison where immigrant families are
held while awaiting deportation or other outcomes to their immigration cases.
Williamson County Commissioners agreed to have the county attorney draft a
notice to terminate the contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
and Corrections Corporation of America on Oct. 2, 2008. Commissioners plan to
review the drafted document next week and decide whether to submit it, said
Williamson County spokeswoman Connie Watson. "All commissioners and the county
judge support the federal government's position on immigration," Watson said.
"However, they felt being administrators of the contract was putting the county
in a position where it could be ..... liable for a facility it does not
operate." ICE spokesman Richard Rocha said Williamson County has been in
constant communication with the government. "ICE appreciates all the county has
done in support of the facility," Rocha said. Under a contract with Williamson
County, the 512-bed former state prison is operated by Corrections Corporation
of America with oversight by ICE. The federal government pays about $2.8 million
each month -- or about $180 a day per person -- to house the detainees. The bulk
of the money goes to CCA. The facility once held some 400 people, including
children, but the population has decreased in the past few months. None of the
families at the facility, in Taylor, have criminal records or violent histories.
A federal judge approved a settlement agreement in August that calls for changes
at the Hutto facility, where families live in cells with bunk beds and a toilet.
Announcement of the deal came as a trial was about to start over allegations the
children were held in prison-like conditions at the center. Some of the changes
include installing privacy curtains around toilets, adding a full-time
pediatrician and eliminating a counting system that required families to be in
their cells 12 hours a day. A federal magistrate also will periodically review
conditions at Hutto.
October 2, 2007 Austin American-Statesman
Williamson County commissioners voted today to terminate their contract with
the company that operates the controversial T. Don Hutto Residential Center in
one year. The 512-bed Taylor center is one of two in the country that detains
children and families while they await outcomes of asylum petitions or
deportation. It's operated by a private firm, Corrections Corp. of America.
Saying that the facility has become a liability for the county, commissioners
voted to give notice to CCA that the county will end the contract within one
year, effective today. Protesters have decried what they say is the wrongful
imprisonment of children at the center. But federal officials say the facility
provides a humane way to keep families together while they are in immigration
proceedings. The county's contract with CCA, in which the county receives a fee
for each person housed at the facility, had previously been set to expire Jan.
31, 2009.
September 24, 2007 Laredo Morning Times
For the first time in history, a television reporter working in Laredo has
been nominated for an Emmy Award. Univision reporter Wendolyne Morales was
recently named a possible recipient of a Lone Star Emmy Award in the Specialty
Assignment Report-Single News Story category. "I was very surprised, but more
than anything I was grateful for the support from God and (Univision General
Manager) Terry Elena Ordaz and (anchor) Osvaldo Corral," Morales said. Morales
said she received tremendous support and encouragement from the Univision team
when she was working on the story of a resident alien, Tomas Contreras.
Contreras was living in Wisconsin but was detained by officials in Laredo when
he crossed the border while returning from a vacation with his family. "He had a
previous drug charge, and was detained under the mandatory detention law,"
Morales said. "He is a successful businessman and a good person. (The
authorities) just wanted to detain him." Morales said Contreras had long since
paid his debt to society, but was detained at the Corrections Corporation of
America detention facility on Saunders Street in east Laredo, nonetheless.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Contreras owns five businesses and
was only required to pay a fine after police found cocaine residue in a car
Contreras was driving in 1989. The car belonged to another individual. After
Morales' report, U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis. became involved in the matter,
and local news media in Milwaukee also took notice of the issue. Contreras was
freed shortly thereafter. "I am proud of Wendolyne and the entire news team,"
Ordaz said. "This proves that the level of reporting at Univision really reaches
high standards. Maybe now, as a consequence, they may change the laws." Ordaz
said the report came as a result of Morales being well respected and having
confidence in her sources, as do all the reporters at Univision, she said. "Just
to know that we were actually picked, it's wonderful," Ordaz said. Morales has
been at Univision in Laredo for about two years, Ordaz said. The Emmy awards
ceremony takes place Oct. 27 in Dallas.
August 29, 2007 Houston Chronicle
A federal judge on Wednesday approved a settlement between the U.S. Department
of Homeland Security and attorneys for illegal immigrant families housed at a
Central Texas detention center. U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks in Austin signed
the settlement, which was reached Sunday after months of negotiations between
lawyers for the government and the American Civil Liberties Union. The
settlement agreement calls for increased scrutiny of the length of time families
are detained and allows for independent monitoring by a federal magistrate
judge. Other concessions include installing curtains around toilets and allowing
children to go on field trips with their parents' permission. Also, children
ages 12 and older would be able to move freely about the center. Immigration
officials also would eliminate periodic head counts, instead having immigrants
check in on their own. Attorneys for the ACLU and co-counsel sued in a U.S.
district court on behalf of 26 children in March, stating that detainees were
subject to psychological abuse from guards and received poor medical care and
inadequate nutrition. The Texas center — one of only two in the nation that
house immigrant families facing deportation — is privately run by the
Corrections Corporation of America and was once a medium-security prison.
August 26, 2007 ACLU
The American Civil Liberties Union today announced a landmark settlement with
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that greatly improves conditions
for immigrant children and their families inside the T. Don Hutto detention
center in Taylor, Texas. Dozens of children were released from the facility with
their families as a result of the litigation. The settlement is expected to be
approved shortly by Judge Sam Sparks of the United States District Court for the
Western District of Texas. "This is a huge victory not only for the children and
families that have been released from Hutto, but for every detainee held at the
facility, now or in the future," said Vanita Gupta, a staff attorney with the
ACLU's Racial Justice Program. "Though we continue to believe that Hutto is an
inappropriate place to house children, conditions have drastically improved in
areas like education, recreation, medical care, and privacy." The settlement is
the result of extensive litigation and mediation in consolidated lawsuits filed
earlier this year against Michael Chertoff, Secretary of the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security (DHS), and six officials from ICE on behalf of 26 immigrant
children. The children are between the ages of 1 and 17, and were detained at
Hutto with their parents who, in almost all cases, were awaiting determinations
on their asylum claims. The ACLU, the ACLU of Texas, the University of Texas
School of Law Immigration Clinic, and the international law firm of LeBoeuf,
Lamb, Greene & MacRae LLP brought the lawsuits. Since the original lawsuits were
filed in March 2007, all of the 26 children represented by the ACLU and
co-counsel have been released. The final six children were released days before
the settlement was finalized, and are now living with family members who are
U.S. citizens and/or legal permanent residents while pursuing their asylum
claims. For the children, the release day was very emotional. Andrea Restrepo, a
12-year-old child from Colombia, had been held in Hutto in a small cell for
nearly a year with her mother and 9-year-old sister. "I feel much better, I feel
tranquil, I can do things now I couldn't do there," said Restrepo. "I am trying
to forget everything about Hutto. I feel free. It was a nightmare." Conditions
at Hutto have gradually and significantly improved as a result of the
groundbreaking litigation. Children are no longer required to wear prison
uniforms and are allowed much more time outdoors. Educational programming has
expanded and guards have been instructed not to discipline children by
threatening to separate them from their parents. "The ACLU has long been
concerned with poor conditions in immigration detention centers, but the
inhumane conditions in which the children at Hutto lived before this litigation
demanded our immediate attention," said Gouri Bhat, an attorney with the ACLU's
National Prison Project. "This agreement with ICE will make permanent important
changes that already have been made and will ensure additional improvements in
the future."
July 11, 2007 Government Executive Magazine
In a recent review of federal facilities used to detain suspected illegal
immigrants, the Government Accountability Office found a lack of telephone
access to be a pervasive problem, potentially preventing detainees from
contacting legal counsel, their countries' consulates or complaint hotlines. The
GAO review included visits to 23 detention centers housing immigrants awaiting
adjudication or deportation. The watchdog agency observed the centers -- run by
the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency within the Homeland Security
Department -- for compliance with nonbinding national detention standards. Of
the 23 facilities GAO reviewed, 17 had telephone systems allowing detainees to
make free phone calls seeking assistance. In 16 of these 17 facilities, however,
GAO found systemic problems hindering phone access. Issues ranged from
inaccurate or outdated numbers posted by the phones to technical problems
preventing completion of calls, the report (GAO-07-875) stated. The review found
instances where the centers fell short of standards in other areas, such as
medical care, use of force and food services, but said these instances did not
necessarily indicate a larger pattern of noncompliance. "While it is true that
the only pervasive problem we identified related to the telephone system -- a
problem later confirmed by ICE's testing -- we cannot state that the other
deficiencies we identified in our visits were isolated," said Richard Stana,
director of homeland security and justice issues at GAO, in the report. GAO
recommended that ICE regularly update the posted numbers for legal services,
consulates and reporting violations of detainee treatment standards and test
phone systems to ensure that they are in working order. In a response to a draft
of the report, Steven Pecinovsky, director of the Homeland Security Department's
GAO/Office of the Inspector General Liaison Office, said ICE concurred with its
recommendations and had taken immediate steps to implement them. In particular,
ICE has started random testing to ensure the phones can access the necessary
numbers. While GAO did not find evidence of widespread disregard for national
detention standards, there have been recent calls for more oversight of
immigrant detention facilities and codification of standards. According to the
American Bar Association's Commission on Immigration, the fact that the
standards are not codified means "their violation does not confer a cause of
action in court." On Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union called on
Congress to codify the standards, expressing concern over the causes of death
for the 62 immigrants who have died in ICE custody since 2004. GAO's report
cited several instances of noncompliance in the standards for medical care, but
almost all were a failure to complete the routine physical exams required for
all detainees. The only other issue cited was the failure of one detention
center to have a first aid kit available. The ACLU argued there are far more
serious medical failures occurring in immigrant detention centers. "Inadequate
medical care has led to unnecessary suffering and death," the ACLU said in a
statement. "In addition, there is no mechanism in place for reporting deaths in
immigration detention to any oversight body, including the [Office of the
Inspector General] and, therefore, there are no routine investigations into
deaths in ICE custody."
July 2, 2007 Houston Chronicle
A Harris County grand jury declined on Monday to indict two protesters
facing felony charges for chaining themselves to a fence at a Houston detention
facility owned by a private prison operator criticized nationally for inhumane
treatment of immigrant detainees. Ashley Turner, 18, and Benjamin Browning, 24,
protested June 4 against the Corrections Corporation of America's detention
facility in Central Texas, chaining themselves to the fence of the firm's
Houston location with a bike lock. The two were arrested by off-duty Houston
Police Department officers working as security guards at the immigrant detention
facility in northwest Houston. They were charged with possession of a criminal
instrument and trespassing. Assistant District Attorney Kristin Guiney said the
locks were deemed "criminal instruments" because they were used in a crime:
trespassing. Both were facing a prison sentence of up to two years. Guiney could
not be reached for comment on the grand jury's decision. Randall Kallinen,
defense attorney for the two protesters, said the district attorney's office
overreacted and used the charge to squelch his clients' rights. "They were doing
it for punishment and the fear factor to keep them from protesting," he said.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a suit this year against the
Corrections Corporation of America over its T. Don Hutto "Family Residential
Facility," a converted medium-security prison in the Central Texas town of
Taylor. Since May 2006, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has locked up
immigrant children at Hutto. The children are accompanied by parents, mostly
from countries other than Mexico, who came to America illegally or overstayed
their visas. Many are asylum-seekers fleeing war-torn areas. Hutto detainees
have complained of a prison-like environment with camera surveillance,
inadequate medical care and abusive guards. Children, the ACLU lawsuit says,
have suffered weight loss, bed wetting and nightmares as a result of the stress
from incarceration. "We felt like someone had to do something," Turner said.
"There is a travesty happening in our own backyard." ICE officials have said
that Hutto is a humane alternative to separating immigrant families while they
await asylum or deportation proceedings. Misdemeanor trespassing charges are
pending against Turner and Browning. Kallinen, an ACLU member, said he will
speak at a Houston City Council meeting this morning about the charges brought
against his clients. He will also ask the council to ensure that conditions at
the prison operator's Houston facility are investigated.
June 1, 2007 Austin Chronicle
The federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement is in the hot seat again – over
an alleged incident of "inappropriate contact" between a guard and a detainee on
Saturday, May 19, at the T. Don Hutto Residential Center in Taylor. Operated by
the for-profit Corrections Corporation of America, administered by Williamson
County, and funded by ICE, the Hutto detention center incarcerates federal
detainees subject to deportation – specifically women and children, a practice
that has rained international ire upon the facility. Rumors are flying about the
exact nature of the inappropriate contact, but none can be substantiated. ICE's
announcement characterized the contact as "relations between two adults,"
implying the contact was both sexual and consensual but vowed it took such
behavior "very seriously." However, incident documents indicate that something
more serious was suspected at the outset by both federal and local law
enforcement. On May 20, Pete De Angel, a higher-up who works out of the ICE
Detention and Removal Operations Office in San Antonio, called the Taylor Police
Department to report a "possible assault on an inmate" and asked to speak to an
officer, according to TPD dispatch records. The phone number De Angel called
from was the extension of ICE agent supervisor Roy Armendariz, at the Hutto
center. TPD dispatched Sgt. Mark Clark to the scene; he requested a
determination of whether a sexual-assault nurse examiner was on duty at Johns
Community Hospital in Taylor. Clark was then instructed to call the Williamson
Co. Sheriff's Office, because that agency, according to county protocol, must
handle all calls at the Hutto center. Clark left the scene when WilCo deputies
arrived. According to the subsequent WCSO police report, three WSCO deputies,
Mike Hallmark, Gilbert Unger, and Lindsey Aigner, arrived on scene, with
Detective Larry Hawkins assigned as the investigator in the case. The detainee
was transported to Round Rock Medical Center. The report said the incident was
reported as an "assault (victim)" that took place from "11:30 a.m. until 12:30
p.m." on May 19. However, after their investigation, WCSO officers labeled the
incident as "official misconduct," instead of assault. The "evidence taken"
notations were blacked out on the front page of the report provided to the
Chronicle. Our request for the full version is before the Texas Attorney
General's Office. Another confidential source told us it had not really been
determined yet if the contact was consensual or not. However, WSCO Detective
John Foster announced last week that the conduct did not fall under any local or
state laws, so WCSO turned the matter over to ICE. Jamie Zuieback, public
information officer for ICE, said ICE "takes any allegations of wrongdoing by
contract employees at our detention facilities seriously and thoroughly
investigates such allegations." Neither Foster nor Zuiebeck would answer
specific questions about the incident, preferring to reread the statement. For
Corrections Corporation of America's part, a Capt. Wright (who wouldn't give his
first name), who works night duty at the Hutto center, said, "I don't comment on
anything!" when asked why his facility reported the incident as an "assault,
with victim." There has to be an answer to that question, but it's not
forthcoming from authorities at this point. Despite ICE's assurances that the
case is in good hands, the outlook appears bleak; a 2005 U.S. Department of
Justice Office of the Inspector General report titled "Deterring Staff Sexual
Abuse of Federal Inmates" flatly states that custodial sexual abuse, as well as
assault, often go unpunished. Even if such sex is consensual, it is a crime, the
report emphasizes – though only a misdemeanor offense under federal law. (Most
states, including Texas, consider it a felony.) But victims are often afraid to
tell the truth, resulting in a lack of evidence to file charges or convict. And
in this case, ICE is essentially policing itself, proceeding with an
investigation through its Professional Responsibility Office, with TPD and WCSO
reportedly no longer involved. Perhaps the OIG should weigh in, for
objectivity's sake.
May 23, 2007 San Antonio Current
Call it Kidmo — a supposedly family-friendly version of the Guantanamo Bay
detention center deep in the heart of Texas. While the T. Don Hutto Family
Residential Center houses mostly “Other-Than-Mexican” immigrant families instead
of suspected terrorists, including more than 200 children from 30 countries, the
policy of hide, deny, and dodge civil-rights law is unmistakably familiar. Four
months ago, U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and its private
contractor, Corrections Corporation of America, attempted to dress up the
converted medium-security prison in plastic trees and rainbow murals for the
family-detention center’s first and only media tour since the facility opened a
year ago. Now, citing “pending litigation,” ICE has decided that secrecy is the
better policy, and has informed the media that it will no longer disclose
information about the facility, including population numbers. The access
restriction doesn’t only apply to the media. United Nations Special Rapporteur
on the Human Rights of Migrants Jorge Bustamante was denied entrance to the
Hutto facility as well as a detention center in Monmouth County, New Jersey,
during an 18-day U.S. tour this month. “I expressed an interest to visit
detention centers in the United States. [The U.S. State Department] responded,
programming the visit of three detention centers,” said Bustamante, who was
Mexico’s nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. “Then they all of a sudden
cancelled the visit that had been approved for the Hutto detention center and
the New Jersey detention center. And so I requested an explanation of that
decision to the Ambassador of the United States in Geneva, and no response.” The
explanations ICE gave the media were contradictory: The Associated Press
reported first ICE’s claim that the United Nations had not given them proper
notice. Now, Richard Rocha, who works in ICE’s public-affairs department, says
it was due to the same “pending litigation.”
May 22, 2007 KXAN TV
KXAN learned an employee at the T. Don Hutto Detention Center was fired Monday
for inappropriate contact with a detainee. The controversial immigrant detention
center in Taylor has only been open for a year. According to the Immigration and
Customs Enforcement Agency, or ICE, which operates the facility, a male employee
was fired after an incident with a detainee early Sunday morning. ICE
spokeswoman Nina Pruneda released this statement to KXAN Tuesday: "The agency
was notified Sunday of alleged misconduct by a Corrections Corporation of
America employee ... involving 'relations' between two adults at the facility."
Corrections Corporation of America is a private, for-profit company contracted
to staff the center. The employee was immediately placed on administrative leave
and fired the next day. Earlier this month protestors gathered outside after a
United Nations inspector was denied access inside. KXAN was also denied repeated
requests to tour the facility after representatives said they made improvements
to the interior. Those calling for the facility to be closed said the government
should not be allowed to detain children. The facility is hailed by ICE as a
place that allows the agency to enforce immigration laws while keeping families
together during the legal process. KXAN learned about this incident through
confidential sources who said there is much more to this story. KXAN has pressed
the facility to release all its information and was told that could happen soon.
The Williamson County Sheriff's Office was aware of the weekend incident, but
KXAN was told the incident report was not available.
May 11, 2007 Austin Chronicle
Access denied – again. Monday was the day that 2006 Nobel Peace Prize
nominee and U.N. "rapporteur" (investigator) Jorge Bustamante was to have
visited the T. Don Hutto Residential Center in Taylor, the big house of
increasingly ill repute owned and operated by Corrections Corporation of
America, which does a booming business – about $35 million a year – imprisoning
immigrant families, including children. Bustamante had planned to inspect TDH as
part of his three-week fact-finding mission regarding migrant living conditions,
then present his results to the United Nations General Assembly in June. The
U.S. Department of Homeland Security clanged TDH's door shut on Bustamante at
the last minute, however. The Associated Press quoted a U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement spokeswoman last Thursday as saying the visit was never
approved, though Bustamante told News 8 Austin on Monday that Homeland Security
had actually invited him to tour TDH. According to State Department spokesman
Bill Strassberger, "The U.S. State Department facilitated the visit of Jorge
Bustamante. ICE made the decision to deny access because the[y] are
participating in litigation at the Hutto facility. … Yesterday, ICE invited
Bustamante to tour the Berks County, PA., detention facility as a replacement."
The government's fortress mentality may have backfired, however, for a
contingency of media and protesters descended upon the area anyway, to probe
even harder the reason for all the secrecy. Free the Children, a coalition of
local and state activists formed to protest the Hutto child jailings, held an
all-day vigil outside the facility. "What if we could surround this hellhole
[with protesters]? We could shut this place down!" said FTC spokesman and border
activist Jay Johnson-Castro. Barring Bustamante's inspection, Johnson-Castro
said, "more than amply exposes the epitome of Texas corruption." His group is
tracking more than $60,000 in campaign contributions by CCA to legislators, who
in turn promote private, for-profit prisons. Early in the controversy, critics
had difficulty convincing nonbelievers that babies, toddlers, and teens were
actually doing time in Texas, but no more. The turning point in detainees'
having access to the outside world occurred early in 2007, when the American
Civil Liberties Union filed suit against DHS and ICE on behalf of 10 immigrant
children confined at TDH. In the course of the lawsuit, the ACLU has documented
several cases. A film just released on the ACLU Web site shows a mother stating
that confinement at Hutto was a "psychological trauma" from which she and her
daughter will never recover. "It was really horrible, and if you'll excuse me,
I'd rather not reflect on it," her young daughter says. Free the Children
recently held a "citizens' public hearing" at the Capitol to protest the
Legislature's inaction on House Concurrent Resolution 64 – authored by Rep.
Eddie Rodriguez, D-Austin – which calls on the federal government to seek
alternatives to family detention for immigration charges. At the hearing, FTC
presented alarming findings – for example, that women taken from TDH to
hospitals for prenatal visits have been blindfolded and restrained during exams.
Member Cynthia Valadez said workers "on the inside" are afraid to report abuse
because they believe they would lose their jobs. FTC is demanding that HCR 64 be
provided public hearings "so all our elected leaders can take a stand on this
issue," said Johnson-Castro, who also noted that keeping a toddler behind bars
at TDH reportedly costs taxpayers almost $100,000 per year. For that price, "We
could put them up at the Omni," he said. The reality of child imprisonment in
their own back yard reportedly caught the new Williamson Co. Commissioners Court
off-guard, but that didn't stop them from voting in early 2007 to keep TDH open,
possibly because the deal brings hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to the
county. Is there any excuse, however, for not knowing their predecessors
willfully signed the pact that disingenuously changed the purpose and name of
the facility? Taking effect May 1, 2006, a modification to the agreement between
ICE and WilCo stated that TDH would "provide detention services for non-criminal
alien families" and that the "name of the facility will be changed from T. Don
Hutto Correctional Center to T. Don Hutto Residential Center." Despite the
official euphemism, the contract itself is frank: Detainees are "inmates," a
guard service employed by WilCo may transport inmates to "unspecified,
miscellaneous locations," and detainees shall not be released without ICE's
permission. If the word "child" is subbed for "detainee," the effect is
chilling. And the high fences are still there. A Taylor resident and FTC member,
Angela Kopit, whose family is Jewish, said the sight of railroad tracks, on
which the facility is built, is a "horrific image," reminding her of "Nazis'
boxcars." In response to the mounting controversy, DHS officials hosted an "open
house" this spring, but media and officials were allowed to see only what DHS
and ICE wanted them to see – pizza and plastic plants but no detainees.
Afterward, U.S. Rep. John Carter pronounced the facility "humane," insisting the
policy protects children from human traffickers. But Homeland Security Secretary
Michael Chertoff revealed a less flowery attitude toward detainees on Aug. 23,
2006, in a statement trumpeting the new catch-and-remove policy: "Word has
gotten out to people from countries other than Mexico that they will not be
released, [that] there's really a change in the incentive process that was
previously drawing them in." Yet, for most detainees, many of whom are seeking
asylum from torture and repression in their home countries, the real incentive
is to be free. According to the summary of the ACLU lawsuit against TDH, many of
the detained families "have fled persecution, war, and devastation. Many … have
been found by trained asylum officers to have credible fears of persecution."
April 14, 2007 Wisconsin State Journal
I wonder when the U.S. immigration officials realized they made a terrible
mistake by detaining Madison businessman Tom Contreras. Was it when he turned
down special privileges in the for-profit jail run by Corrections Corporation of
America near Laredo, Texas, asking, "What about these other people?" Was it when
he organized a six-day hunger strike against conditions that included
overcrowding and no medical care? Or when the TV crew from Univision, the
Spanish language station, arrived on the scene? Or when the letters started
arriving from U.S. Sens. Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold and from U.S. Rep. Tammy
Baldwin and from regular Madison people who know Tom Contreras as a businessman,
employer and supporter of local charities? Certainly, when Contreras, a legal
U.S. resident since 1964, finally got his day in court on March 30, it took
immigration Judge Bertha Zuniga just a few minutes of reading his file to
realize that a mistake had been made. "She told me she was proud to release me,"
Contreras said. "She told me, 'Go back to your life and keep helping others.'"
Contreras and his wife, Carmen, made it home to Madison on Friday after stopping
by Fort Polk, in Louisiana, to see their son, Tomas, 21. He completed basic
training in the U.S. Army while his father was being detained and is scheduled
to be shipped out to the Middle East. While the family members were traveling,
an official government letter arrived at their home in Madison inviting Tom
Contreras to be fingerprinted as his application to be a U.S. citizen took
another step forward. While his wife and three children are citizens, Tom
Contreras had delayed because of a now-changed Mexican law that forbade
non-Mexican citizens from owning property there. On Saturday, Contreras family
members and their friends gathered in the April sunshine in the side lot of T.C.
Carpet Cleaning on Fair Oaks Avenue. There was the sound of music, the smell of
grilling meat, and the heartwarming sight of Contreras' youngest granddaughter,
Sophia, toddling over and giving Grandpa's leg a big hug. "We want to thank
everyone who supported us," said Contreras' wife, Carmen. She said the family
was overwhelmed with calls and letters of support. "The mayor even sent people
(to the family businesses) to offer help." The family's nightmare began on Jan.
9, when the Contrerases, along with their older granddaughter, were returning to
Madison from visiting family in Mexico. While Contreras estimates he has crossed
the border "a hundred times," a new computer at the border came up with a minor
drug possession ticket from 1989. A federal law passed in 1996, which applies
retroactively, allows the government to deport noncitizens for crimes that
include any drug-related offense. Stories like his were common at the
deportation center. "There was a Cuban who was caught with a joint (of
marijuana) in 1982," Contreras said. "They can't deport Cubans because Cuba
won't accept them. He's been there six months, and he's still there." Others
were being deported to countries they don't remember. "There were people who
have been here all their lives and they're being deported to countries where
they don't even speak the language," he said. Contreras said that conditions
were awful: more than 100 people crowded into a space for 30, only six toilets,
awful food, and non- existent medical care that left "people crying in pain."
"You don't have any rights because supposedly they're going to deport you,
they're never going to see you again, so they know you can't come back and
complain," he said. "And, they make money on you." But, here's the interesting
thing. Tomas Contreras took notes every single day of the 81 days he was in
detention of the abuse he witnessed. He hopes to sit down with the staffs of the
senators who helped him and expose what is going on in the name of homeland
security. As his wife, Carmen, said, they support keeping the borders safe, yet
oppose a system that would distinguish between people who are threats and those
who aren't. Contreras said he can't forget those he left behind in detention: "I
am going back to help the people who are still there."
March 21, 2007 AP
A federal judge will expedite the case of eight
children confined to a highly criticized facility holding immigrant families.
Judge Sam Sparks made the ruling Tuesday in Austin while hearing from attorneys
for the children and the government. Civil liberties and immigration advocates
sued federal officials earlier this month on behalf of children at the T. Don
Hutto facility in Taylor. They said the government inappropriately houses
children in jail-like conditions at the former prison while their families await
possible deportation or other outcomes to their immigration cases. About half of
the approximately 400 people held at Hutto are children, officials said. None of
those families have criminal records. During Tuesday's hearing, child
psychologist Dr. Andrew Clark testified that children at Hutto are likely to
suffer serious psychological trauma. Families held at the center have complained
of weight loss, subpar schooling, long waits for medical care and threats of
separating children from parents.
March 9, 2007 Austin Chronicle
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed 10 lawsuits on behalf of 10
immigrant children from Lithuania, Canada, Haiti, Honduras, Somalia, and Guyana,
who were detained at the T Don Hutto Family Detention Center in Taylor. The
lawsuits allege that the facility inhumanely jails children and violates
standards in place for a decade. Representing the plaintiffs are the national
and state ACLU, the UT School of Law Immigration Clinic, and the international
law firm, LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae. Named as defendants are Michael
Chertoff, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and six U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. The private jail, operated by the
Corrections Corporation of America, once housed overflow inmates for county and
state corrections facilities, as well as undocumented immigrants from Mexico.
Now, according to a contract specifying sponsorship by Williamson County, TDH
houses "Other Than Mexi-cans," or OTMs, for ICE. Detainees number about 400,
including 200 children, which has prompted the international outrage over the
practice of incarcerating children. Children, even babies, wear prison garb and
sleep in cells; they may not have toys in their cells, nor may they have
nondetainee visitors. The lawsuits also chastise TDH personnel for threatening
children with separation from their parents – to keep the youngsters in line.
"This terrorizes parents and children," said Barbara Hines, an attorney with the
UT Immigration Clinic. Generally speaking, TDH "violates its duty to meet the
minimum standards and conditions for the housing and release of all minors in
federal immigration custody set forth in a 1997 settlement agreement in the case
of Flores v. Meese," said Laurie Beacham of the ACLU's national division. More
bluntly, "Nothing at T Don Hutto complies with the settlement," Hines said. The
controversy has reached monumental proportions, with TDH lambasted in media
outlets the world over. TDH proponents, in turn, have launched a veritable
Operation Damage Control. Speaking in defense of the facility, Chertoff assured
FOX news host Bill O'Reilly on Feb. 13 that the facility is not a "gulag," as
accused. But if released, detainees "might never be seen again," Chertoff
cautioned. "So, we have to be tough. But we're tough in a way that's humane."
Congressman John Carter, R-Round Rock, took a tour of TDH on Feb. 23,
subsequently pronouncing on his Web site that TDH is a "humane" facility. In a
disconcertingly cryptic clause, he justifies incarcerating families as a
deterrent to human smuggling. Before TDH, Carter explains, illegal immigrants
were "freed" and ordered to appear before judges. "This policy was often
exploited by alien smugglers. … By bringing children, smugglers likely avoided
detention if captured."
February 8, 2007 American-Statesman
Groups advocating the closure of an immigrant detention center in Taylor
applauded Wednesday a state resolution urging the Department of Homeland
Security to consider alternatives to detaining families and children. "It is
important that state legislators are aware of what is happening in their own
backyard and that they begin to take the necessary steps to resolve this
situation," said Rebecca Bernhardt, the immigration, border and national
security policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas. State
Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, D-Austin, on Monday filed House Resolution 64, which is
critical of federal policy that allows for detaining families, children and
infants at the T. Don Hutto Residential Center in Taylor. Immigrants are
confined on noncriminal charges while the government determines whether they
should be deported. "It is immoral in my mind to detain families," Rodriguez
said Wednesday at a Capitol news conference. "The children are the ones who
suffer most." The government says the facility in Taylor was designed for
families and is a humane way to maintain family unity while ensuring that
families can't skip immigration hearings. The U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement agency oversees the facility, which is owned and run by a private
company, Corrections Corporation of America.
January 24, 2007 American-Statesman
Children held at a controversial immigrant detention center in Taylor are
receiving four times as much classroom instruction as before under a change that
federal officials made recently at the privately run facility. An Immigration
and Customs Enforcement agency spokeswoman confirmed that daily classroom
instruction has expanded from one hour to four at the 512-bed T. Don Hutto
Residential Center, one of two in the country that detain families and children
on noncriminal charges while the government determines whether they should be
deported. Nina Pruneda did not disclose when the change was made but said it was
the result of an ongoing evaluation of how best to address children's needs. She
said recent protests against housing families at the detention center did not
factor into the change. "The primary focus of the education component is to make
certain that these children are receiving the best academic structure they can
during the time they're in the facility," Pruneda said. Critics who have
campaigned in recent weeks against the government's policy of detaining families
on civil immigration violations said they learned Jan. 3 from conversations with
people held in the detention center that classroom instruction had expanded. On
Tuesday, they disputed that their protests, including two jail vigils last
month, had no impact. "It wouldn't have changed had we not exposed what they
were doing," said Jay Johnson-Castro of Del Rio, who in December led supporters
on a 35-mile protest walk from the Capitol to the Taylor detention center.
Johnson-Castro said a third protest vigil is planned for 5:30 p.m. Thursday
outside the detention center, where supporters will again call on Williamson
County commissioners to end their lease agreement to operate the facility. The
agreement with Corrections Corporation of America expires Jan. 31 unless it is
renewed.
December 15, 2006 American Statesman
The T. Don Hutto Residential Center, a private detention facility in Taylor,
is emblematic of new federal policy that detains all unauthorized immigrants
from countries other than Mexico while the government determines whether they
should be deported. The Taylor center is used for that purpose, but it and a
smaller one in Pennsylvania share a distinction: They are the only two such
facilities in the country that hold immigrant families and children on
noncriminal charges. On Thursday, members of Texans United for Families, a
coalition of community, civil rights and immigrant rights groups, sought to
highlight that difference. Starting with a news conference at the state Capitol
and then embarking on a 35-mile walk to the Taylor jail, they charged that
detaining families and children under what they described as poor conditions is
immoral and violates human rights. "Housing families in for-profit prisons not
only calls to question our moral values and our respect for human rights, but it
is also a waste of taxpayer money," said Luissana Santibañez, a 25-year-old
University of Texas student and an organizer with Grassroots Leadership, which
works to stop the expansion of the private prison industry. The Taylor jail
began holding immigrant families in the summer under a contract with the federal
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. It is owned and operated by
Corrections Corporation of America. Williamson County receives $1 per day for
each inmate held there. A spokesman for the company referred questions to
Immigration and Customs Enforcement's San Antonio office. Nina Pruñeda, a
spokeswoman for the federal agency, said it was looking into the groups'
complaints but had no comment Thursday. When he learned about the protests, Rick
Zinsmeyer, director of adult probation for Wiliamson County, said, "I was told
the purpose (of housing immigrant families) was to keep the families together,
instead of separating them, so this is interesting." Organizers of Thursday's
news conference and walk said the Taylor jail houses about 400 people, including
about 200 children. They said children receive one hour of education — English
instruction — and one hour of recreation per day, usually indoors.
April 24, 2006 KGBT 4
A private prison in Taylor could become the second facility in the country to
house immigrant families detained by federal authorities. The T. Don Hutto
Correctional Center is owned and operated by Corrections Corporation of America.
Assistant Williamson County attorney Dale Rye say a new agreement approved by
county commissioners allows housing detained families. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement officials said noncriminal immigration detainees would be held at
the Taylor facility. But the agency wouldn't confirm if those included families
awaiting deportation. A spokesman for Corrections Corporation of America
declined to comment on the new contract. Currently, the prison has no detainees.
The nation's only facility allowed to house detained families is in Berks
County, Pennsylvania.
January 19, 2006 NEWS8
A private prison in Taylor has a new, long-term plan to stay up and running.
Since it opened, T. Don Hutto Private Prison in Taylor has fought to stay
relevant. Workers there spent most of 2005 worrying the jail might shut down
permanently. In the last year, financial struggles threatened to close the
prison for good. In fact, it was scheduled to shut down at the end of 2005,
until Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. With no inmates from Texas to fill the cells,
there was plenty of room for prisoners evacuating the areas hit by Katrina last
fall. After that need passed, all hope to keep the prison running seemed lost.
Then the Department of Homeland Security stepped in with a new contract for T.
Don Hutto – as a place to detain illegal immigrants waiting to be deported out
of the United States.
July
14, 2005
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) (NYSE:CXW), the nation's largest
provider of corrections management services to government agencies, announced
today that it has entered into a new agreement with the state of Kentucky to
house some of that state's female inmates at the Company's owned and operated
Otter Creek Correctional Center in Wheelwright, Kentucky. CCA presently manages
nearly 1,200 male inmates for Kentucky at two CCA facilities located in
Kentucky. Under the agreement between CCA and the Kentucky Department of
Corrections, CCA will manage up to 400 female inmates at the 656-bed,
recently-vacant Otter Creek facility. This facility previously housed Indiana
inmates until May of 2005, when the inmate population was returned to the state.
The Company expects to begin receiving prisoners at the facility on or before
September 1, 2005. The terms of the contract include an initial two-year period,
with four (4) two-year renewal options. and operated T. Don Hutto Correctional
Center located in Taylor, Texas, effective early September 2005. The decision
was based on the Company's assessment of near-term customer demand, primarily
the United States Marshals Service (USMS). The facility currently houses
approximately 100 USMS inmates, some of which will be transferred to other CCA
facilities. CCA will work closely with the USMS to facilitate a smooth transfer
of the inmates to other facilities. CCA will immediately begin pursuing
opportunities to fill the vacant space.
Tarrant County Jail
Tarrant, Texas
Aramark
July 20, 2004
For the third time in less than a year, Tarrant County commissioners are
expected Tuesday to award a jail food service contract. The recommended
contractor, Mid-America Services, will provide three daily meals for about 3,300
inmates. The contract is worth about $3.79 million a year. Mid-America
already runs the jail commissary, which sells snacks and personal items to
inmates. Its chief executive is Jack Madera, a controversial businessman with
long-running ties to several local politicians, including Sheriff Dee Anderson
and Commissioner J.D. Johnson. Both officials have said Madera is a friend
but have pledged that the friendship will in no way color their decisions about
the contract. Madera was indicted earlier this year on charges of using
forged documents to win a 1997 food-service contract in Kaufman County, but the
charges were dropped. With the expiration date looming, county officials
requested proposals for a new contract, which was ultimately awarded to Aramark
Correctional Services. But inmates and county officials alike had many
complaints about Aramark, which is based in Philadelphia. Aramark resigned its
contract, and Mid-States, as the back-up contractor, resumed providing food
service at the jail. (Star-Telegram)
February 25, 2004
Mid-States Services - the Hurst company in line to take over Tarrant County's
jail food contract if the current company fails to do a better job -- has its
own food-quality problems, a former Mid-States manager told commissioners
Tuesday. Emilio Gonzalez, who until January was director of operations for
Mid-States, said the former jail contractor often took outdated food from its
commissary operations and served it to inmates after removing packaging that
listed the freshness dates. "Vendors need to make a profit, but it doesn't
need to be at the county's expense," Gonzalez told county commissioners Tuesday
during their meeting. Mid-States Chief Executive John Sammons said the
allegations are untrue and blamed them on a competitor that he declined to name.
Sammons said some boxes of outdated food were found in Mid-States' stocks when
the company provided food service to the jail, but he said those boxes had
already been designated for disposal when jailers told the company to remove
them. "This is another desperate attempt by those who would like to cause
Mid- States problems, at a time when the commissioners are looking at us as a
back-up supplier," he said. Last week, commissioners put current
contractor Aramark Correctional Services on 30 days' notice to improve the
quality of food and service or be removed from the contract. Mid-States,
which held the jail food contract until December, was designated as a backup
supplier if Aramark failed to meet the terms. Sheriff Dee Anderson said
Tuesday that in the week since the commissioners issued the ultimatum, Aramark
has made improvements and inmate complaints are declining. Checks of the
food service have found improved food temperatures and larger portions, he said.
But the company still has a long way to go to be acceptable, he said. "If
I had to make a recommendation today, I'd cancel the contract," Anderson said.
As to Gonzalez's allegations about Mid-States, Anderson said he would discuss
them with commissioners. "If any of it is true, it's disturbing," he said.
Gonzalez apologized to commissioners for not coming forward sooner, and said
that during contract deliberations last fall he was still employed by Mid-States
and feared retaliation. He said he resigned because of concerns about
Mid-States' operations. Sammons said that Gonzalez left Mid-States on good terms
to take another job and that he was disappointed by the comments. An
Aramark spokeswoman did not return a phone call seeking comment Tuesday but has
said Aramark officials believe they are meeting contractual obligations.
Commissioners did not discuss Gonzalez's comments at the Tuesday meeting because
the issue was not posted as an item for consideration. After the meeting,
however, commissioners questioned the timing of the comments. "I'm always
grateful for people to come forward, but it's odd that he would come forward at
this time," Precinct 1 Commissioner Dionne Bagsby said. Precinct 3
Commissioner Glen Whitley said he gave no credence to Gonzalez's comments and
would vote to bring in Mid-States if Aramark did not improve its service.
"It just amazes me that this guy shows up to speak against Mid-States a week
after we put Aramark on 30-days' notice," he said. Mid-States was the food
service operator that served meals to inmates in the Tarrant County Jail until
Aramark won a $3.3 million contract over Mid-States, Mid-America and Canteen
Correctional Services. Mid-America -- run by former Mid-States executive
Jack Madera -- operates the jail commissary, which sells toiletries and snack
items to jail inmates. Madera has been indicted along with two other men on
charges that they used a forged document to win a jail food-service contract in
Kaufman County. The indictments stem from an investigation into whether
Madera influenced Dallas County Sheriff Jim Bowles with thousands of dollars in
favors before Bowles picked Madera's company for a $20 million jail commissary
contract. The scope has widened to include Madera's dealings with other
counties, including Tarrant and Denton. (Lawyer Texas Parole)
February 19, 2004
It would be easy to dismiss inmates' complaints about jail food simply as
whining -- not worthy of serious attention because incarceration is not meant to
be a pleasant experience. But in the case of the Tarrant County Jail and
the meals being served by its newly contracted food service provider, Aramark
Correctional Services, the food being distributed to prisoners not only does not
meet the taste test -- it may actually pose health risks. Inmates have
been complaining about the quality of the food since Aramark began serving the
county's four jail sites in December under a $3.3 million annual contract.
In response to the complaints and boycott of the meals by some prisoners, county
purchasing director Jack Beacham and other county officials went to inspect the
food service operation. Beacham said they saw 17 pans of soured pinto
beans, discovered foods that were being kept at improper temperatures, and
witnessed one employee drop tortillas on the floor and then place them back on
the service line. (Lawyer Texas Parole)
Texas Adolescent Treatment
Center
San Antonio, Texas
Cornell Companies
April 3, 2008 KRIS TV
Eight immigrant teenagers held at a facility for unaccompanied minors filed
a federal lawsuit Thursday claiming they were abused and denied access to
attorneys. The teens from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Cuba were being
held at the San Antonio facility run by Houston-based Cornell Companies Inc.
under a contract with the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement. Undocumented
minors caught by authorities in the United States fall under the care of ORR
while their immigration cases are decided. But Susan Watson, an attorney for
Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid, said the teens were beaten and subjected to other
excessive force in violation of their constitutional rights. At least one teen
was knocked unconscious, but complaints to facility administrators were ignored,
according to the lawsuit. Officials at Cornell also denied the teens access to
attorneys by unnecessarily transferring them to other facilities before
scheduled lawyer meetings, the lawsuit alleges. The suit names Cornell and 15
employees along with three employees of ORR. It does not name ORR itself because
the teens have not filed or exhausted their administrative claims against the
agency, a requirement that must be fulfilled before the federal government can
be sued. "We vociferously dispute the charges in the lawsuit, and we'll make our
case in court," said Cornell spokesman Charles Siegel. The facility has 122
beds, but Cornell has a contract to house no more than 25 unaccompanied minors
there, Seigel said. Calls to officials at ORR were not immediately returned
Thursday. The allegations raised by the immigrant teens were not the first
against Cornell. Arkansas fired Cornell from the operation of a juvenile
facility in November 2006 after finding employees inappropriately injected youth
with anti-psychotic medication to control behavior. And in September,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials removed 600 detainees from an
Albuquerque, N.M., facility run by Cornell, citing failure to maintain safety,
health and well-being standards there.
Texas Commission on Jail
Standards
Austin, Texas
Adan Muñoz: The TT Interview: August 3, 2011
Texas Tribune by Brandi Grissom: A cautionary tale on privatization.
Nov. 23, 1997
Gov. George W. Bush didn't preach a sermon about the fox and the henhouse when
he hosted one of his periodic seminars for government appointees last week, but
maybe he should have. The meetings were initiated several years ago by
Gov. Ann Richards to familiarize the men and women who serve on the part-time
boards the run most state agencies with some of the do's and don't's of public
service. The seminars are probably a good idea. The seminars,
however, have been unable to cure the huge lapses in ethical sensitivity and
common sense that all too often crop up in state government, most recently at
the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. It was discovered that Robert L.
Dearing, the commission's deputy director, was moonlighting for a private
company that operates jails regulated by the commission. He quit both jobs
soon after publicity about them broke, but both he and the commission's
executive director, Jack Crump, said they saw no conflict between the two
positions. With all due respect, it shouldn't require a degree in
government ethics to come to the opposite conclusion. The conflict was
obvious. Dearing also was being paid about $42,000 a year as a consultant
to a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bobby Ross Group, which operates three
county jails in Texas. According to the company's lawyer, Dearing didn't
work for the Bobby Ross Group in Texas, but only for a subsidiary that operated
in Georgia. The distinction, however, didn't remove the conflict.
The dual employment came to light after Dearing signed off on a commission
report giving a clean bill of health to the Dickens County Correctional Center
in Spur, which is operated by the Bobby Ross Group. That report
contradicted an audit by the state of Montana, which until recently kept some of
its prisoners in the West Texas lockup. Dearing insisted his work for the
private company had "absolutely" no effect on his reviews of their Texas jails.
He said he was the victim of a "wrong perception." Still, Crump said he
saw no problem with Dearing's arrangement. Neither, presumably, did
Crump's bosses, the nine commission members, six of whom were appointed by Bush.
Bush, however, had a big problem with it. After learning of Dearing's
conflict, Bush had his chief of staff, Joe Allbaugh, call Crump. Allbaugh,
according to Bush spokesperson Karen Hughes, conveyed the "governor's strong
disapproval and feeling that it was unacceptable." (Houston Chronicle)
Nov. 14, 1997
The deputy director of the state agency charged with regulating jails said
Thursday he did nothing improper by taking a sideline consulting job with one of
the private jail companies he regulates. "Under the same circumstances ...
I would do it today again," Robert Dearing said of his $42,000-a-year contract
with BRG of Georgia. BRG is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bobby Ross
Group, which operates three county lockups in Texas. As the No. 2 person
at the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, Dearing schedules, reviews and
sometimes inspects county jails, including those managed by private companies.
Last month he gave a clean bill of health to a Bobby Ross Group-managed jail in
the West Texas town of Spur. Dearing's assessment came despite claims by
Montana officials that the Dickens County Correctional Center was violating 29
terms of its contract for housing Montana felons. Dearing said the job was
approved by his boss, Jack Crump, executive director of the commission, a fact
Crump acknowledged on Wednesday. Dearing said he also got the opinion of a
lawyer who told him there was no problem so long as his boss had approved it.
The attorney advising him, however, is the personal attorney of BRG founder
Bobby Ross. (Houston Chronicle)
Texas Legislature
Flush With
Prison Industry Dollars, Rick Perry Pushed Privatized Prisoner Care:
September 1, 2011, Tim Murphy, Mother Jones. Gov Perry's cozy
relationship with the for-profits.
June 10, 2011 The American Statesman
An amendment quietly added to a bill about fiscal matters in the Texas House
late Thursday would have given control of the state's prison health care board
to Gov. Rick Perry at a time when top Perry aides have been pressing for the
panel to privatize some or all the medical services provided to convicts. By
Friday, after questions were raised about the change by the American-Statesman
and some legislative and prison officials, it was gone. "The wording is now back
like it was," House Corrections Committee Chairman Jerry Madden, R-Richardson,
announced after a two-minute process on Friday to reverse the change, which
would have expanded the Correctional Managed Health Care Committee from five to
seven members and put Perry appointees in the majority. "The goal was not to
give anyone a majority on the committee." Such a move would have made four of
the board's seven members appointees of the governor, and critics of
privatization feared that it would have allowed Perry to push ahead with
outsourcing of the nearly $1 billion-a-year system, which has been plagued for
years by mushrooming costs. The committee currently has nine members: two
representing the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, two officials each from
the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and the Texas Tech
University Health Sciences Center, and three appointed by the governor. UTMB and
Texas Tech provide the medical care in Texas' 112 state prisons, and the ongoing
costs, driven in part by an aging prison population and by spiraling health care
costs in general, are of particular concern now that the state faces a
multibillion-dollar budget crisis. The amendment was attached to Senate Bill 1
without debate. Even Madden, who watches all things involving corrections,
didn't notice it. He has previously said that he does not oppose privatization
if done appropriately. But he also has said he does not support changing the
makeup of the committee to give anyone or a group a majority to make that
happen. On Friday morning, as the Texas Board of Criminal Justice convened for a
meeting in Austin, several officials of prison health care companies and
lobbyists who have been pushing for privatization lingered in the corridors
outside — unusual since there was nothing on the board's agenda about health
care. A board member mentioned that the amendment had passed. A prison official
confirmed it. A reporter began asking questions. When he learned of the change,
Madden moved immediately to reverse it. But state Rep. Jim Pitts, chairman of
the powerful House Appropriations Committee and author of the amendment,
initially said no. A House-Senate panel that negotiated the issue in the waning
days of the regular legislative session, which ended in May, had agreed to
expand the size of the committee — perhaps to as many as 11 members, depending
on which negotiator tells the story. "I'm not inclined to change it back. No,"
Pitts said just before lunch. "We'll have to fix it in conference"— code words
for rewriting the provision during negotiations with the Senate on a final
version of SB 1, Madden told a reporter. Madden was then seen meeting on the
House floor with Pitts and other House leaders, and Mike Morrissey, a top Perry
aide who had advocated privatization during a closed-door Capitol meeting
several months ago with several vendors and prison officials. Earlier this year,
a bill that would have given the governor control of the committee was killed by
House and Senate leaders concerned about the perceived rush to privatization.
That bill would also have given the committee the authority to contract with
private vendors for the first time. An amendment to do much the same thing was
not adopted. Dead issue, Senate and House leaders had said when the regular
legislative session ended last week. By 2 p.m. Friday, Madden had drafted an
amendment to SB 1 to amend Pitts' amendment, leaving the committee with just
five members. That passed in two minutes, with the approval of Pitts and without
most House members knowing what had happened. Madden said that Pitts and Perry's
office were OK with his change. He did not elaborate. Spokesmen for Perry had no
immediate comment on the back-and-forth. In earlier statements, they have said
only that the governor would review legislation when it reached his desk and
decide then whether to sign it into law. "I saw the change as a problem, and
we've fixed it," Madden said. "Let's leave it there."
April 23, 2010 Texas Observer
State Rep. Eddie Lucio III, a Brownsville Democrat, is following in his father's
footsteps by joining forces with Corplan Corrections, a scandal-plagued prison
development company. Lucio is representing Argyle, Texas-based Corplan
Corrections in its bid to build an immigration family detention center in
Weslaco, a Rio Grande Valley town that is in Rep. Lucio's district. State Sen.
Eddie Lucio, Jr., also a Democrat Brownsville, “consulted” for Corplan in 2003
and 2004. Corplan and its CEO, James Parkey, specialize in selling desperate
communities on risky government-financed prisons with promises of jobs and
economic development. Typically, the company talks local governments into
financing speculative jail facilities and then leaves the community to figure
out how to keep them open. In recent years, Corplan has been at the center of
numerous controversies, including a bizarre prison-building scheme in Hardin,
Montana that involved a private military force called American Police Force run
by an ex-con. The prison cost the small town $27 million but never housed any
prisoners. In one of his latest gambits, Parkey has approached city officials in
several towns across the U.S. – Benson, Arizona; Las Cruces, New Mexico; and
Weslaco, Texas – with a proposal to build a new detention center for immigrant
families. Parkey’s reputation, however, has caught up with him in Las Cruces and
Benson, where officials have nixed the deal. That’s not the case in Weslaco.
Weslaco Mayor Buddy de la Rosa told me that he was first introduced to Parkey
two or so years ago and the project has been in the works ever since. Corplan,
he said, is handling all the details. The company recently brought Rep. Lucio on
as an attorney for the project. Weslaco is in Lucio’s district. In February,
Lucio and Parkey spoke to the Weslaco City Commission and urged the
commissioners to pass a resolution giving Corplan authorization to file a “grant
application” for the facility, according to minutes from the meeting. (De la
Rosa said he has not seen the application and doesn’t know to whom it will be
submitted.) It might be a lousy deal for the city – if it's a deal at all.
"James Parkey and Corplan are prison developers who get paid when a prison is
built," said Bob Libal, an anti-private prison organizer with Grassroots
Leadership. "It's not necessarily in their interest to make sure the prison
project is successful." The Weslaco project is particularly fraught with risk,
Libal says, because the Obama administration has all but done away with
detaining immigrant families. In August 2009, federal officials removed
immigrant families from the T. Don Hutto Residential Center, a
privately-operated jail near Taylor that attracted international attention after
advocates and detainees reported inhumane conditions. The Obama administration
has also let Bush-era plans to add new family facilities expire, said Michelle
Brane, director of detention and asylum programs at the Women's Refugee
Commission. “To my knowledge – and I spoke specifically with Immigration and
Customs Enforcement about this – they insist they don’t have any requests for
proposal out there or any plans for building a new family detention facility,”
said Brane. “I think they’re being duped frankly.” Mayor de la Rosa said that he
wasn’t aware of the shift in federal policy but said it may explain why he
hasn’t heard from Parkey or Lucio recently. “They have been remarkably quiet for
the past several weeks,” he said. Representing Corplan appears to be a Lucio
family business. According to Texas Ethics Commission filings, state Sen. Eddie
Lucio, also a Brownsville Democrat, worked as a “consultant” for Corplan in 2003
and 2004 at a time when the company was part of a consortium of private prison
interests seeking to build a 2,000-bed immigrant detention center in
Raymondville, the seat of Willacy County. (I did a feature story on
Raymondville's prison boom in 2006. You can read the whole gruesome story here.)
During that time, Lucio also represented other corporate entities involved in
the bid: prison construction company Hale-Mills, prison operator Management and
Training Corp., and Aguirre, Inc. Here's what I wrote in 2006: The consortium
needed a deal closer and found one in state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr. The Brownsville
Democrat had worked as a "consultant" for Corplan and Management & Training in
2003 and 2004, according to records filed with the Texas Ethics Commission. He
had suspended his consulting work in 2005 in the aftermath of the bribery
scandal, but Hale-Mills hired him this year for the federal detention center
project. Lucio says Hale-Mills paid him "to figure out what kind of impact this
will have on the community, to talk to the general public to see what their feel
is." [Former Willacy County Attorney Juan] Guerra alleges that Lucio made
multiple appearances in Raymondville pressuring the commissioners to select
Management & Training over Corrections Corp. "As far as I'm concerned, had it
not been for Eddie Lucio the commissioners would not have gone and put the
county in a $60 million debt," Guerra says. "In my opinion, in his position as a
senator he let our commissioners, including me, know where he stood... Once your
senator lets you know what he wants, it's hard to go against [him]." In 2005,
Lucio ended his consulting work with Corplan after two Willacy County
commissioners pleaded guilty to accepting cash bribes in exchange for their
votes to award a contract for another Raymondville prison. Amazingly, no one was
ever indicted for supplying the bribe. Sen. Lucio no longer appears to be
working for Corplan, at least according to personal financial disclosure
statements for the last four years filed with the Ethics Commission. Rep.
Lucio’s involvement with Corplan is not disclosed on his latest disclosure
filing. The form was turned in on February 16th, the same day Lucio appeared at
the Weslaco City Commission meeting. It's not clear why Corplan is not listed as
a source of occupational income. For some, the whole thing stinks. “I think that
raises some pretty serious questions especially when he’s presenting false
information to a local body that’s in his district,” said Libal. “Does it break
any law? I don’t know. Does it seem like a big conflict of interest? Yes.”
March 8, 2010 Grits For Breakfast
At a House Appropriations Committee meeting today, House Corrections Chairman
Jim McReynolds asked TDCJ chief Brad Livingston if private prison-contracts up
for renewal might increase their rates and increase costs for the state.
Livingston said that was possible, since contracts covering the 12,000 or so
private beds for which TDCJ contracts are 5-7 years old. Most of these are up
within the coming year and all new contracts should be negotiated by mid-2011.
Livingston said that in general, for every dollar increase in per-inmate costs
represented a $4.5 million cost increase to TDCJ. The committee was also told
that after the first two days, all health care costs for inmates at private
prisons are paid for by TDCJ. So the committee was cautioned against comparing
per-inmate costs between private units and TDCJ's state facilities because the
privates' costs per-inmate don't include healthcare costs.
February 24, 2010 AP
Hit with accusations of spreading "cronyism" throughout state government, Gov.
Rick Perry is hitting back, arguing that the law firm where Kay Bailey Hutchison
used to work with her husband, Ray, was found by a federal civil jury to have
defrauded investors in a 1990s-era private prison deal. Hutchison's campaign
called the move an 11th-hour dirty trick, saying the court had already absolved
Ray Hutchison and his firm and that the civil jury was acting without proper
authority. At issue are private prisons built in six Texas counties, financed by
bonds that the Hutchison law firm helped put together. The project was a
financial disaster and the state wound up buying them at a fire sale price. The
records show Ray Hutchison was the lawyer who affirmed that the developers'
debt-financing plan met legal requirements. Kay Bailey Hutchison listed her
husband's law firm, Hutchison, Boyle, Brook & Fisher, as her employer in 1989,
and she reported $25,000 in income from the firm that year. Hutchison's campaign
says she did no work on the prison bonds.
February 16, 2010 Mineral Wells Index
Facing a budget shortfall in 2011, Texas leaders Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov.
David Dewhurst and Speaker Joe Straus asked Texas agencies and institutions of
higher education to identify a 5 percent reduction to their 2010-11 general
revenue and general revenue-dedicated appropriations. While agencies faced a
Monday deadline this week, Texas corrections officials, looking for perhaps as
much as $300 million in cutbacks in the 112-unit system, have not ruled out
closing some prisons. Last Wednesday the Austin-American Statesman reported that
Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chair John Whitmire, D-Houston, publicly
suggested that the state consider closing the privately run, 2,100-bed
Corrections Corporation of America’s Mineral Wells Pre-Parole Transfer Facility
and perhaps aging prisons that are much more expensive to operate and maintain
than newer ones. While the cost of imprisoning a felon in Texas averages about
$47.50 a day, prison agency figures from 2008 show some older prisons cost more
than $50 per inmate per day. The Mineral Wells prison is located on the former
Fort Wolters property. Warden Mike Phillips said of Whitmire’s suggestions,
“That’s just his opinion.”
July 10, 2009 Dallas Morning News
A private prison company's history of filthy conditions, sexual abuse,
suicides and riots in some of its Texas lockups isn't stopping the state from
paying it $7.5 million to run a new psychiatric hospital near Houston. Lawmakers
inserted an earmark into the state budget to fund the future Montgomery County
facility starting in 2011. But they said they didn't know until this week that
the county had selected the GEO Group to operate it, although GEO lobbyists were
pushing for it as early as February. The new facility came as a post-session
shock to mental health advocates, who acknowledge the need for it. But they say
they weren't informed about it and never would have signed off if they knew
Florida-based GEO was operating it. "Why would we want to use an entity that
hasn't had a stellar reputation?" asked Monica Thyssen, children's mental health
policy specialist with Advocacy Inc. "If the process had been more transparent,
there probably would have been other state officials who would've said, 'I don't
know if GEO is the best use of state dollars.' " GEO officials, who run more
than 50 facilities in the United States, including five mental health facilities
in Florida, declined to comment, saying in an e-mail that they don't discuss
"specific business development efforts and/or contracts." But state lawmakers
say the psychiatric facility, which by 2011 is expected to house more than 100
criminal offenders awaiting trials or competency findings, will solve a major
backlog. The Montgomery County jail has hundreds of inmates awaiting mental
health treatment. The nearest state forensic mental hospital is more than 100
miles away, and when a bed opens up, it takes at least two deputies to take an
offender there. "It's a problem we sorely need to address, instead of leaving
people who need mental health care in prison," said Sen. Bob Deuell,
R-Greenville, one of the Senate's budget writers. But the budgeting process and
the choice of contractor have raised some eyebrows. Department of State Health
Services officials, who oversee psychiatric care in Texas, say the Montgomery
County facility was not something they requested funding for in the budget. It
was added to the budget in conference committee. Mental health advocates, who
track psychiatric hospital legislation closely, say they never heard any public
discussion about it. And neither Deuell nor Sen. Tommy Williams, who represents
Montgomery County, knew until a reporter's phone call that county officials had
selected GEO subsidiary GEO Care to run the facility – though legislative
documents indicate the company was pushing for it as early as February. "I know
[GEO] has had problems," said Williams, R-The Woodlands. "Certainly I would
expect them to run it in accordance with our state guidelines. I'll insist on
that." GEO's track record in Texas has been rocky. In the midst of the Texas
Youth Commission's 2007 sexual abuse scandal, agency officials shuttered the
company's Coke County Juvenile Justice Center, saying they had found atrocious
conditions – including feces on the walls – at the facility. They also fired a
GEO prison worker after learning he was a convicted sex offender. Earlier that
year, an inmate in isolation at GEO's Dickens County facility slashed his
throat, leaving letters complaining of blood-coated blankets and pillows, and
floors and walls covered in mold. And in 2006, a woman committed suicide at a
GEO jail in Val Verde County, after complaining that she had been raped by
another inmate and sexually harassed by a guard. As recently as this winter,
inmates at GEO's Reeves County Detention Center rioted, starting fires and
taking hostages, to demand better health care. And in April, a Texas appeals
court upheld a $42.5 million verdict against the company for the 2001 death of
an inmate who was four days from finishing his sentence at a Willacy County
facility. The man was beaten to death by other inmates using padlocks stuffed in
socks. Montgomery County officials, who selected GEO to operate the psychiatric
facility late last month, say that the company has a good track record with its
other mental health hospitals and that they're not "overly concerned" with the
problems that have been documented in a few of Texas' 17 GEO lockups. A
presentation that GEO prepared for Texas lawmakers in February boasts of
improved clinical programming, shortened waiting lists, and the elimination of
the use of restraints and seclusion in its Florida psychiatric facilities.
Company executives say they won the support of wary mental health advocates in
that state. The GEO prison incidents "obviously shouldn't have happened,"
Montgomery County Commissioner Ed Chance said. "But when you're dealing with
inmates, you're going to have problems. You're going to have some headlines."
After the 2007 TYC scandal, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle raised serious
concerns with GEO. Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa, D-McAllen, said "a simple Internet
search" should have made GEO a bad contractor choice for the state. And Rep.
Jerry Madden, R-Plano, told lobbyists for the firm it was best if they didn't
contribute to his campaign at that time. But GEO has continued its full-court
press in Texas. Within months, these lawmakers and 13 others had accepted
campaign contributions from the company. "Some of their facilities are pretty
darn good, and some are not as good as the others," Madden said. "But that's the
exact same problem we have with the state-run facilities."
June 29, 2009 Texas Watchdog
In the 2009 legislative session, the GEO Group, a Florida-based private prison
company, poured money into lobbying, selecting some of the priciest and
best-connected hired guns in Austin. The reason was simple: The company had a
lot of explaining to do before state lawmakers. For at least three years now,
the GEO Group has endured a rash of dangerous, embarrassing episodes that call
into question the outfit’s ability to run prisons and jails. The state shut down
one of its facilities, citing filthy conditions, while two riots broke out at
its prison in West Texas. Then in April, a high court upheld a massive judgment
against the GEO Group after an inmate was fatally beaten at another one of its
prisons. This year state lawmakers (all Democrats) arrived in Austin with their
sights set on the GEO Group. They authored six separate bills targeting private
prison companies, most of which outlined more public accountability and state
oversight. Anti-private prison activists were confident that some of the
measures would be approved. But in a remarkable turnaround for the corrections
outfit, if not the entire troubled industry, not a single anti-private prison
bill passed. In fact, none of the measures even received a floor vote. Despite
an ongoing bout of bad press and public mishaps, the GEO Group emerged unscathed
this legislative session thanks to a team of high-dollar lobbyists with deep
roots in state government. “At the beginning of the session there were several
people who were rightfully outraged by what happened over the last two years,”
says Bob Libal, the Texas campaigns coordinator for Grassroots Leadership, a
social justice organization that opposes private prisons. “So for there to be
nothing to come out of this session out of six or seven good thoughtful bills
that would have just provided basic accountability, it’s really sad. And it
really speaks to the private prison industry and the amount of influence they
have.” That is particularly true of the GEO Group and its mental health unit,
GEO Care, which shelled out a maximum of $370,000 this year on lobbyists in
Austin, neatly coinciding with the company’s slate of troubles that made
national news. Meanwhile, its rival, the Nashville-based Corrections Corporation
of America, spent a maximum $50,000, according to records on file with the Texas
Ethics Commission. Both prison companies do comparable business with the state,
with each firm operating all or part of at least nine state facilities. But it’s
not just the GEO Group’s expense account that makes it noteworthy. A lot of
companies pay top dollar for a crew of lobbyists. But few of them can match
GEO’s well-connected team, a team that, over the last two sessions, have helped
the outfit expand their business and beat back efforts to regulate their
operations. In the 2007 legislative session–before the GEO Group’s troubles made
headlines– lawmakers passed a bill that essentially allowed private prison
companies to house more inmates, enabling them to make more money off their
contracts with the state. During that session, two of the company’s lobbyists
had close ties to then-House Speaker Tom Craddick. Bill Miller once served on
Craddick’s transition team and as his consultant while fellow GEO lobbyist
Michelle Wittenberg had served as the speaker’s general counsel. Both were also
on hand for the company this session with each slated to make up to $50,000 this
year, according to state ethics records. Also in the 2007 legislative session,
the GEO Group enlisted the services of former House Republican Ray Allen, who
resigned in the middle of his seventh term a year earlier to become a lobbyist
for the company. He certainly had all kinds of experience. In 2003, Craddick
appointed the Grand Prairie Republican to serve as the chairman of the House
Corrections Committee even though at the time Allen was lobbying for a private
prison company outside Texas. Interestingly, when Allen decided to quit his
elected office, one reason was that he was “tired of being broke,” according to
the Dallas Morning News. Almost immediately, Allen signed on to join the GEO
Group’s team of lobbyists and was slated to earn as much as $100,000 from the
prison company. He also lobbied for the GEO Group in 2007 with the same pay
plan. The GEO Group’s top lobbyist is Lionel “Leo” Aguirre, a former executive
with the state comptroller’s office. Aguirre is the widower of Lena Guerrero,
who became the first Latina chair of the Texas Railroad Commission in 1992 after
serving three terms in the state House. A state and federal lobbyist for the GEO
Group, Aguirre topped the list of the state’s highest compensated prison
lobbyists with a maximum salary at $250,000 in 2007. This year, Aguirre’s
compensation remained unchanged. In that same list of hired guns, put together
by Texans for Public Justice and Grassroots Leadership, the GEO Group had the
four highest paid lobbyists of all the prison companies doing business in Texas.
(The GEO Group did not return a call for comment.) The corrections firm’s local
attorneys also have close ties to state government. In April, we reported how
Carlos Zaffirini, the husband of state Sen. Judith Zaffirini, is a lawyer for
the firm and has lobbied on behalf of the GEO Group before the Webb County
Commissioners Court. The GEO Group also uses the Brownsville law firm of state
Rep. Rene Oliveira as its local defense counsel. The House member’s cousin David
Oliveira, a partner at the firm, has represented the company on a lawsuit
alleging misconduct that one court described as “reprehensible.” That the GEO
Group’s lobbyists helped beat back a half a dozen anti-private prison bills is
remarkable considering the problems that have plagued the company lately. In
April, a state high court upheld a record $42.5 million judgment against the GEO
Group after inmates at its Willacy County prison beat a man to death while the
warden merely chuckled. Earlier this year a riot and a fire broke out at its
Reeves County prison, just two months after inmates took a pair of prison
employees hostage. But the worst incident came in 2007, when state officials
closed down the GEO Group’s 200-bed youth detention center in Coke County.
Inspectors had reported that feces and urine littered the common areas, while
the inmates’ education program consisted of a daily crossword puzzle slipped
into their cell. Inmates would sometimes go 72 hours without taking a shower,
days without brushing their teeth and were sometimes forced to defecate in
something other than a toilet. Inspectors also found discrimination based on
race. Whitmire -- After the state took action against the company’s youth
facility, an angry state Sen. John Whitmire, the powerful chairman of the Senate
Committee on Criminal Justice, decided to take action. He ordered a probe into
the embattled firm and concluded that it had done a “terrible job” operating the
Coke County facility. But for the GEO Group, that rebuke was about all it would
ever hear out of Austin. The GEO Group is hardly the only prison company that
chooses its Texas lobbyists wisely. The Corrections Corporation of America,
whose embattled immigrant detention facility in South Texas was the focus of a
federal lawsuit last year, can count on Mike Toomey to navigate the corridors of
the state capitol. Toomey is a former three-term House member. On his online bio
with Texas Lobby Group, where he is listed as one of three consultants, Toomey
is also billed as “only individual in Texas history to be Chief of Staff for two
Texas Governors”–Rick Perry and William Clements. Open government advocates say
that companies often seek out lobbyists who either worked for lawmakers or
served in the legislature. “It’s a huge advantage. You know how things work, you
know the system and most specifically you know the members you are lobbying,”
says Mary Boyle, the spokesperson for Common Cause, a Washington D.C.-based
nonprofit dedicated to promoting good government practices. “Lobbying is all
about relationships.” Those relationships aren’t exactly out in the open either.
They’re often fostered after hours, perhaps at a dimly-lit restaurant where
lobbyists might present their case to a lawmaker between glasses of wine. If
they’re good at their job, they’ll avoid a messy floor vote and figure out how
to silence a bill they don’t like without a pitched public debate. Just look at
HB 3903, which was killed on the House floor without anyone explaining why.
Ortiz -- Authored by House Democrat Solomon Ortiz Jr., the bill would have made
privately-run state prisons subject to open records laws, prompting companies
like the GEO Group to be more transparent about how they operate public
facilities. But seven House members, including Jerry Madden, the former
corrections chair, signed a card to send it back to the Local Consent and
Calendar Committee. That was a delay tactic that, at that late date, had the
effect of killing the bill. “I am disappointed that HB 3903 was removed from the
calendar,” says Ortiz in an e-mail to Texas Watchdog. “My bill would have
allowed more oversight of the private prison industry. The public deserves a say
on whether they want a private prison in their area, and the media need better
access to information about these facilities to ensure that they are properly
run.” Did the GEO Group’s lobbyists play a role in defeating Ortiz’s
accountability measure? Ortiz, a Corpus Christi Democrat, wouldn’t say. But it
couldn’t have hurt that the firm employs two lobbyists with close Craddick ties,
considering that Madden himself was one of the former House Speaker’s most loyal
allies. Madden -- Madden readily admits to Texas Watchdog that he had
conversations with GEO lobbyist Wittenberg, who once served as Craddick’s
general counsel, about Ortiz’s bill. Suffice it to say she didn’t like it. But
the Richardson Republican says that just because he talks to lobbyists doesn’t
mean he listens to them alone. In this case, though, he agreed with Wittenberg’s
position that Ortiz’s bill would have singled out prison companies to comply
with open records laws when other private firms have no such mandate. “A
lobbyist is effective when a legislator gets to know them,” he says. “When you
get information from them that it is true, they gain your respect. But in my
case I’ve always had an open door and try to listen to all sides.” But critics
of the private prison industry say that only one side is really heard. “The
private prison industry pours money into the Texas Capitol, building connections
and allies,” says Libal with Grassroots Leadership. “This legislative session is
as good an example as any of how that money pays off.” Contact Matt Pulle at
matt@texaswatchdog.org or 713-980-9777.
June 28, 2009 Brownsville Herald
It took about five years, but state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr. seems to have
phased out his paid consulting jobs for construction and engineering firms. Last
year, however, he still received at least $25,000 in consulting fees from the
Houston-based TEDSI Infrastructure Group, according to his personal financial
statement on file with the Texas Ethics Commission. "I was fulfilling a prior
obligation on a contract that I had with TEDSI which expired in 2008," Lucio
wrote in a statement to The Brownsville Herald Wednesday. Lucio, D-Brownsville,
did not say what he did for the firm, but in 2002 said that he would set up
meetings and introduce the firm to officials in Brownsville. In 2004 amid
mounting criticism of possible conflicts of interest, Lucio told the Herald that
he would phase out consulting for firms that do business in the Rio Grande
Valley and the state. Besides consulting for TEDSI, Lucio also was retained by
CorPlan Corrections of Dallas, Management & Training Corp. of Utah, Aguirre Inc.
of Dallas, and Dannenbaum Engineering Corp. of Houston. At the start of 2005,
Lucio severed ties with CorPlan, Aguirre, and MTC amid federal inquiries into
the federal detention center in Willacy County. A Webb County commissioner and
two former Willacy County commissioners were convicted of bribery. Companies
involved in the project were not accused of any wrongdoing. Lucio also stopped
consulting for Dannenbaum, which he said he introduced to the Brownsville
Navigation District. The BND paid Dannenbaum $15.4 million of $21.4 million
spent toward developing a still non-existent international bridge at the Port of
Brownsville. But, he continued consulting for TEDSI until last year. Lucio's
prior financial statements show that in 2007 TEDSI paid him from $10,000 to
$24,999 and $25,000 or more in prior years. Lucio had been on CorPlan's payroll
since 1999. Aguirre, MTC and Dannenbaum then contracted him, but in interviews
prior to 2004 he wouldn't specifically say when or how much each paid him. It
was not until 2004 that Lucio started specifically listing the companies that
retained him in his financial statements and these, coupled with prior
interviews with the senator, reflect that the five firms paid him at least
$340,000. Embattled former Willacy County District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra
obtained an indictment against Lucio last year, charging him with profiting from
the elected office. Administrative Judge Manuel Bañales Jr. dismissed the
indictment following arguments from Lucio's attorney, Michael R. Cowen, that the
indictment was defective and that Guerra was seeking revenge against those who
he perceived to be his political enemies.
May 5, 2009 Texas Prison Bidness
Amongst the interesting statistics in the Texas Senate Criminal Justice
Committee's interim report on private prisons (PDF), was the shocking statistic
that TDCJ-contracted private prisons have a 90% annual staff turnover rate. The
report also presented numbers on differences in guard pay between public and
private facilities. "The wages and benefits paid to employees of private
contractors are generally lower than that paid to employees of state-operated
facilities... Correctional officer salaries in the private prisons vary among
facilities, with the highest peaking at slightly more than $24,000 annually."
For comparison to this figure, TDCJ Director Brad Livingston told the Austin
American Statesman ("Big raises sought for prison workers," August 14) that
starting pay for correctional officers in public facilities is $26,016, and the
maximum salaries range from $34,624 to $42,242. This means the lowest-paid TDCJ
guard's annual salary is $2,000 more than the highest-paid guard at TDCJ-contracted
private prisons. This probably contributes to the high turnover at private
facilities noted in the report: During FY 2008 the correctional officer turnover
rate at the seven private prisons was 90 percent (60 percent for the five
privately-operated state jails), which in either case is higher than the 24
percent turnover rate for TDCJ correctional officers during FY 2008. It's hard
to understand how ANY organization can operate with 90% staff turnover.
April 27, 2009 Texas Watchdog
Two state lawmakers from South Texas have financial ties to a private prison
firm that runs facilities for the Texas state prison system — at a time when
lawmakers are debating sweeping new measures to clamp down on corrections
companies. State Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, and state Rep. Rene Oliveira,
D-Brownsville, have financial links to the GEO Group, a Florida-based firm that
runs 19 correctional facilities in Texas, including nine under contract for the
Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Zaffirini’s husband, Carlos, is a lawyer
and advocate for the firm, formerly known as Wackenhut. In December 2007, the
Zaffirinis’ hometown commissioners in rural Webb County considered whether to
stop supplying water and sewer lines to a local GEO-owned prison after residents
voiced concerns about the company’s track record. The Laredo Morning Times
reported that Zaffirini put on a spirited defense of the firm, claiming the
complaints against his client were “steeped in emotion and void of logic.”
Oliveira, meanwhile, also has a cozy relationship with the prison company. His
Brownsville law firm serves as its local defense counsel. The House member’s
cousin David Oliveira, a partner at the firm, has represented the company on a
lawsuit alleging misconduct that one judge described as “reprehensible.” The
lawmakers’ ties to the company raise all sorts of messy questions: Can either
one of them vote on any legislation that would place tough regulations on how
the GEO Group does business? Why haven’t they disclosed their interest in the
firm on their personal financial statements? And should any lawmaker have a
financial interest in a company that feeds out of the public trough? “The
private prison industry is dependent on taxpayer dollars,” says Alex Friedmann,
the associate editor of Prison Legal News, a newsletter dedicated to protecting
inmates’ legal rights. “So, yes, I believe Zaffirini and Oliveira have a
conflict of interest, or at least a perceived conflict of interest.” Oliveira
did not return repeated phone calls for comment left beginning March 24.
Zaffirini, meanwhile, says that she is largely unfamiliar with the company’s
recent struggles, even though her husband works for the firm. “I quite frankly
have not given private prisons a lot of thought,” she says. “I spend most of the
time focusing on the issues of the poor, the elderly and people who can’t
represent themselves.” Lawmakers could vote this spring to get tough with
private prison companies, including the GEO Group, after the company’s missteps
have brought Texas prisons national attention for poor, unstable conditions.
Critics say Zaffirini and Oliveira, because of their personal ties to the
company, should recuse themselves from prison-related votes. But Zaffirini says
she would vote on the private-prison measures, and that her legislative aides
have no knowledge of her husband’s work. Two years ago, the Texas Youth
Commission slammed the GEO Group’s Coke County Juvenile Justice Center,
discovering illegal contraband and filthy cells that “smelled of feces and
urine.” Other findings included racially segregated cells and a limited
education program that consisted of one daily worksheet slipped into the
juvenile’s cell. The agency later pulled 197 of its inmates out of the facility
and canceled its contract with the firm. Then, earlier this month, the Court of
Appeals in the 13th district in Corpus Christi upheld a massive judgment against
the GEO Group, then known as Wackenhut Corrections Corp., after an inmate was
beaten to death at one of its facilities. The court concluded that the company
tried to cover up the attack and that its conduct “constituted a disgusting
display of disrespect.” “The GEO Group is an appalling company to represent,”
says Bob Libal, the Texas campaigns coordinator for Grassroots Leadership, a
social justice organization that opposes private prisons. “It’s staggering to
think about how many problems the GEO group has had in Texas.” The GEO Group
last year earned $59 million in fees from the Texas Department of Criminal
Justice for managing nine state facilities. More notably the GEO Group has
endured a rash of problems in Texas that have garnered the attention of their
colleagues in Austin, as well as media outlets across the country. In 2007 State
Sen. John Whitmire, a Houston Democrat and chairman of the criminal justice
committee, called for a special hearing on GEO’s state contracts after the Texas
Youth Commission issued the devastating report on the company’s youth facility.
He then lashed out at the firm when he felt like its lobbyists were attempting
to downplay its troubles. The corrections outfit also generated headlines when
two prison riots broke out at the GEO-operated Reeves County Detention Center,
which houses inmates detained on federal immigration violations. The first rash
of violence came last December after inmates complained about a lack of health
care, followed by more rioting two months later in which the West Texas facility
was engulfed in flames. Both riots cost Reeves County, which owns the detention
center, more than $1 million to repair the damages. Zaffirini’s husband,
Oliveira’s firm defended GEO Group in 2001 prison beating case -- But despite
the GEO Group’s recent bout of bad publicity, it was a brutal prison beating
nearly a decade ago that may raise the most questions about Zaffirini and
Oliveira’s financial interest in the company. On April 26, 2001, two inmates at
a GEO Group-operated facility in Willacy County stuffed prison-issued padlocks
into socks and beat Gregorio de la Rosa on his head, neck, ribs and back,
striking him dead just four days before his intended release. The family of de
la Rosa, an honorably discharged National Guardsman who was incarcerated on a
drug charge, would later file a wrongful death lawsuit against the GEO Group.
They claimed that the beating was no isolated incident. Rather, de la Rosa’s
attorney, Ronald Rodriguez, alleged that facility’s guards allowed inmates to
enforce their own brand of order that included rape and extortion. The Laredo
attorney put on quite a case. He introduced evidence of assaults in which
inmates were also attacked with padlocks wrapped inside socks — just like de la
Rosa had been. Rodriguez showed that the guards didn’t follow policy when they
failed to pat down inmates who entered the area where the deadly beating took
place. Finally, in order to point to a wider culture of dysfunction, Rodriguez
introduced into evidence a prison training videotape in which a guard tells an
inmate that if he didn’t want to be raped, he shouldn’t have come to prison.
$47.5 million judgment -- A jury would later award the de la Rosa family $47.5
million, one of the top 10 jury verdicts in 2006. The judge and jury also found
that the company destroyed the videotape of the beating. The GEO Group appealed
the case, but earlier month the court of appeals in the 13th district of Texas
upheld the ruling. The court noted testimony that the prison’s warden and
officers “smirked and laughed” as the inmates attacked de la Rosa. Judge Gina
Benavides, who wrote the opinion, also concluded that Warden David Forrest
intentionally disposed of incriminating evidence and that “these cover-up
attempts show intentional malice, trickery, and deceit.” “We hold that nearly
all the indicators of reprehensible conduct exists in this record,” the judge
said. In October 2007, Zulema de la Rosa Salazar, the older sister of the late
inmate, wrote a letter to Whitmire, who had recently called for a hearing on the
GEO Group’s track record in Texas. In her letter, Salazar says that she tried to
warn officials in Webb County when the company proposed building a prison there.
But no one would ever meet with her. “They will not listen,” she writes, her
anger nearly crystallizing on the page. “Why? I’ll tell you why. One of the GEO
Group’s attorneys, Mr. Zaffirini, is married to Senator Judith Zaffirini. Is
this not a conflict of interest?” Of course, it wasn’t just Zaffirini’s ties to
the company that came under scrutiny. Oliveira’s 15-member law firm, Roerig
Oliveira & Fisher, has represented the GEO Group in the post-verdict hearings of
the De La Rosa’s wrongful death suit after the firm’s original attorney, Bruce
Garcia, went to work for the Texas attorney general’s office. In the 2007
legislative session, Oliveira sat on the House Corrections Committee, which
considers legislation that regulates private corrections companies like the GEO
Group. The committee, like its Senate counterpart, can also probe into the
conduct of corrections companies. “Oliveira should have been conducting
investigations into these very disturbing facts surrounding de la Rosa’s death
at the hands of the GEO Group in his capacity as a member of the Texas House
Corrections Committee,” says Rodriguez, the attorney. “Incredibly, instead
Oliveira’s law firm was and is representing GEO Group in the de la Rosa
litigation.” Rodriguez is just as critical of the Laredo Democrat. “Senator
Zaffirini is supposed to be looking out after the state’s interest and the
interest of her constituents like the de la Rosas, and not after her own
self-interest by getting her community property estate paid by representing one
of Texas’ major private prison providers,” he says. “The de la Rosas reside in
Zaffirini’s district but cannot go to her for help in her official capacity as
their state senator because such pleas will only fall on deaf ears.” Zaffirini:
Wife would not be compromised; Webb County official: Recusal from prison debate
necessary -- Carlos Zaffirini scoffs at the claim that his lawyering for the GEO
Group has compromised his wife’s responsibilities as a state senator. “From the
sound of it, he would like to have my wife influence the judicial process in
favor of his clients,” he says, referring to the continuing litigation in the De
la Rosa case. “She’s not going to do that for him or anyone.” Rodriguez says
that he has no need for Zaffirini to influence what happens in court; afterall,
his record judgment was just upheld. He’s just questioning whether her husband’s
legal work has cast a pall over her stature as an elected official. In any case,
he is not the only one concerned about her loyalties. Webb County Commissioner
Sergio “Keko” Martinez, a Democrat, also doubts whether Zaffirini can vote
objectively on anti-private prison legislation. “Ethically, I would expect my
wife to disqualify herself on any deliberations that would have to do with a
company I have represented in the past or would be representing,” he says,
speaking hypothetically. “Whatever money I would make, she would have an
interest in half of it.” A loophole for lawyers in the state’s disclosure
requirements -- Neither Oliveira nor Zaffirini listed their ties to the GEO
Group on their 2008 personal financial statements (Zaffirini statement
here/Oliveira statement here), which are supposed to alert voters to instances
when lawmakers’ fiscal interests might shape votes. The law does not require it,
and the exemption extends to lawmakers whose spouses are lawyers. But there’s
nothing preventing state elected officials from disclosing more than what the
law allows, a practice that could allay questions about their votes and
positions. In fact, Oliveira apparently did just that. In an addendum to his
29-page financial statement, the House member writes that his firm represents
many banks, insurance companies and government associations. Oliveira explains
that some of them may employ lobbyists who have contacted him, but it would not
be related to his legal work. Overall, he lists nearly a dozen of his firm’s
clients, including Geico, State Farm Insurance Companies and the Texas Municipal
League, but not the GEO Group, which arguably has just as much at stake in the
2009 legislative session as any company doing business in the state. Lawmakers
have proposed stiffer regulations for private prisons following the Youth
Commission’s closure of the GEO Group’s Coke County facility. House and Senate
Democrats crafted every single measure. Here is a listing of the main bills that
were proposed–the first two of which never made it out of committee. HB 1714:
The most severe of the anti-private prison bills, this bill, authored by Rep.
Harold Dutton, would prohibit counties from contracting with private prisons. HB
3247: Rep. Armando “Mando” Martinez’s bill would not allow counties to contract
with private prison corporations if the corporation’s employees do not have
collective bargaining rights. HB 3903: This bill, sponsored by Rep. Solomon
Ortiz Jr. requires more accountability for private prisons including a mandatory
public hearing in each commissioner’s precinct before a county enters into a
contract with a private prison firm. SB 1680: Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa’s bill
requires that voters approve any county contracts with private prison operators.
SB 1690: This bill, also sponsored by Hinojosa, allows for stronger state
oversight of county-owned (and usually privately-operated) jails with federal
and out-of-state prisoners. Sen. Zaffirini: Husband ‘doesn’t influence me’ -- In
a lengthy interview with Texas Watchdog, Zaffirini said she would vote on the
prison measures if they make it to her desk, though she doesn’t know which way.
Typically, she said, her aides carefully research new bills and recommend how
she should vote, and “99 percent of the time,” she follows their recommendation.
In regard to her husband’s work for the GEO Group, Zaffirini said her staff
doesn’t really know about his ties to the company. “I have a system for deciding
how to vote, and my staff is totally unaware of my husband’s clients,” says the
state senator. “They are in Austin, and he is in in Laredo.” Throughout the
interview, Zaffirini was amiable and composed. She never sounded a defensive
note. Still, the Laredo Democrat’s defense of her unusual situation assumes that
spouses can draw an indelible line between their professional and personal
lives. “My husband and I never, ever discuss his clients because they have
standards of confidentiality,” she says. “He doesn’t influence me on legislation
that impacts them; nor does he even talk about it.” Carlos Zaffirini echoed his
wife’s remark while adding that as an attorney he works for many clients who
come under the jurisdiction of the state. “She doesn’t know half of what I do or
10 percent of what I do,” he said. “I represent a lot of clients. I represent
GEO and oil-and-gas producers. I represent land owners and developers and people
in international trade.” Rene Oliveira’s firm is representing the GEO Group in
an effort to overturn the record judgment in the de la Rosa case. Meanwhile, the
Brownsville lawmaker may be asked to vote on bills that would severely restrict
how his client does business. Rodriguez, the de la Rosa attorney who has become
an impassioned critic of the private prison company, questions how Oliveira will
approach any bills that come up for a vote. “How can he be objective when his
law firm is on the GEO Group’s payroll?”
November 14, 2008 Magic Valley Times-News
Families of two Idaho inmates who apparently killed themselves in lockups
run by private prison company GEO Group Inc., pleaded Thursday with Texas state
senators to bar out-of-state prisoners from the Lone Star State. The Idaho
Department of Correction has housed more than 300 prisoners at GEO-run Bill
Clayton Detention Center in Littlefield, Texas, but recently announced plans to
move them to the private North Fork Correctional Facility in Sayre, Okla. The
move follows allegations that GEO falsified reports and short-staffed the Texas
facility where Idaho inmate Randall McCullough, 37, died. Families of Idaho
inmates spoke Thursday at a Texas state Senate hearing in Austin, Texas. The
hearing, which dealt with general oversight of the Texas prison system and did
not result in specific action, was webcast live over the Internet. Among those
testifying was lawyer Ronald Rodriguez, who represents McCullough's family as
well as that of Idaho inmate Scott Noble Payne, 43, who killed himself last year
at another GEO-run prison in Dickens, Texas. "Idaho prisoners need to be in
Idaho where they have access to their court - Where they have access to their
families," Rodriguez on Thursday told the Texas Senate Committee on Criminal
Justice. Payne's mother, Shirley Noble, spoke to Texas lawmakers last year and
again on Thursday. "It seems that no lessons were learned," Noble said. "If
changes had been placed - Randall would not have been so desperate to take his
own life, as my son did." Texas Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, chairman of the
Senate Committee on Criminal Justice, questioned why the "little" state of Idaho
recently decided to pull its prisoners from Geo-run Bill Clayton. "Should we be
following their lead?" he asked. But a Texas Department of Criminal Justice
official told Whitmire that Texas inmates aren't held at Bill Clayton, and
warned against painting private prisons in Texas with a broad brush. Inmate
McCullough's sister, Laurie Williams, told Texas senators that they should do a
review of all private prisons in their state - including GEO competitor
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). Idaho prisoners are to be taken to CCA-run
North Fork in Oklahoma, where another Idaho inmate, David Drashner, was
allegedly murdered in June. IDOC's decision to move prisoners from one privately
run lockup to another out-of-state facility concerns Williams, as well as
Drashner's wife, Pam Drashner, who have said they want Idaho to stop shipping
away its inmates. Idaho doesn't have enough room for all its prisoners, and
sending them out-of-state has been widely unpopular. Williams also wants to talk
to Idaho lawmakers, she said. "We should be addressing the Idaho Senate," said
Williams, after Thursday's hearing in Texas. "This is Idaho sending its inmates
out of state whether it's Texas that takes them or Oklahoma and that's what we
have to have stopped." GEO made $4.9 million in annual operating revenues off
its contract with Idaho to manage prisoners at Bill Clayton. GEO officials said
shareholders won't lose out from Idaho's withdrawal because of an expanding
contract with the state of Indiana.
December 5, 2007 Yahoo
The GEO Group (NYSE:GEO - News) (“GEO”) announced today the appointment of Gary
Johnson as Regional Vice President of GEO’s Central Region, which oversees GEO’s
current operations in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana and is responsible for
business development activities in the central United States. Mr. Johnson will
begin his duties as Regional Vice President on January 2, 2008. George C. Zoley,
Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of GEO said: “We are very
fortunate to have Gary Johnson join our management team as Regional Vice
President of our Central Region. As a former Executive Director of the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice, Mr. Johnson has extensive experience managing a
large and complex correctional organization. Mr. Johnson’s expertise and
background give him outstanding qualifications to lead our efforts to provide
high quality detention and correctional services that meet our clients’ needs
and help address the increased demand for detention and correctional bed space
in the Central Region of the United States.”
October 12, 2007 KRIS TV
The delayed discovery of squalid conditions at a privately run Texas Youth
Commission jail was "a human failure" and stronger oversight is needed to
prevent similar incidents, a key state senator said Friday. "It was very simple
that the monitors were not doing their job and there was a human failure," said
Sen. John Whitmire, head of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee. "Who's
monitoring the monitors?" Whitmire, a Houston Democrat, called a committee
hearing about a week after a Coke County juvenile lockup in Bronte operated by
The GEO Group, Inc., was closed because of filthy conditions. A Texas Youth
Commission ombudsman discovered the conditions, even though the facility had
passed previous inspections by TYC monitors. The TYC system was rocked earlier
this year by allegations of rampant sexual and other physical abuse against
juvenile inmates in the system. The star witness at Friday's hearing on adult
and juvenile prison monitoring was Shirley Noble, who told how her son,
43-year-old Idaho inmate Scot Noble Payne, endured months of horrific conditions
then slit his own throat at a private Texas prison run by GEO Group. "It seemed
there was no end to the degradation he and other prisoners were to endure with
substandard facilities," Noble said. Her son died March 4 in a private prison in
Spur. Noble questioned why Idaho sent its inmates to Texas and why the
Florida-based GEO Group was allowed to keep prisoners in what she described as
"degrading and subhuman conditions." "Please, please hold them accountable for
all the injuries and misery they have caused," Noble said. A spokesman for GEO
Group did not immediately return a telephone call from The Associated Press to
respond to comments made at the hearing. TYC Acting Executive Director Dimitria
Pope, who took over the youth agency earlier this year, testified that she's
putting more monitoring safeguards in place. That includes sending executive
staff members out to view the lockups, something she said hadn't been done
regularly in the past. "Because of my concerns of what I saw in Coke County, I
have implemented a blitz of every facility, either the ones that we operate,
that contract, district offices, anything that has TYC affiliated with it," she
said, adding that each site will be visited by the end of October. Adan Munoz
Jr., executive director of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, said he has
four inspectors do annual inspections of the 267 facilities under his oversight.
He defended his agency's practice of giving two- to three-week notices about
inspection visits but said recently there have been more surprise inspections.
Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa, D-McAllen, said privatizing prisons is an "easy way
out." He said he worries about the state continuing to contract with companies
that have a history of abuse. "It's a myth that the private sector does a better
job than government" in running prisons, Hinojosa said. "They're there to make a
profit and they'll cut corners, and they'll cut back on services and they'll
many times look the other way when abuse is taking place." Because of Texas'
size and high rate of locking up convicts, the state is in the national
spotlight for its dealings with private prison firms, said Sen. Rodney Ellis,
D-Houston. "It puts a special burden on us," he said. "If it needs to be
improved, improve it, because everybody looks to us." Noble was the panel's
final witness. The room hushed as she told the senators her family's emotional
tale. Her son, a convicted sex offender, was kept in solitary confinement for
months with a wet floor, bloodstained sheets and smelly towels. She said he
wrote long, detailed letters to family members in which he said the only way to
escape the prison's harsh conditions was to join his late grandfather in the
spirit world. Noble said she begged for psychological help for her son. She said
he wasn't supposed to have been given a razor, and she still wonders how he got
the one he used to end his life. "After he tried to unsuccessfully slash his
wrists and ankles, he knelt in the shower and cut his own throat," she said.
"Surely only a person in utter disillusionment and horrifying conditions would
bring themselves to this end."
October 12, 2007 Dallas Morning News
Three monitors fired by the Texas Youth Commission last week for failing to
report filthy and dangerous conditions at a privately run juvenile prison in
West Texas had previously worked for the company they oversaw. Two of the
quality assurance monitors were hired directly from caseworker positions with
The GEO Group Inc. at the Coke County Juvenile Justice Center, according to
their job applications. The monitoring unit's supervisor also briefly worked for
GEO at the youth prison near Bronte four years before being hired by TYC,
records show. A clerk who was fired had previous GEO employment as well. TYC
spokesman Jim Hurley said agency executives were unaware of the terminated
workers' ties to GEO before The Dallas Morning News filed an open-records
request this week. Officials said last week that they were concerned about
entanglements between TYC employees and the company they monitored. TYC's
inspector general has launched a criminal investigation of operations at the
Coke County prison, including the possibility of financial transactions between
GEO and TYC employees. GEO's relationship with the fired TYC monitors is a
likely topic at a hearing today of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee in
Austin. It is intended to examine GEO's operation of youth and adult prisons in
Texas. State Sen. John Whitmire, the panel's chairman, was angered to learn from
a reporter Thursday that TYC monitors had previously been employed by GEO. "I
think it's outrageous," the Houston Democrat said. "It just confirms what many
of us suspected – that there was too close a relationship between the TYC
employees and GEO employees." He said the committee also would seek answers from
the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and county jail and juvenile probation
officials about their own monitoring of private corrections companies. "Anyone
that confines individuals in the state of Texas needs to make certain they know
who their monitors are – and that they go behind their monitors and literally
monitor their monitors," Mr. Whitmire said. Mr. Hurley said the prior employment
with GEO raised questions about whether the monitors had been objective in their
evaluations of the facility. "How do you monitor the monitors?" he said. "We
need a very good answer to that." For years, quality assurance reports on the
Coke County prison had been overwhelmingly positive. Twice, TYC named it
contract facility of the year. "You have to worry about conflicts of interest,"
Mr. Hurley said Thursday. "I'm not saying there is a conflict of interest. But
there is a perception." TYC Executive Director Dimitria Pope fired four monitors
at the Coke County prison and a clerk last week after she and others toured the
facility. It was in such deplorable condition, Ms. Pope said, that she ordered
the removal of all 197 inmates. She also fired another employee at the Coke
County facility who had not worked for GEO, and two contract care supervisors at
TYC's district office in Fort Worth. The head of contract care at TYC's
headquarters in Austin resigned. Ms. Pope canceled TYC's $8 million contract
with Florida-based GEO, which had operated the Coke County facility since it
opened in 1994. GEO initially tried to reinstate the contract but, after
criticism, said it accepted the decision. The Coke County facility was the
state's largest private youth prison. It was the only Texas juvenile facility
operated by GEO, one of the nation's biggest private prison contractors. As a
result of the problems discovered at Coke County, Ms. Pope ordered a wholesale
review of the agency's contract care system. "Who the monitors are and where
they come from will be one of the issues that we're going to look at," Mr.
Hurley said. TYC employs more than 40 quality assurance specialists and
supervisors, according to personnel records provided to The News. Some are
stationed at the facilities they monitor, several of which are in remote rural
areas. Mr. Hurley shied away from discussing what actions the agency might
undertake if it learns that other monitors had previous employment with
contractors they inspect. "What we need to do is make sure that first of all,
every one of these contracts is being monitored and that it's being monitored
correctly," he said. "If the remoteness is a problem, I think that monitoring
these contracts accurately will show us that," he said. "We need to have a sort
of evidence-based determination." The Coke County prison is in a one-stoplight
town about 30 miles north of San Angelo. It was the town's second-largest
employer after the school district. One-third of the school district's $6
million budget is tied to programs at the prison. Two of the fired TYC employees
lived in Bronte. Valerie Jones, former supervisor of the monitoring unit, has
two children in the Bronte schools. Patti Frazee, her clerk, is married to a
member of the Bronte school board. Ms. Jones, who worked for GEO as a
chemical-dependency counselor from October 1995 to July 1996, declined to
comment Thursday. She was hired by TYC as a quality assurance monitor in spring
2000, records show. Ms. Frazee, reached at her home, said officials of the youth
agency never raised any questions about her previous employment with GEO. "There
were not very many jobs out here," she said. "Any time you could take a state
job, it was a better job for everybody because it paid more money. That's the
only reason. It was like a step up from GEO. That's the way everybody viewed
it." Ms. Frazee was paid $17,950 per year working as bookkeeper for GEO. As a
clerk for TYC, she earned $25,035. The two monitors hired directly from GEO,
Brian Lutz and David Roberson, earned $26,800 and $24,500 per year,
respectively. With TYC, Mr. Lutz was paid $33,945,while Mr. Roberson received
$37,393, agency records show. Several attempts to locate Mr. Lutz for comment
were unsuccessful. Mr. Roberson, reached at his home in San Angelo, declined to
be interviewed. Lisa Williamson worked as a TYC quality assurance monitor at the
Coke County facility from 1998 until 2004. She said she knew Mr. Roberson and
Ms. Jones well. She described them as honest, hard-working people devoted to
their jobs. "There is not anybody there who I wouldn't trust with my own
children," said Ms. Williamson, who now works as a juvenile probation officer in
Young County. Ms. Williamson said she had not worked for GEO. But she said she
never saw any of her colleagues who had worked for the company ignore any
problems. While she and the GEO warden, Brett Bement, frequently tried to tell
each other how to do their jobs, Ms. Williamson said, she didn't feel pressured
and didn't obey him. "He knew I wasn't a pushover, and he couldn't get by with
it. He couldn't have done that with any of us," she said. GEO Group gave money
to several state officials' campaigns -- State Rep. Jerry Madden held his annual
"How Sweet It Is" dessert party in Plano on Thursday night to raise money for a
future campaign. One of the sponsors at the $2,500 "cherries jubilee" level was
to be The GEO Group Inc., a Florida-based corrections company. Until last week,
GEO operated the Coke County Juvenile Justice Center near Bronte under contract
with the Texas Youth Commission. In recent years, the company has donated to the
campaigns of some legislators who oversee the youth agency. Two of them, Mr.
Madden and Sen. John Whitmire, are co-chairmen of the special legislative
committee established this year to oversee reforms of TYC in the wake of a
sexual abuse scandal at the West Texas State School in Pyote. Mr. Madden,
R-Plano, received a total of $2,500 from GEO's political action committee in
2005 and 2006, according to campaign finance records. Mr. Whitmire, a Houston
Democrat, received $2,000 from the political action committee of Wackenhut
Corrections Corp., as GEO was previously known, in 2003 and 2004. Other
recipients of GEO or Wackenhut contributions are Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who
received $2,500 in 2006, and House Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland, who received
$1,000 in 2005, state records show. In addition to Mr. Madden, the chairman of
the House Corrections Committee, two other panel members received donations from
GEO or Wackenhut. Rep. Delwin Jones, R-Lubbock, received $250 in 2006. And Pat
Haggerty, R-El Paso, received $500 from the Wackenhut Corrections PAC in 2004.
Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee
on Criminal Justice and another member of the Joint Committee on the Operation
and Management of the Texas Youth Commission, received $250 in 2006. Mr.
Madden's predecessor as head of the corrections committee, Ray Allen, received
$3,500 in 2003 and 2004 from Wackenhut. He since has left public office and is a
lobbyist for GEO. Mr. Madden acknowledged that lobbyists for GEO might attend
his fundraiser at the Southfork Hotel on Thursday night. But he said he had told
the lobbyists that he did not want a check. "Just right now, I think it would be
a bad idea to specifically look for contributions from GEO," he said.
April 18, 2007 Daily Texan
These former lawmakers now push agendas as lobbyists on the current
Legislature. By 2009, perhaps we'll have a fresh batch of lawmakers-turned-
lobbyists unleashed on Austin, using connections at the Capitol to score
lucrative deals for their clients. In Texas, there's no law against going
directly into lobbying after serving in the Texas House or Senate. In fact, six
representatives who served in 2005 have lobbying contracts this year that each
could potentially be worth $100,000. (The Texas Ethics Commission makes
lobbyists declare a maximum and minimum to their contract, not the exact
amount.) The minimum and maximum value of their contracts, including major
clients, include: Ray Allen: $395,000 to $835,000, including at least $50,000
for AT&T, Public Strategies, GEO Group, Inc. and Jones Lang LaSalle.
February 8, 2007 American-Statesman
Groups advocating the closure of an immigrant detention center in Taylor
applauded Wednesday a state resolution urging the Department of Homeland
Security to consider alternatives to detaining families and children. "It is
important that state legislators are aware of what is happening in their own
backyard and that they begin to take the necessary steps to resolve this
situation," said Rebecca Bernhardt, the immigration, border and national
security policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas. State
Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, D-Austin, on Monday filed House Resolution 64, which is
critical of federal policy that allows for detaining families, children and
infants at the T. Don Hutto Residential Center in Taylor. Immigrants are
confined on noncriminal charges while the government determines whether they
should be deported. "It is immoral in my mind to detain families," Rodriguez
said Wednesday at a Capitol news conference. "The children are the ones who
suffer most." The government says the facility in Taylor was designed for
families and is a humane way to maintain family unity while ensuring that
families can't skip immigration hearings. The U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement agency oversees the facility, which is owned and run by a private
company, Corrections Corporation of America.
July 28, 2006 Texas Observer
During 12 years in the Texas House, the legislative duties of Rep. Ray
Allen, a Grand Prairie Republican, have periodically cross-pollinated his
private business enterprises. So when this one-time chair of the House
Corrections Committee recently left the Legislature to lobby, he seemed
predestined to hustle for prison interests. Yet destiny has its twists. This
conservative, who amassed a dismal House environmental record, is working
closely with Austin environmental activist Jeff Heckler. While Allen has yet to
report any clients with obvious prison ties, Heckler and Allen’s former chief of
staff do lobby for corrections-industry clients. Asked about his odd-fellow
relationship with Allen, Heckler says, “We’re not working on any environmental
stuff. We’re mostly working on corrections stuff.” Welcome to the lobby, where
nothing is as it seems. When Allen resigned in January, he expressed frustration
over trying to support himself while working as a poorly paid lawmaker during
yet another special session. “I simply cannot afford to serve on a $600-a-month
salary with no other source of income,” he told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
While candid about his competing personal and legislative obligations, Allen—who
now reports lobby income of up to $485,000—has been sensitive to suggestions
that this juggling act created occasional conflicts. The Houston Chronicle
previously reported on Allen’s fortuitous timing in founding Grand Prairie’s
Academy for Firearms Training in 1995. This occurred soon after two House panels
that Allen chaired discharged legislation to let Texans carry concealed guns—if
they first obtained handgun-safety training. Three years ago, the Observer and
Texans for Public Justice reported that Allen, who then chaired the House
Corrections Committee, was promoting a prison-privatization bill while he and
his top aide lobbied outside Texas for private prison interests. Allen responded
that his client, the National Correctional Industries Association (which counted
two major private prison companies among its many members), promotes prison
labor—not prison privatization. With this in mind, we turn to the delicate
matter of Allen’s latest ties to the prison lobby. So far Allen has reported in
public filings that eight clients are paying him a total of between $230,000 and
$485,000 this year (Texas lobby incomes are reported in ranges). While none of
Allen’s reported clients boast obvious prison ties, at least one of them has a
keen interest in prison contracts. Allen also works closely with two lobbyists
who represent prison companies. One is Scott Gilmore, who previously served as
Allen’s legislative chief of staff and was also the lawmaker’s lobby partner.
The other is Heckler, the Austin activist. Four of Heckler’s six lobby clients
double as clients of Allen or Gilmore. Meanwhile, Gilmore is under contract to
the Solutions Group—Heckler’s lobby firm. Gilmore left Allen’s office to form
his SEG Strategic Alliances lobbying firm in late 2004. Last year Gilmore
reported lobby income of up to $220,000 from six clients. Leading them were
clients from the industry that he and Allen recently oversaw. Gilmore and
Heckler both lobbied last year for AT&T Inmate Calling Services and Atlantic
Shores Healthcare—the mental-health subsidiary of private prison giant GEO Group
Inc., formerly known as Wackenhut Corrections. Gilmore also has been
representing the Keefe Group—the nation’s leading supplier of prison
commissaries. This year Gilmore signed CentraCore Properties Trust, a for-profit
investor in prisons. Consider California-based Bottom Line Utility Solutions,
which advises clients on how to lower utility bills. Last year Bottom Line hired
Heckler and Gilmore as it promoted legislation to require Texas prisons to
install water-conservation devices (HB 2905). Approved by Allen and the six
other members of the Corrections Committee, the bill passed the House too late
in the session for Senate action. This year Bottom Line hired a third Texas
lobbyist: Ray Allen. Such revolving-door abuses undermine public faith in
elected officials and government—a cost that is offset for Allen and Gilmore by
the up to $100,000 that they will receive from Bottom Line this year. While
Allen’s old legislative colleagues could crack down on revolving-door abuses,
too many of them already are looking ahead to lucrative future lobbying careers
of their own.
July 23, 2006 Express News
The Willacy County attorney is speaking out against his county's new
contract for a massive detention center because he said it involves companies
still under a cloud from the 2004 bribery convictions of three elected
officials. Juan Angel Guerra also accuses veteran Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr.,
D-Brownsville, of going back on his word by continuing to represent the same
firms. Former Willacy County Commissioners Israel Tamez and the late Jose
Jimenez were convicted in 2004 of accepting bribes in exchange for favorable
votes regarding a 600-bed prison that opened in Raymondville, the county seat,
in 2003. The third convicted official, Webb County Commissioner David Cortez,
was an associate of CorPlan Corrections, a consulting company at the time of the
prison project. Cortez was accused of funneling the bribe money for favorable
votes on contracts. No company employees, however, have been charged. Federal
prosecutors wouldn't comment on the case, but observers believe the
investigation is ongoing because the commissioners' sentencing dates have been
pushed back several times. Meanwhile, the same firms are building a 2,000-bed
detention facility near the same prison. Willacy commissioners voted 3-2 on
Monday to approve $60.6 million in bonds for the new facility, which is on a
fast-track construction schedule to house mostly non-Mexican undocumented
immigrants in a series of tentlike structures for U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, or ICE. Utah-based Management Training Corp., or MTC, will operate
the facility; Houston-based Hale-Mills Construction Inc. is building it; and
Argyle-based CorPlan is consulting on the project, said Guerra, who is the
county and district attorney. A May 27, 2005, letter from commissioners to the
county's nonprofit corporation set up to oversee the federal prison project
asked it to "terminate its contractual relationship with CorPlan," because a
Willacy County lawsuit against the firm alleged it was involved with the bribes.
"Now they are asking me to sign a contract that includes CorPlan," Guerra said.
"I told the commissioners you can't have it both ways. First you pass the
resolution saying you don't want to deal with CorPlan. Now you do a contract
that I know for a fact includes CorPlan. So we are back to square one." The
lawsuit was dropped in April. County Judge Simon Salinas said he wasn't aware of
the letter and resolution that prompted it. It's probably too late anyway, he
added. "The contract is already signed, the work is already begun," he said.
Regardless, Salinas said, the county can't proceed under the assumption that
leaders of the companies are criminals. "In this country we are innocent until
proven guilty," he said. "And nobody out there pressed charges against the
companies. ... Just because these (commissioners) plead guilty doesn't mean
everybody in the world is guilty." Guerra favored Tennessee-based Corrections
Corporation of America, or CCA, which offered to finance the detention facility
on its own rather than through the county. He said the commissioners initially
favored CCA, but later picked MTC. Commissioner Noe Loya said Guerra "is trying
to find every excuse to hire CCA, and change our minds, but it's over." Guerra
said he met with Lucio two weeks ago and the veteran lawmaker pushed MTC. "I
asked him, 'Are you talking to me as my senator or as an employee of one of
these companies?'" Guerra said. "He told me he was talking to me as a
consultant." Lucio said he met with Guerra because it "appeared that he had
quite a bit of influence on the Commissioners Court." Lucio said he told Guerra
he favored MTC because it treats its employees well. Lucio said he thought
CorPlan had been cleared because the lawsuit filed on behalf of Willacy County
against James Parkey, president of CorPlan, was dropped and there have been no
other arrests. Parkey did not return a call seeking comment. "My main focus on
talking with Johnny (Guerra) was trying to sell him on the fact that MTC was a
very reputable company," Lucio said. "I feel very comfortably speaking on their
behalf and asking them to consider us and that was my main focus." According to
the Texas Ethics Commission, Lucio reported in 2005 that MTC and CorPlan paid
him a total of at least $50,000 through his Brownsville company, Rio Shelters
Inc. In the wake of the bribery scandal, Lucio said he had stopped representing
the firms and wouldn't again until the matter was cleared up. "I know there has
been a case, a problem, a situation there where somebody associated with
(Parkey) out of Laredo was indicted and convicted," Lucio said, referring to
Cortez. "But when the lawsuit against him was dropped, I felt that he was
exonerated." Told that the bribery investigation may still be open, he said: "If
it is, I am not aware of it." Asked if he was being paid by MTC or CorPlan for
encouraging the detention center contract, he said: "It's up to them if they
feel I did a good job." Lucio said it was "very hard to draw a fine line"
between his job as a lawmaker and his private work, but added: "I can tell you
this: I do my best." "I get paid $600 a month to be a state senator, and I do it
just about on a full-time basis," he said. Damon Hiniger, a vice president of
CCA in Tennessee, said he was surprised by the county's decision because CCA was
going to invest its own money, pay about $1.8 million in property taxes, and
shoulder the risk. Judge Salinas said he was influenced by the bottom line,
nothing more. "I have nothing against CCA, they are a good reputable company,
but they are in the business to make their own bucks," he said. The detention
facility is to open Aug. 1 with 500 beds, and then have 1,500 more available
Oct. 1. It is part of President Bush's Secure Border Initiative.
July 20, 2006 Valley Morning Star
State Sen. Eddie Lucio resumed consulting work with a
company that he says offers Willacy County hundreds of jobs and a steady flow of
revenue for years to come. Last year, Lucio suspended business with Management
Training Corp. and two other companies involved in the development of a $14.5
million prison project that was the focus of a federal bribery investigation.
That investigation led to the convictions of former Willacy County commissioners
Israel Tamez and Jose Jimenez. In letters to the companies, Lucio wrote he was
taking "a leave of absence" from consulting work "until this matter is
resolved." At the time, Lucio asked the Texas Attorney General's Office and the
state Ethics Commission to review his work as a consultant. "I can do business
with companies that do business with the federal government," Lucio said the
agencies determined. Lucio resumed work for MTC as the company sought a Willacy
County contract to operate a $60.6 million detention center to hold illegal
immigrants. Last week, commissioners voted 3-2 to give MTC a two-year contract
to operate the detention center. "They're an outstanding operation," Lucio said
of the Utah-based company that operates a 525-bed county-owned prison here.
Lucio declined to disclose his fee. Monday, commissioners voted 3-2 to issue
$60.6 million in bonds to build the detention center that's part of the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security's crackdown on illegal immigration. "I think
Willacy County will come out ahead," Lucio said. "I think it's a wonderful
opportunity for hundreds of jobs." Lucio said his work with MTC was limited to a
meeting with County Attorney Juan Angel Guerra. In the meeting, Lucio talked 30
to 45 minutes with Guerra, who recommended that commissioners hire Corrections
Corporation of America, which proposed working with investors to fund the
project's costs. "He had questions whether MTC was a reputable company," said
Lucio, who owns Rio Consulting in Brownsville. "He was very, very out to get the
commissioners to hire CCA. All we did was talk about the qualifications of MTC
and why it would be a better deal." Under MTC's contract, the county will own
the detention center, Lucio said. "It's a ($60) million asset at the end," Lucio
said, referring to county payments that run through 2009. "This is going to be a
... facility for the future. They can continue the same situation. I'm going to
push MTC to make sure they fulfill the wishes of Willacy County. What we need to
do is insure that inmates are brought to that facility." Lucio said he stood
behind company projections that show the federal government will fill the
detention center with more than 1,800 illegal immigrants. "The federal
government is in dire need," Lucio said of detention center beds. County
commissioners Aurelio Guerra and Abiel Cantu voted against hiring MTC because
they questioned whether the federal government could fill the detention center
with illegal immigrants for which the company would pay at least $2.25 a head.
But steps such as hiring more U.S. Border Patrol agents and the placement of
National Guard troops along the border will increase arrests of illegal
immigrants, Lucio said. "Even President Bush is beefing up the border," he said.
"(But) nothing is going to stop people from (crossing the border) to seek the
American dream. I think more people are going to get caught." Cantu and Aurelio
Guerra also voted against the company's hiring because they argued that the
federal government would restrict the county from spending detention center
revenues on county expenditures. Lucio said he did not know the specifics of the
contract. "That's up to the Commissioners Court to look into the specifics of
the contract," he said. Lucio denied Juan Angel Guerra's claim that he was
working for Corplan Corrections, an Irving-based prison consulting firm, in the
detention center project. Juan Angel Guerra said Lucio told him that he worked
for James Parkey, Corplan's president. Last year, Lucio said he suspended ties
with Corplan, MTC and Aguirre Corp. of Dallas after Tamez and Jimenez pleaded
guilty to taking more than $10,000 in bribes in exchange for votes to hire a
consultant in the $14.5 million prison project that the companies helped to
develop. Lucio said he resumed work with Corplan after McAllen attorney Ramon
Garcia, Hidalgo County's judge, dropped a lawsuit against Corplan and
Houston-based Hale Mills construction in April. "When they were exonerated ...
it cleared the path," Lucio said. "I work for them anytime I like to. I like Mr.
Parkey. He's a good man. As far as I'm concerned, he's a reputable person."
However, Lucio said his work with Corplan did not involve the detention center
project. Last month, Willacy County commissioners entered into a two-year
contract with Homeland Security to construct tent-like domes to hold 500 beds by
Aug. 2. As part of the contract, the detention center will expand to 2,000 beds
within 90 days.
September 22, 2004 Dallas Morning News
Who would have thought a race to represent the working-class residents of Grand
Prairie and South Irving would include cameo appearances by Howard Dean and the
Moonies? Anything's possible in the spirited race for state House District 106
between Republican state Rep. Ray Allen and Democrat Katy Hubener, who moved
from nearby Duncanville for the chance to unseat the incumbent. During a recent
interview, Ms. Hubener's campaign manager accused Mr. Allen of "using taxpayer
dollars to fund his prison privatization-lobbying firm" – a reference to Mr.
Allen's lone lobby client, the National Corrections Industry Association. It has
two private-prison members in addition to the public prison systems in all 50
states, the federal prison system, city and county jails and corporations that
contract with prisons.
May 29, 2003
It was horrible and sickening, but I could not stop watching the final days of
the Texas Legislature. Fellow Texans, the ripple effects of this disaster will
come to haunt us all. Just for starters, this budget is going to
cost about 144,000 jobs. Perhaps its most serious effect is on public hospitals.
A health-care system so fragile that it is almost overwhelmed now -- turning
away ambulances for hours at a time, unable to admit a single patient -- will be
swamped after this. The counties will be desperate, the cities not much better.
Every area of social service has been cut, not because we have a $9 billion
deficit but because House Republicans do not believe government SHOULD help
people. We are watching government morph into something very strange.
Benito Mussolini said, "Fascism should more properly be called corporatism,
since it is the merger of state and corporate power." The real driving force
behind this session is something I bet most of you have never heard of -- ALEC.
ALEC is the American Legislative Exchange Council, a corporate-funded, extremely
right-wing group that sponsors conferences for state legislators and draws up
model bills that are introduced all over the country. ALEC is particularly
interested in privatizing government services and deregulating everything, and
is anti-environment to an extent that's almost loopy. Let's be very clear
about this: People who want to privatize prisons and schools and social services
are in it for the money. The real questions of government are always: Who
benefits, and who pays? And the answer given this session with jaw-dropping
regularity is private corporations profit, while people pay the price in worse
services. If government provides a certain service -- say prisons -- for X
dollars, how does a private corporation do the same job and make a profit?
You ask that question, and you get a lot of pious piffle from the right about
private industry is more efficient and less bureaucratic than government.
Dilbert and I doubt that. The right says that, in the private sector, pay
and performance are related. I look at the CEOs of American corporations, and if
there's a connection between pay and performance there, I missed it. What
you get when you privatize and outsource is something like the Department of
Defense and the military-industrial complex. We spend $399 billion a year on
defense, and if you think that money is well spent because much of it gets run
through defense contractors, you have not been paying attention. DOD is the
happy home of the $700 hammer, the endless cost overrun, and the revolving door,
with accompanying conflicts of interest and dubious contracts. It's a fiscal
nightmare. The Pentagon once had to announce that it couldn't account for $17
billion. You get nightmare public policy consequences, as well. What
happens if you privatize prisons is that you have a large industry with a vested
interest in building ever-more prisons. The result is even more idiocy, like the
three-strikes law and long terms for small-time drug possession. One
veteran lobbyist said of this session, "You look up and you suddenly realize
that these people are playing a different game." They don't want to make
government better. They don't want it to work well. They don't want it to help
people. It used to be a joke that when a legislator was contemplating some
scurvy piece of special interest legislation, he would go to ridiculous lengths
to make the spurious claim, "And so you see, members, we must do this for the
sake of the children of Texas." Man, you stand up in the Texas House today with
a bill that really will help the children of Texas and you will not get a single
Republican vote. They are playing a different game. They are out to take
government apart, and then they turn around and say, "See, I told you government
doesn't work." And they believe in all this with a self-righteous certitude that
has to be seen to be believed. When we weren't watching rigid, ideological
lockstep on corporatization, we got a lot of Christian right nonsense. Rep.
Arlene Wohlgemuth wanted a bill to provide a special license plate reading,
"Pro-Life." Under this bill, the state could charge a premium to people who want
this specialized plate on their cars, just as we currently have for people who
pay extra for specialized plates supporting Texas critters or A&M. No one
before now has thought of putting anything on a Texas plate that was in the
least controversial. These suckers are pretty much in the "I'm in Favor of
Bluebonnets" school of political controversy. So suddenly here comes Wohlgemuth,
with a bill that says any of us can tote around a license plate that reads,
"Texas -- Pro-Life." She wanted $22 of the $30 extra charged by the state to go
to church groups and non-profit organizations that counsel pregnant women to
give their babies up for adoption. The House would not even accept an
amendment to offer another plate saying, "Choose Choice." Fortunately, the bill
was finally shot down on a point of order. During the debate on tort
reform, Democrats took to referring to the part of the gallery where the big
business interests lobbyists sit as "the owners' box." It sure ain't the
people's legislature. (Molly Ivans - Creators Syndicate)
May 29, 2003
Legislators rushed Tuesday night to put dying legislation onboard a massive
government reorganization bill that became the last train off the House floor.
"This is a cross between a flea market and a Moroccan bazaar," said Rep. Jack
Stick, R-Austin. "Everybody's got a pet project, a pet bill or a pet amendment
that has not found a home. This bill is nothing if it's not a pet store."
Midnight Tuesday was the deadline for legislation to get tentative approval by
the House and remain alive. At one point, lawmakers had filed 500 amendments,
but time ran out on most of them. A section that would have privatized
more state prison beds was changed so that it now authorizes only a study of
privatization. (Austin American-Statesman)
May 12, 2003
A major government reorganization bill that would give more power to the
governor and is crucial to state leaders' plans to balance a new budget without
raising state taxes was temporarily derailed Saturday. House debate on
House Bill 2 had barely begun before Speaker Tom Craddick was forced to postpone
further action in the face of a successful parliamentary challenge. "If we
don't have this bill, we probably don't certify the budget," Craddick told
reporters. But he said he was confident the technical flaw in the bill's
preparation, raised by a Democratic lawmaker, would be quickly corrected in
committee and the measure rescheduled for debate on Tuesday or Wednesday.
He said proposed savings in the bill are worth $227 million toward bridging a
$9.9 billion revenue shortfall. The timing for debate of the measure is critical
because Thursday is the deadline for House bills to be given tentative approval
by the full House, or they will die. Debate on House Bill 2 promises to be
lengthy. The bill is 418 pages long, and at least 84 amendments had been
pre-filed before debate was halted. A new state budget must be balanced by
the time the regular session ends June 2, or Gov. Rick Perry will have to call
lawmakers back into special session this summer to complete the job. The current
state budget expires Aug. 31. Further complicating the bill's outlook is a
simmering controversy over Republican efforts to pass a bill redrawing the
state's congressional districts to favor the GOP. Debate on the redistricting
bill, which could be lengthy and charged with partisanship, is scheduled for
Monday, ahead of the budget-balancing bill. The House on Saturday gave
tentative approval to several other bills also crucial to the budget-writing
effort. Representatives also resurrected their version of House Bill 5, a
school finance bill, by attaching it as an amendment to House Bill 3459, one of
the budget-balancing bills. The provision would add $1.2 billion to the
present school finance system and set a deadline for repealing the controversial
"Robin Hood" school law by the summer of 2004, if a replacement is approved by
then. Identical language was approved two weeks ago by the House in House
Bill 5, but that measure was rewritten by the Senate to provide for a massive
school finance tax trade-off. The Senate's plan died Friday night when the House
refused to seek a compromise. Craddick and Gov. Rick Perry want to wait to
tackle a school finance overhaul in a special session later this year or next.
One part of the government reorganization effort, a proposal to take $464
million from school districts as a penalty for being top-heavy in administrative
costs, already was generating controversy before debate began. The bill
sponsor, Rep. David Swinford, R-Dumas, said the provision was necessary to hold
school officials "accountable." "We're not taking anything (money) out of
education. We're sort of rearranging the chairs," he said. Under
Swinford's proposal, $215 million of the $464 million would be spent on one-time
bonuses of $800 for each schoolteacher in the state. The remainder would be
redistributed for other educational spending. The plan would penalize
districts that spend more money than most districts of their size for such
purposes as counselors, nurses, health services, transportation, food service
and security. According to an analysis, the Houston Independent School
District wouldn't lose any money under that proposal, but a number of other
Houston-area districts would. Brad Shields, a former member of the Eanes
School Board in Austin and a lobbyist for several school districts of
above-average wealth, said the proposal would "wipe out" districts whose school
maintenance taxes are already at the state limit of $1.50 per $100 valuation.
"The decisions to hire these additional nurses and counselors were made by
locally elected school board members. That represents local control," Shields
said. Richard Kouri, a spokesman for the Texas State Teachers Association,
had a mixed reaction. He said the proposed bonuses would be welcome. "But
is it going in the right pocket and out the left pocket?" he asked, referring to
other legislative actions that would penalize teachers, such as cuts in health
insurance payments. Some of the sweeping changes in House Bill 2, which
are supported by Perry, would enhance the power of the governor. Among other
things, the governor would be given the authority to order the reorganization
and operation of every state agency not controlled by some other elected
official. In those cases, he could hire and fire agency heads, most of
whom are now hired by boards and commissions appointed by the governor.
The measure also would create the Texas Enterprise Fund, which Perry is seeking
as a source of funds for job training and other incentives to encourage
businesses to move to Texas. Some other changes in HB 2 would:
Consolidate several small regulatory agencies -- including the Funeral Services
Commission and boards regulating plumbers, barbers and cosmetologists -- into
the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Encourage the use of
more private prisons and create the Private Correctional Facilities Commission
to oversee contracts with private vendors. Require the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice to study administrative efficiencies, including the use of
inmate labor in construction projects. (Houston Chronicle)
Texas Department of
Criminal Justice
GEO Group, VitaPro
Texas
prison boom going bust: by Mitch Mitchell, September 3, 2011,
Star-Telegram. Expose on troubles facing many communities that bought into
the private prison bonding scam.
March 15, 2010 Grits for Breakfast
According to a new state auditor's report (pdf), the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice's "contracts with [private prison and treatment contractors] do
not consistently include the contract requirements necessary to assess the
quality of the services its providers deliver." Specifically, "The Department
did not consistently include in its contracts performance standards to help
ensure that the Department can hold its providers accountable for unacceptable
performance or contract non-compliance." Importantly, in a year when most of
Texas' private prison contracts are up for renewal and costs are likely to
increase, "The Department did not maintain documentation to justify its decision
to renew provider contracts." That seems like a pretty big deal, especially
since TDCJ responded that it agreed with the critique. Specifically, For the
contract renewals for 16 providers that auditors reviewed, the supporting
documentation showed that the Department based its contract renewal decisions on
management’s review and approval of the requests to renew a contract, and it did
not include specific information or factors related to a provider’s contract
compliance or performance history. ... The lack of established performance-based
criteria in the Department’s contract renewal process increases the risk that
the Department may renew a contract with a provider that is operating facilities
or programs with a history of poor performance. And since they didn't gather the
information in the first place, now that the contracts are up for renewal
there's no way to go back and fill that gap. It's also not clear, according to
the audit, who is overseeing which parts of these contracts at TDCJ and whether
their efforts are coordinated well enough: The Department did not clearly define
the roles and responsibilities of its three divisions that oversee providers
that operate substance abuse treatment programs. Although the [Private
Facilities Contract Monitoring and Oversight] Division is recognized by the
Department as the contract monitoring entity over substance abuse treatment
program providers, the Division’s role is limited to monitoring a provider’s
compliance to certain contract requirements. The Rehabilitation Programs
Division and the Parole Division are responsible for monitoring the quality of
the substance abuse treatment programs. However, the monitoring relationships
among the divisions are not defined and documented to ensure that the monitoring
activities are efficiently coordinated and communicated among the divisions.
That's too many cooks hovering over the stew pot, none of whom appear to be
engaging in data-driven analyses of contract compliance.
March 8, 2010 Grits For Breakfast
At a House Appropriations Committee meeting today, House Corrections Chairman
Jim McReynolds asked TDCJ chief Brad Livingston if private prison-contracts up
for renewal might increase their rates and increase costs for the state.
Livingston said that was possible, since contracts covering the 12,000 or so
private beds for which TDCJ contracts are 5-7 years old. Most of these are up
within the coming year and all new contracts should be negotiated by mid-2011.
Livingston said that in general, for every dollar increase in per-inmate costs
represented a $4.5 million cost increase to TDCJ. The committee was also told
that after the first two days, all health care costs for inmates at private
prisons are paid for by TDCJ. So the committee was cautioned against comparing
per-inmate costs between private units and TDCJ's state facilities because the
privates' costs per-inmate don't include healthcare costs.
May 5, 2009 Texas Prison Bidness
Amongst the interesting statistics in the Texas Senate Criminal Justice
Committee's interim report on private prisons (PDF), was the shocking statistic
that TDCJ-contracted private prisons have a 90% annual staff turnover rate. The
report also presented numbers on differences in guard pay between public and
private facilities. "The wages and benefits paid to employees of private
contractors are generally lower than that paid to employees of state-operated
facilities... Correctional officer salaries in the private prisons vary among
facilities, with the highest peaking at slightly more than $24,000 annually."
For comparison to this figure, TDCJ Director Brad Livingston told the Austin
American Statesman ("Big raises sought for prison workers," August 14) that
starting pay for correctional officers in public facilities is $26,016, and the
maximum salaries range from $34,624 to $42,242. This means the lowest-paid TDCJ
guard's annual salary is $2,000 more than the highest-paid guard at TDCJ-contracted
private prisons. This probably contributes to the high turnover at private
facilities noted in the report: During FY 2008 the correctional officer turnover
rate at the seven private prisons was 90 percent (60 percent for the five
privately-operated state jails), which in either case is higher than the 24
percent turnover rate for TDCJ correctional officers during FY 2008. It's hard
to understand how ANY organization can operate with 90% staff turnover.
December 5, 2007 Austin American Statesman
Gary Johnson, the former head of Texas’ prison system, has been hired as a
regional vice president for a Florida-based operator of private prisons that
became mired in controversy two months ago over conditions at a West Texas youth
lockup. Geo Group Inc. announced that Johnson will head its central region,
which includes Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana. The territory includes the
ill-fated Coke County Juvenile Justice Center, which made headlines in October
after Texas Youth Commission officials yanked more than 100 youths from the
lockup after alleging squalid conditions. Geo operates private prisons in
several states and in other countries. Johnson replaces Don Houston, who heads
to the firm’s Florida office. Its Texas office is in New Braunfels. Johnson, a
veteran corrections official, served as executive director of the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice from August 2001 until he retired in late 2004
after 28 years. He has since been a corrections management consultant based in
Austin. He could not immediately be reached for comment. His wife, Bonita White,
is director of the criminal justice agency’s Community Justice Assistance
Division. While Johnson was executive director, the agency signed five-year
contracts with Geo to house state prisoners at several lockups. He will oversee
the operation of those lockups in his new job at Geo.
September 9, 2005 Houston Chronicle
A federal judge has overturned the 4-year-old bribery convictions of a former
Texas prisons director and a Canadian businessman, ruling that the prosecution's
key witness lied to curry favor with a federal prosecutor in Louisiana. U.S.
District Judge Lynn Hughes late Thursday acquitted James "Andy" Collins, former
executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice; and Yank Barry,
owner of VitaPro, a company that made a soy-based meat alternative fed to
inmates. The judge ordered that should the U.S. Attorney's Office successfully
appeal his decision, Collins and Barry will get a new trial. Hughes' decision
comes four years after the pair's convictions because of delays in obtaining a
trial transcript so that the defense could file a motion seeking the acquittal.
The court reporter suffered a nervous breakdown and the transcript was filled
with errors, according to Hughes' opinion. A federal jury in August 2001, found
that Barry paid two $10,000 bribes to Collins in return for pushing a no-bid
contract with VitaPro to feed its product to Texas prisoners. The two were
convicted on bribery, conspiracy and money laundering charges. Hughes overturned
the convictions, ruling that the government's key witness, Patrick Graham, lied
during the trial to please then-Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Letten in the
Eastern District of Louisiana.
May 9, 2003
Rep. Ray Allen (R-Grand Prairie) and Scott Gilmore are inseparable. Not
only does Gilmore work as Allen's chief of staff but he is also policy director
for the House Corrections Committee of which the representative is chairman.
Together the two men are trying to expand the ability of private companies to
run Texas prisons. They are also busily pushing initiatives to increase
prison work programs. Among the contributors to Allen's campaign are
officials from the Corrections Corporation of America. CCA along with
Wackenhut Corporation stand to benefit from privatization, if by nothing else,
through an increase in stock prices fueled by speculation over the possibility
of future contracts. Allen and Gilmore are also business partners.
They work together in a company Allen founded called Service House, Inc.
The sole client of Service House, Inc. is the Correctional Industries
Association (CIA). The nonprofit trade association represents private
prison companies in their effort to encourage putting inmates to work. It
also represents companies that sell products to state prison systems. Two
of the corporate sponsors of the trade association are Wackenhut and CCA.
Allen's legislation would create a new 9-member commission under the governor's
office that would move toward privatizing half the state jail system, if the
for-profit companies could come up with at least 5 percent in savings.
Florida has tried a similar commission that has been wracked by scandal.
Initially, the corrections committee, in which Democrats dominate, was lukewarm
to privatization. No matter how much Allen crunched the numbers, the
promised savings just didn't seem to be materializing. Then a curious
thing appears to have occurred. Records indicate uberlobbyist Bill Messer
took on Corrections Corporation of America as a client midway through the
session. Messer, you may remember, was part of House Speaker Tom
Craddick's transition team. He also raised considerable sums for the
Midland Republican after he became Speaker. After Messer signed on with
CCA, the private prison initiative found a new home in a mammoth government
reform package called House Bill 2. (Texas Observer)
April 21, 2003
In the area of criminal justice, tight budgets can be both painful and
dangerous. Case in point: Facing a 7% immediate fiscal year agency budget
cut and 12.5% cut for the next biennium, two members of the House Corrections
Committee have filed bills that propose privatizing the entire state jail system
-- facilities that house the state's lowest level felony offenders.
Legislators are clearly focused on the prison industry's claims of "cost
savings: to the state through privatization -- a seductive notion coming from
the PR mouths of large corporations like Wackenhut or CCA, especially in
cash-strapped times. Three reports available for review at press time seem
resoundingly opposed to privatization -- even including that submitted by TDCJ,
which takes pains to avoid directly taking sides. "Let me give it to you
in a bumper sticker," said TDCJ spokesman Larry Todd, "you've got to compare
apples to apples and not apples to something else." Meredith Martin
Rountree, director of the ACLU's Prison and Jail Accountability Project, makes a
similar argument in her report. "Modern private prisons do not offer Texas
a cheaper, safer alternative to the publicly run facilities currently operated
by (TDCJ)," she writes. "On the contrary, recent history strongly suggests
that expanded reliance on private prisons will shift significant financial
obligations back onto Texas. Further," she continues, "delegating the
management of an entire division of TDCJ to private prison contractors threatens
to embroil TDCJ and Texas once again in litigation over how it treats prisoners,
just as Texas emerges from judicial oversight of its prison system."
Private prison corporations have not secured sterling reputations -- of which
Stick should be well aware. Under a subcontract with Travis Co., Wackenhut
Corrections Corporation assumed operations of the Travis Co. Criminal Justice
Complex and also ran operations of the jail from 1997-99. In 1999 the
relationship ended under a cloud of criminal allegations, including numerous
charges of sexual assault of inmates by guards -- a handful of the cases are
still pending in district court -- as well as allegations of misappropriation of
funds. Similar allegations have followed the corrections giants around the
country and across Texas, most notably in Wackenhut facilities in Harris Co. and
Caldwell Co., were a former inmate said she was repeatedly raped over a
four-month period by a guard. The well-publicized allegations of
corruption and abuse inside private prisons often come down to a single problem:
Private prisons are profit-driven. (Austin Chronicle)
November 19, 2002
With a new generation of leadership to take over in Austin, consumer advocates
are hitting the panic button about cadre of corporate lobbyists hitching a ride
into the halls of government. From the man who would be House speaker to
the governor and lieutenant governor, the state's newly elected top leaders have
tapped, or are expected to tap, lobbyists for insurance companies, utilities,
chemical makers, tobacco companies, drug makers and other corporate interests to
join transition teams, guide their policies and oversee their offices. In
stepped state Rep. Tom Craddick, R-Midland, who announced that he has the votes
to become the next speaker when members convene in January. Also on the
Craddick team is Bill Messer, a former Democratic House member whose clients
include State Farm Insurance, the Texas Chemical Council and the McDonald's
restaurant chain. Bill Messer. Experience: Former state
representative from Belton, 1979-86: chairman of calendars in the state House.
Lobby clients: Texas Chemical council; Atlantic Richfield, an oil and gas
company; CSC., a private company in the prison business; IBM; McDonald's; State
Farm Insurance. (Star-Telegram Austin Bureau)
September 11, 2002
A decade after embarking on a massive prison expansion that tripled the state's
inmate population, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice will ask the
Legislature next year to slash its budget by $44 million. "We really took
a hard look at the numbers and went over them with a very sharp pencil, and we
got the budget down as low as we could," Criminal Justice Board Chairman Mac
Stringfellow said Tuesday. "We think we found a level where we can operate
a safe and secure correctional system and hold down spending to the
minimum. In 1990, for instance, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's
operating budget, which doesn't include construction costs, was $793 million.
The budget had climbed to $1.7 billion by 1995 and to $2.24 billion by 1999.
Even with the tripling capacity, the state had to contract with numerous
counties, using their jails to handle the overflow. The state's contracts
with the counties reached $49 million in 2000. Spokesman Larry Todd said
the prison system was able to end the county contracts last month, which
accounts for a substantial part of the proposed budget cutback.
(Star-Telegram Austin Bureau)
August 21, 2001
Former Texas prisons chief James A. "Andy" Collins and the president of a
Canadian company that makes the meat substitute VitaPro were found guilty Monday
of federal charges stemming from a kickback scheme in 1995 to distribute the
product to state inmates. Collins and Yank Barry, president of VitPro
Foods Inc. in Montreal, will be sentenced Nov. 19. Both face up to 70
years in prison and fines of up to $2 million if given the maximum sentences for
their convictions on bribery, fraud, money laundering and conspiracy charges.
Collins, who was forced out as executive director of the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice in December 1995 before the VitaPro scandal broke early the
next year, declined to comment. Jurors determined that Collins took
$20,000 in bribes to push through a five-year, $33.7 million contract to feed
VitaPro to Texas inmates and to market it elsewhere. Collins ordered his
staff to finalize the contract two days before announcing his forced resignation
in September 1995. "He traded and swapped his position of influence for
money," Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Frels told jurors before
deliberations began. Collins was forced out when Texas officials learned
that while he was still head of the prison system, he agreed to run a private
juvenile prison in Louisiana after retirement. (AP)
August 16, 2001
Former world
heavyweight boxing champ Muhammad Ali was back in a Houston federal courthouse
Thursday, the same place
where he was convicted of draft-dodging in 1967.
But this time he was in a courtroom under different circumstances, to show
support for a Canadian businessman accused of
bribing a Texas prison official.
Jurors were agape when they filed into the courtroom after an afternoon break.
"The Greatest" was standing in the gallery.
Some gasped, many craned their necks, some openly gawked.
A juror leaned over to another and said in a loud whisper, "That's Muhammad
Ali."
Defense attorneys got the reaction they had hoped for.
Ali is a longtime friend of Yank Barry, president of the Montreal-based VitaPro
Foods Inc., manufacturer of a soy-based meat
substitute.
Barry is accused of bribing former prisons executive director James A. "Andy"
Collins in exchange for securing a five-year,
multimillion-dollar state prisons contract for VitaPro.
Collins and Barry are on trial
on federal bribery and
conspiracy charges.
Prosecutors have suggested that Barry lied about his relationship with the
likes of Ali and other celebrities while soliciting
business from potential VitaPro customers.
But Barry's attorney says Barry and Ali have been close friends since they met
in 1963 or 1964, when Barry was touring the
country as a musician. Ali is now a spokesman for VitaPro and Global
Village Market, a VitaPro Foods spinoff that provides free meals and medical
supplies to charities around the world. (Houston Chronicle)
August 16, 2001
James A. (Andy) Collins, former Texas prison chief who is on trial in Houston on
federal bribery and money-laundering charges, said he had two major objectives
when running one of the world's largest prison systems: Ensure public safety and
save money. During his tenure as executive director of the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice in 1994-95, he thought a Canadian-made meat
substitute would help him meet the second objective. "It was a real
program that we had a great deal of faith in," he testified Wednesday of what
turned into a five-year, $33.7-million contract between Texas and Montreal-based
VitaPro Foods Inc. to feed the soy-based nutrient to inmates and market it to
prisons and other entities in other states. But VitaPro proved unpopular
among inmates and prison staff. Collins retired from the state at the request of
his superiors in December 1995 when they learned that while still at the top
post for Texas prisons, Collins had agreed to run a juvenile prison in Louisiana
after he retired. Collins, 50, now a credit manager for a concrete company in
Austin, is charged with bribery, fraud, conspiracy and money laundering in what
federal prosecutors call a scheme to accept $20,000 in kickbacks for pushing
through the VitaPro contract and work as a marketing consultant for the meat
substitute company after his retirement. Prosecutors say Collins created a
shell consulting company to accept the money from VitaPro president Yank Barry
in exchange for the multimillion-dollar contract. Barry is being tried on the
same charges. (CBC)
August 8, 2001
A federal jury will decide whether a former Texas prison chief took kickbacks in
a scheme to distribute a soy-based meat substitute in state lockups or simply
accepted consulting fees on the eve of his post-corrections career.
"You're about to hear the story of a man who worked his way up to to be
executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice," said federal
prosecutor Gary Cobe, referring to Andy Collins, as he addressed the jury on
Tuesday, the first day of the trial. "And then, through greed, he threw it
all away because he decided to start lining his own pockets." (AP)
August 7, 2001
The main course at an Austin taste-testing buffet organized by Texas prison
officials was something called VitaPro. It was January 1995, and prison
administrators saw the soy-based meat substitute made in Canada and fed to Texas
inmates as a cheap food source and a cash cow if they could persuade managers of
other jails and prison systems to buy the granular pebbles, which would be
distributed exclusively by Texas. VitaPro is long gone from Texas, but the
indigestion lingers. Today, Andy Collins, the former executive director of the
Texas Department of Criminal Justice, is set to go on trial in federal court on
bribery, fraud, conspiracy and money laundering charges related to a $33.7
million contract for VitaPro. Also being tried with Collins on the same charges
is Yank Barry, president of VitaPro Foods Inc. of Montreal, manufacturer of the
meat substitute. Barry is an ex-con who did time for extortion and conspiracy
under his given name of Gerald Barry Falovitch. (AP)
Texson Management Group
August 2000
Up to $ 1 million in bond money may be missing and city cancels contract.
Investigation is under way. (The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, August 1, 2, 7,
2000)
Tom DeLay
Sugar Land, Texas
CCA, Cornell
September 29, 2005 Star-Telegram
In a move denounced as a political witchhunt, Rep. Tom DeLay was indicted
Wednesday with two associates on a felony charge of conspiring to circumvent
Texas' prohibition of corporate campaign donations to secure the Republican
takeover of the Texas House in 2002. Shortly after Travis County District
Attorney Ronnie Earle announced the indictment, the Republican congressman from
Sugar Land resigned his powerful majority leader post in Washington, at least
temporarily. DeLay, 58, is accused of conspiring with two associates to convert
$190,000 in donations from several corporations into campaign contributions on
behalf of seven Republican candidates who were involved in what many had
believed would be close contests for seats in the Texas House.
September 28, 2005 Bloomberg
U.S. Representative Tom DeLay, the No. 2 Republican in the House, was indicted
by a Texas grand jury for criminal conspiracy in connection with illegal
corporate political donations, prompting him to give up his leadership post. Two
former campaign aides, John Colyandro and Jim Ellis, were also charged with
conspiracy by the state grand jury in Travis County, according to the
single-count indictment. The charge stems from an investigation into alleged use
of illegal corporate contributions by DeLay's political action committee, Texans
for a Republican Majority, in the 2002 races for the state House of
Representatives. The four-page indictment charges that DeLay conspired with
Ellis and Colyandro to use donations from companies including Williams Companies
Inc. and Sears, Roebuck and Co., now Sears Holdings Corp., to help finance the
election campaigns of seven members of the Texas House in 2002. Under Texas law,
corporations aren't permitted to donate to candidates. Other companies named,
but like Williams and Sears, not charged in the indictment were Diversified
Collections Services Inc., Cornell Companies Inc., Bacardi U.S.A. Inc. and
Questerra Corp.
September 13, 2005 American-Statesman
A Travis County grand jury today added new felony charges against two officials
with Texans for a Republican Majority who first were indicted last fall. The
grand jury re-indicted political consultants John Colyandro and Jim Ellis on
first-degree felony charges that the two laundered a $190,000 corporate check
into campaign donations during the 2002 elections. It added lesser felony
charges of unlawfully making a contribution to a political party and criminal
conspiracy involving the $190,000 transaction. Just weeks before the 2002
election, Colyandro, who was executive director of the political committee
created by U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, sent a blank
check to his counterpart, Ellis, in Washington.
September 9, 2005 Houston Chronicle
A
Travis
County
grand jury indicted a business organization and a political committee founded
by U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay on Thursday on felony charges of
violating election laws by using corporate money to influence state elections.
The indictments accuse the DeLay-founded Texans for a Republican Majority
Political Action Committee of two counts of illegally soliciting corporate money
for political campaigns. The indictment of TRMPAC is significant because it
reflects on DeLay's role in overseeing the committee. DeLay served on its board
of advisers and helped raise some of the corporate money at the core of the
controversy.
Texas
election law prohibits the use of corporate or labor-union money to influence
races for elective office. TRMPAC could face a fine of up to $40,000, but the
committee filed articles of dissolution with the Texas Ethics Commission in
July. Earle said the dissolution does not matter because TRMPAC's management or
board of advisers can be held liable for its criminal conduct.
August 9, 2005 Houston Chronicle
A state district judge refused Tuesday to dismiss charges of
money laundering and accepting illegal political contributions against two
associates of U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land. Judge Bob
Perkins denied arguments from John Colyandro and Jim Ellis that the charges were
based on an unconstitutionally vague law and that the indictments were
improperly worded. Lawyers for Colyandro, who worked for DeLay's fundraising
committee Texans for a Republican Majority, and Jim Ellis, who worked for
Americans for a Republican Majority, have said they will appeal, likely delaying
any trial for at least several months. The charges stem from the 2002 Texas
legislative elections. The money-laundering charges are based on $190,000 in
corporate money that was sent to the Republican National State Elections
Committee.
July 13, 2005 Houston Chronicle
A state district judge declined Tuesday to dismiss charges of accepting illegal
political contributions against an associate of U.S. House Majority Leader Tom
DeLay.
Lawyers for John Colyandro, who worked for DeLay's fund-raising committee
Texans for a Republican Majority, had claimed that the indictment against him
was based on an unconstitutionally vague law. Judge Bob Perkins also
declined to dismiss a charge of money laundering against Colyandro, although
that issue remains technically alive. The charges stem from the 2002 Texas
legislative elections.
The money-laundering charges are related to $190,000 in corporate money
sent to the Republican National State Elections Committee.
The committee then gave the same amount to seven Texas House candidates.
May 27, 2005 Star-Telegram
A fund-raising operation founded by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay broke the
law when its treasurer failed to report more than $500,000 in corporate money
funneled into Texas campaigns during the pivotal 2002 elections, a judge ruled
Thursday. Texas District Judge Joseph Hart ruled that the treasurer, Bill
Ceverha, must pay five Democratic candidates who lost their elections a combined
$196,660 in damages. It was the first time -- amid a flood of lawsuits and
criminal investigations surrounding the Republican Party's rapid rise to power
in Texas -- that part of the GOP's aggressive fund-raising operation has been
found illegal. Hart's decision, which came in a lawsuit brought by the
Democratic candidates, added quickly to the pressure mounting against DeLay, the
Sugar Land Republican who has been under siege for ethics issues and questions
about his relationships with lobbyists.
April 21, 2005 New York Times
A children's charity established by Tom DeLay, the House majority leader,
has been underwritten by several of the nation's largest companies and their
executives, including companies that routinely lobby lawmakers on issues before
Congress, according to a review of charity records released by the companies and
other documents. The 19-year-old charity, the DeLay Foundation for Kids, has
consistently declined to identify its donors, citing their desire for privacy.
But a review of corporate and charitable records shows that recent donors have
included AT&T, the Corrections Corporation of America, Exxon Mobil, Limited
Brands and the Southern Company, as well as Bill and Melinda Gates, the
Microsoft founder and his wife, and Michael Dell of Dell computers. The Gates
and Dell family foundations have donated at least $350,000 to Mr. DeLay's
charity since 2001. Among the largest corporate gifts was a $100,000 check given
to Mr. DeLay last year by the Corrections Corporation of Nashville, which
manages federal prisons. AT&T and Exxon Mobil say they have each donated
$50,000.
April 15, 2005 Salon
"The time has come that the American people know exactly what their
representatives are doing here in Washington. Are they feeding at the public
trough, taking lobbyist-paid vacations, getting wined and dined by
special-interest groups? Or are they working hard to represent their
constituents? The people, the American people, have a right to know. I say the
best disinfectant is full disclosure." That populist polemic was delivered on
the House floor in November 1995 by well-known reformer Tom DeLay, R-Texas. Now
nationally notorious for his own lobbyist-paid luxury trips to Scotland, Russia
and South Korea, among other places, where he has been wined and dined by a
bewildering variety of special-interest groups, the House majority leader is no
longer quite so strict about full disclosure, either. Even the trait often
described as his most admirable -- his concern for abused children -- has been
tainted by his penchant for backroom influence peddling. Last year, DeLay was
forced to cancel an ambitious series of charitable events to be held at the
Republican Convention in New York, following a blast of public criticism over
the grossness of the solicitations sent out to lobbyists and corporate donors.
For donations ranging between $10,000 and $500,000, these potential benefactors
of abused children were to be feted at an exclusive Long Island golf club, as
well as provided with a yacht cruise, a VIP suite at the convention, and a
special suite for viewing the president's acceptance speech. As the Houston
Chronicle noted sourly at the time, the 13-page promotional brochure "had
exactly one sentence mentioning abused and neglected children." While that
venture was abruptly canceled, DeLay hasn't stopped soliciting corporate
interests to raise funds for his charity -- and himself -- at venues around the
country. These events aren't publicized and in fact are rarely reported. Last
August, for example, DeLay appeared at a luncheon in Lexington, Ky., hosted by
Rep. Hal Rodgers, R-Ky., at which donors coughed up money for the DeLay legal
defense fund, but this event wasn't reported in the local press until four
months later. Among those attending the Lexington luncheon was an executive of
the Corrections Corporation of America, who handed the majority leader a
$100,000 check made out to the DeLay Foundation for Kids. As the largest private
prison contractor in America, CCA relies on the federal government to fill its
prisons and its coffers, and is seeking to privatize the prison system in Texas,
where DeLay has a bit of influence, too. A spokeswoman for the company told the
Lexington Herald-Leader that CCA gives to charities and politicians alike
without any expectation of favors in return. In fact, those present at the DeLay
luncheon were reportedly emotionally moved to see that big check being handed
over.
March 16, 2005 The Free Press
Some civilians believe the definition of an honest Texas pol is one who stays
bought. But among pols of the old school, the saying was, "If you can't take
their money, drink their whiskey, screw their women and vote against 'em anyway,
you don't belong in the Legislature." Many of our pols have the ethical
sensitivity of a walnut. All this has led many to conclude erroneously that Tom
DeLay, an alumnus of the Texas Legislature, is somehow our fault. I grant you a
certain resemblance to some of our more notorious standards: "Everybody does it"
and "They did it first" are actually considered excuses here. But I
categorically reject cultural responsibility for Tom DeLay. Real Texas
politicians are neither hypocritical nor sanctimonious. A pol does what he must
-- fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly -- but no pol of the Old School, when DeLay
served in the Lege, would add self-righteousness to shady dealing. Doing favors
for big campaign donors may indeed be an "everybody does it," but when those
favors take the form of laws that directly hurt your people, you're supposed to
draw the line. Over the line is where Texas pols would put using a children's
charity as a cover for collecting soft money from special interest groups and
then spending it on dinners, a golf tournament, a rock concert, Broadway tickets
and so forth. Because the money was supposedly for a charity, Celebrations for
Children, Inc., special interests who wanted favors from DeLay were able to give
him money without revealing themselves as campaign donors. Cute trick, Tom, but
a really cruddy thing to do. In another example of ethical rot, DeLay took a
$100,000 check from the Corrections Corporation of America, a company that runs
private prisons in Texas and has a 20-year history that includes mismanagement
and abuse. CCA wants the Texas Lege, over which DeLay exercises considerable
sway because he's a money conduit, to privatize the prisons. And that check?
Made out to DeLay's children's charity, the DeLay Foundation for Kids. Barf.
December 13,
2004 Newsweek
Faced with mounting lawyers' bills to fend off ethics complaints and a
grand-jury probe in Texas, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is increasing efforts
to raise money for his legal-defense fund. But DeLay, who has raked in more than
$400,000 for the fund since last July, could face new questions over how he's
raised the cash in the past.
In addition, the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader last week reported that, while
attending a fund-raiser for DeLay's legal fund last August, the head of a
private prison firm handed DeLay a $100,000 check for a foundation he operates
for abused children.
December 1,
2004 Democrats.org
House Republican leader Tom Delay, after being shielded from losing his
leadership position upon indictment by a grand jury, is yet again pushing the
ethical envelope. Recently, Delay took a check for $100,000 for his charity from
Corrections Corporation of America, a private prison company that was looking to
add to its list of government prison contracts.
So Delay's ethical problems cost him a sizable amount of money in legal bills,
then House Republicans changed their ethics rules so that he could stay in the
leadership even if indicted on criminal charges, then those same House
Republicans helped organize a fundraiser to help him pay for his bills, then at
the fundraiser he took a check for $100,000 from a company looking for federal
prison contracts and yet, the Republicans still want this man as their leader?
December 1,
2004 Star Telegram
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, whose aggressive campaign fund raising
is the subject of a Texas grand jury investigation, took a $100,000 check from a
private prison company at a Lexington fund-raiser in August for a charity he
operates. DeLay, R-Sugar Land, has refused to identify donors to his nonprofit
DeLay Foundation for Kids, despite calls for disclosure from government-ethics
groups that criticize anonymous, unlimited gifts to the charities of powerful
members of Congress.
However, Corrections Corporation of America confirmed last week that its
chief executive officer, John Ferguson, traveled to Lexington to present
$100,000 to DeLay's charity.
"We absolutely get no favors in return, and we expect no favors in return,"
Louise Chickering said. Ferguson announced the $100,000 gift before scores of
guests at a fund-raising luncheon for DeLay's legal defense fund, organized by
Rep. Hal Rogers, Kentucky's senior congressman. Through its
political-action committee, CCA contributed nearly $180,000 for federal races
during the 2004 elections. DeLay and Rogers took at least $4,500 and $6,000,
respectively, from CCA for their campaigns or their "leadership PACs," used to
help their colleagues' campaigns. Calls
to Rogers' congressional office were not returned this week.
"These political foundations have become methods for well-heeled
corporate executives, lobbyists and others to purchase influence and face time
with top politicians, and without the limits or disclosure required of campaign
donations or lobbying," said Rick Cohen, executive director of the National
Committee for Responsive Philanthropy.
October 22, 2004 AP
Two associates of U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay who have been indicted
for alleged campaign finance violations will be allowed to put off answering a
civil lawsuit until their criminal charges have been resolved.
State District Judge Joe Hart on Thursday postponed a civil lawsuit
against John Colyandro and Jim Ellis, who were charged last month with
laundering corporate donations during the 2002 elections.
September 22, 2004 AP
The money laundering allegation in a congressional ethics complaint filed
against House Majority Leader Tom DeLay involves the same $190,000 in political
contributions that led to indictments of the Texas congressman's aides on
similar charges. DeLay is accused in an ethics complaint of misusing the Texans
for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee to launder $190,000 in
illegal corporate contributions through the Republican National Committee for
use in Texas legislative races. On Tuesday, a grand jury in Texas indicted Jim
Ellis, a paid consultant to Texans for a Republican Majority, and John
Colyandro, former executive director of the Texas committee, on money laundering
charges involving the same $190,000 check. A third aide was indicted on separate
charges. The indictments allege that on Sept. 13, 2002, Ellis delivered a check
for $190,000 to the Republican National Committee. The check was signed by
Colyandro and made out to the Republican National State Elections Committee.
Accompanying it was a list of several GOP Texas legislative candidates and the
amount of money that each should get from the RNC, according to the indictment.
The indictments said the $190,000 came from corporate contributions to Texans
for A Republican Majority. Givers included Diversified Collection Services Inc.,
$50,000; Sears, Roebuck and Co., $25,000; Williams Companies Inc., $25,000;
Cornell Companies, $10,000, Bacardi USA, $20,000 and Questerra Corp., $25,000,
the indictments said. They did not account for the remaining contributions. The
Republican National State Elections Committee subsequently wrote checks totaling
$190,000 to seven Texas candidates, the indictment alleges.
Texas law prohibits the use of corporate money for direct political purposes.
Travis County Community
Justice Center
Austin, Texas
GEO Group (formerly known as Wackenhut Corrections)
June 28, 2005 American-Statesman
Travis County plans to send 100 inmates to a jail near San Antonio that,
although recently upgraded, has been cited for violating state rules and
recently lost a federal contract after five inmates escaped in broad daylight.
Travis is moving the inmates to ease crowding in the county jail system. The
inmates are being sent to the Frio County Detention Facility in Pearsall. The
391-bed, privately managed facility has the room Travis County was looking for
and will take inmates at less cost than the other available jail, in Limestone
County. But the space in Frio County is available almost one year after the U.S.
Marshals Service removed 240 federal inmates because five of their prisoners
escaped in August 2004. A surprise inspection by the Texas Commission on Jail
Standards in July 2004 resulted in citations for understaffing and crowding,
including housing inmates in a classroom. Federal officials also were
concerned last year that prisoners were not properly monitored, said Gary Brown,
an assistant chief deputy for the U.S. marshals' western Texas division.
The August escape was at least the fifth in the nine years, according to state
and federal records.
Tavis County Judge Sam Biscoe and Commissioner Gerald Daugherty said they
hadn't heard about Frio County's troubles. Daugherty said he's asked the Travis
County sheriff's office to give the commissioners a detailed rundown of Frio's
recent history. "I fully expect that when something like this goes before
the commissioners, these traps have been sprung," Daugherty said. "If we think
Frio County hasn't cleaned their act up, then we have to really think about
whether we should be sending our inmates there."
February 13,
2003
Eight years
after
Texas
finished the biggest prison building boom in its history, the state's
cellblocks are virtually full again.
Now, the Legislature again is looking for options, hoping to avert another
crisis in its $2.5 billion-a-year prison system without adding to a state budget
shortfall estimated at $9.9 billion over the next 2 1/2 years.
* Privatizing. Private companies can house a prisoner for about $35 a
day, compared with $44 a day for state-run prisons, said Larry Todd, a spokesman
for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Rep. Terry Keel, R-Austin, the chairman of the House Criminal
Jurisprudence Committee, is leery of giving more business to the private sector.
Keel said he's willing to look at the idea, but "it was a dismal failure here."
At the
Travis
County
Community Justice
Center
, a state jail in
East Austin
that had been run by Wackenhut Corrections Corp., 12 employees were indicted in
1999 on charges of harassing and sexually abusing prisoners. Many were later
acquitted. Soon after, the state
took over the jail's operations, terminating Wackenhut's contract.
(American-Statesman)
September 9, 1999
The state of Texas retook control of this prison. 11 former guards and a case
manager were indicted on criminal sex charges. They are charged with felony
charges of sexual assault and improper sexual activity as well as misdemeanor
charges of sexual harassment. The state is also investigating fraud.
University of Texas
Lehman Brothers
October 26, 2002
Kevin Pranis and May
Va Lor of the Not With Our Money! campaign criticized
private prisons Wednesday for profiting from a new wave of immigrant
imprisonment spurred by the attacks of last September.
In the presentation at the University Teaching Center, titled "Immigrants
on
Lockdown," Pranis told an audience of about 50 students that undocumented
immigrants of Middle Eastern descent are targeted for incarceration in
order
to increase profit for private prisons.
"A corporation is profiting off of the incarceration of immigrants," said
Tracy Thottam, a communication sciences and disorders graduate student and
member of the Asian American Relations Group, which co-sponsored the
presentation with the Campus Greens. "They can claim that they are
fighting
the war on terrorism and that they are helping their country, but they are
really helping their business."
Pranis and Lor also presented the message that students in the United
States
should tell their universities to stop giving bond business to Lehman
Brothers, an institutional-investment bank, until the company stops
funding
private prisons.
Bob Libal, a communication studies senior and a member of the Campus
Greens,
said the presentation marked the start of a campaign to pressure UT System
officials to refuse to do business with Lehman Brothers if they are
helping
fund private prisons, similar to the campaign against Sodexho Marriott.
(Daily Texan Staff)
United States
Immigration Detention Center
Burns International
Bayview, Texas
October 17, 2001
After trying to take their case to court for nine years, four former guards have
appealed a lawsuit that charges women were sexually assaulted at the U.S.
Immigration Detention Center near Bayview. Officials at United
International Investigative Services, a security firm that hired guards for the
INS facility, did not respond to a message requesting comment. In August
1992, the former guards charged they lost their jobs after reporting female
guards and detainees were sexually abused inside the U.S. Immigration and
Naturalization Service's largest detention center. In 1998, the former
guards settled out of court with Burns International, one of the security firms
that hired guards for INS facility. When the former guards included the
INS in the lawsuit, the case moved to federal court. (Valley Morning
Star
Valley Transitional TC
Weslaco, Texas
Texson MG
October 12, 2000
Weslaco won another round in its fight to keep a controversial halfway house
closed. The Texas Supreme Court refused to consider an appeal by Texson that
claimed the city acted improperly when it shut down the residential treatment
center last year. (Valley Morning Star, Oct.13, 2000)
September 1999
Hidalgo County state district Judge Aparicio issued an injunction closing the
treatment center. City officials revoked a special zoning permit after finding
that up to one-third of the residents were registered sex offenders. (Valley
Morning Star, Oct.13, 2000)
Val Verde County Correctional Facility and
Jail
Del Rio, Texas
GEO Group (formerly Wackenhut Corrections)
April 19, 2012 San Antonio Express-News
A former guard at a privately run jail in Del Rio has been indicted on
charges of providing contraband — a cell phone and marijuana — to an inmate.
Isau Juarez, 20, was arrested Thursday in San Antonio. The indictment by a grand
jury in Del Rio said Juarez provided the items to an inmate identified only as
B.H. at the Val Verde Correctional Facility, which is run by Florida-based The
GEO Group. The indictment said Juarez smuggled the cell phone on Dec. 19, 2011,
and the drugs on Aug. 11, 2011 and Feb. 13, 2012. If convicted, Juarez faces up
to five years in prison.
June 19, 2009 Del Rio News-Herald
A variance will be sought for a “pretty minor” issue that arose during the
county jail's latest audit by the state jail commission, the warden of the
facility told county commissioners court this week. Warden John Campbell, who
runs the Val Verde Correctional Facility for The GEO Group, during Monday's
meeting of the Val Verde County Commissioners Court asked the court to schedule
a special meeting to allow him to request the variance from the Texas Commission
on Jail Standards. Campbell discussed the reasons behind his request during the
“Citizen Comments” portion of the commissioners court agenda. “Previous jail
commission administration had given the facility an option as to how to house
prisoners out there and legislatively, any facility that houses strictly federal
prisoners does not fall under jail commission standards. So back in '04 and '05,
when we had just a tremendous amount of inmates in the facility, we were
notifying the jail commission on why we had so many prisoners; we were
overcrowded. And the jail commission itself, Terry Julian, who was the director
of the jail commission at that time, told us in order to be able to meet the
needs of the federal government in housing these prisoners, to take all the
county prisoners and put them in the old existing county jail,” Campbell told
the court. Campbell added, “That way the new facility would only have federal
prisoners and would not fall under jail commission standards.” “We operated that
way for several years and without any problems passed all our audits with flying
colors, which we still continue to do to this day, except for one small issue.
The head of the jail commission changed, and during the change, the philosophy
changed, whereas we couldn't separate the facility any longer, and when that
happened, we had added some beds in certain parts of the facility in order to
house additional prisoners and they came in here this year and told us we had to
take those beds out and they didn't pass us on the audit, just strictly for
those reasons,” Campbell said. “Now I'm here to report to you; those beds have
been removed, and it's been reported to the jail commission. There's still one
other issue, though. With the addition of the new beds, the jail commission
requires that you have10 percent of your beds be single-cell and we don't meet
that because when we added the new beds, those that we added to weren't under
jail commission standards.” It is that 10 percent requirement, Campbell said,
for which the variance will be requested from the state. Campbell also told the
court that despite the finding, the Val Verde Correctional Facility is still
ranked as one of the top five jails in the state of Texas. “I'm just letting you
all know that I'll be coming to you to see if we can get a special session
together in the next couple of weeks cause we need to get this variance in
before the August meeting of the jail commission, so the sheriff and I can go up
there and get that done,” Campbell said.
May 20, 2009 Del Rio News-Herald
Two former jailers recently became guests of the facility where they once
worked, after one of them was arrested for burglarizing the home of a friend and
the other allegedly tried to smuggle a bottle of cheap wine and love letters to
an inmate. Cristela Ramirez, 20, no address available, was arrested following an
indictment on a charge of burglary of a habitation, and Bertha Alicia Martinez,
25, Lot 10 Cerezo St., was arrested on a felony charge of prohibited substances
and items in an adult or juvenile correctional or detention facility,
investigators with the Val Verde County Sheriff’s Office said. Ramirez was
arrested and indicted as the result of an investigation by the Del Rio Police
Department, said the VVSO’s Lt. Larry Pope. DRPD Sgt. John Kirtley said the case
against Ramirez stemmed from a November 2006 burglary of an apartment in a
complex in the 100 block of Rockwell Way near Del Rio High School. Kirtley said
Ramirez is alleged to have taken a camera and other items from another apartment
in the same complex. Pope said Ramirez was indicted on the burglary charge by
the grand jury in January 2007 and had been employed as a jailer by The GEO
Group for two months as a detention officer. Pope said Martinez was arrested
following an investigation by the sheriff’s office. Working on information, VVSO
Sgt. James “Mac” McGonagill, Pope and Mark Scott, assistant warden for The GEO
Group, established surveillance outside the jail about 11:30 p.m. Mary 12.
McGonagill, inside a vehicle in the jail parking lot, saw Martinez drive into
the parking lot, get out of her vehicle and carry something to the perimeter of
the fence around a section of the jail known as Area 6. “He also observed her
bend down and appear to shove something under the fence,” Pope said. McGonagill
followed Martinez after she got back into her vehicle and left the jail parking
lot and called Pope and Scott to report what he had seen. Pope said he and Scott
checked the fence and found a 750 milliliter bottle of MD 20/20 with two love
letters taped to it and addressed to an inmate in the jail. McGonagill stopped
Martinez’s vehicle on Gregory Drive, arrested her and brought her back to Pope’s
office for an interview. “She stated that she met the inmate while he was
incarcerated in the county jail and she was employed there as a guard,” Pope
said. “She said she had previously smuggled a photo of herself to the inmate and
that she had spoken to him on the telephone and that he had asked her to put the
bottle of wine under the fence.” Pope said Martinez resigned from her job at the
jail last November after she was discovered passing a personal note to the
inmate.
November 14, 2008 Del Rio News-Herald
A former jailer was sentenced Wednesday to 16 months in federal prison for
violating the civil rights of an inmate at the Val Verde County Detention Center
and for obstructing the subsequent investigation. U.S. District Judge Alia Moses
Ludlum ordered that Emmanuel Cassio, 20, whose residence address at the time of
his arrest was listed as Lot 6, Margo Drive, serve 10 months for the offense of
deprivation of rights under color of law and six months for the offense of
hindering communication of information relating to federal offense. Ludlum
during the sentencing hearing Wednesday also ordered that Cassio serve the two
sentences consecutively, according to a press release issued Thursday by the
U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Antonio. Ludlum also ordered that Cassio be fined
$3,000 and be placed on a supervised release period for three yearsafter
completing his term in federal prison, the press release noted. Cassio was
employed as a jailer at the Val Verde Cunty Detention Center, which is operated
by The GEO Group, a private company, under a contract with Val Verde County,
from late April 2006 until he was fired in late November 2006, Val Verde County
Detention Center Warden John Campbell told the Del Rio News-Herald in a previous
interview. Cassio pleaded guilty to the two charges on April 30, 2008. “Cassio
admitted that on Oct. 31, 2006, while working as a corrections officer at the
Val Verde County Detention Center, he used unreasonable force when he repeatedly
punched an inmate without provocation,” the press release from the U.S.
Attorney’s Office noted. “Cassio agreed that his assault violated the inmate’s
constitutional right to be free of unreasonable force by law enforcement
officers. Additionally, Cassio admitted that he obstructed justice when he
provided false information about the incident to investigators,” the press
release read. Val Verde County Sheriff’s Office investigators, who initiated an
investigation of the allegations against Cassio at the request of Campbell and
Val Verde County Sheriff A. D’Wayne Jernigan, said Cassio walked into a cell and
“struck an inmate with his fist.” “The inmate then made a remark and the jailer
returned and hit him again. This incident was witnessed by another jailer who
reported it to jail administration. Warden Campbell immediately notified Sheriff
Jernigan and requested an investigation,” said VVSO Lt. Larry Pope, head of the
sheriff’s office criminal investigations division and who attended Wednesday’s
sentencing of Cassio in federal court here.
March 25, 2008 Del Rio News-Herald
A jailer at the Val Verde Correctional Facility was arrested Friday for
allegedly bringing marijuana into the jail for an inmate or inmates in the
facility. Jose Alberto Ybarra, 20, 102 Gilchrist Lane, was arrested Friday and
charged with the offense of prohibited substances and items in adult or juvenile
correctional or detention facility or on property of Texas Department of
Criminal Justice or Texas Youth Commission, said Val Verde County Sheriff’s
Office Lt. Larry Pope, who heads the VVSO’s criminal investigations division.
Pope said Val Verde County Sheriff A. D’Wayne Jernigan Friday asked him to meet
with John Campbell, warden of The GEO Group’s Val Verde Correctional Facility,
about Ybarra. “The warden suspected a jailer of bringing (marijuana) into the
jail,” Pope said. “We set up a surveillance and when the suspect jailer arrived
at work Friday, he was stopped and escorted into a conference room.” Pope said
Ybarra was found to be carrying 1.1 ounces of marijuana concealed in the
rolled-up cuff of his left shirtsleeve. Pope said Ybarra was also carrying four
$50 bills. “He later admitted that this is what he was being paid to deliver the
marijuana,” Pope said. The sheriff’s office investigator noted that Ybarra said
he was paid the $200 to deliver the marijuana to an inmate tank in the Val Verde
Correctional Facility that houses suspected members of the Mexican Mafia prison
gang. Pope said Ybarra had access to the tank in the course of his work as a
jailer employed by The GEO Group Inc. Pope said Ybarra has worked for the jail
since October 2007. “During the course of the interview, the subject also
admitted that he has done this at least once before in the past,” Pope said. He
said the charge against Ybarra is a third-degree felony.
December 28, 2007 AP
Fifty-five Idaho inmates who were moved out of a troubled Texas prison
on Thursday have been forced by a contract delay to make a temporary
stop before going to their final destination, a lockup near the Mexican
border. More than 500 Idaho prisoners are in Texas and Oklahoma due to
overcrowding at home. The prisoners being moved are bound for the Val
Verde Correctional Facility in Del Rio, Texas, after more than a year at
the Dickens County Correctional Center in Spur, Texas, where one Idaho
inmate killed himself in March. Because a Texas county official has yet
to approve the contract to house Idaho prisoners at Val Verde, they have
first been sent 100 miles away to the Bill Clayton Detention Center in
Littlefield, Texas. There, they will sleep in groups of up to 10 men on
makeshift cots in day rooms until resolution of the contract allows them
to complete the final 250-mile leg of their journey to Val Verde
sometime in early January. The inmates "were a bit dubious and
questionable about that," said Randy Blades, the warden in Boise who
oversees Idaho's out-of-state prisoners. That's one reason why his
agency has sent two officers to make sure the move runs smoothly, Blades
said. Both the Dickens and Val Verde prisons are run by private operator
GEO Group Inc., based in Boca Raton, Florida. Pablo Paez, a spokesman
for GEO, didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. GEO no
longer has the contract to manage the Dickens facility after Tuesday.
Because Idaho recently rejected an offer from the new company that will
run Dickens, GEO on Thursday had to move the Idaho inmates to temporary
quarters in Littlefield. Though Idaho officials thought details of the
move to Val Verde had been resolved, Department of Correction Director
Brent Reinke said he learned only last week that a Texas county judge
wanted a lawyer to look at the contract one last time. "It was something
we did not anticipate," Reinke said. "GEO is paying the transport
costs." This is just the latest uprooting of Idaho inmates since they
were first shipped out of state in 2005. Since then, they have bounced
from prison to prison in Minnesota and Texas amid allegations of abusive
treatment. There also has been the criminal conviction of at least one
Texas guard for passing contraband to inmates; at least two escapes; and
the death of Scot Noble Payne, a convicted sex offender who slashed his
throat last March in a solitary cell at Dickens County. Idaho officials
who investigated concluded the GEO-run prison was filthy and the worst
they had seen. As a result, about 70 Idaho inmates were moved from
Dickens to Littlefield, where about 300 Idaho inmates were already
housed, while the state continued talks with GEO over sending the
remaining 55 to a new 659-bed addition at Val Verde. Despite the
stopover, GEO has a hefty incentive to make sure the move to Val Verde
goes smoothly, Reinke said. The company hopes to win contracts with
Idaho to build a large new prison here to help accommodate the state's
7,400 inmates. "They're really monitoring this closely, and doing a good
job at this point," Reinke said. "It's not a lot different than triple
bunking."
November 27, 2007 Idaho State Journal
A company that's due to take over a troubled privately run Texas prison in 2008
made a sales pitch Monday to Idaho Department of Correction officials, saying it
hopes the management shake-up and $1.2 million in proposed renovations will
overshadow past problems and persuade Idaho to ship more inmates to the lockup.
Civigenics, a unit of New Jersey-based Community Education Centers, Inc., with
prisons or treatment programs in 23 states, will manage Dickens County
Correctional Center in Spur, Texas, starting Jan. 1 after winning a competitive
bid. Until now, The GEO Group Inc., based in Florida, ran the facility. In
March, Idaho prison officials called Dickens under GEO's oversight ''the worst''
prison they'd seen, citing what they called an abusive warden, the lack of
treatment programs and squalid conditions they said may have contributed to the
suicide of inmate Scot Noble Payne, who was held for months in a solitary cell.
Idaho is nearly ready to move 54 prisoners who remain at Dickens to a new
GEO-run facility near the Mexican border, after shifting 69 inmates elsewhere
this summer. Dickens County and Civigenics officials came to Boise to offer
assurances they'll remedy concerns over their 15-year-old prison as they aim to
stay in the running to house some of the hundreds of prisoners that Idaho plans
to ship elsewhere in coming months to ease overcrowding. Some 550 of Idaho's
7,400 inmates have been sent out of state since 2005. GEO ''thought they were
too good,'' Sheldon Parsons, a Dickens County commissioner, told Idaho
officials. ''They're used to running bigger facilities. That just kind of didn't
fit into our program. Civigenics will definitely fit.'' Idaho plans to send 120
additional prisoners to a private prison in Oklahoma in January. It's also
looking for space in other states for groups of inmates in increments of about
100 starting in mid-2008. Bob Prince, a Civigenics salesman, said his company
could house as many as 150 Idaho inmates at a revamped Dickens. The $1.2 million
from Dickens County, which owns the prison, would cover new fencing, exterior
lighting, security improvements, kitchen renovations and more rooms for
education and treatment programs. Still, Idaho officials including Department of
Correction Director Brent Reinke indicated the plan may not be enough to address
complaints that have prompted him to vacate Dickens. Idaho, which earlier this
year conceded it lost track of how its inmates in Texas were being treated
before Payne's suicide, has outlined its concerns in several reports over the
last nine months. Lingering shortcomings include a lack of cell windows and a
drab, dingy atmosphere in an aging facility built as county jail, not for
long-term prisoners. ''The cells inside that facility are pretty dark and
dank,'' said Randy Blades, the Idaho warden who oversees out-of-state prisoners.
''What are you looking at to change the cells themselves?'' Texas officials
conceded that wasn't considered. ''We haven't looked into any of that,'' Parsons
said, before adding, ''We'll try and do anything we can to make people happy
that are coming in. Nobody has ever brought that up before.'' Despite past
problems with GEO, Blades said Idaho aims to soon finalize a contract with that
company to move inmates still at Dickens to a new 659-bed addition at the Val
Verde Correctional Facility, near the Mexican border. That contract also calls
for roughly 40 inmates currently in Idaho to be sent to Val Verde. Val Verde has
seen its own share of problems under GEO leadership. GEO settled a wrongful
death case after a female Texas prisoner killed herself following allegations
she was sexually humiliated by a guard and raped by an inmate. Earlier this
year, the local government was forced to hire a monitor for the facility. Even
so, Blades said a visit to the new cellblock slated for Idaho inmates earlier
this year convinced him and other officials that the prison is appropriate and
safe. ''It's a very good facility, very secure,'' Blades said of Val Verde.
''There's a good dayroom. The cells are well lighted.''
November 16, 2007 Del Rio News-Herald
A former jailer at the Val Verde Correctional Facility was arrested Thursday
after he was indicted for violating the civil rights of an inmate in October
2006. Agents of the Del Rio office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and
Val Verde County Sheriff’s Office investigators arrested Emmanuel Cassio, 20,
Lot 6 Margo Dr. about 8 a.m. Thursday, said Lt. Larry Pope, who heads the VVSO’s
criminal investigations division, which initiated the investigation last year.
Pope said Cassio was indicted earlier this week by a Del Rio federal grand jury
on one count of deprivation of rights under the color of law, a felony. Pope
said the civil rights violation is alleged to have occurred during a
confrontation between a federal prisoner and Cassio while Cassio was employed as
a jailer in the facility. Val Verde Correctional Facility Warden John Campbell
said Thursday afternoon that Cassio was employed at the facility from late April
2006 until he was fired in late November 2006. Pope said the incident between
Cassio and the inmate is alleged to have occurred on Oct. 31, 2006, when Cassio
walked into a cell and “struck the inmate with his fist.” Pope said the inmate
then made a derogatory remark to Cassio, who is then alleged to have punched the
inmate a second time. “The inmate made a remark and the jailer returned and hit
him again,” Pope said. Pope said, “This incident was witnessed by another jailer
who reported it to jail administration. Warden Campbell immediately notified
Sheriff (A. D’Wayne) Jernigan and requested an investigation.”
August 22, 2007 San Antonio Express-News
Fears of a mysterious outbreak at a corrections facility here were allayed
somewhat Wednesday, when area officials were told that four inmates who became
ill with similar symptoms around the same time did not appear to have the same
disease. "We don't think these are necessarily related to each other right now
based on the information we have," said Dr. Sandra Guerra-Cantu, regional
medical director of the Texas Department of State Health Services. "So we feel
fairly confident there's not an ongoing exposure, that people are as safe as
they always have been within the facility." Guerra-Cantu briefed local
government and law enforcement officials on the preliminary findings of an
investigation that included a team of 20 state and federal disease experts at
the facility last week, perhaps 30 more who were consulted by phone, and
multiple laboratories in San Antonio, Austin, Georgia and California. Four men —
three of them foreign nationals from Honduras and Mexico held on immigration
charges, the fourth a local prisoner — became sick with similar symptoms while
in Val Verde County Jail beginning in July. Two of them died. One remains in a
San Antonio hospital that has not been identified. The other was treated at a
Val Verde County hospital. Symptoms included seriously altered behavior,
followed by incontinence and respiratory illness. The timing of the illnesses
and the similarity of symptoms led to concerns of an outbreak or toxic exposure.
Two of the inmates were infected with HIV, and one of those also had
tuberculosis, Guerra-Cantu said. A third inmate turned out to have a mental
illness and apparently did not have the other symptoms. The investigation
produced little information on the fourth inmate. He was one of the two who
died, and he did so shortly after becoming ill. He apparently was a Honduran
whose body was embalmed and shipped to his country after the Bexar County
medical examiner's office declined a request to perform an autopsy. Although
health officials have not identified any of the inmates, a San Antonio attorney,
Joseph Berra, said he was representing the family of 25-year-old German Alberto
Reyes Alvarez, who died July 28 and whose embalmed body was returned to
Honduras. "At this point, the family is still concerned about the causes of his
sudden and mysterious death," Berra said. "They feel they haven't received an
adequate explanation. I've requested the medical records on their behalf."
Alvarez and his younger brother were picked up by the Borer Patrol shortly after
entering the country and were soon separated. The younger brother awaits
deportation, Berra said. The Val Verde facility, an 850-bed medium-security
facility privately run by Boca Raton, Fla.-based Geo Group Inc., is under
contract to house federal detainees for the U.S. Marshal's Service and the
Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as local prisoners.
Still, it was Val Verde County Sheriff D'Wayne Jernigan who became concerned
about the similar illnesses and requested an investigation. "I couldn't get
anybody to respond," Jernigan said after the briefing. "Didn't really know who
to call at the time. I called the governor's office, and they put me in touch
with these fine folks. They were here instantly."
August 12, 2007 San Antonio Express-News
A new medical team, including federal disease experts, is expected to arrive
here this week to try and find the cause of the mysterious illness that has
killed two inmates and hospitalized two others from the Val Verde County jail.
"We would like someone with a new set of eyes to come and take a look. We're
asking for a multi-faceted team to come, including the Centers for Disease
Control," said Dr. Sandra Guerra-Cantu, regional medical director of the Texas
Department of State Health Services. Officials are frustrated at not knowing
what's behind the ailments and the fact that one opportunity to learn more was
missed when an autopsy was not conducted. "I'm very concerned that we have been
unable to figure out the causes of their deaths," said Val Verde County Sheriff
D'Wayne Jernigan, who sounded the alarm several weeks ago but had difficulty
finding anyone to listen. "There's a very high level of frustration. I'm
responsible for the welfare of every inmate, every employee and the community."
Common ailment? There are about 850 inmates and 300 employees at the Val Verde
Correctional Facility, a medium-security facility overseen by Jernigan but
privately operated by GEO Group Inc. of Boca Raton, Fla. Most of the inmates are
placed there for immigration violations by the U.S. Marshals Service. All four
of those suspected to be suffering from a common ailment were held at the
facility at one point or another. Two died in area hospitals after coming down
with symptoms that included erratic behavioral changes, incontinence and
dehydration. The third is in critical condition at a Del Rio hospital and the
fourth is in stable condition in a San Antonio hospital that officials would not
identify. The state already has sent two teams of investigators to review the
jail. A variety of tests for medical conditions and toxic exposures have failed
to identify a cause. 'Missed opportunity' A chance to learn more about the fatal
disease apparently was missed in late July when a Honduran man died in a Del Rio
hospital and no autopsy was done despite efforts to arrange one. A day or two
later, the body was embalmed by a funeral home, making an autopsy moot and
eliminating most opportunities to investigate the mysterious ailment. "Knowing
what we know now, we would've tried to get a court order to get an autopsy,"
said Fernando Karl, assistant chief of the U.S. Marshals office in San Antonio.
Dr. Randall Frost, the chief medical examiner in Bexar County, said the urgency
and extenuating circumstances about the Honduran's mysterious death were
apparently not made clear in the call to his office. He said he only learned
about the importance of the case on Thursday. "If ever there was a case made for
a statewide medical examiner this is it. You have a non-medical individual, a
justice of the peace, calling up and talking to our investigator," he said.
"What should have happened is what happened (Thursday). A doctor talking to a
doctor." Guerra-Cantu said the apparent slip-up won't happen again. "I think it
was a missed opportunity to get additional information, but I don't know that it
would have resolved anything," she said. "I know that we're making arrangements
in the unfortunate event that someone else dies, we'll have an autopsy done. The
CDC has offered to do that for us if we need it." Val Verde County officials are
keeping a close eye on the other inmates and employees.
August 9, 2007 Express-News
A mysterious illness at a Del Rio detention center that has killed two inmates
and hospitalized two others within the past month has baffled health
authorities, who have asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for
help. All four men — three of them foreign nationals from Honduras and Mexico
held on immigration charges, the fourth a Val Verde county prisoner who was one
of the dead — were described as in their 20s and 30s, and apparently healthy
when they arrived at the Val Verde Correctional Facility and County Jail. The
privately operated 850-bed medium-security facility is under contract to house
federal detainees for the U.S. Marshal's Service and the Bureau of Immigration
and Customs Enforcement, as well as local prisoners. One of the ill inmates was
brought to an unidentified San Antonio hospital; the other remains hospitalized
in Del Rio. Their conditions have not been released. "It's still a big mystery
to us," said Dr. Sandra Guerra-Cantu, regional medical director of the Texas
Department of State Health Services, who is heading the investigation. "I can't
tell you that we've figured it out. But we're in the process of requesting
assistance from CDC and others to come and help us." The first inmate became ill
in mid- to late July, she said. In each case, symptoms began with erratic
behavioral changes, followed by incontinence and dehydration. A host of tests
for medical conditions and toxic exposures failed to identify a culprit. And no
autopsy has yet been performed on either of the men who died. "As far as we
know, these individuals did not have any contact with one another," said
Guerra-Cantu, adding that health officials have not yet recommended any change
in operations at the jail except to closely monitor prisoners for similar
symptoms. She said local officials contacted them late last week after the
sheriff and local doctors became concerned. "We have had two sets of teams from
the Texas Department of State Health Services visit the facility to interview
the medical staff, review the medical records, look at all the laboratory
results, as well as request consults from various experts in different fields of
health care, to get their ideas about what's going on." The facility is operated
under contract by the Geo Group Inc., a Boca Raton, Fla., company that also runs
correctional facilities in San Antonio, Pearsall and Karnes City, and has a
regional administrative office in New Braunfels. The company is cooperating with
the investigation, Guerra-Cantu said. "It would be irresponsible for ICE to
speculate on this particular matter, but it is something we definitely will be
looking into immediately," said Nina Pruneda, a spokeswoman for the federal
agency that detained the three foreign nationals, adding she had no information
about them late Thursday. Sheriff D'Wayne Jernigan's office referred all
questions to state health officials. According to the Geo Group's Web site, the
facility is undergoing an expansion that will increase its capacity to more than
1,400 beds. In March, Val Verde County and the Geo Group settled a lawsuit with
the family of LeTisha Tapia, a 23-year-old federal inmate found hanged in her
cell after reporting she'd been sexually assaulted in 2004. Last week, the
Associated Press reported that under the terms of that settlement, the county
had hired an independent monitor for the prison.
July 26, 2007 The Olympian
Department of Correction Director Brent Reinke next Thursday will visit a
private Texas prison where he intends to shift 56 inmates in September, after
problems including abuse by guards, deplorable conditions and a suicide emerged
at previous facilities in that state. Reinke, who concedes lax oversight by
Idaho contributed to problems, and three other Idaho officials will review the
Val Verde Correctional Facility and Jail in Del Rio, Texas, run by Florida-based
private prison firm The GEO Group. The prison area where Idaho inmates are due
to be housed at Val Verde is part of a new 659-bed addition, Reinke said. Still,
he wants to make sure the facility located near the Mexican border meets Idaho
standards so the recurring problems at the two previous GEO-run prisons aren't
repeated. "On contracts in general, we're going to be stepping that up," Reinke
told The Associated Press this week. "We want to take a firsthand look." About
450 Idaho inmates were first moved beyond state borders in 2005 to relieve
overcrowding at prisons here, where there are more than 7,000 inmates - but not
enough room to house them all. They were incarcerated at the Newton County
Correctional Center in Newton, Texas, until August 2006, when they were moved
following allegations of abuse by guards to the Dickens County Correctional
Center in Spur, Texas. But Reinke, who took over in January, acknowledges his
agency didn't do enough to scrutinize conditions at Dickens before Idaho inmates
were shipped there. And from August 2006 to March 2007, Idaho prison officials
only visited the Dickens County facility one time. The March 4 suicide by Scot
Noble Payne, a convicted sex offender, and a subsequent investigation
illuminated conditions that one Idaho prison official described as "beyond
repair." One concern: There have been problems at Val Verde, too. Inmate LeTisha
Tapia killed herself there in 2004 after alleging she was raped by another
inmate and sexually humiliated by a guard. And a black guard accused his captain
of keeping a hangman's noose in his office and a photo of himself in a Ku Klux
Klan hood in his desk. Val Verde County has been forced to hire a full-time
prison monitor to keep a watch on prison operations as part of a settlement with
Tapia's family. Some family members of Idaho inmates now at Dickens told the AP
they're pleased Reinke is scrutinizing Val Verde personally. Still, they said
they're frustrated their relatives are being moved again - especially since many
problems at Dickens have been remedied since Payne's suicide in March. "Things
are OK now," said the wife of a sex offender who asked not to be identified by
name. "They don't want to move." Reinke has pledged to improve oversight of
conditions at Texas prisons through what he's calling a "virtual prison" that
his agency adopted earlier this week. It's modeled after a similar system in
Washington state, he said.
May 20, 2007 Del Rio News-Herald
Two former jailers recently became guests of the facility where they once
worked, after one of them was arrested for burglarizing the home of a friend and
the other allegedly tried to smuggle a bottle of cheap wine and love letters to
an inmate. Cristela Ramirez, 20, no address available, was arrested following an
indictment on a charge of burglary of a habitation, and Bertha Alicia Martinez,
25, Lot 10 Cerezo St., was arrested on a felony charge of prohibited substances
and items in an adult or juvenile correctional or detention facility,
investigators with the Val Verde County Sheriff’s Office said. Ramirez was
arrested and indicted as the result of an investigation by the Del Rio Police
Department, said the VVSO’s Lt. Larry Pope. DRPD Sgt. John Kirtley said the case
against Ramirez stemmed from a November 2006 burglary of an apartment in a
complex in the 100 block of Rockwell Way near Del Rio High School. Kirtley said
Ramirez is alleged to have taken a camera and other items from another apartment
in the same complex. Pope said Ramirez was indicted on the burglary charge by
the grand jury in January 2007 and had been employed as a jailer by The GEO
Group for two months as a detention officer. Pope said Martinez was arrested
following an investigation by the sheriff’s office. Working on information, VVSO
Sgt. James “Mac” McGonagill, Pope and Mark Scott, assistant warden for The GEO
Group, established surveillance outside the jail about 11:30 p.m. Mary 12.
McGonagill, inside a vehicle in the jail parking lot, saw Martinez drive into
the parking lot, get out of her vehicle and carry something to the perimeter of
the fence around a section of the jail known as Area 6. “He also observed her
bend down and appear to shove something under the fence,” Pope said. McGonagill
followed Martinez after she got back into her vehicle and left the jail parking
lot and called Pope and Scott to report what he had seen. Pope said he and Scott
checked the fence and found a 750 milliliter bottle of MD 20/20 with two love
letters taped to it and addressed to an inmate in the jail. McGonagill stopped
Martinez’s vehicle on Gregory Drive, arrested her and brought her back to Pope’s
office for an interview. “She stated that she met the inmate while he was
incarcerated in the county jail and she was employed there as a guard,” Pope
said. “She said she had previously smuggled a photo of herself to the inmate and
that she had spoken to him on the telephone and that he had asked her to put the
bottle of wine under the fence.” Pope said Martinez resigned from her job at the
jail last November after she was discovered passing a personal note to the
inmate.
March 21, 2007 San Antonio Express-News
Suffering from depression after she was labeled a
snitch and reportedly raped, according to claims in a lawsuit, federal inmate
LeTisha Tapia ate her last meal in Val Verde County Jail at 5:30 p.m. on July
23, 2004. Three hours later, officers at the Del Rio jail found the
23-year-old's body hanging in her cell, a bedsheet wrapped around her neck. On
Thursday, Val Verde County and the private company that's under contract to
operate its jail agreed to pay $200,000 to settle the lawsuit filed by Tapia's
family. The suit alleged a pattern of sexual activity took place at the facility
because women and men were housed in the same general area. Tapia complained,
according to the suit, and was raped in retaliation. The suit also alleged
guards physically and psychologically beat her down. Soon afterward, the suit
said, Tapia fell into a depression, a condition from which she'd previously
suffered. A report submitted Thursday by an attorney handling the interests of
Tapia's young son, however, contradicts the suit's allegations. The report said
it appears the sex Tapia had with a male inmate was consensual, and that the
incident doesn't appear to be related to her suicide. The report also said a
psychiatrist who examined her in the jail infirmary a day before her death found
no signs of depression or "suicidal ideations." "Appropriate suggestions were
made for managing (her) mild anxiety," the report said. Nonetheless, under the
terms of the settlement, Tapia's son will receive $85,000. Court records show
the rest is to be distributed among Tapia's adult relatives pending a probate of
Tapia's estate and approval by U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez. County
officials didn't return calls seeking comment. Nor did the GEO Group Inc., the
Boca Raton, Fla.-based company that runs the jail. Scott Medlock, an attorney
with the Texas Civil Rights Project in Austin, which represented Tapia's family,
said Thursday he was barred from discussing the case. Filed last year by Tapia's
family, the suit alleged that the jail for several weeks housed women in the
same cellblock with male inmates, and that guards knew women opened men's cells
and had sex with them but ignored the activity. The defendants identified in the
suit as a handful of guards, the county and the private firm have denied the
allegations. The suit said Tapia — who was in jail serving a short sentence for
a drug conviction — told the warden about the sexual activity, but that the
warden did not move the male inmates and the activity continued. Other prisoners
learned that she had stepped forward and retaliated against her by allowing a
male inmate to rape her, according to the suit. The county jail houses 850
inmates, most of them federal pretrial prisoners held as part of an
intergovernmental agreement the county has with the U.S. Marshals Service. Tapia
was a federal inmate, but the Marshals Service, which pays the county almost
$1.4 million per month, was dismissed as a defendant in February. The report
submitted Thursday by the child's attorney said there was evidence that a day
before her death, Tapia was kicked, slammed into walls and forced to kneel on
the ground after guards learned she had smuggled a phone into her cell.
March 10, 2006 Texas Observer
The horrors of the Texas prison system rarely escape the jailhouse walls,
but a recent lawsuit filed by the Texas Civil Rights Project reveals a climate
of negligence and violence in one privately run South Texas prison. The suit,
filed February 15 in San Antonio federal district court, alleges that
23-year-old LeTisha Tapia, a prisoner at the Val Verde County Correctional
Facility, was allegedly raped, beaten, and deprived of urgent mental health
care. Attorneys with the Texas Civil Rights Project filed suit on behalf of
Tapia’s family against the private prison company, GEO Group, that operates the
facility. A number of prison guards, the jail’s warden, and the United States
Marshals Service are also listed as defendants. The complaint portrays the Val
Verde prison, located in Del Rio, as a madhouse where guards allowed male and
female inmates to have sex. The lawsuit partially blames Tapia’s death on the
jail’s inadequate medical care and supervision of the inmates. Medlock says this
kind of corner cutting on prisoner treatment is common in private prisons. “It’s
pretty obvious that privately run facilities are in it to make a profit,” he
said. “They try to provide that to the company at the expense of inmate safety
and health.”
February 16, 2006 Houston Chronicle
A civil rights lawsuit announced Wednesday blames the private corrections
system for the 2004 suicide of a South Texas woman found hanging in her cell
after reporting that a male inmate raped her. LeTisha Tapia, who died at the Val
Verde County Jail in July 2004, was housed in the same cell block as male
inmates and reported that guards allowed male and female inmates to have sex
with each other, according to the lawsuit filed by the Texas Civil Rights
Project on behalf of the woman's family. "It's unbelievably outrageous what
happened here. Sexual relations between inmates is just beyond the pale," civil
rights attorney Scott Medlock said Wednesday. "When prisons and jails are
privatized, the company's bottom line is placed above inmate health and safety."
The lawsuit, filed in the federal district court for the Western District of
Texas in San Antonio, names GEO Group Inc., the nation's second-largest private
prison company, among the defendants. "We obviously haven't had an opportunity
to review the lawsuit. So, at this point, I wouldn't have any comment," said GEO
Group spokesman Pablo Paez. Also declining immediate comment were the U.S.
Marshals Service and several Val Verde County officials named as defendants in
the civil action. The Marshals Service contracts with Val Verde County for jail
space and the county, in turn, hires GEO Group to run the jail, which houses 784
inmates. Tapia, who spent nearly six months in the jail before her death, was
awaiting transfer to a federal facility after pleading guilty to a marijuana
possession charge, Medlock said, adding that she had about a year left on her
sentence. While in the county jail, male inmates were moved into
maximum-security, solitary confinement cells that are connected to the women's
cells by a common day room, the lawsuit said, but jailers allowed the inmates to
have contact with each other. "Female inmates discovered they could open the
cells of the male inmates using a toothbrush," the lawsuit alleged. "Guards
would open the door between the hallways and tell the inmates to 'do what you
want to do, or what you gotta do.' Some female inmates began to have sexual
relations with male inmates." The close quarters for male and female inmates
continued for more than a month, the lawsuit said. Tapia reported the sexual
contact to the prison warden in April 2004, but he did not move the male inmates
to another section of the jail, the lawsuit said. Tapia was raped after female
inmates forced her into a male inmate's cell as punishment for being a "snitch,"
the lawsuit said, and her mental state deteriorated. Tapia later reported
feeling depressed and anxious and asked to see a psychiatrist in a medical
request marked "URGENT," according to the complaint, but she did not see a
doctor for another 10 days. After Tapia smuggled a telephone from the infirmary
into her jail cell, an individual described only as "Lt. Duggar" physically and
psychologically abused her and sexually humiliated her in front of others, the
lawsuit alleges in graphic detail. The next day, Tapia was found dead in her
jail cell, hanging by a sheet. polly.hughes@chron.com
February 16, 2006 Press Release
Grieving Family Files Suit Against County and Private Jail After Wife and Mother
is Raped, Commits Suicide. The Texas Civil Rights Project filed suit today on
behalf of the family of Mrs. Letisha Tapia. Mrs. Tapia was found hanging in the
Val Verde County Jail on July 23, 2004 after she had been raped by a male
inmate. The jail housed Mrs. Tapia in the same cell block as violent male
inmates. Permissive guards allowed male and female inmates to have sexual
relations. Mrs. Tapia told the warden about these sexual transgressions, but he
ignored her pleas and male inmates remained in the cell block. Mrs. Tapia was
raped by one of the male inmates after making her report to the warden. Mrs.
Tapia reported the rape to the authorities, who refused to press charges. She
received no psychiatric treatment after the rape, despite experiencing
depression and anxiety. The night before she died, Mrs. Tapia was abused by a
guard. Lt. Duggar interrogated Mrs. Tapia about a rules violation by forcing her
to her knees and kicking her. He threatened her with rape, telling her “if you
were my cellmate, I’d make you my bitch.” He called her a “low-life prostitute
ho” and told her she would spend the next fifteen years in jail. He ordered
three female officers to strip search Mrs. Tapia, and watched as they made her
expose herself to him. Despite telling Lt. Duggar she would kill herself if
placed in administrative segregation, Duggar threw Mrs. Tapia into a segregation
cell and left her there, naked, without blankets for the entire night. Jail
policy requires that every inmate see a psychiatrist before being placed in
administrative segregation, but Mrs. Tapia never saw a doctor. The jail guards
failed to inspect her cell every fifteen minutes (as required by policy), and
Mrs. Tapia was found hanging in her cell that night. “The jail drove this young
woman to kill herself,” said Scott Medlock, the Texas Civil Rights Project’s
Prisoners’ Rights Attorney. “From the minute she was booked into this facility,
she was abused and ignored by jail officials.” Medlock said the private prison
system was to blame for Mrs. Tapia’s death. Val Verde County and the US Marshals
Service contract with GEO Group, formerly Wackenhut Security, to run the jail.
“When prisons and jails are privatized the company’s bottom line is placed above
inmate health and safety. GEO cuts corners by hiring poorly trained guards,
providing inmates with cut rate medical care and running their facility in a
grossly unprofessional manner. Mrs. Tapia’s family had their wife, mother and
daughter sacrificed to corporate greed.” Mrs. Tapia’s family is seeking monetary
damages, but that is little consolation. “No amount of money could bring her
back,” her husband, Eliodoro Tapia, said. For more information, please contact
Scott Medlock, at (512) 474-5073 ext. 105.
November 20, 2005 Del Rio News Herald
Raymond Edward Haynes has filed a federal lawsuit charging the company he works
for, The GEO Group Inc., discriminated against him because of his race. But the
GEO Group Inc.'s attorney, Bridget R. Robinson, of the Austin law firm of Walsh,
Anderson, Brown, Schulze and Aldridge, said Haynes' "hurt feelings" about
several isolated incidents at the GEO Group's Val Verde County Detention Center
are not enough to justify his claims that he was discriminated against. Haynes'
attorney, Mark Anthony Sánchez, of the San Antonio law firm of Gale, Wilson &
Sanchez, filed the suit in U.S. District Court here earlier this year. Haynes
said he was grateful to get a job as a correctional officer at the Val Verde
County Detention Center, which the GEO Group operates as part of a contract with
Val Verde County. He went to work there in February 2003, and he continues to
work there today. Haynes, who comes from a family of career lawmen, said his
gratitude became disbelief, then horror, then outrage when, in September 2003,
he said he saw a hangman's noose displayed in the office of a supervisor, Capt.
Albert Lacy. Sánchez in the complaint also charged that the same supervisor,
Lacy, "took photographs of himself in Ku Klux Klan head regalia while in his GEO
Group or Wackenhut Corrections Corporation uniform. He (Lacy) maintained these
photographs in his desk drawer at the Val Verde County Jail, photographs that
were eventually discovered and made public. Together with the hangman's noose,
the introduction of Ku Klux Klan paraphernalia by Plaintiff's (Haynes')
supervisor into Plaintiff's workplace resulting in a suffocating pall of hate to
permeate the Val Verde County Jail." The complaint also charges that Haynes
"informed his supervisors and filed internal complaints about Lacy's racist
conduct in October 2003, but (the GEO Group Inc.) delayed until December 2003
before commencing any type of investigation."
September 7, 2005 Del Rio News-Herald
Val Verde County Commissioners Court quickly and amicably passed the proposed
2005-2006 county budget Tuesday morning. The approved budget estimates that the
county will receive a total of $23,333,485 in general fund revenues during the
2005-2006 Fiscal Year, which begins Oct. 1, 2005 and ends Sept. 30, 2006. The
$23,333,485 in estimated county revenues for the coming fiscal year include
payments totaling $13,440,000 the county will receive through its contract with
the U.S. Marshal’s Service for the housing of federal prisoners in the county
jail. As the approved budget shows, that $13.4 million will go right back out
again as an expenditure, with most being paid to The GEO Group Inc., the private
company that has a contract with the county for operation of the jail.
August 15, 2005 San Antonio Express-News
Inside the walls of the Val Verde Correctional Facility in Del Rio, a hangman's
noose was displayed in a jail captain's office and a picture of the uniformed
guard in a Ku Klux Klan hood was found in his desk. Those are the claims made in
a lawsuit filed by corrections officer Raymond E. Haynes. In the lawsuit, filed
earlier this year against the Florida-based company that runs the jail, Haynes
contends he and other blacks were subjected to a hostile work environment.
Haynes, who has worked at the jail since February 2003, alleges that there
existed a pattern of racial slurs and pejorative stereotypical comments by other
ranking officers. He also alleges that his superiors denied him promotions and
unfairly disciplined him because of his race. The photo of the captain, in his
jail uniform and wearing KKK regalia, was found in his desk during his absence,
according to internal jail documents. The EEOC found that there was reasonable
cause to believe the captain hung the noose, creating a racially offensive work
environment. But the agency said it could not conclude whether Haynes was
disciplined and denied promotions because of his race, or whether he was
subjected to racial slurs. "Specifically, the evidence shows that there was a
noose hanging in a captain's office, and at least two of (the jail's)
lieutenants were aware of the noose but did not take immediate or corrective
action," the EEOC determination states.
January 13, 2005 Del Rio News-Herald
With nearly three-quarters of the fiscal year still ahead, Val Verde County
officials already have been warned to expect a significant shortfall in the
county budget. Housing local prisoners in the county jail and paying for
court-appointed attorneys are the two expenses being blamed for the expected
shortfall. “These two line items are absolute devastating to us right now,”
County Auditor Frank Lowe told Val Verde County Commissioners Court. “We
budgeted $25,000 to $30,000 a month for local prisoners, but we’ve been running
$85,000 to $90,000 a month,” Lowe said.
January 1, 2005 Del Rio News-Herald
A former jailer at the Val Verde County Jail spent a night locked up there
recently and faces up to 10 years in prison after he admitted to sheriff’s
office investigators he smuggled marijuana into the jail to give to an inmate –
for a fee of $30. “He definitely, at least in my opinion, ruined his life for
$30,” said John Campbell, who serves as warden of the jail for The GEO Group
Inc., the private company that operates that jail under contract with Val Verde
County. “It’s hard to comprehend that someone would risk all that for $30,” he
said. Valentin Nava Jr., 21, 202 E. 2nd St., was charged with bringing in and
possessing a prohibited substance in a correctional facility, a third degree
felony. CID Lt. Larry Pope said Nava is accused of picking up a baggie
containing 8.3 grams of marijuana in the parking lot of the Burger King
restaurant while he was on a break from his jail job.
“Bringing contraband into jails, whether it’s marijuana or cigarettes, anything
like that, is not an uncommon problem,” Pope said in an interview earlier this
week. Pope wrote in his report that after his arrest, Nava “admitted he was
bringing the marijuana in to give to a prisoner.”
Weatherford, Texas
March 26, 2009 NBC DFW
A prisoner who escaped from a private transport van in Weatherford Wednesday
has turned himself in to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in
Dallas. Enzo Edenilson Campos, 24, of Dallas, fled at about 8:40 p.m. when the
van stopped at a truckstop in the 1100 block of West Park, police said. Campos
was being transported from Dallas to a private jail facility in Haskell County.
He had been handcuffed to another prisoner. Guards noticed the other prisoner
still had the handcuffs on, but Campos was gone, police said. Campos has gang
ties and was in federal custody for immigration violations, police said. It was
not immediately clear if he had been arrested on other criminal charges.
Webb County Correctional
Facility
Laredo, Texas
GEO Group
December 11, 2007 Laredo Morning Times
The violation of GEO Group policies by some of its employees, which court
documents allege led to the suicides of former inmates in GEO-run prisons,
should be reasonable to expect from a company that employs 10,000 people
worldwide. That defense of the company was offered by GEO Group attorney Carlos
Zaffirini at the Monday meeting of the Webb County Commissioners Court. The
meeting bore witness to more than half a dozen citizens' impassioned speeches in
which they told the court they are adamantly against the company with an alleged
history of physical and sexual abuse setting up shop in Webb County. "Let's send
out a message to the criminals in suits that enough is enough," said Raul
Salazar, the brother-in-law of Gregorio De La Rosa. De La Rosa was beaten to
death at a GEO facility in Willacy County. Laredo attorney Ron Rodriguez
subsequently won a $47.5 million settlement in a lawsuit in which he represented
the De La Rosa family against GEO. Rodriguez was one of the more outspoken
opponents of the company at Monday's meeting. The debate, which lasted more than
two hours, was the result of an agenda item sponsored by Pct. 4 Commissioner
Sergio "Keko" Martinez after he said he was approached by concerned constituents
who wished to speak out against the facility. The item sought to address whether
the county's "non-standard service contract" with GEO Group to provide water and
sewer lines was valid. "The contract was void from the very beginning,"
Rodriguez said, adding that it lacked substantial data, including plat
information, site specifications and a letter of credit. Zaffirini countered by
saying the outcries were "steeped in emotion and void of logic," and added the
merits of GEO's current troubles in Texas, which include a current lawsuit
alleging sexual abuse by a GEO prison guard in Coke County, should be discussed
in those courts and not in Webb County. "We do not intend to go into those
issues as they are irrelevant," Zaffirini said. Zaffirini then told the court
the genesis of bringing the facility to Webb County was the result of a request
by two federal judges. Zaffirini also warned the commissioners that if they
entertained the thought of rescinding the contract, which he said was a valid
agreement, they would be committing a felony under state law. Martinez said the
Zaffirini's warning was a stretch. County Attorney Homero Ramirez was questioned
repeatedly on whether or not the county was legally obligated to provide the
services, to which he replied that it was. "There is a very narrow list of
reasons why you cannot (provide water)," Ramirez said. "They don't apply." A
motion was made by Martinez to instruct Ramirez to investigate whether the
exhibits missing from the contract were enough to materially affect it to where
it would be void. The motion was voted down 3-2, however, with only Martinez and
Pct. 1 Commissioner Frank Sciaraffa in favor. The court's last piece of action,
however, was to approve a motion by Pct. 3 Commissioner Jerry Garza for Ramirez
to return to the court with the exact laws that specify the court was obligated
to provide the water and sewer lines. Garza said his vote against Martinez's
motion was because he thought, if passed, the motion would not have affected the
situation. He said with his motion the court would be able to prove they were
required, by law, to provide the utility.
November 14, 2007 Laredo Morning Times
Webb County Commissioners Court unanimously voted Tuesday against accepting
a $250,000 donation from Geo Group - a company contracting with the federal
government to build a jail in southern Webb County. The vote followed public
comment where the money was characterized as "dirty" by attorneys who represent
the family of an inmate killed inside one of the company's privately owned
prisons. "Commissioners, this is not a donation, this is a payment," said Ron
Rodriguez, who represents the families of Guillermo De La Rosa, an inmate who
died while serving time in a Geo Group facility in Willacy County. "This
transaction is dirty, the money is dirty and everybody that touches it will have
dirty hands," Rodriguez continued. "If you look at the history, you will see
that these people are the functional equivalent of a sexual predator," said
Craig Smith, who also represents the De La Rosa family. Rodriguez added that
Commissioner Rosaura "Wawi" Tijerina, who was represented by the company's
attorney, Carlos Zaffirini, years ago in a separate matter, should avoid the
vote altogether due to a possible conflict of interest. When the item was
officially before the court, a motion was initially made to table the item by
Pct. 1 Commissioner Frank Sciaraffa, but was later withdrawn after the court
expressed doubts about the money's intent. "I don't know what the donation is
for. It is not earmarked for anything," Sciaraffa said, adding that his
constituents in south Laredo have expressed their concerns about the prison.
Pct. 3 Commissioner Jerry Garza agreed with Sciaraffa and added that he had some
concerns regarding his principles. "I don't know what this money is for," Garza
said. "I have some ethical consideration regarding this money." Pct. 4
Commissioner Sergio "Keko" Martinez was more blunt. "I see this money as
something to buy our influence," he said. "I think it's inappropriate." Tijerina
told Rodriguez that he didn't know how she was going to vote, to which Rodriguez
responded that he wasn't predicting or telling her how to vote, but that she
should abstain altogether. Neither Zaffirini nor the company's spokesman
returned immediate calls seeking comment. Rodriguez and Smith also took issue
with the county and their commitment to provide the facility with water and
sewer facilities. Rodriguez and Smith said the county was under no obligation to
legally provide the water and sewer services. After the meeting County Attorney
Homero Ramirez said the county is a government entity and a water utility and is
required to provide water to any individual who meets the requirements, without
discrimination. Judge Valdez told the prison's opponents the issue was one that
was inherited by the court, and reminded the group of the fact that his
administration voted against partnering with the prison group and footing the
bill for the prison's construction, which would have required taking out between
$80 and $100 million in bonds.
Webb County Detention Center
Laredo, Texas
CCA
November 1, 2007 Laredo Morning Times
When Wendolyne Morales received a letter from the Corrections Corporation of
America on Saunders Street, and then spoke with the detainee's wife in
Wisconsin, she knew she was onto something. The KLDO-Univision investigative
reporter spent six months working on a series of 10 stories related to Tomas
Contreras, a resident alien detained at the border for a drug charge and fine he
paid nearly 20 years ago. With the help of photographers Elsa De Leon, Guillermo
Rodriguez, Ruben Carranza and Sammy de la Garza, Morales did stories on the
detainee's plight with the government's mandatory detention law. In particular,
the last one she filed in June, after Contreras was released, propelled her into
the big leagues. This weekend, at a sumptuous gala event in Dallas, her name was
announced after the presenter said, "And the Emmy goes to … " Morales had just
become Laredo's first television reporter to win an Emmy Award. "I feel very
happy and I'm so proud to belong to the team that I do," she said. "More than
anything, it feels good to know that our competitors were the big sharks." Her
entry beat out six other English- and Spanish-language reporters from the
Houston, Dallas and San Antonio television markets in the Lone Star Emmy
category for Specialty Assignment Report-Single News Story. Since the Emmys
opened a chapter in Texas five years ago, this is the first time a KLDO entry
made it into the finals, and the first time that a Laredo television news
network brought home a trophy. A native of Guanajuato, Mexico, Morales came to
Laredo in the seventh-grade and graduated from Cigarroa High School and the
Vidal M. Treviño School of Communications and Fine Arts, where she focused on
television, film and communications. She is pursuing a bachelor's degree in
communications and previously worked for Univision in Corpus Christi. Dressed in
a long, red evening gown that Saturday night, Morales was accompanied by Maria
Montoya, Maria de la Luz de Alba and Alma Blanco. These are her best friends,
"my sisters," she said, describing them as her mentors and role models when they
worked together at another local television station several years ago. "We
grabbed hands and when the announcer said my name, we screamed," Morales said.
"I was so excited and emocionada (emotional) and when I get like that I stumble
my words. I didn't even know what I was saying." What attracted Morales to her
award-winning story was how the mandatory detention laws, enacted immediately
after 9/11, are dividing families and creating undue hardship and suffering, she
said. Meant to catch terrorists at points of entry, the mandatory detention laws
are now detaining people, regardless of their immigration status, for crimes
committed decades ago. "They need to modify the laws because they are punishing
people who went through the whole process to come into the country legally,"
Morales said. "They are detaining people for long periods of time, for six
months or longer," Morales said. "It's dividing families and making people lose
their jobs, because what job is going to wait six months for you to come back?"
In her stories, Morales focused on Contreras, a resident alien and successful
businessman in Wisconsin. He was detained for an 18-year-old drug charge by
Laredo officials at the bridge upon returning from a family vacation in Mexico.
In 1989, Contreras was fined for drug possession when police found cocaine
residue in a car he was borrowing from a friend. Contreras has since built up a
successful career. As part of her series, Morales filmed part of Contreras'
family protesting outside CCA on a cold early Saturday morning, even though she
and the photographer, Guillermo Rodriguez, are off weekends. She also
interviewed Contreras after he was released six months later and learned about
the mistreatment and poor conditions facing detainees behind bars. After she
spoke with his wife in January, Morales said she knew she had to "at least
investigate." She began calling CCA officials and U.S. Customs officials in San
Antonio, and stayed on top of the story. "When we won on Saturday, we were able
to show that Hispanic reporters can also put out an excellent product and can
compete with the big North American chains," she said.
July 22, 2007 Laredo Morning Times
Webb County Sheriffs deputies arrested two suspects Saturday night for
possession of more than 1,000 pounds of marijuana with an estimated value of
more than one-half million dollars. Deputies also confiscated several AR-15
assault rifles. A sheriffs official said 1,119 pounds of marijuana were wrapped
in clear cellophane, and were found in the garage and bathroom of the house.
Street value was estimated at $566,000. Tessie Medina, spokeswoman for the
Sheriffs Department, said Eduardo Guadalupe Martinez, 29, and Gloria Guevara,
27, were arrested Saturday evening at a house on the 2000 block of Quail Creek
Road. Martinez is employed by the Corrections Corporation of America, Medina
said. A CCA spokesman Saturday night referred questions concerning Martinezs
employment to a public information officer who would not be available until
Monday. Medina said a Crime Stoppers tip led deputies to the home, where they
received consent to search and made the arrests at about 6 p.m. Medina said
investigators were still questioning Martinez and Guevara several hours after
their arrests.
July 19, 2007 The Capital Times
Tomas Contreras, a Madison businessman held for 81 days earlier this year when
he tried to re-enter the United States, is working to expose the cruelties,
including a two-week stay in an isolation chamber, that he said he was subjected
to at privately run detention centers in Texas. "One night after midnight, I was
sleeping and a whole bunch of people showed up. They tied me up and beat me,"
Contreras, his voice catching, told a forum on immigration issues in Whitewater
last week. Contreras appeared with a "Reality Tour" of the state organized by
Voces de la Frontera -- a rally at the State Capitol in Madison, a forum in
Whitewater, a stop in Milwaukee -- to tell of what he calls abuses in U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers. "Every time I get
into what was going on back there, what happened to these people, it breaks me,"
Contreras said in a recent interview at his family's east side carpet cleaning
business. The experience took 90 pounds off his 260-pound frame, he said, weight
that he's putting back on since he was released following an order by a federal
judge on March 30. Contreras was taken into custody in early January after a
computer check at the border as he and his family were returning from Mexico.
The check turned up a 1989 arrest in Illinois, where a trace of cocaine was
found in the car in which Contreras was riding. He said he paid a $250 fine and
was told he would have no record. Although he has lived legally in the United
States since 1964, Contreras is not a U.S. citizen, so his drug conviction was a
deportable offense under a 1996 law. He has crossed the border without incident
many times since then, but ICE recently upgraded its computers at the border,
which may be why he was detained this time. Tough Texas treatment: Contreras was
held at three ICE facilities in Texas run by private companies under contract
with the federal government. At the Laredo Processing Center in Laredo, run by
Tennessee-based Corrections Corp. of America, a national prison services giant,
Contreras said he was placed in a large dormitory with 80 or more men from
around the world. He saw fights among detainees and unprovoked force used by
guards on detainees. His objections to rough treatment by guards of other
detainees brought threats of retaliation, he said. Contreras launched a hunger
strike and encouraged others to join him in protest of treatment there, as his
wife, Carmen, gave reports on the protest to Spanish-language media. Contreras
said in an interview that he and six other men who challenged guards' treatment
of detainees were shackled and beaten as they were transferred to another
facility. He said after he was awakened in the middle of the night and yanked
from his bunk, his wrists and ankles were shackled to his waist, and he was
prodded repeatedly -- hard -- by a guard wielding a police baton. Because their
shackled feet could not step up high enough to get into a transport van,
Contreras said, he and others we picked up and thrown in. "They tossed us all in
there like animals." Contreras said the incident left bruises on his legs and
arms, and his arms were cut when guards used tools to snap off the plastic
restraints. He was transferred to Corrections Corp.'s Webb County Detention
Center, also in Laredo, where he continued his hunger strike. After a letter
from U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin to ICE officials, solicited by Contreras' family,
he said he was transferred to the South Texas Detention Complex in Pearsall, run
by the international GEO Group Inc. After a dispute with a guard about an
assignment to a lower bunk, which Contreras said was made by GEO's medical unit,
he said he was put in a 5-foot-by-6-foot isolation cell. He stayed in the metal
cell, with bunk, toilet and sink, for two weeks, he said. The prescribed periods
of release, for showering, exercise and visits, sometimes were not given because
there weren't enough guards on duty, he added. Steve Owen, Corrections Corp.'s
director of marketing, referred requests for comment to ICE, saying that was
ICE's policy. Nina Pruneda in ICE's public affairs office in San Antonio said
she could find no record in Contreras' file "of the things he said he witnessed
and endured. We are looking into the matter." GEO spokesman Pablo Paez said as a
matter of policy, the company does not comment on "third party allegations" like
those made by Contreras, but said that all of GEO's facilities are run in
accordance with the American Correctional Association's standards for humane
treatment. A spokesperson in Baldwin's office said they had received no further
requests from Contreras since his release, but said Baldwin would ask the House
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to "investigate issues raised by
the Contreras case in its review of possible civil liberties violations and its
review of the consequences of privatizing basic government services." The
committee, under Chairman Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., is reviewing Bush
administration practices and policies. Waxman's office said that on Baldwin's
request, the committee would look into it. "If she thinks this is an important
issue, the committee will treat it very seriously," Waxman said in a prepared
statement. Contreras said he and six others held in the detention centers are
preparing a federal suit. The San Antonio attorney he said was representing them
did not return calls seeking comment. Contreras said the suit will seek to force
the government to improve conditions at the prison. "I'm not doing it for the
money. I'm doing it so they treat people right," Contreras said. "Somebody has
got to say enough is enough.' "
February 8, 2007 Laredo Morning Times
A former employee of the Corrections Corporation of America federal prison
in Laredo has pleaded not guilty to charges of trafficking fake drugs in the
prison and trying to hire a hit man to kill her boss. Velma Lydia Garza
voluntarily turned herself over to authorities Friday after she was indicted on
charges of unlawful delivery of a simulated controlled substance and
first-degree felony criminal solicitation. Garza worked as a guard at CCA in
Oct. 2005, when she is accused of delivering fake cocaine to man who was not
identified by prosecutors. She is also accused of trying to hire someone to kill
her CCA supervisor. Garza waived her arraignment Tuesday, entering not guilty
pleas on both charges. Garza was originally arrested on the drug charge in March
2006 along with another former CCA guard Patricia Orozco. Orozco was indicted
separately on a charge of delivering simulated cocaine. Prosecutor Edward Nolen
said Orozco was not involved in Garza’s alleged murder-for-hire scheme.
March 1, 2006 KGBT
Two now-former correction officers at a privately run unit have been
arrested today on charges they dealt drugs at the prison. Thirty-five-year-old
Velma Lydia Garza and 53-year-old Patricia Orozco are in the Webb County Jail.
They're expected to appear tomorrow before a judge in Laredo. Investigators say
both were arrested at their homes following a multi-agency investigation that
included Corrections Corporation of America. C-C-A runs the federal prison where
the women worked. William Gruenz with the U-S Marshals Service says neither had
been currently employed at the prison. He offered no further details. Both women
are charged with delivery of a controlled substance and engaging in organized
criminal activity.
West Texas Detention Facility
Sierra Blanca, Texas
Emerald Corrections
The Rainmakers Banking on private prisons in the
fleecing of small-town America. By Beau Hodai
(Click here)
November 25, 2008 Midland Reporter-Telegram
A 238th District Court jury on Tuesday issued first-degree felony indictments in
two of the five slayings recorded in Midland this year. Alex Ricardo Saldaña,
22, was true billed in the Nov. 16 shooting death of 44-year-old Stephen Adams,
who was hit in the head by a .40-caliber pistol bullet allegedly fired by
Saldaña in the Whataburger restaurant parking lot at 3206 N. Midkiff Rd.
Benjamin Franklin, a 30-year-old former correctional officer at West Texas
Detention Facility in Sierra Blanca, was indicted in the Sept. 4 death of Monica
Beasley, who was shot in the throat with a heavy caliber pistol in the living
room of a house in the 1400 block of West Michigan Avenue.
September 10, 2008 Midland Reporter-Telegram
A 26-year-old Midland woman did not suffer much, if any, when shot in the
lower throat with a heavy caliber pistol in her mother's home last week, a
Midland County justice of the peace said Tuesday. While 30-year-old suspect
Benjamin Franklin remains incarcerated in lieu of a $500,000 bond, funeral
services are being held at 1 p.m. today for Monica Sandra Beasley at True Lite
Christian Fellowship, which she and her three small children attended. "Franklin
didn't like it when I put that bond on him Friday, but that's too bad," said
Precinct 1 JP Joe Matlock. "He never said a word and wouldn't sign the warning
forms." District Judge Robin Malone Darr will now assign a lawyer to represent
the Southwest Texas prison guard on a first degree murder charge if he does not
hire one of his own choosing, a court official said. Beasley's mother Rosie
called 9-1-1 at 6:50 p.m. last Thursday to say she had "heard a noise" and found
her daughter bleeding and unconscious on the living room floor. Witnesses
outside in the 1400 block of West Michigan Avenue then told police they saw
Franklin come out of the house and drive away in a gray 2006 Nissan Altima.
Matlock declared the 5-feet-2-inch, 118 pound woman dead at the scene. "She
didn't go to the hospital," he said, shaking his head. "The doc said it tore her
up pretty bad. I'd say that woman was dead when she hit the floor. She probably
suffered more from arguing than anything else. Once she was popped, it was
over." District Attorney Teresa Clingman plans to take the case to a grand jury
in November. "We expect the report from the police department at any time," said
Clingman. "We're interested in all severe crimes that impact the citizens of
Midland. This is a horrific crime that will be highly scrutinized by our
office." Dr. Marc Krouse of the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office said in
a preliminary report on the autopsy he performed last Friday in Fort Worth that
a .40 caliber, or 10 millimeter, bullet traveling slightly downward cut the
victim's right subclavian artery, punctured her right lung and fractured her
first and third right ribs. City spokeswoman Tina Jauz said Franklin, a
correctional officer at the private West Texas Detention Facility in Sierra
Blanca, had been staying "for some time" with Beasley and her children and
mother before the shooting was reported at 6:50 p.m. that day. She said Beasley
and the 5-feet-9 inch, 180 pound suspect "had an on again, off again
boyfriend-girlfriend relationship." When asked how Franklin got into the home,
Jauz said, "He was already there. He was visiting and had been there for some
time." She said he is charged with killing Beasley with one shot from the Smith
& Wesson Sigma semi-automatic pistol that MPD SWAT officers and U.S. Marshals
found in his car when he was arrested at 1:30 a.m. last Friday in a Motel 6
parking lot at Grant Avenue and Interstate 20 in Odessa, where he was sleeping.
Franklin told officials he was a prison guard in Hudspeth County near the
Texas-Mexico border, according to jail records. West Texas Detention Facility
Warden Barbara Walrath of Sierra Blanca told the Reporter-Telegram Tuesday she
was aware of Franklin's incarceration in Midland County Detention Center.
Walrath said her private prison houses 1,000 men and referred additional
questions to Emerald Correctional Management Chief Operating Officer Steve
Aspman in Scott, La., a Lafayette suburb. Efforts to contact Aspman Tuesday were
unsuccessful.
Willacy County Adult Correctional
Facility
Raymondville, TX
Corplan/MTC
The Rainmakers Banking on private prisons in the fleecing of small-town America.
By Beau Hodai (Click here)
October 21, 2009 Valley Central
Former Willacy County District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra has filed a federal
lawsuit against Texas State Senator Eddie Lucio, Jr. and 28 others. The former
district attorney alleges that Lucio and the others used their positions to
derail an investigation into private prisons in Willacy County. Guerra claims in
his 35-page lawsuit that he secured three corruption convictions against three
Willacy County officials in state and federal courts. The former district
attorney claims he was investigating the April 2001 death of inmate Gregorio de
la Rosa when he began to uncover a massive kickback and corruption scheme
between the private prison companies and public officials. Guerra claims then-U.S.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales ordered then-U.S. Attorney for the Southern
District of Texas Don DeGabrielle to halt a public integrity investigation. The
former district attorney claims that several public officials with connections
to the prisons dragged his name through the mud and raised false criminal
charges that ultimately cost him a bid for re-election and obstructed the
investigation. The lawsuit names the following defendants: • Texas State Senator
Eddie Lucio • Willacy County • City of Raymondville • Former Willacy County
Judge Simon Salinas • Raymondville Police Chief Uvaldo Zamora • Special
prosecutor Mervyn Mosbacker • Special prosecutor Gustavo Garza • Raymondville
Police Detective Daniel Cavazos, Jr. • State District Judge Migdalia Lopez •
State District Judge Janet Leal • Willacy County Sheriff’s Department Deputy
David Martinez • Willacy County District Clerk Gilbert Lozano • Corporation
Wackenhut Correction Inc. • Hale Mills Construction Inc. • Hale Mills
Construction Ltd. • James Parkey, Corplan Correction, Inc. • Corplan Correction
Inc. • Michael Harling, Municipal Capitol Market, Inc. • Municipal Capitol
Market Inc. • Ramon Vela • Phil Parker, Hale Mission Construction • J. C.
Conner, Management and raining Corporation, Inc • Management and Training
Corporation, Inc • Bill Bryan • R Scott Marquardt, Management and raining
Corporation, Inc • Texas Rangers Captain Clete Buckaloo • Former U.S. Attorney
for Southern District of Texas Donald DeGarbrielle • U.S. Attorney for Southern
District of Texas Tim Johnson • Former U.S. Attorney Alberto Gonzales Among the
accusations are engaging in organized criminal activity, accepting of an
honorarium, abuse of official capacity, official oppression, murder and
manslaughter. The former district attorney had secured a criminal indictment
involving similar accusations against former Vice President Dick Cheney and
several others named in this new lawsuit back in November 2008. The case was
thrown out but Guerra continues to fight against abuses in private prisons in
Texas and other states.
June 28, 2009 Brownsville Herald
It took about five years, but state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr. seems to have
phased out his paid consulting jobs for construction and engineering firms. Last
year, however, he still received at least $25,000 in consulting fees from the
Houston-based TEDSI Infrastructure Group, according to his personal financial
statement on file with the Texas Ethics Commission. "I was fulfilling a prior
obligation on a contract that I had with TEDSI which expired in 2008," Lucio
wrote in a statement to The Brownsville Herald Wednesday. Lucio, D-Brownsville,
did not say what he did for the firm, but in 2002 said that he would set up
meetings and introduce the firm to officials in Brownsville. In 2004 amid
mounting criticism of possible conflicts of interest, Lucio told the Herald that
he would phase out consulting for firms that do business in the Rio Grande
Valley and the state. Besides consulting for TEDSI, Lucio also was retained by
CorPlan Corrections of Dallas, Management & Training Corp. of Utah, Aguirre Inc.
of Dallas, and Dannenbaum Engineering Corp. of Houston. At the start of 2005,
Lucio severed ties with CorPlan, Aguirre, and MTC amid federal inquiries into
the federal detention center in Willacy County. A Webb County commissioner and
two former Willacy County commissioners were convicted of bribery. Companies
involved in the project were not accused of any wrongdoing. Lucio also stopped
consulting for Dannenbaum, which he said he introduced to the Brownsville
Navigation District. The BND paid Dannenbaum $15.4 million of $21.4 million
spent toward developing a still non-existent international bridge at the Port of
Brownsville. But, he continued consulting for TEDSI until last year. Lucio's
prior financial statements show that in 2007 TEDSI paid him from $10,000 to
$24,999 and $25,000 or more in prior years. Lucio had been on CorPlan's payroll
since 1999. Aguirre, MTC and Dannenbaum then contracted him, but in interviews
prior to 2004 he wouldn't specifically say when or how much each paid him. It
was not until 2004 that Lucio started specifically listing the companies that
retained him in his financial statements and these, coupled with prior
interviews with the senator, reflect that the five firms paid him at least
$340,000. Embattled former Willacy County District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra
obtained an indictment against Lucio last year, charging him with profiting from
the elected office. Administrative Judge Manuel Bañales Jr. dismissed the
indictment following arguments from Lucio's attorney, Michael R. Cowen, that the
indictment was defective and that Guerra was seeking revenge against those who
he perceived to be his political enemies.
December 13, 2008 Brownsville Herald
This year's Willacy County grand jury investigation into alleged criminal
activity surrounding for-profit prisons and high-profile public officials is not
the first, and District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra said it is tied to an earlier
investigation. A federal inquiry resulting in convictions in 2005 stirred up a
dust storm in Raymondville when it looked into a money-for-votes and bribery
scheme to favor firms involved in the Willacy County Adult Correctional Center,
a project that started in 2000. The firms, which did business in Texas and were
involved in the project, were CorPlan Corrections, Aguirre Inc., Management &
Training Corp., and Hale-Mills Construction, according to Guerra and public
records. That federal investigation resulted in the bribery conviction of former
Webb County commissioner David Cortez - identified in federal court records as
the representative of "a company" - who gave $39,000 over three years from 2000
to 2003 to several officials to secure their votes on the Commissioners Court
for the firm's participation in the jail project. However, that firm is never
mentioned by name in the court record. Federal officials would not discuss the
case, so the reason for the omission could not be learned. Among the officials
who received money in return for favoring a jail consultant - also unnamed in
the court record - and whom Cortez represented were Israel Tamez of
Raymondville, at that time a Willacy County commissioner, and the late Jose
Jimenez of Sebastian, also a Willacy commissioner. Cortez, Tamez and Jimenez all
pleaded guilty, the federal court record shows. U.S. District Judge Andrew S.
Hanen sentenced Tamez to six months in jail, three years probation and a $25,000
fine. Cortez was sentenced to three months in jail, followed by a period of six
months of home confinement, two-years probation and a $25,000 fine. Jimenez died
in 2006, while Cortez and Tamez were sentenced in late 2006 and directed to
serve their sentences last year. The unnamed companies were never charged. The
dust storm never quite settled after those convictions. Court records show that
a series of continuances delayed when the sentences would begin. Tamez did not
serve his sentence until last year. Jimenez was convicted but died before
sentencing. In reference to the Jimenez and Tamez cases, Assistant U.S. Attorney
Jim McAlister told the court in the fall of 2005: "Both defendants are actively
cooperating in helping the government identify and prosecute other individuals
involved in unlawful activity. The investigation is ongoing and both defendants
are expected to continue their efforts in assisting the government. The
government and the defendants agree that sentencing Mr. Tamez and Mr. Jimenez at
this time could result in a miscarriage of justice." McAlister's motions to
continue Cortez's case are sealed. However, federal court records show that
Cortez gave money to yet a third elected official, so that he would favor
corporate interests involved in the design, construction, financing, maintenance
and management of the Willacy correctional center that was to house federal
inmates. During Cortez's sentencing in 2006, his lawyer, Mike DeGeurin Sr., of
Houston, told Hanen: "I think, to convince people that he (Cortez) is still a
person you can count on to get things done, he (Cortez) makes some payments to
Mr. (Israel) Tamez and a couple of others - two other commissioners that, we'll
leave their names unspoken." However, Jimenez was the only other person charged,
aside from Cortez. There were believed to be additional conspirators, known and
unknown, the federal record shows. Neither the third commissioner to which
DeGuerin referred, nor the other conspirators that McAlister referred to in
2005, was never mentioned by name or location in court documents and was not
part of the court record. DeGeurin did not respond to a recent request for
comment. Tamez's attorney, John David Franz, of McAllen, also could not be
reached for comment. Jimenez's lawyer, Nemecio E. Lopez Jr. of Harlingen,
declined to talk about the case. Enter Guerra and his investigation into the
management and operation of for-profit prisons in Willacy County, which led to
the recent indictments of, among others, U.S. Vice President Richard B. Cheney,
former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr.,
D-Brownsville. The indictment charges Cheney and Gonzales with profiteering from
the jails and neglect of conditions due to self-interest. The indictment against
Lucio charged him with influence peddling in receiving consulting fees from the
firms for services he would not have been requested to provide were it not for
his official position. Guerra now says the FBI and Texas Rangers told him in
2006 that "higher-ups" in both agencies directed their agents to halt the
federal inquiry into the original money-for-votes and bribery scheme.
Spokeswomen for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas
declined to comment on Guerra's allegations, and Tela Mange of the Texas
Department of Public Safety said no one in the department knew anything about
Guerra's allegations, including the Texas Rangers. The FBI did not return a
request for comment. Guerra says that he reopened the investigation because he
wants to ensure justice is done before he leaves office at the end of this
month. "If I know that a crime has been committed, I have to make a diligent
effort to make sure that the crime is addressed in my tenure. My job is to make
sure that criminals don't get away. That is what a prosecutor does," he said.
James M. Parkey, president and founder of CorPlan, on Monday verified for the
Brownsville Herald that Cortez had been one of the firm's consultants, but said
he had not known of any payments from Cortez to Tamez, Jimenez or others. "Our
position is that Mr. Cortez pleaded guilty," said CorPlan's lawyer, Edmundo O.
Ramirez, of McAllen. There is no other position, he said. Public records -
yearly financial statements that the Texas Ethics Commission requires of elected
officials - show that Lucio was one of CorPlan's consultants. The Nov. 17
indictment against Lucio alleges that because of his position he received
consulting fees from six firms, including CorPlan Corrections, Aguirre Inc.,
Management & Training Corp. , and Hale-Mills Construction. Guerra said the firms
were tied to the Willacy County 500-bed jail project, which county commissioners
approved in 2000. Parkey said he was not at liberty to disclose the services
Lucio provided his firm without Lucio's consent. Lucio told The Brownsville
Herald in 2002 that he received consulting fees from the firms for introducing
them to public officials and setting up meetings. In 2002, Parkey said, "Public
relations doesn't require a product in terms of written material. He (Lucio)
keeps our name in front of people." Texas Ethics Commission records show that
Lucio listed receiving at least $135,000 or more from CorPlan Corrections,
Aguirre Inc. and Management & Training Corp. in 2003 and 2004. Hale-Mills is not
on the list. Lucio also told The Brownsville Herald in 2002 and again in 2005
that he had been consulting for CorPlan since 1999 and that Aguirre and
Management & Training Corp. soon contracted with him for consulting, marketing
and public relations. He would not say at that time when or how much money each
company paid him. It was not until 2004 that Lucio reported the companies in his
personal financial statements to the Texas Ethics Commission, which requires
that officials list retainers and sources of income. Lucio's chief of staff,
Paul Cowen (uncle of Lucio's lawyer, Michael R. Cowen) said in 2002 that the
fees had been reported, but under the umbrella of Rio Shelters Inc., a firm
owned by Lucio that provides advertisements on bus shelters. Hale-Mills and
Aguirre Inc. did not return a request for comment Tuesday, and Carl Stuart,
communications director for Management & Training Corp., said, "We just don't
make comment on pending litigation." During the inquiries in 2005, Lucio wrote
to CorPlan Corrections, Aguirre Inc. and Management & Training Corp. advising
them he was taking a leave of absence because news reports had named the three
companies as those involved in the building and management of the facilities in
Willacy County. Lucio at that time brought copies of his letters to the
Brownsville Herald. Cowen, Lucio's lawyer, on Monday said he has instructed his
client not to comment "as long as Mr. Guerra is in office." Contrary to his
client's Nov. 17 indictment, which presiding District Judge J. Manuel Bañales
dismissed Dec. 1, Lucio did not do consulting work for Hale-Mills, Cowen
stressed. (Bañales also threw out the indictments against Cheney and Gonzales on
Dec. 1.) "In fact, we ask the public to take all of Mr. Guerra's accusations
with a grain of salt, and to consider the misrepresentations he has already been
caught making under oath in this case," Cowen said in a written statement to The
Brownsville Herald. Cowen said he and the senator are disappointed that Guerra
continues his vendetta against Lucio, even after the court dismissed all charges
against the senator. Lucio has to do outside work to earn a living, Cowen said,
noting that the senator is paid only $600 a month by the for his legislative
services. Cowen said Lucio earns less than the minimum wage, and cannot support
his family on $7,200 a year. "However, he has been very careful to ensure that
any work he does is not only legal, but also wholly ethical," Cowen said in a
written statement. Lucio has gone to great lengths to ensure that the consulting
work complies with all legal and ethical requirements, Cowen said, noting that
he requested a formal attorney general's opinion on whether a legislator can
provide consulting, marketing and public relation services to clients who have
dealings with government officials. Cowen said Lucio also consulted with two
attorney generals, the Texas Ethics Commission and hired a private attorney to
ensure that his business affairs followed the law. In a July 2003 opinion, Texas
Attorney General Greg Abbott told Lucio that laws do not categorically prohibit
a legislator from representing a client's interests before government officials
or entities. Still, Abbott said, legality depends on the specific facts of a
case. Abbott wrote that Lucio did not elaborate on the nature of his clients'
businesses nor on his dealings and communications on their behalf. Furthermore,
whether a public servant's outside employment creates a conflict of interest
frequently requires resolving fact questions, which is beyond the purview of the
opinion process, Abbott's opinion states. Abbott wrote that a legislator should
be aware of the provisions in Chapter 36 of the Texas Penal Code. A legislator
may not solicit or accept any benefit unless it falls within one of the
exceptions recognized by the code, the opinion states. Abbott noted that the
primary exception allows a legislator to accept fair compensation for work
performed in a capacity other than as a public servant. "Should you have a
specific concern, you may wish to consult with private counsel," Abbott advised
Lucio. Lucio told The Brownsville Herald in 2002 that he did not consult with an
attorney. Cowen on Monday said that Lucio provided legitimate services to the
firms that contracted him. "Senator Lucio has nothing to hide, and is happy to
have a competent, unbiased prosecutor review all of the evidence in this matter.
Unfortunately, Mr. Guerra's words and actions show him to be neither unbiased
nor competent," Cowen said. Guerra vehemently denies that his charges against
Lucio are part of a vendetta against the senator. "The problem with Eddie Lucio
is that he has not explained what he does for these companies," Guerra said.
During a recent court hearing, Guerra said that if a jury found companies hired
Lucio because he is a senator and not because of services he provided "then
that's kickbacks and that's it." On Thursday Guerra said, "He (Lucio) says that
he has permission from the attorney general, but the attorney general opinion
did not give him permission (to receive fees from the firms). And then he said
he got permission from the Texas Ethics Commission, and he has not produced one
document showing that. The accusation that I have a vendetta is a smokescreen."
Bañales on Dec. 1 dismissed all charges against the high-profile defendants. And
Wednesday, he removed Guerra from bringing any further charges in the cases
against Lucio and others in which he has a "clear bias and prejudice." However,
even though Guerra appears hamstrung in his proclaimed quest for justice, the
saga may be nowhere near an end. DA Pro Tem Alfredo Padilla, whom Bañales
appointed to review the indictments, said Thursday that he wants to present all
of the evidence that Guerra gathered to a new grand jury, which will be
impaneled early next year.
December 8, 2008 Valley Morning Star
District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra said Monday that state Sen. Eddie Lucio's
elected position conflicts with his job as a consultant for companies that work
within his jurisdiction. Guerra said he believes that companies hire Lucio
because of his position as a state senator and that Lucio uses his influence to
obtain the consulting work. "These people are hiring him because of his position
and not because of his skills," Guerra said in an interview. "There's no way to
justify it." Lucio could not be reached for comment Monday afternoon. Guerra
said that Lucio could work as a consultant but not within his state Senate
District 27, that includes Cameron, Kenedy, Kleberg, Willacy and part of Hidalgo
counties. Lucio was first elected in 1991. But Edmundo Ramirez, a McAllen
attorney who represents Ronald Holmes, an attorney for CorPlan Corrections in
Dallas, one of the companies for which Lucio is a consultant, noted the Texas
Ethics Commission has sanctioned Lucio's work as a consultant. "The ethics
commission has found nothing wrong with those payments," said Ramirez said,
referring the consulting fees Lucio is paid. Lucio owns an advertising and
public relations firm in Brownsville. "Sen. Lucio gets hired because of what he
brings to the table," Ramirez said. "He's a PR man. He's a good one. He brings
value to the table. "Regardless of what Mr. Guerra believes, (payments) are
legal and have been properly reported by Sen. Lucio. The law is the law." The
Texas Attorney General's Office sanctioned Lucio's work as a consultant in a
legal opinion issued in July 2003. Texas law states that "it must be the
services rendered and not the status of the public servant rendering the
services that is of value to the person for whom the services are performed,"
the Attorney General's opinion noted. CorPlan, a prison consulting company,
requested on Monday that a judge quash Guerra's subpoena that orders the company
to appear in court Wednesday. Guerra said he wants CorPlan to appear in court to
disclose the nature of the services it pays Lucio to perform. Last month, Guerra
pushed for grand jury indictments against Lucio, Vice President Dick Cheney,
former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and several local elected
officials. State District Judge Manuel Bañales threw out those indictments. But
Michael Cowen, Lucio's attorney, believes Guerra will try to re-indict Lucio
before Guerra's fourth term expires Dec. 31. The grand jury is set to meet
Friday for its last scheduled session before its term expires Dec. 31, District
Clerk Gilbert Lozano said. Cowen will request that Bañales on Wednesday
disqualify Guerra as prosecutor, arguing Guerra's "personal animosity toward
Lucio creates a conflict of interest." Guerra filed subpoenas on Dec. 5 to order
CorPlan, Management and Training Corp., Aguirre Inc., Hale Mills Corp., TEDSI
Infrastructure Group Inc. and Dannenbaum Engineering Corp. to appear in court.
Lucio has worked as a consultant for these companies. CorPlan, Management and
Training Corp., Aguirre and Hale Mills are companies that worked on a $14.5
million prison project that was the focus of a bribery scandal that led to the
convictions of former Willacy County commissioners Israel Tamez and Jose Jimenez
and former Webb County Commissioner David Cortez.
February 7, 2008 Valley Morning Star
Willacy County Sheriff Larry Spence on Tuesday denied accusations that he
failed to comply with bookkeeping laws. Spence said he did not break any laws
and has not done anything illegal. He said no one in the county government has
ever told him to operate the Sheriff’s Department differently than the way he’s
been running it for years. County Treasurer Ruben Cavazos said Spence failed to
keep receipts, failed to charge federal officials for services and improperly
deposited money. The accusations come as Spence faces longtime Chief Deputy
David Martinez and Constable Ben Vera in the March 4 race for the office he’s
held since 1985. “We’re not trying to hide anything here,” Spence said. “We have
open books. There’s no intent to defraud here.” Cavazos accused Spence of
failing to deposit certificates of deposit into a county bank account. Instead,
Spence uses a Sheriff’s Department account to which Cavazos does not have
access, Cavazos said. “If he had CDs in the bank, the bank will not tell me
because he’s not using the county’s (account),” Cavazos said. Spence said the
Sheriff’s Department has used its account for years but added the department had
no certificates of deposit in the account. “Nobody has brought that to our
attention until this came up,” Spence said of the accusation. “If there was
something that needs to be adjusted, someone should tell us.” Cavazos also
accused Spence of failing to charge Management Training Corp., the company that
runs a federal immigrant detention center, to conduct background checks on job
applicants. “They have a lot of employees (so) that would be a lot of money for
the county,” Cavazos said. In response, Spence said MTC told him that county
commissioners said he couldn’t charge for background checks. Company spokesman
Carl Stuart did not respond to a message requesting comment. County Commissioner
Aurelio Guerra said he was “not aware of the situation or if any fees should be
charged.”
January 24, 2008 Valley Morning Star
The Willacy County jail is close to breaking even more than a year after
local officials feared investors would foreclose on it, Commissioner Eddie Chapa
said this week. The jail must lure higher numbers of federal prisoners to make a
monthly average of $58,000, Chapa said. So far, average inmate counts have
generated between $40,000 and $45,000 a month, Chapa said. “The latest results
show it’s almost paying for itself — not quite, but almost,” Chapa said. “That’s
good news for us.” An influx of federal prisoners helped the 96-bed jail boost
last year’s average inmate counts to about 80, Sheriff Larry Spence said. “We
worked hard to try to make ends meet,” Spence said. Last year, officials also
hiked the fee it charges the federal government to house prisoners from $30 a
day to $45 a day at the jail that opened in 2004, Spence said. Four months after
county commissioners set aside $25,000 for a jail administrator, the county
still hasn’t hired the official who would handle billing while contacting the
U.S. Marshals Service and Kleberg County to bring inmates to the jail. Now, the
county might not need to hire the administrator, Chapa said. If the job was
(created) to help the jail make its goal, why would we want to spend the extra
money?” Chapa said. In October 2004, the county opened the jail that replaced an
old jail that was plagued with a long string of escapes before it fell below
state standards. Under the county’s plan, the new jail would hold federal
inmates, for whom the Marshals Service would pay the county $30 a head per day.
But federal inmates trickled in. Then in April 2006, the Marshals Service pulled
female inmates out of the jail after a guard was arrested for having sex with a
female prisoner. Two weeks later, county commissioners put up $137,000 to help
the jail make its first payment to investors. For some county officials, the
jail stood at the brink of foreclosure. “We got to a time when people were
looking at other options,” Spence said. In November 2006, investors postponed a
$433,000 payment after the jail ran short of money. “It was a struggle,” Spence
said. “It had a rough start getting going,” In January 2007, the county entered
into a contract with the Marshals Service that boosted the daily rent to $45 per
prisoner.
February 25, 2007 AP
The engine of the old, borrowed camper chugs away in the parking lot of the
county jail – three goats, a rooster and a horse alongside. It is the temporary
home and office of Willacy County District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra. Mr.
Guerra, 52, has brought down public officials and continues investigations. Most
recently, he filed – and then dropped – motions to have the sheriff and two
elected officials removed from office. Now, he says, they're all out to get him.
A special prosecutor raided his office recently and filed public theft charges
against Mr. Guerra. They were dropped Friday. Depending on whom you talk to, Mr.
Guerra is either a lone-wolf champion for South Texas justice or a chronic
malcontent with some shady dealings of his own. "He's just been fighting with us
for so many years," said Paul Cowan, chief of staff for state Sen. Eddie Lucio.
"Anything you want to do, he wants to fight it, fight it, fight it. We have no
problems working with any other officials. The problem lies with him." In 1991,
with just two years' experience practicing law in a mechanic's garage, county
commissioners appointed Mr. Guerra to fill in after the incumbent district
attorney died. He began investigating the big landowners and business owners for
crimes such as embezzlement and receiving double federal payments for fictitious
crop losses. Now, Mr. Guerra has gone after the contractors involved in building
private jails. County, state and federal lockups, and now the huge pods of the
2,000-bed immigration detention center, make a bleak campus on the former
farmland. Mr. Guerra's investigation into a bribery scheme involving federal
prison contracts led to guilty pleas by three former Willacy and Webb county
commissioners. Mr. Guerra now says he wants to know more about Mr. Lucio's
consulting contract for the prison company that built the $60 million federal
complex of tent-like domes. Mr. Lucio said Mr. Guerra was upset about
legislation he passed that left the county with only one state district judge –
Migdalia Lopez, one of the officials Mr. Guerra wanted out of office. Mr. Lucio
would not disclose his consulting fees for the prison deal but said they were
"modest" and legal. He said the prison had been a win for the county. "We've
brought more than a thousand jobs to that county, and Johnny Guerra has not
brought one," he said. Mr. Guerra says another company was prepared to build the
facility for $35 million. "In six weeks they spent $60 million," he said.
"There's no way that thing cost $60 million." Two weeks ago, Mr. Guerra skipped
court to go to Austin and look for a sympathetic ear. When he came back, a
special prosecutor appointed by Judge Lopez had taken Mr. Guerra's computers and
many of his files. Mr. Guerra now maintains he can't do his work. According to
Judge Lopez's order appointing the special prosecutor, a grand jury complained
that Mr. Guerra was pressuring them for an indictment in a sexual harassment
case. The special prosecutor is Gustavo Garza, Mr. Guerra's four-time political
opponent. Mr. Garza recently charged Mr. Guerra with three counts of felony
theft by a public servant and one misdemeanor obstruction charge for trying to
prevent officers from searching his office, but a judge Friday dropped the
charges. Mr. Guerra has threatened to dismiss hundreds of cases in retaliation,
but so far only four have been dropped. Townspeople don't know what to make of
it. "It's a mess," said Polo Gracida, who came to watch court on Tuesday. "I
don't know whether he's a hero or not. We're definitely due for a change."
November 22, 2006 Express-News
The last of three county commissioners who pleaded guilty to a $39,000
bribery scandal involving contracts for a new federal detention facility in the
Rio Grande Valley has been sentenced. Former Webb County Commissioner David
Cortez, 72, of Laredo was sentenced Tuesday in federal court in Brownsville to
three months in prison for funneling the bribes in 2002 to former Willacy County
Commissioners Jose Jimenez of Sebastian and Israel Tamez, 60, of Raymondville in
exchange for favorable votes in the selection of contracts for the 500-bed
federal detention center here. U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen also ordered
Cortez to a two-year term of supervised release, including six months of house
arrest. He was fined $25,000. Jimenez died before sentencing. Tamez, 60, was
sentenced to six months in prison, three years of supervised release and a
$25,000 fine. All three had faced 20 years in prison. Sheriff Larry Spence said
the case had "drug out for so long." "I was surprised of the sentencing, but at
the same time I am glad that they are getting finalized," he said. But it's
still unclear if the case is over because authorities haven't made public where
the money originated. Authorities have requested anyone else involved to come
forward like the commissioners did, but no additional arrests have been made. A
spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Houston declined to comment.
Officials have said the companies hired to either design, build or manage the
facility, which opened in 2003, were the Dallas-area firms CorPlan Corrections
LTD and Aguirre Inc., along with Management Training Corp. of Centerville, Utah,
and Hale-Mills Construction of Houston. Municipal Capital Markets Group Inc, of
Dallas, underwrote the bonds. "It seems like all the people that have
investigated this thing, if there was somebody else in there that they would
have been found," said Mike Harling, executive vice president of the investment
firm. He said public records showed Cortez was hired by CorPlan, but he
suspected he could have made the bribe on his own will. No company employees
have been charged. "Just because you hire somebody, and hire in the liberal
sense, doesn't mean that you are responsible," Harling said. "If you haven't
asked them to go out and bribe somebody, if they choose to do that and choose
not to tell you, what can you say?" Cortez resigned from the Webb commission at
the time of his guilty plea in 2005. Webb County Judge Louis Bruni said the case
is a sad example of a bad decision.
November 13, 2006 Killeen Daily Herald
A Willacy County official has a word of caution for the Coryell County
Commissioners' Court as it considers a private prison vendor as a remedy for its
overcrowded jail facility. "Have your sheriff talk to our sheriff. He will let
you know what kind of problems he is having," said Juan Guerra, who pulls double
duty as both county and district attorney in Willacy County. Guerra said his
county has struggled through criminal investigations that saw two of its county
commissioners convicted, and it is also is in danger of defaulting on a bond
payment because it hasn't received enough federal prisoners to generate the
needed revenue to sustain the facility. Coryell County Commissioners are
expected to open a proposal from Innovative Government Strategies to construct
and operate a jail facility when they meet in regular session at 10 a.m. Monday
in the Coryell County Courthouse. According to the documents turned in by
Innovative Government Strategies, the proposed project team includes James
Parkey, with Corplan Corrections Inc., for developer, Hale-Mills for
construction company, Municipal Capital Markets Group for financing, Deborah L.
Williams for architecture and engineering and CiviGenics-Texas Inc. for
management and operations. Coryell County Attorney Brandon Belt previously
expressed concern about the proposed operator, saying that CiviGenics had been
at the center of controversy recently. However, it is not just CiviGenics that
has a troubled past. The commissioners' consideration of the group comes just
days after a federal judge sentenced former Willacy County Commissioner Israel
Tamez to six months in jail for his role in a bribery scandal connected to a
$14.5 million prison project to construct a U.S. Marshals Service jail. On Nov.
9, U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen handed down the sentence and also gave Tamez
three years' probation and imposed a $25,000 fine. Tamez and former Commissioner
Jose Jimenez, who died of cancer before being sentenced, pleaded guilty in
January 2005 to taking more than $10,000 in kickbacks, Guerra said. Former Webb
County Commissioner David Cortez also was involved in the scandal and was
convicted in March 2005 of funneling the bribes to the Willacy County
commissioners in exchange for their votes to hire a consultant in the prison
project, Guerra said. Cortez is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 20. "My
understanding was, as far as implicating the company, it has not been
implicated, but the commissioners have been convicted," Guerra said. "Our
records indicate that when (Cortez) came before the commissioners when this
happened four years ago, he represented himself as a private consultant for
Corplan." In May 2005, Willacy County, on Guerra's instructions, filed a civil
suit against Corplan and Hale-Mills alleging that the two companies were parties
to the bribery. The suit later was dismissed, Guerra said. Guerra said he could
not say whether a federal investigation was still pending, and U.S. District
Court offices were closed Friday for the federal holiday. Willacy County Sheriff
Larry Spence could not be reached either. Guerra said the lack of competitive
bids when Willacy was building its third federal facility – against his advice
and despite the criminal implications – was not only suspect, but something that
possibly lost Willacy County millions. "No one is checking to see if you are
getting your money's worth," he said. "Because we don't know if that facility
cost $50 million to construct." In fact, Guerra said according to information he
received from experts, the project, which was for a facility to house
Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees, could have been done for between
$30 and $35 million. "The information that I got, from experts that reviewed the
expenses, says they could not justify the $50 million. They padded the
construction costs by an extra $20 to $15 million," Guerra said. "What is funny
you get commissioners that are indicted for taking $10,000. I am just wondering
who are the real crooks?"
November 9, 2006 AP
A former Willacy County commissioner was sentenced to six months in federal
prison Thursday for taking bribes in return for votes on a federal prison
contract. Israel Tamez, 60, of Raymondville, also must pay a $25,000 fine and
serve three years probation after his release. Tamez and former Willacy County
Commissioner Jose Jimenez of Sebastian pleaded guilty in January 2005 to
conspiracy to commit bribery. Tamez admitted receiving cash payments totaling
$10,000 for voting to select particular companies to design, build, maintain and
manage the prison. Charges against Jimenez were dismissed earlier this year
after he died.
August 23, 2006 Valley Star
Willacy County officials will have to pay as much as $600,000 to bail out the
new $7.5 million jail that has run short of money to pay investors who could
foreclose, County Judge Simon Salinas said. The financially strapped county will
have to set aside about $600,000 as officials work on a proposed $3.5 million
budget that's unlikely to include $300,000 to reinstate employee health
insurance. "It's a hard pill to swallow," Salinas said. The decision came after
a Friday meeting in which Salinas and Sheriff Larry Spence agreed to a study
that will help determine whether the county will run the jail or turn over
operations to a management company. Management and Training Corp. (MTC), the
Utah-based company that operates a 525-bed, county-owned prison and the county's
new $60 million immigration detention center, will conduct the study at no
charge, Salinas said. "It's kind of a feasibility study that looks at different
options," Spence said. Friday, officials met with J.C. Conner, MTC's vice
president, and Michael Harling of Municipal Capital Markets Group of Dallas,
which handled the sale of bonds to fund construction of the county's jail,
prison and the immigration detention center. After the meeting, Salinas said the
county will have to budget about $600,000 to help the jail make its second
payment in November. Like some commissioners, Salinas had said the county
couldn't afford to bail out the jail. When county officials made plans to build
the jail, they counted on housing federal prisoners to pay off project costs.
Under the county's plan, federal prisoners - many of whom would be female
inmates - would take up 48 of the jail's 96 beds. But the Marshals Service has
failed to come through with a steady flow of prisoners, officials said. Spence
has said the county's federal inmate count has steadily climbed to about 35.
After a sex scandal, the Marshals Service hasn't housed female prisoners in the
jail. In April, the Marshals Service removed 19 female prisoners from the jail
amid the scandal. After an internal investigation, sheriff's officials fired two
female guards after female prisoners accused them of offering favors to female
inmates. A Texas Rangers investigation later led authorities to arrest a male
guard accused of having sex with a female prisoner.
August 1, 2006 Valley Star
Willacy county commissioners won't bail out the new $7.5 million county jail
if it can't afford to pay investors, County Judge Simon Salinas said Monday.
Instead, commissioners may hire a private management company to operate the
jail, Commissioner Aurelio Guerra said. But Sheriff Larry Spence warned that the
county would pay as much $70 a day to house its prisoners in a privately
operated jail. Monday, the jail held 49 county prisoners, he said. As
commissioners work on their proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year, they
won't set aside $566,000 to make the jail's second payment, Salinas said. "I
will not bail (it) out with local money," Salinas said. "I will not do it
again." In late April, commissioners agreed to pay investors more than $137,000
after the jail ran short of money to make its first payment. The Willacy County
Public Facilities Corp., a non-profit organization that oversees the jail that
opened in October 2004, must make its second payment in November. Under the
county's plan, federal prisoners - many of whom would be female inmates - would
take up 48 of the jail's 96 beds. "We were told that was the need," Sheriff
Larry Spence said of the plan to house female prisoners. "If we could build a
facility to house females, (the Marshal's Service) would more than likely keep
it full." But the Marshals Service has failed to come through with a steady flow
of prisoners, officials said. Monday, the jail held 35 federal prisoners, Spence
said. Since an April sex scandal, the Marshals Service hasn't housed female
prisoners in the jail. "That definitely caused a problem," Spence said. In
April, the sex scandal led the Marshals Service to remove 19 female prisoners
from the jail.
July 23, 2006 Express News
The Willacy County attorney is speaking out against his county's new
contract for a massive detention center because he said it involves companies
still under a cloud from the 2004 bribery convictions of three elected
officials. Juan Angel Guerra also accuses veteran Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr.,
D-Brownsville, of going back on his word by continuing to represent the same
firms. Former Willacy County Commissioners Israel Tamez and the late Jose
Jimenez were convicted in 2004 of accepting bribes in exchange for favorable
votes regarding a 600-bed prison that opened in Raymondville, the county seat,
in 2003. The third convicted official, Webb County Commissioner David Cortez,
was an associate of CorPlan Corrections, a consulting company at the time of the
prison project. Cortez was accused of funneling the bribe money for favorable
votes on contracts. No company employees, however, have been charged. Federal
prosecutors wouldn't comment on the case, but observers believe the
investigation is ongoing because the commissioners' sentencing dates have been
pushed back several times. Meanwhile, the same firms are building a 2,000-bed
detention facility near the same prison. Willacy commissioners voted 3-2 on
Monday to approve $60.6 million in bonds for the new facility, which is on a
fast-track construction schedule to house mostly non-Mexican undocumented
immigrants in a series of tentlike structures for U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, or ICE. Utah-based Management Training Corp., or MTC, will operate
the facility; Houston-based Hale-Mills Construction Inc. is building it; and
Argyle-based CorPlan is consulting on the project, said Guerra, who is the
county and district attorney. A May 27, 2005, letter from commissioners to the
county's nonprofit corporation set up to oversee the federal prison project
asked it to "terminate its contractual relationship with CorPlan," because a
Willacy County lawsuit against the firm alleged it was involved with the bribes.
"Now they are asking me to sign a contract that includes CorPlan," Guerra said.
"I told the commissioners you can't have it both ways. First you pass the
resolution saying you don't want to deal with CorPlan. Now you do a contract
that I know for a fact includes CorPlan. So we are back to square one." The
lawsuit was dropped in April. County Judge Simon Salinas said he wasn't aware of
the letter and resolution that prompted it. It's probably too late anyway, he
added. "The contract is already signed, the work is already begun," he said.
Regardless, Salinas said, the county can't proceed under the assumption that
leaders of the companies are criminals. "In this country we are innocent until
proven guilty," he said. "And nobody out there pressed charges against the
companies. ... Just because these (commissioners) plead guilty doesn't mean
everybody in the world is guilty." Guerra favored Tennessee-based Corrections
Corporation of America, or CCA, which offered to finance the detention facility
on its own rather than through the county. He said the commissioners initially
favored CCA, but later picked MTC. Commissioner Noe Loya said Guerra "is trying
to find every excuse to hire CCA, and change our minds, but it's over." Guerra
said he met with Lucio two weeks ago and the veteran lawmaker pushed MTC. "I
asked him, 'Are you talking to me as my senator or as an employee of one of
these companies?'" Guerra said. "He told me he was talking to me as a
consultant." Lucio said he met with Guerra because it "appeared that he had
quite a bit of influence on the Commissioners Court." Lucio said he told Guerra
he favored MTC because it treats its employees well. Lucio said he thought
CorPlan had been cleared because the lawsuit filed on behalf of Willacy County
against James Parkey, president of CorPlan, was dropped and there have been no
other arrests. Parkey did not return a call seeking comment. "My main focus on
talking with Johnny (Guerra) was trying to sell him on the fact that MTC was a
very reputable company," Lucio said. "I feel very comfortably speaking on their
behalf and asking them to consider us and that was my main focus." According to
the Texas Ethics Commission, Lucio reported in 2005 that MTC and CorPlan paid
him a total of at least $50,000 through his Brownsville company, Rio Shelters
Inc. In the wake of the bribery scandal, Lucio said he had stopped representing
the firms and wouldn't again until the matter was cleared up. "I know there has
been a case, a problem, a situation there where somebody associated with
(Parkey) out of Laredo was indicted and convicted," Lucio said, referring to
Cortez. "But when the lawsuit against him was dropped, I felt that he was
exonerated." Told that the bribery investigation may still be open, he said: "If
it is, I am not aware of it." Asked if he was being paid by MTC or CorPlan for
encouraging the detention center contract, he said: "It's up to them if they
feel I did a good job." Lucio said it was "very hard to draw a fine line"
between his job as a lawmaker and his private work, but added: "I can tell you
this: I do my best." "I get paid $600 a month to be a state senator, and I do it
just about on a full-time basis," he said. Damon Hiniger, a vice president of
CCA in Tennessee, said he was surprised by the county's decision because CCA was
going to invest its own money, pay about $1.8 million in property taxes, and
shoulder the risk. Judge Salinas said he was influenced by the bottom line,
nothing more. "I have nothing against CCA, they are a good reputable company,
but they are in the business to make their own bucks," he said. The detention
facility is to open Aug. 1 with 500 beds, and then have 1,500 more available
Oct. 1. It is part of President Bush's Secure Border Initiative.
May 25, 2005 Valley Star
Willacy County commissioners will request that the Willacy County Public
Facilities Corp. break its contract with a company that is a defendant in a
county lawsuit. But rankled members of the Public Facilities Corp. (PFC) said
they would stand by their vote to hire Corplan Corrections, a prison consultant
in Irving. If PFC members refuse the request, commissioners could remove them,
County Attorney Juan Angel Guerra said Tuesday, following commissioners’ request
on Monday that the PFC terminate its contract with Corplan Corrections. On May
12, the PFC voted to hire Corplan to begin work on a 500-bed addition to a $14.5
million federal prison. The project’s cost had not been estimated, officials
said. On May 13, Willacy County filed a lawsuit against Corplan and Hale Mills
Inc., the contractor in the prison project. Willacy County formed the PFC as a
nonprofit organization charged with the development of the prison project. In
the lawsuit filed by attorney Ramon Garcia, the Hidalgo County judge, Willacy
County claims illegal action voided the contract that led to the prison’s
construction. The prison project has been the focus of an ongoing federal
bribery investigation that has led to the convictions of two former Willacy
County commissioners and a former Webb County commissioner.
May 21, 2005 Valley Star
The Willacy County Public Facilities Corp.’s decision to hire a company that
is a defendant in a Willacy County lawsuit could jeopardize the case, District
Attorney Juan Angel Guerra said Friday. On May 12, the Public Facilities Corp.
hired Corplan Corrections to expand the $14.5 million federal prison, a project
that sparked a bribery scandal that led to the convictions of two former Willacy
County commissioners and a former Webb County commissioner. The move would lead
to the construction of a 500-bed addition to the prison, which opened with 500
beds in late 2003. The project’s cost had not been estimated, officials said. A
day later, on May 13, Willacy County filed a lawsuit against Corplan, an Irving
consulting firm, and Hale Mills Inc., a Houston contractor, claiming illegal
action voided the contract that led to the prison’s construction. "It’s
premature to enter into further contracts with those companies, especially with
a pending lawsuit," Guerra said. Willacy County formed the Public Facilities
Corp. as a nonprofit organization charged with development of the prison
project. The Public Facilities Corp. owns the prison. Attorney Ramon Garcia, the
Hidalgo County judge who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Willacy County, declined
to comment on whether the Public Facilities Corp.’s action jeopardized the
lawsuit. "I’ve been hired to represent parties regarding the facility that’s
already been constructed," said Garcia, who Guerra said was working on a
contingent fee that would pay him 40 percent of any damages awarded. "These are
separate and distinct transactions." In the lawsuit, Willacy County claims
former Webb County Commissioner David Cortez worked as a consultant to the two
companies when he funneled about $39,000 to "several" Willacy County
commissioners. In turn, former Willacy County Commissioners Israel Tamez and
Jose Jimenez agreed to vote to select the companies for the project, the lawsuit
claims. In March, U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen convicted Cortez of funneling
about $39,000 in bribes to "several" Willacy County commissioners in exchange
for their votes to hire a consultant in the prison project. In January, Hanen
convicted Tamez and Jimenez after they pleaded guilty to taking more than
$10,000 in bribes in the project.
An ongoing federal and state investigation is expected to lead to charges
against at least one other Willacy County elected official, authorities have
said.
May 18, 2005 AP
Willacy County has filed a lawsuit against two companies involved in a $14.5
million federal prison project that became entwined in a bribery scheme. The
civil lawsuit was filed last week in state district court against Corplan
Corrections of Argyle and Hale Mills Inc. of Houston. The suit claims the
companies conspired to bribe county commissioners to select them for the
construction project. Although the lawsuit does not specify damages, District
Attorney Juan Angel Guerra said the financially troubled county could get title
to the prison. "The contract would be null and void, so technically the prison
would end up belonging to the county free of charge," Guerra said in Thursday
editions of the Valley Morning Star in Harlingen.
March 25, 2005 San Antonio Express-News
A third former South Texas county commissioner charged in connection with a
bribery scandal surrounding a detention facility in the Rio Grande Valley was
convicted Thursday in Brownsville. Authorities said others could be charged.
David Cortez, 70, of Laredo, a former Webb County commissioner, was charged,
pleaded guilty and was convicted Thursday of conspiring to "obstruct, delay and
affect commerce" for his role in helping secure a contract for the Willacy
County Adult Correctional Center in Raymondville. He waived his right to have a
grand jury investigate. The charge accused him of funneling at least $39,000 to
help a consulting firm get part of the job. Cortez is cooperating with the FBI
in an ongoing investigation, authorities said. He was released on a personal
recognizance bond and is scheduled to be sentenced June 28. He faces a maximum
penalty of 20 years in federal prison. The name of the consulting company he
secured the bids for was not released. Two former Willacy County commissioners,
Jose Jimenez of Sebastian and Israel Tamez of Raymondville, pleaded guilty Jan.
4 to accepting bribes of $10,000 or more for their votes awarding contracts to
build the 500-bed detention facility used for federal inmates. Willacy County
Sheriff Larry Spence said the Dallas-area firms CorPlan Corrections LTD and
Aguirre Inc., along with Management & Training Corp. of Centerville, Utah, and
Hale-Mills Construction of Houston, were the companies hired to either design,
build or manage the Raymondville facility, which opened in 2003. "Most of these
guys have worked together on several projects," Spence said. Asked to confirm
that Cortez had worked for CorPlan, the firm's director, James Parkey, said by
phone, "I have no comment on that. Obviously that's a tickly subject and I could
refer you to my attorney." According to a charging document, "several Willacy
County commissioners did solicit and receive things of value" from Cortez "in
exchange for providing advantages not available to others interested in and
competing for the selection of a consultant" for the facility. "It was further
part of the conspiracy that several Willacy County commissioners did agree to
tacitly and implicitly to provide (Cortez) and other corporate representatives
with assurances in their capacity" as commissioners, that Cortez and the company
he represented "would receive favorable consideration" in exchange for money,
the document states. The commissioners agreed to accept the money in June 2000
and were paid around October 2002, according to court records.
February 26, 2005 Houston Chronicle
When traditional jobs in agriculture and the oil patch began to shrink,
Willacy County saw salvation in prisons and jails. A 540-bed jail opened for
federal prisoners in 2003 and a 96-bed county jail is now nearing completion,
both located next to an existing state jail at the main crossroads of this rural
county in the deep Rio Grande Valley. In addition to the jobs provided at the
facilities, county officials envisioned ringing cash registers as inmates'
families made visits, spending money at local hotels, gas stations and
restaurants. But today, the optimism has been overshadowed by scandal. A pair of
county commissioners await sentencing in April after admitting taking bribes
from corporate executives in exchange for voting on jail contracts. The
executives haven't been identified in federal charges. Compounding all that is a
dramatic drop in the number of inmates being housed in the federal facility.
Since November, the U.S. Marshals Service has removed more than 200 prisoners to
jails in neighboring Cameron County, where jail costs are nearly half what
Willacy jailers are paid under the existing federal contract.
Willacy's 2005 budget counted on a projected $300,000 payment from Management
Training Corp. of Centerville, Utah, the private management firm that operates
the jail. Willacy County receives a $2 share of the $70-plus daily payment
received for each federal inmate. Today, there are about 300 inmates in the
540-bed jail, and the private management company acknowledges it is losing
money. Executives with the companies that built and manage the federal jail
strongly deny any involvement with the bribery scandal. Hale-Mills Construction
Inc., a Houston firm that built both the federal jail and the nearly completed
county jail, which cost $7.5 million in financing and construction, did not
return repeated calls for comment. But the firm issued a statement denying any
knowledge of the bribes. Edmundo Ramirez, a McAllen attorney representing
Corplan Corrections of Argyle, the project manager, said, ''We have no
involvement with that (bribery) at all." District Attorney Juan Angel
Guerra said the first sign of any criminal wrongdoing surfaced when the county's
public facilities corporation — created in 1999 to build the federal jail —
received a $45,700 bill for a credit card account. Authorities soon learned
ex-county auditor Armando Rubalcaba, who was hired after Garcia left in late
1996, had opened the account without telling other county officials, Guerra
said. Rubalcaba also chaired the jail facilities' board of directors. The bill
included thousands of cash withdrawals the auditor made from a convenience store
he owns, as well as charges for trips to Las Vegas resorts, airline travel and
expensive meals. Rubalcaba, fired for incompetence in October 2003, pleaded no
contest to theft charges last year and agreed to tell investigators all he knew
about corruption in the county. He accepted a plea bargain that allows him to be
free on probation for 10 years, and he must make restitution to the county.
After that, the investigation moved quickly, and on Jan. 4, two commissioners —
Jose Jimenez, 67, and Israel Tamez, 58, — pleaded guilty to accepting more than
$10,000 ''from particular corporate representatives who were selected for
design, construction, maintenance and management of the jail." So far, Justice
Department officials have refused to say who made the payoffs.
February 10, 2005 Valley Star
Willacy County officials are "disappointed" in the U.S. Marshals Service’s
placement of inmates in the federal prison that they built to bolster the county
budget, County Judge Simon Salinas said Wednesday. This week, the inmate count
stood at about 313 in the 500-bed prison, up from an average of about 260 from
October to December, Sheriff Larry Spence said. But county officials had based
their $3.8 million general fund budget on near-capacity inmate counts projected
to generate $300,000. "They’re hitting us in the pocketbook," Salinas said. As
part of an agreement, Management & Training Corp., the private firm that runs
the prison, pays the county $2 a day for each federal inmate housed in the
county-owned prison. County officials expected the inmate count to jump after
last month’s meeting with U.S. Marshal Ben Reyna. Jan. 4, Spence and State Sen.
Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, traveled to Reyna’s office in Washington, D.C., to
discuss the drop in inmates. Lucio participated as a consultant to Management &
Training Corp., the company that manages the prison.
A year-end money crunch led the Marshals Service to transfer inmates to jails
with lower housing costs, Spence said. In 2000, county commissioners
entered into a contract to build the $14.5 million prison after the Marshals
Service solicited the construction of a South Texas prison to hold its inmates.
The prison opened in October 2003. Last month, a U.S. district judge convicted
former County Commissioners Israel Tamez and Jose Jimenez after they pleaded
guilty to taking more than $10,000 in kickbacks in the prison project.
February 7, 2005 San Antonio Express-News
State Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville, made the right decision by suspending
his business ties, even if only temporarily, with three contractors connected to
a federal detention facility at the center of a criminal investigation in the
Rio Grande Valley. He should make it permanent. In announcing his decision, the
South Texas legislator said he did not want any misperceptions about his
business dealings. Lucio, president and CEO of Rio Shelters Inc. a marketing and
advertising agency, has been on the payroll of the three companies involved in
that public construction project for several years. His primary job was to
introduce company officials to power brokers in the Rio Grande Valley. In
interviews with the Brownsville Herald, Lucio said he has worked with CorPlan
Corrections of Argyle, Aguirre Inc. of Dallas and the Management and Training
Corp. of Centerville, Utah, since 1999 earning about $100,000 a year. If that is
so, why didn't his employment with the three companies appear on his financial
disclosure statements filed with the state until 2004? Lucio is correct when he
says it is all about perception for a politician, and omitting vital information
about his employers on his state officeholder reports raises serious questions.
January 20, 2005 Brownsville Herald
State Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr. on Tuesday temporarily suspended his consulting
work for three companies involved with constructing and managing a Willacy
County federal detention center — the focus of a federal bribery investigation.
Lucio, D-Brownsville, told The Brownsville Herald on Wednesday that he has taken
a “leave of absence” from representing James Parkey’s CorPlan Corrections of
Argyle, Pedro Aguirre’s Aguirre Corp. of Dallas, and J.C. Conner’s Management
and Training Corp. (MTC) of Georgetown, until the federal inquiry in Willacy
County concludes. Lucio said he would reassess the relationship with the firms
that pay him about $100,000 a year combined. The federal investigation already
has resulted in the Jan. 4 convictions of Willacy County commissioners Jose
Jimenez of Sebastian and Israel Tamez of Raymondville for accepting at least
$10,000 in bribes in exchange for their votes in awarding contracts for the
center’s construction. U.S. Attorney Michael Shelby has not charged the
corporate representatives who allegedly bribed Jimenez and Tamez. Companies
involved in the project also have not been accused of any wrongdoing. Lucio said
Wednesday that he has been on CorPlan’s payroll since 1999 and that the other
two firms soon contracted him. He wouldn’t say when or how much each
specifically has paid him for marketing the firms and introducing them to public
officials. The Herald found, however, that it was not until 2004 that Lucio
reported the companies in his financial statements. Asked if he believed that
the companies would pay him more than $100,000 a year were he not a senator,
Lucio said that “it might seem like a lot of money, and it is in our area of the
state, but there are senators and representatives that are making much more
money on one case than I do in one year. So, I am not ashamed of what I make. I
worked for that.”
January 13, 2005 Valley Morning Star
State Sen. Eddie Lucio on Wednesday stood behind his work as a consultant
for a company involved in a $14.5 million federal prison project in Willacy
County. Last week, Lucio was working as a consultant for Corplan Corrections and
Management & Training Corp. (MTC) when he went to Washington D.C., to discuss a
recent drop in the federal prison’s inmate count with U.S. Marshals Service
Director Ben Reyna. The prison project has become the subject of an
investigation that led to the conviction of two Willacy County officials of
taking bribes from at least one of the companies involved in the design and
construction of the prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. No company
has been named as the source of the bribes. The prison has been struggling to
maintain the number of federal inmates it houses. A decline in the number has
hurt Willacy County financially. The county for months has been struggling to
keep from plunging into debt. MTC requested the meeting with Reyna, Willacy
County Sheriff Larry Spence said, since the Marshals Service sends federal
inmates to the prison. "I think it helped. It kind of opened the door," said
Spence, who traveled to Washington, D.C. with Lucio and County Commissioner Noe
Loya. Lucio’s connection to the prison goes back for several years. In 1999,
Lucio "introduced" Corplan Corrections to Willacy County commissioners as they
began to plan for a federal prison here, Lucio said of the Argyle consulting
firm that worked to develop the project. Among Lucio’s clients is Aguirre
Construction, the Dallas firm that designed the federal prison. Lucio also works
as a consultant for MTC, the Utah firm that manages the prison. Last week, U.S.
district Judge Andrew Hanen convicted former Willacy County Commissioners Israel
Tamez and Jose Jimenez of taking more than $10,000 in kickbacks in the federal
prison project. Federal prosecutors charged Tamez and Jimenez received kickbacks
"from particular corporate representatives who were selected in the competition"
for the prison project. The 500-bed prison’s inmate count dropped from
near-capacity in early October to about 240 in December, Spence said, noting MTC
pays the county $2 for every prisoner. The financially embattled county
projected $300,000 in federal prison money to boost its $3.8 million general
fund budget. A year-end money crunch led the Marshal’s Service to transfer
inmates to prisons with lower housing costs, Spence said.
January 13, 2005 Brownsville Herald
Three companies with ties to state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville, worked
on the construction of the federal detention center in Willacy County, which is
now the subject of an federal investigation into bribes. Inquiries already
netted the Jan. 4 convictions of Willacy County commissioners Jose Jimenez, 67,
of Sebastian, and Israel Tamez, 58, of Raymondville. They each pleaded guilty to
accepting $10,000 or more in bribes from corporate representatives involved in
the design, construction, financing, maintenance and management of the detention
center, according to U.S. Attorney Michael Shelby. According to public records,
the primary companies involved in the project include jail consultant Corplan
Corrections of Argyle, design-builder Hale-Mills Construction of Houston,
Aguirre Corp. of Dallas, and the Management and Training Corp. (MTC) of Utah,
which manages the detention center. Federal Election Commission records also
identify Corplan’s James M. Parkey as an architect with Aguirre Corp. Lucio has
been on Corplan’s, Aguirre’s and MTC’s payroll for about four years for
marketing, public relations and consulting work. He remains on the payrolls of
at least Corplan and MTC, The Brownsville Herald found Wednesday.
Asked if he was involved in wrongdoing, Lucio answered without hesitation. “Of
course not,” he said. “You don’t even have to ask that.” In a prepared
statement, Shelby said the two commissioners admitted to accepting a series of
bribes from June 2000 through March 2003 in exchange for their votes awarding
contracts for the construction of the detention center. In June 2000, The
Brownsville Herald reported that Lucio authored legislation in 1999 clarifying
that counties can enter into a contract with a private vendor for the design,
management or construction of jails. Lucio was a consultant for MTC in 2000,
which had been vying for the Cameron County detention center project. Lucio told
The Brownsville Herald in 2002 and 2004 that Corplan, Aguirre, MTC and other
firms contracted him for marketing, public relations and consulting work. He
said this included introducing and setting up meetings with local governmental
officials. Lucio’s 2003 financial statement filed in 2004 with the Texas Ethics
Commission reflects that Aguirre paid him $10,000 to $24,999; TEDSI $25,000 or
more; Corplan $25,000 or more; and MTC $25,000 or more.
Lucio declined to tell The Brownsville Herald on Wednesday the specific amount
of money Corplan and MTC paid him. He confirmed that he continues on their
payroll, however.
January 8, 2005 Valley Morning Star
Willacy County commissioners will consider hiring attorney
Ramon Garcia, Hidalgo County’s judge, to investigate whether there are grounds
to sue companies involved in a federal prison project that paid kickbacks to two
former commissioners.
Friday, an attorney representing a company involved in the prison project
vehemently denied Corplan Corrections was involved in any wrongdoing. Monday,
commissioners will consider hiring Garcia to investigate whether there are
grounds to file a civil lawsuit against companies involved in the $14.5 million
federal prison and the current development of a $7.5 million county jail. "We’re
not going to tolerate companies coming in to take advantage of small counties
and offering kickbacks and going on like it’s business as usual," District
Attorney Juan Angel Guerra said. "Whoever offers kickbacks is just as guilty as
those taking kickbacks."
Tuesday, U.S. district Judge Andrew Hanen convicted former commissioners
Israel Tamez and Jose Jimenez of taking more than $10,000 in kickbacks in the
federal prison project. Under the law, contracts that involve illegal activity
are void, Guerra said. "Someone gave them that money," County Judge Simon
Salinas said. "Whoever made these guys get dirty, they’re going to go down, too.
I want them to pay for it. Someone’s going to take them on in the courtroom."
The county could win "millions" of dollars in damages because a financial firm
involved in the project has sold about $25 million in bonds — about $10 million
more than the prison’s $14.5 million cost, Guerra said.
But that bond money was used to pay interest, said Edmundo Ramirez, a McAllen
attorney representing Corplan Corrections, a consultant in the federal prison
project.
Willacy County Federal
Detention Center
Raymondville, TX
Corplan, Management & Training Corporation
December 12, 2011 Valley Morning Star
U.S. Department of Labor officials have reached an agreement with Willacy County
and Management and Training Corp. to issue checks for back wages owed to current
and former MTC employees who worked as guards at the former Immigration and
Customs Enforcement Willacy County Processing Center. The eligible workers could
receive their checks by the end of the month, Willacy County Judge John F.
Gonzales Jr. said Monday. Workers will be notified this week, and MTC will begin
dispersing the back wages, Gonzales said, adding, "We are pleased employees will
receive their back wages in the coming weeks." A total 1,716 MTC employees at
the "tent city" were underpaid because ICE instructed MTC to pay them about
$8.50 an hour, instead of the federal wage scale of about $12 an hour, Gonzales
said. With benefits, the wages are now around $17 an hour, he said. The workers
will receive varying amounts, depending on how long they worked and in what
positions, with the total reaching about $21 million, Gonzales said. Payments
were due to those who worked from July 21, 2006, to July 21, 2008, Gonzales
said. During the past few months, the camp has been converted by MTC to house
short-term Bureau of Prisoners inmates who are serving the last year of their
sentences. MTC operated the illegal immigrant detention facility and now
operates the facility to hold Bureau of Prisons inmates. The Centerville,
Utah–based company also operates a nearby U.S. Marshals holding facility. The
two facilities are owned by Willacy County but are operated by MTC under
contracts with the federal agencies. Both are located on the east side of
Raymondville near the Willacy County jail. "In 2008, ICE, in consultation with
the DOL, determined that the Service Contract Act was applicable to operations
at the WCPC," the county judge said in a statement. Last week, Gonzales and
county commissioners called on Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison,
R-Texas, for help when the Department of Labor tried to slow down the payment
process, Gonzales said. Some of the former guards lost their jobs, the judge
said, when the Labor Department ruled federal wages must be paid because the
guards were required to pass federal background checks and meet physical
requirements. Some of the guards were disqualified for past driving while
intoxicated arrests or a bankruptcy on their records, he said.
December 8, 2011 KRGV
The backpay that is supposed to go to some current and former prison employees
in Willacy County comes to $23 million, but there is a major problem. The
Willacy County judge says the feds are dragging their feet. About 1,700 current
and former prison employees have waited as much as five years for that money
owed by ICE. Many of them will continue to wait. Willacy County Judge John
Gonzales says the money was handed over on time. The checks are ready to go. The
Department of Labor brokered the backpay deal. It required MTC, the company that
manages ICE's detention center, to re-enter all former employees into its
database. That's how the taxes were calculated. That part is done. Employees
still working for MTC will get their check this month as part of payroll. The
holdup comes by way of the next step. The feds are requiring the money owed to
former employees be sent directly to the Department of Labor by Dec. 13. Even
though the checks are ready to go, the feds have not announced when they will
dish out the dough. Willacy County's judge says that's not good enough. Gonzalez
attended a meeting with U.S. Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchinson and John Cornyn as well
as U.S. Congressman Blake Farenthold. They say they will pressure the Department
of Labor on Friday to offer up a date. If one doesn't come by Monday morning,
the group will jump on a plane and head to Washington, D.C., where they will
demand a deadline.
November 10, 2011 KRGV
People who work or worked for the ICE detention center in Willacy County are
finally getting money owed to them. Current and former employees will be paid
$23 million. Willacy County settled with the feds and Management Training Corp.,
the operator of the private prison. The original contract didn't mention
employee wage information. The contract was amended in 2007 to include that
information. As a result, Willacy County fought to get back wages for employees.
Checks will start going out in early December.
October 20, 2011 Chicago Homeland Security Examiner
Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) posed difficult questions and concerns to the
Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Janet Napolitano, at
this week’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Of particular concern for
Durbin, was the state of immigration detention facilities, especially the
Willacy Detention facility in Texas. According to documents obtained by the ACLU
more than 180 sexual abuse complaints have been reported in immigration
detention centers since 2007, nearly a third of which came from Texas. According
to the Huffington Post, “other states had far lower reports of detainee sexual
abuse, with the next highest reports coming from California (17), Arizona (16)
and Florida (12). (10/21/2011). Senator Durbin sought further information and
assurances from Secretary Napolitano regarding this issue. Senator Durbin, the
second highest ranking member in the Senate Democratic leadership, remarked that
detainee centers have become a huge industry in which DHS spends more than $1.7
billion dollars yearly. Yet, the issue of sexual abuse at the immigration
centers has barely reached public attention. Much of Senator Durbin’s framing of
the issue stemmed from a recent “Frontline” television expose. Durbin noted at
the Senate Judiciary hearing, that “there was an aspect of this program that was
particularly troubling. Maria Hinojosa in part of that program described a woman
who was a victim at this Willacy facility. She had been raped and her identity
was hidden from the camera. She told her story about how it was virtually
impossible for her to even seek justice in this circumstance because she was
totally at the mercy of the guards in this privatized facility.” (Transcript of
Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, October 20, 2011) According to the
Huffington Post, the ACLU obtained information under the Freedom of Information
Act documenting that “detention officers broke a rule that detainees must not be
transported without a same-sex officer present. Detention officers are also
instructed to call supervisors with their departure and arrival times when
transporting detainees, according to a 2007Immigration and Customs Enforcement
document.” Senator Durbin underscored his concern by noting that some 85 to 90
percent of those who were detained under civil charges, not criminal charges,
but people with civil charges do not have benefits of counsel. Durbin further
noted, “That the due process requirements are very limited on their behalf, and
that many times they’re in facilities that are privatized… As a group
immigration detainees are especially vulnerable to sexual abuse, and its effect
on the detainees due to social, cultural, language isolation, poor understanding
of U.S. culture and the subculture of U.S. prisons and the often traumatic
experiences they’re endured in their culture of origin. The commission (i.e.,
The National Rape Elimination Commission) issued proposed standards. The
Department of Justice is now finalizing its national standards to prevent,
detect, and respond to prison rape. In April of this year I wrote a letter to
Attorney General Holder emphasizing the importance of strong standards.” In
addition Senator Durbin mentioned the bipartisan support he received from
Senator Sessions (R-Alabama) and others in passion the Prison Rape Elimination
Act of 2003 which aimed at eliminating sexual abuse while in custody in the U.S.
We want zero tolerance on this.” (Transcript of Senate Judiciary Committee,
10/20/2011) At this point in the hearing Senator Durbin asked DHS Secretary
Napolitano “What is the Department of Homeland Security doing to ensure that
immigration detainees are safe from sexual abuse, whether they’re ICE facilities
or contract facilities? Secretary Napolitano’s response was not reassuring for
immigrants or Senator Durbin. She replied, “When I took over as Secretary, we
found that there were little or no standards being applied uniformly across all
the many detention facilities that we use in –in the ICE context…Others are
privatized, companies like Correction Corporations of America. We have to have
beds, and in particular given our priorities and how we are managing the system,
we need beds that are near the southern border…As part of the process I brought
in someone to actually look at the standards and we redid our contracts with
some of the private providers.” (Transcript, Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing,
10/20/2011) Secretary Napolitano tried to explain the process she instituted
since coming to DHS. She said, “We do have a process by which we are regularly
auditing and overseeing what is happening there. But that is not to say there
aren’t cases that are particularly horrific.” She further mentioned that she was
not familiar with the “Frontline” documentary focusing on sexual abuses at
immigrant detention centers but would review it and get back to the Senator
Durbin. Earlier this year the ACLU sued the Department of Homeland Security
regarding sexual abuses at immigration detention centers. The ACLU of Texas has
filed a suit in behalf of three women who say they were assaulted by detention
guards and officers. The victims say they were abused on the way to the airport
after posting bond to be released from detention facilities. According to
theHuffington Post, “The three women were held for a time in the T. Don Hutto
Residential Center in Taylor ,Texas. The 512 bed facility, is privately run on a
government contract by private prison giant Corrections Corporations of
America.”
October 10, 2011 Valley Morning Star
A total of 200 Bureau of Prisons minimum security prisoners have arrived at the
“tent city” here, Willacy County Judge John F. Gonzales Jr. said. He was updated
on the facility’s progress this past during a visit he personally made to the
complex, the judge said. Before Sept. 10, the tent city, or “dome structures”
housed illegal immigrants and, under an agreement with Management and Training
Corp. of Utah, the income the county had hoped to gain from the facility fell
far short of expectations, Gonzales said. The county built the facility, but it
is operated by MTC under a contract with the county, Gonzales said. But a new
agreement with MTC to hold U.S. Bureau of Prisons minimum-security inmates,
rather than illegal immigrants, includes guarantees for the county that will
provide much-needed income to supplement the county budget, Gonzales said. Under
the new agreement, the federal government pays $49 a day for housing a prisoner,
Gonzales said. Payments on bonds that financed construction of the facility come
from that fee first, then the county will receive $2.50 a day for each prisoner
to bolster county finances. The balance then goes to MTC, he said. The previous
agreement to hold Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees depended on the
number of inmates held at the facility to provide the county with income,
Gonzales said. “It never reached 50 percent capacity,” he said. If 1,380
prisoners or fewer are housed, the county will get a guaranteed payment of
$1,259,250 a year, Gonzales said. That would be considered 50 percent capacity,
he said. “If the number of prisoners reaches 1,381 at this facility, we get
$2,266,650 a year, which would be considered 90 percent full,” the county judge
said. “Even if it drops down to less than that, we still get paid $2,266,650 a
year,” he said. The maximum capacity of the tent city is 3,117 beds filled,
Gonzales said. The county would get an additional $577,612 a year, for a total
of $2,844,262 maximum possible payment to the county, he said.
June 23, 2011 Valley Central
A former jailer is behind bars after being accused of having sex with a female
inmate at a private detention center in Willacy County. Federal authorities
arrested 31-year-old Edwin Rodriguez on a sexual abuse of a ward charge. The
former jailer is accused of having sex with a female inmate at the Willacy
County Regional Detention Facility in Raymondville back in October 2008. A
federal grand jury in Brownsville indicted Rodriguez in the case on Tuesday but
the case had remained sealed until Thursday morning. Rodriguez appeared before
U.S. Magistrate Court Judge Felix Recio on Thursday morning. Judge Recio denied
bond for Rodriguez until a Monday afternoon hearing. Officials with the
Management & Training Corporation (MTC), which owns the detention center, issued
the following statement about the case: “MTC can’t comment about the specifics
of this indictment as it is an open legal proceeding. MTC has a zero tolerance
policy for this type of activity. The company has an absolute expectation for
the professional behavior of all employees. We have and will cooperate fully
with authorities in their investigation of the alleged sexual abuse.”
June 1, 2011 Valley Morning Star
Layoffs of 120 Management and Training Corp. employees Friday at the Immigration
and Customs Enforcement detention camp will hurt Willacy County’s struggling
economy, but a proposal in the works could result in an additional privately
operated prison with more jobs and more revenue for the county. The employees at
the ICE detention center for illegal immigrants resulted from a lower population
of detainees than was originally planned, local government officials said.
Utah-based MTC operates the facility that houses ICE detainees, who are being
detained for immigration law violations, but not for committing other crimes.
“ICE informed us last week they have reduced their expectation of how they are
going to use the facility,” MTC spokeswoman Celeste McDonald said. “As a result,
it became necessary last week to implement a reduction in force.” Former MTC
employee Johnny Falcon said Tuesday that workers were notified Friday they will
be losing their jobs. “That’s a lot of people,” Falcon said. “It’s a small town,
that’s a heavy blow.” McDonald said no more layoffs are planned. The ICE dome
structure, or tent facility, was designed to house up to 3,000 immigration
detainees, but has never held more than 1,800, Raymondville City Manager Eleazar
“Yogi” Garcia said. Garcia and Willacy County Sheriff Larry Spence said a
proposal is being prepared by a private company to build a new, smaller, ICE
facility and then convert the former ICE detention center to house federal
Bureau of Prisons criminal inmates. If BOP approves the plan, some of the
laid-off guards from the ICE center could be re-hired as guards at the smaller
ICE center or the BOP facility, Spence said. But Willacy County Judge John F.
Gonzales Jr. said the plan hasn’t been presented to the federal government yet.
“The reason for the ICE layoffs is that the ICE unit is set up for 3,000 beds
and that has never happened,” the judge said. “They’ve been averaging about
1,200 beds, so half the facility is empty all the time,” Gonzales said. “MTC has
renegotiated their contract with ICE and it has nothing to do with the county,
we’re not in control of that,” he said. “Their original contract was that they
had to be set up as if they had 1,850 beds filled all the time. Well, they’re
averaging about 1,200, so they’re losing money, I would think.” ICE spokeswoman
Nina Pruñeda issued a statement confirming the reduction in employment. “U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement Enforcement Removal Operations, or ERO, is
aware of the matter regarding the employment issues going on between Willacy
County and MTC Corp. This issue is not affecting ICE ERO employees, she said.
“ICE is absolutely committed to ensuring that all detainees in our custody are
held and treated in a safe, secure and humane manner. We make that commitment in
the interest of the detainees themselves and in the interest of the public at
large. Again, our principal concern is the safety and security of the detainees
and the public outside the facility.” Falcon said he and others who were
employed by ICE at the detention center from 2006 to 2010 were dismissed when
they were subjected to a stricter type of security clearance they were not
originally required to pass. During that period, MTC did not pay wages ICE
required of $14.50 an hour, Falcon said. He and other guards were at first paid
$8 an hour, then $9 an hour, he said. Federal officials later determined they
were required to be paid $14.50 and must pay back pay, Falcon said. But MTC has
been dragging its feet about paying the back pay amounts and also owes the
former employees for the pay difference, as well as amounts due from 401k plans
and other funds, Falcon said. McDonald issued a response to Falcon’s allegations
late Tuesday: “ICE requires rigorous background checks at all of its facilities
including the Willacy County Processing Center, she said. “In compliance with
this requirement, every MTC employee must be cleared by ICE in order to be
employed at Willacy County Processing Center.” MTC’s payment of back wages
depends on a federal decision, she said. “We are awaiting a decision by the U.S.
Department of Labor regarding payment of back wages to Willacy County Processing
Center current and previous employees related to Service Contract Act wages.”
May 31, 2011 Valley Morning Star
Layoffs of 120 employees of Management and Training Corp. Friday at the
Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention camp will hurt Willacy County’s
struggling economy, but a proposal in the works could result in an additional
privately operated prison with more jobs and more revenue for the county. The
layoffs at the ICE detention center for undocumented immigrants resulted from a
lower population of detainees than was predicted, local government officials
said. Utah-based MTC operates the facility that houses individuals detained for
immigration law violations but not for committing other crimes. “ICE informed us
last week they have reduced their expectation of how they are going to use the
facility,” MTC spokeswoman Celeste McDonald said. “As a result, it became
necessary last week to implement a reduction in force.” She said no more layoffs
are planned. The ICE dome structure, or tent facility, was designed to house up
to 3,000 people but has never held more than 1,800, Raymondville City Manager
Eleazar “Yogi” Garcia said. Garcia and Willacy County Sheriff Larry Spence said
a proposal is being prepared by a private company to build a new, smaller, ICE
facility and then convert the current detention center to house federal Bureau
of Prisons criminal inmates. If the Bureau of Prisons approves the plan, some of
the laid-off guards from the ICE center could be rehired as guards at the
smaller ICE center or the BOP facility, Spence said. But Willacy County Judge
John F. Gonzales Jr. said the plan hasn’t been presented to the federal
government yet. “The reason for the ICE layoffs is that the ICE unit is set up
for 3,000 beds and that has never happened,” the judge said.
November 15, 2010 Valley Morning News
A Willacy County Regional Detention Center guard went before a federal judge in
Brownsville Monday on charges that he planned to smuggle more than 4 pounds of
cocaine into the facility he guarded, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Monday. A
federal indictment shows that Christopher George Gonzalez, 29 of Harlingen, was
arrested Nov. 10 following an undercover sting in Harlingen. Prior to his
arrest, Gonzalez had been under investigation by the Texas Department of Public
Safety, the Houston High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force and U.S.
Marshals, the U.S. Attorney's Office stated. Records state that Gonzalez met an
undercover Houston police officer at the Harlingen Lowe's parking lot who had
offered to pay Gonzalez $2,000 to smuggle drugs into the detention center.
Gonzalez took the money and two wrapped bundles of what appeared to be cocaine
and then left the parking lot, court records state. According to his indictment,
Gonzalez had agreed to smuggle two ounces of cocaine at a time into the
detention center. Gonzalez was later stopped by a DPS trooper, arrested and
taken into federal custody, records show. He was released after his hearing
Monday on a $50,000 bond, the U.S. Attorney's Office stated. The Willacy County
Regional Detention Center in Raymondville is a privately-run facility contracted
by the U.S. Marshals Services to Management & Training Corporation, a contractor
that manages private prisons throughout the country. The facility houses inmates
with pending federal charges.
May 21, 2010 Valley Morning Star
Ten former security guards at Willacy County Regional Detention Facility have
filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against Management & Training Corp. of
Centerville, Utah, and two company officials claiming they were fired for
refusing to make false statements. Peter Zavaletta, the attorney for 10 of the
11 guards who were fired, said his clients lost their jobs for refusing to sign
statements saying other guards were gambling while on duty. "None of my clients
were gambling and when they refused to sign statements accusing each other of
gambling, they were terminated," he said. Zavaletta said he doesn’t know who the
11th guard is or who his attorney is, but was told by MTC there is an 11th guard
who was fired. None of the guards had ever been disciplined and several had been
promoted to supervisory positions at the privately owned and operated prison,
the lawsuit states. One of the plaintiffs, Santos Talavares, graduated from the
University of Texas- Pan American in Edinburg in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree
in criminal justice, the lawsuit states. Another plaintiff, Robert Villarreal
Jr., had been promoted to sergeant and then to shift lieutenant, Nicholas
Catache had been promoted to sergeant, Alberto Najera had been promoted to
lieutenant and earlier this year was named ‘Supervisor of the Year,’ Rene
Fonseca Jr. is a decorated veteran who had served in Iraq before his honorable
discharge from the U.S. Army in 2006, the lawsuit states. "We don’t comment on
ongoing litigation," Carl Stuart, spokesman for Management & Training Corp.,
said on Friday. The lawsuit seeks back pay, future pay and compensation for
mental anguish, and punitive damages for what the lawsuit alleges was
"intentional, unlawful employment practices."
November 17, 2009 Texas Tribune
The detained immigrant told officials at the South Texas Detention Complex
he’d been sexually assaulted and tortured in his home country and asked for
medical care. Six weeks later, when he still hadn’t seen a doctor, the facility
medical director offered this explanation: The complex didn’t have a local
urologist on contract. That wasn’t the only health care shortfall Immigration
and Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigators cited in a 2008 report, one that
didn’t name the detainee or his ethnicity. Sixteen of the facility’s 40
“critical” health care positions were vacant, leaving one staff doctor and two
dozen nurses to care for nearly 1,400 detainees. The complex had no psychiatrist
and no dentist, and was short 11 nurses. As a result, investigators said,
chronic care management was “haphazard at best.” Monitoring of prescription
drugs was lax. And not all intake screenings were performed on time. “Poor
medical care was the most problematic issue facing the facility,” investigators
wrote. ICE officials say the agency “is committed to providing all detainees in
our care with timely, safe, humane and appropriate treatment.” “Significant
reforms are being made to the immigration detention system and health care
management,” said agency spokesman Carl Rusnok. But many federal authorities say
they’re battling the same staffing shortages facing hospitals, nursing homes and
prison systems nationwide. Though they are aggressively recruiting, they’re
competing for candidates with the higher-paying private sector. Immigrant rights
groups say the remote locations of many Texas detention centers only contribute
to high employee turnover and vacancy rates. That leads to overmedication,
poorly kept medical records, and “sporadic and inconsistent care,” said Ann
Baddour, a policy analyst with Texas Appleseed, a non-profit that uses volunteer
lawyers to help solve social problems. Some get no care at all, she said. A 2007
review of medical care at the Willacy Detention Center in Raymondville found
medical staffing was “barely adequate,” and that the facility’s clinic was too
small to care for its 1,800 detainees. Twenty of the facility’s 46 health care
positions were vacant. The detention center had no clinical director, dentist,
pharmacist or psychiatrist. Half of Willacy’s licensed vocational nurses hadn’t
even completed new employee orientation. In facility inspections in 2007 and
2008, investigators cited medical staffing shortages at the Port Isabel Service
Processing Center, the El Paso Processing Center and the Laredo Contract
Detention Facility. In El Paso, five of the facility’s 34 health care positions
were vacant – including the staff psychiatrist. At the Port Isabel facility,
inspectors found a third of detainees’ medical requests weren’t handled in a
“timely” manner. And in Laredo, inspectors found detainees with doctor-ordered
dietary requirements weren’t getting the right food, and that patients had
little privacy in the facility clinic. Kathleen Baldoni, a former nurse at the
Willacy Detention Center, said these problems are common across Texas'
facilities. She said inmates suffering from health problems are "lucky to be
seen within a week,” and that many illnesses occur because detainees don’t get
enough water or nutritional food. Medical staff never even get around to simple
quality of life fixes, she said, like cleaning out detainees’ hearing aids or
replacing broken eye glasses. “We didn’t delve into anything that wasn’t
absolutely necessary,” said Baldoni, who has testified before Congress on health
care in immigration detention. “After a while, you stop thinking about the
people. You force yourself not to care as much. Because how else do you get the
job done?”
October 21, 2009 Valley Central
Former Willacy County District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra has filed a federal
lawsuit against Texas State Senator Eddie Lucio, Jr. and 28 others. The former
district attorney alleges that Lucio and the others used their positions to
derail an investigation into private prisons in Willacy County. Guerra claims in
his 35-page lawsuit that he secured three corruption convictions against three
Willacy County officials in state and federal courts. The former district
attorney claims he was investigating the April 2001 death of inmate Gregorio de
la Rosa when he began to uncover a massive kickback and corruption scheme
between the private prison companies and public officials. Guerra claims then-U.S.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales ordered then-U.S. Attorney for the Southern
District of Texas Don DeGabrielle to halt a public integrity investigation. The
former district attorney claims that several public officials with connections
to the prisons dragged his name through the mud and raised false criminal
charges that ultimately cost him a bid for re-election and obstructed the
investigation. The lawsuit names the following defendants: • Texas State Senator
Eddie Lucio • Willacy County • City of Raymondville • Former Willacy County
Judge Simon Salinas • Raymondville Police Chief Uvaldo Zamora • Special
prosecutor Mervyn Mosbacker • Special prosecutor Gustavo Garza • Raymondville
Police Detective Daniel Cavazos, Jr. • State District Judge Migdalia Lopez •
State District Judge Janet Leal • Willacy County Sheriff’s Department Deputy
David Martinez • Willacy County District Clerk Gilbert Lozano • Corporation
Wackenhut Correction Inc. • Hale Mills Construction Inc. • Hale Mills
Construction Ltd. • James Parkey, Corplan Correction, Inc. • Corplan Correction
Inc. • Michael Harling, Municipal Capitol Market, Inc. • Municipal Capitol
Market Inc. • Ramon Vela • Phil Parker, Hale Mission Construction • J. C.
Conner, Management and raining Corporation, Inc • Management and Training
Corporation, Inc • Bill Bryan • R Scott Marquardt, Management and raining
Corporation, Inc • Texas Rangers Captain Clete Buckaloo • Former U.S. Attorney
for Southern District of Texas Donald DeGarbrielle • U.S. Attorney for Southern
District of Texas Tim Johnson • Former U.S. Attorney Alberto Gonzales Among the
accusations are engaging in organized criminal activity, accepting of an
honorarium, abuse of official capacity, official oppression, murder and
manslaughter. The former district attorney had secured a criminal indictment
involving similar accusations against former Vice President Dick Cheney and
several others named in this new lawsuit back in November 2008. The case was
thrown out but Guerra continues to fight against abuses in private prisons in
Texas and other states.
October 7, 2009 San Antonio Express-News
In a move that could affect the revenues of private prison firms and county
jails, the Obama administration said Tuesday it will review, renegotiate and
possibly terminate some of its more than 300 contracts for detaining
unauthorized immigrants. The announcement by Department of Homeland Security
Secretary Janet Napolitano is part of an overhaul aimed at ending the reliance
on penal institutions for detainees with noncriminal immigration violations or
valid asylum claims. The overhaul, first announced in August, followed scathing
reports and lawsuits by the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups
alleging inhumane conditions, denial of medical care, and isolation in remote
areas with limited access to pro-bono legal aid. Napolitano, in a news
conference with Immigration and Customs Enforcement Assistant Secretary John
Morton, said she inherited a scattered “nonsystem” of government and privately
run facilities that needed to be monitored. “It's a huge range of detainees,”
she said, “from those who have criminal records who need to be in a very
prisonlike setting to those who have no record at all and indeed have come
seeking asylum.” The system has ballooned from 5,000 beds in 1994 to more than
32,000 beds in 2008, used by about 380,000 detainees that year. Napolitano said
the capacity to detain people would remain, but the standards of “health and
safety, law, and indeed human decency” needed to be enforced. Plans include
centralizing operations, doubling the personnel involved in detention center
oversight, building new facilities in urban locations near immigration service
providers, and housing detainees in converted hotels, nursing homes, or other
residential facilities. Detainees would be classified by risk, with nonviolent,
noncriminal populations such as recently arrived asylum seekers sent to less
prisonlike environments. Detainees with criminal convictions would remain in
jails. There are also plans for an online system to locate detainees, something
family members and even attorneys are not always able to do. The practice of
detaining families at the T. Don Hutto Family Residence Center in Taylor, which
drew criticism because of its cells and barbed wire, has already ended. The
facility is now being used to house female detainees. It was unclear what effect
the changes will have on private firms or communities that draw revenue from
jailing detainees, but Willacy County Sheriff Larry Spence said the reduced
population at the Willacy Detention Center in Raymondville — at 3,000 beds the
nation's largest — has been apparent and may cause problems for a county that
counts on jobs, taxes, and revenue from it. “I know the numbers are down from
what they used to be,” he said. “It means the county hasn't had the same amount
of money coming in.” The county subcontracts with Utah-based Management &
Training Corp., a private prison management firm. Kathleen Walker, past
president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said she expected
quite a few disappointed contractors. “I would imagine that in the state of
Texas, where we have so many different county facilities and independent
facilities run by contractors, that they are not going to like seeing a
potential dip in revenues to retirement centers or abandoned hotels,” she said.
“But to put people in on civil violations with people that have felony exposure
is really just not acceptable.”
June 28, 2009 Brownsville Herald
It took about five years, but state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr. seems to have
phased out his paid consulting jobs for construction and engineering firms. Last
year, however, he still received at least $25,000 in consulting fees from the
Houston-based TEDSI Infrastructure Group, according to his personal financial
statement on file with the Texas Ethics Commission. "I was fulfilling a prior
obligation on a contract that I had with TEDSI which expired in 2008," Lucio
wrote in a statement to The Brownsville Herald Wednesday. Lucio, D-Brownsville,
did not say what he did for the firm, but in 2002 said that he would set up
meetings and introduce the firm to officials in Brownsville. In 2004 amid
mounting criticism of possible conflicts of interest, Lucio told the Herald that
he would phase out consulting for firms that do business in the Rio Grande
Valley and the state. Besides consulting for TEDSI, Lucio also was retained by
CorPlan Corrections of Dallas, Management & Training Corp. of Utah, Aguirre Inc.
of Dallas, and Dannenbaum Engineering Corp. of Houston. At the start of 2005,
Lucio severed ties with CorPlan, Aguirre, and MTC amid federal inquiries into
the federal detention center in Willacy County. A Webb County commissioner and
two former Willacy County commissioners were convicted of bribery. Companies
involved in the project were not accused of any wrongdoing. Lucio also stopped
consulting for Dannenbaum, which he said he introduced to the Brownsville
Navigation District. The BND paid Dannenbaum $15.4 million of $21.4 million
spent toward developing a still non-existent international bridge at the Port of
Brownsville. But, he continued consulting for TEDSI until last year. Lucio's
prior financial statements show that in 2007 TEDSI paid him from $10,000 to
$24,999 and $25,000 or more in prior years. Lucio had been on CorPlan's payroll
since 1999. Aguirre, MTC and Dannenbaum then contracted him, but in interviews
prior to 2004 he wouldn't specifically say when or how much each paid him. It
was not until 2004 that Lucio started specifically listing the companies that
retained him in his financial statements and these, coupled with prior
interviews with the senator, reflect that the five firms paid him at least
$340,000. Embattled former Willacy County District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra
obtained an indictment against Lucio last year, charging him with profiting from
the elected office. Administrative Judge Manuel Bañales Jr. dismissed the
indictment following arguments from Lucio's attorney, Michael R. Cowen, that the
indictment was defective and that Guerra was seeking revenge against those who
he perceived to be his political enemies.
February 4, 2009 Brownsville Herald
A federal investigation into contraband and narcotics trafficking in the Willacy
County Detention Center in Raymondville netted the arrest of a guard in early
January, court records show. This was not placed in the public record in the
U.S. Southern District of Texas until Tuesday, however. A special agent with the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General arrested
Thomas Najera, of Raymondville, on Jan. 8 for possession of approximately 28
grams of cocaine with intent to distribute it, according to a criminal complaint
against the guard. During the course of an investigation, a special agent
received information from an informant that Najera was smuggling narcotics into
the facility for several inmates, the complaint says. The facility houses
inmates under contract with the federal government. The complaint notes that
Najera would charge a fee based on the type of material he was asked to smuggle.
The special agent received further information that on Jan. 8 Najera was going
to accept cocaine for delivery to a detainee in the center. The special agent
conducted surveillance and at 8:45 p.m. on that date spotted Najera meeting a
woman at the Wal-Mart parking lot in Raymondville. The woman gave Najera a small
object, according to the complaint. The special agent and other agents
approached Najera, searched a vehicle he was occupying and found the cocaine.
Najera was arrested and U.S. Magistrate Judge Felix Recio set a $50,000 bond,
requiring a $2,000 deposit. Najera was released from federal custody in
mid-January when the deposit was paid with instructions not to travel into
Mexico, refrain from drug use, possession of drugs, or excessive alcohol
consumption, and obtain a telephone line. Najera also could be subjected to
random urine analysis. A private firm, Management & Training Corporation,
operates and manages the detention center for Willacy County.
October 29, 2008 Raymondville Chronicle News
Willacy County's commissioners voted to give Sheriff Larry Spence $202,000
so he can make his construction bond payment of $439,000 for the county jail,
which is due Nov. 1st. Commissioners also acted to pay down $3 million on the
jail's principal debt of about $7.5 million, so the sheriff will be in a better
position to make future bond payments. In past years the county has had to bail
the sheriff out, so he could make bond payments, and not put the county in
default. The $3 million would come from a $6 million revenue fee account from
the 3,000 bed ICE Unit. Commissioners also voted unanimously to send a
resolution to state and federal legislators expressing concern over recent
firings of MTC workers at the 3,000 bed ICE Unit, due to a change in federal
employment policies. Of concern to Judge Protem Emilio "Junior" Vera and
Commissioner Eddie Chapa are dozens of MTC employee being fired, because their
personal credit scores are below a certain level. "We've got a lot of good
employees being fired," Vera said. "I spoke with an ICE official in San Antonio
and said the county is concerned." The county's unemployment rate was 21 percent
before the ICE Unit was built, and had dropped to eight percent just before the
policy change, according to the resolution. The resolution states in part.
"Willacy County ..... is deeply concerned regarding policy changes ... that will
negatively impact the retention of local workforce." Employees at the ICE Unit
sent a petition to U.S. Cong. Solomon Ortiz (D-Corpus Christi) several months
asking for his help and intervention. Ortiz told the Chronicle/News is a prior
interview that he was concerned as well.
September 19, 2008 Valley Morning Star
Willacy County residents make up more than half of employees at a county-owned
prison and a detention center that holds illegal immigrants, said the company
that runs the operations. Criminal background checks screen out about 2 percent
of people who apply for jobs at the 525-bed prison and the 3,000-bed detention
center, said Carl Stuart, a spokesman for Management and Training Corp. in
Centerville, Utah. But three years after the detention center opened, the local
job pool is "tapped out," Stuart said in an e-mail. Now the company recruits
more employees from outside the county, he said. County residents make up about
73 percent of employees at the detention center that the company operates for
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Stuart said. The country's largest
illegal immigrant detention center employs about 700 workers, said Jackie
Roberson, Raymondville's economic development manager. The detention center pays
starting wages of about $9.36 an hour, Stuart said. Locals make up about 53
percent of employees at the county-owned prison that holds prisoners for the
U.S. Marshals Service, Stuart said. The prison pays starting salaries of about
$17 per hour. The prison employs about 200 workers, Roberson said.
May 11, 2008 Washington Post
Neil Sampson, who ran the DIHS as interim director most of last year, left that
job with serious questions about the government's commitment. Sampson said in an
interview that ICE treated detainee health care "as an afterthought," reflecting
what he called a failure of leadership and management at the Homeland Security
Department. "They do not have a clear idea or philosophy of their approach to
health care [for detainees]," he said. "It's a system failure, not a failure of
individuals." A new director for health services arrived six months ago,
following a stretch when the agency was run first by Sampson and then by a
second interim director. The new boss is LaMont W. Flanagan, who brought with
him the credential of having been fired in 2003 by the state of Maryland for bad
management and spending practices supervising detention and pretrial services.
An audit found that Flanagan had signed off on payments of $145,000 for employee
entertainment and other ill-advised expenditures. His reputation was such that
the District of Columbia would not hire him for a juvenile-justice position.
"Another death that needs to be added to the roster," Diane Aker, the DIHS chief
health administrator, tapped out in an e-mail to a records clerk at headquarters
on Aug. 14, 2007. Juan Guevara-Lorano, 21, was dead. Guevara, an unemployed
legal U.S. resident with a young son, was arrested in El Paso for driving
illegal border-crossers farther into the city. He was paid $50. An entry-level
emergency medical technician, with barely any training, had done Guevara's
intake screening and physical assessment at the Otero County immigration
compound in New Mexico. Under DIHS rules, those tasks are supposed to be done by
a nurse. After two difficult months in detention, Guevara had decided not to
appeal his case. He would go back to Mexico with his family. But on Aug. 4, he
came down with a splitting headache, what he called a nine on a pain scale of
10, his medical records show. The rookie medical technician prescribed Tylenol
and referred Guevara to the compound's physician "due to severity of headache
... and dizziness," according to medical records. But Guevara never saw a
doctor. Eight days after the first incident, he vomited in his cell. The same
junior technician came to help but was unable to insert a nasal airway tube.
Guevara was taken to a hospital, where doctors determined an aneurism in his
brain had burst. His wife, pregnant at the time with their second child,
recalled that she rushed to the hospital but ICE guards would not let her
inside, until the Mexican Consulate interceded. Guevara's mother waited five
hours before they let her in. By then he was brain-dead. "My son is not coming
back," sobbed Ana Celia Lozano months later, sitting in Guevara's small mobile
home as her grandson played on the floor. "I want to know how he lived and died,
nothing more." What appears to be the most incriminating document in Guevara's
case has been partially blacked out. Still, what is left shows that he did not
receive adequate care. "The detainee was not seen or evaluated by an RN,
midlevel or physician. . . . At the time of the incident on 8/12/2007, the
detainee was seen and examined by EMTs." Each immigration facility is allotted a
different number of positions, and a shortage of doctors and nurses is not
unusual at centers across the country. Records from February show that about 30
percent of all DIHS positions in the field were unfilled. ICE officials said
last week that the current vacancy rate is 21 percent. Concern about the
vacancies is voiced repeatedly at clinical directors' meetings. "How do we state
our concerns so that we can be heard? . . . this is a CRITICAL condition. . . .
We have bitten off more than we can chew," a physician wrote in the minutes of
one meeting last summer. In some prisons, the staffing shortages are acute. The
Willacy County detention center in South Texas -- the largest compound, with
2,018 detainees -- has no clinical director, no pharmacist and only a part-time
psychiatrist. Nearly 50 percent of the nursing positions were unfilled at the
1,500-detainee Eloy, Ariz., prison in February. At the newly opened 744-bed
Jena., La., compound, nurses run the place. It has no clinical director, no
staff physician, no psychiatrist and no professional dental staff. Last August,
Sampson, who was then DIHS interim director, warned his superiors at ICE that
critical personnel shortages were making it impossible to staff the Jena
facility adequately. In a vociferous e-mail to Gary Mead, the ICE deputy
director in charge of detention centers, he wrote: "With the Jena request we
have been re-examining our capabilities to meet health care needs at a new site
when we are facing critical staffing shortages at most every other DIHS site.
While we developed, executed and
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