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Bexar County Jail, Bexar County, Texas
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.
Bi-State
Jail/Bowie County Detention Center
Bowie County, Texas
LaSalle
Nov 20, 2020
texarkanagazette.com
Lawyer adds motion
in jail lawsuit | Complaint alleges management firm allowed destruction of
video evidence
TEXARKANA, Texas —
A motion in a civil lawsuit against LaSalle Corrections alleges the private
jail management company intentionally allowed video evidence to be
destroyed in violation of the law. Texarkana lawyer David Carter filed suit
on behalf of William Scott Jones in 2019. The complaint alleges Jones was
beaten and denied medical treatment in the jail after being arrested the
night of July 17, 2018, by Texarkana, Texas, police for a class C
misdemeanor, "walking in the roadway." Such misdemeanor offenses
are punishable by a fine only and do not result in jail time if there is a
conviction. Speeding is a class C misdemeanor. When Jones was released from
jail the afternoon of July 19, 2018, he was wheeled out in a restraint
chair by jail staff. Jones spent the next month as a patient in Wadley
Regional Medical Center where he underwent surgery for his damaged colon.
He was diagnosed with acute renal failure, severe dehydration,
"ischemic colitis caused by blunt force trauma," multiple facial
and rib fractures, sepsis, pneumonia, blood clots and other maladies
related to a delay in receiving treatment, according to the complaint. He
must now wear an ostomy bag because of the damage to his colon and his
medical expenses to date total more than $1 million. Carter filed a motion
Thursday asking the court to enter a default judgment against LaSalle and
Warden James McCormick for "spoliation of evidence." Spoliation
occurs when a party intentionally hides, alters or
destroys evidence. LaSalle's lawyer, Paul Miller of Texarkana, did not
respond to a request for comment Thursday. At issue in the motion is video
footage which is constantly recording via fixed cameras throughout the
jail. Other than some footage of Jones during the booking process the night
of July 17, 2018, video which might have shown how Jones was injured is
lost. Jones has no memory of his time in the jail. Carter also complains
that jail employees profess no knowledge of what happened to Jones.
"No one in our case has or will testify as to the beating of Jones.
Multiple correctional and medical staffers have been deposed. A communal
case of amnesia concerning plaintiff has swept through the jail," the
motion states. The video footage would have hopefully provided evidence of
what happened to Jones. "They essentially destroyed the video footage
by failing to download and preserve it before it was overwritten and
therefore permanently lost," the motion states. "Even worse,
defendants also failed to preserve the footage despite receiving a
preservation letter while the footage was still available on the jail's
digital video recorders." The motion alleges that LaSalle's own
policies dictate that the footage should have been downloaded and preserved
because Jones suffered serious injury and was being transported to a
hospital immediately upon his release from custody. Carter sent a certified
letter directly to McCormick seven days after Jones' release that included
an open records and preservation of video request. "We further ask for
appropriate steps to be taken to preserve all of the requested materials,
including video footage, and that no records related to William Scott
Jones' confinement are destroyed," the motion quotes the letter to
McCormick. The motion notes that fixed camera footage remains available for
at least 14 days and up to 30 days before it is overwritten. Carter argues
that McCormick and LaSalle staff in Bowie County knew of the need for video
footage to be preserved when an inmate is seriously injured or dies in
custody. "The beating of William Jones was neither LaSalle's nor
McCormick's first rodeo. These defendants are well aware
that fixed camera footage from the jail has been known to bolster
inmate claims of inappropriate uses of force and inadequate medical
care," the motion states. "It was clear that there was a strong
whiff of impending litigation on the breeze." The motion points to the
cases of Michael Sabbie and Morgan Angerbauer, both of whom died in the jail in 2015 and 2016 respectively. Video footage in those cases was
critical in showing excessive force used on Sabbie
and a lack of medical care for Angerbauer, a
diabetic who died after being denied medical care. Carter represented Sabbie and Angerbauer and
McCormick was warden when both deaths occurred. According to the motion,
federal law provides several remedies when there is a failure to preserve
electronically stored information in anticipation of litigation. If the
court finds that LaSalle intended to deprive Jones the footage so it
couldn't be used against the company in a lawsuit, the court can assume the
lost information was unfavorable to LaSalle, instruct a jury that it must
presume the information was unfavorable to LaSalle or dismiss the case and
enter a default judgment against LaSalle and in favor of Jones. Carter asks
that if the court declines to enter a default judgment, "it should, at
a minimum, instruct the jury that it may or must presume the missing camera
footage is unfavorable to the target defendants. It should also impose
stiff monetary sanctions on the target defendants and award Jones his
attorney's fees and costs for bringing the spoliation to the court's
attention." The case is currently scheduled for a jury trial in
January before U.S. District Judge Robert Schroeder III in the Texarkana
Division of the Eastern District of Texas.
Sep 17, 2020
cbslocal.com
Family Sues Private
Jail Company For Texas Woman’s Death
DALLAS
(CBSDFW.COM/AP) – The family of a woman who died after being held in an
East Texas jail last year filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the company
that runs the facility, claiming the staff neglected her care and ignored
her pleas for help as her health deteriorated and she went blind. Holly
Barlow-Austin’s husband and mother filed the lawsuit in federal court
against Bowie County, LaSalle Corrections, and several of the company’s
employees at the jail in Texarkana. They say LaSalle, which runs jails and
immigration detention facilities in Texas, Louisiana
and Georgia, violated Barlow-Austin’s rights and caused her death. Police
in Texarkana, a city that straddles the Texas’ northeastern border with
Arkansas, arrested Barlow-Austin in April of 2019 for a parole violation.
The 46-year-old died two months later at a hospital — one in a string of
deaths that have led to lawsuits and investigations of LaSalle’s
operations. “What happened to Holly was not an isolated incident,” said Erik
Heipt, a Seattle-based lawyer who’s
representing Barlow-Austin’s family and has brought other cases against
LaSalle. “She is just the latest victim of a corporate culture that sees
inmates as dollar signs and puts profits over people’s lives.” The company,
a Texarkana law firm that has represented it in past cases and Bowie
County’s top official did not immediately respond to messages seeking
comment. Barlow-Austin arrived at the Bi-State Jail with serious health
conditions, including HIV, but normal vital signs and full mobility,
according to the suit’s description of her medical records. She allegedly
left “blind, emaciated, and barely able to move.” The lawsuit claims that
LaSalle guards and medical staff neglected her heath care, falsified
records to cover their failure to check on her and ignored obvious signs
that her condition was worsening. It says they didn’t
provide her prescribed medication, deprived her of food and water, and only
took her to the hospital after it was too late. After not getting some of
her medication for days, Barlow-Austin began experiencing headaches and
dizziness, according to the suit, and tests showed her immune system was
failing. Her condition continued to worsen and by mid-May she was placed on
“medical observation.” The lawsuit describes hours of surveillance video of
Barlow-Austin in her cell, growing sicker, writhing in pain
and calling for help. By June, Barlow-Austin was so weak and blind that she
allegedly struggled to reach and find the food and water guards slid through
a slot in her cell door. The lawsuit states that she began soiling herself
and took on the appearance of a “starving prisoner of war.” Despite this,
over a period of days guards and medical staff didn’t
check on her or, when they did, ignored her calls for help and water,
according to the suit. It says staff falsified observation logs — something
state inspectors also found last year in another case. A nurse finally
checked Barlow-Austin’s vitals on the night of June 10, and she was taken
to the hospital the next morning after medical staff found her pupils no
longer reacted to light, the lawsuit states. LaSalle never told
Barlow-Austin’s family that she was in the hospital, according to the court
complaint, and, after they found out from the sheriff, tried to stop them
from visiting her. According to the lawsuit, Barlow-Austin died of sepsis,
meningitis, HIV/AIDS and accelerated hypertension
on June 17. Her death came two months after LaSalle reached an undisclosed
settlement with the family of a man who died at the Bi-State Jail in 2015.
That lawsuit, which was also brought by Heipt,
claimed LaSalle employees deprived Michael Sabbie
of medications and treatment for his heart disease, diabetes
and other medical conditions.
Dec 19, 2019
wfaa.com
For-profit jail
company could face sanctions pending outcome of next surprise inspection
The Bowie County
jail, run by LaSalle Corrections, has failed 7 inspections since 2015.
AUSTIN, Texas —
State regulators are threatening to reduce the number of prisoners that an
embattled private, for-profit company can house in its Bi-State jail in
Texarkana after its most recent failed annual inspection. The jail run by
LaSalle Corrections has failed three annual inspections and four special
inspections since 2015. At the Texas Commission on Jail Standards meeting
in November, commissioners unanimously approved a recommendation that the
jail’s capacity be reduced by about 50 beds if it does not pass a
re-inspection by Jan. 1. On Tuesday, LaSalle notified the state that it was
ready for a re-inspection. Regulators said they would schedule an
unannounced visit before the end of the month. If the jail fails again,
LaSalle executives would have to appear at the board’s February meeting and
face the possibility of the bed count being reduced further. “We continue
to deal with some of the same issues year after year after year,” Brandon
Wood, executive director of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, told
LaSalle executives during a commission meeting last month in Austin. “You are
able to fix them for a period of time and then by the time the next annual
inspection occurs we see the same issues again.” LaSalle officials were
forced to appear at the commission’s November meeting as a result of a new
law that requires private jail operators to appear before the jail
commission whenever they fail an inspection. Lawmakers created the
requirement following a WFAA investigation that exposed significant
problems in the way the company runs its jails in Texas. In its most recent
annual inspection in October, regulators found that the Texarkana jail
wasn’t properly documenting the distribution of medications, and that
guards were not checking on prisoners as required. The company failed a
special inspection in August after regulators found that jail checks were
not conducted in a case involving a suicide. It failed another special
inspection involving the death of Holly Austin after regulators found
medications were not properly dispensed or documented. Jay Eason, the
company’s director of operations, told commissioners that guards would be
disciplined for not making checks and that if the company discovered that
guards had falsified documents indicating checks had been done, they would
be terminated. “We’re going to step up our game on these checks,” Eason
told commissioners. Guards falsifying jail checks is not a new problem for
LaSalle. A WFAA investigation found that in several prisoner deaths, checks
were not properly performed even though paperwork said they were. Former
jailers told WFAA that LaSalle often has too few guards on each shift to
watch all the prisoners in order to save on salary costs. Eason also told
commissioners that he planned to meet with the jail’s nursing staff to
ensure they understand the importance of making sure prisoners get medical
attention when they need it. “It’s going to be all hands
on deck,” he told commissioners. “We’re going to get these issues
resolved. The staff are going to know that if they’re not doing their job,
they are going to be held accountable.” Jail commissioners seemed skeptical
about Eason’s assurances, however. “What is concerning to me is that these
are routine things that need to be carried out every day at the jail,” said
Dr. Esmaeil Porsa, the
commission’s vice-chair. “These are the type of things that are … not
complicated.” “We are struggling with the checks and getting employees to
take those checks seriously today and getting their checks done … in a
timely manner,” Eason told the commission. Wood told Eason that if it did
not fix its staffing shortages, the commission would limit the number of
prisoners its facility could hold. That means the company would have fewer
beds for not only county prisoners, but also federal inmates – which bring
in significantly more revenue. “I understand the needs of the federal
government, but we need to take care of our own first,” Wood said. It marks
the second time that the Texas jail commission has threatened to reduce the
number of jail beds at one of LaSalle’s facilities to force the company to
follow the rules. Earlier this year, one of LaSalle’s jails near Waco
failed two special inspections and an annual inspection in five months.
After the state jail commission said it would reduce the number of beds
LaSalle could use there, the company decided that it no longer wanted to
operate that jail. The McLennan County sheriff’s department has since taken
over the operation of the facility. Since 2015, four prisoners have died
inside in the LaSalle’s Bi-State jail in Texarkana. Jailers in each of the four
cases falsely claimed to have conducted checks on the inmates when they actually had not done them. In 2015, Michael Sabbie, a diabetic with asthma and heart problems,
repeatedly told nurses he was having trouble breathing. Guards
pepper-sprayed him as he screamed, "I can't breathe." Sabbie, 35, was found dead of a heart attack on his
cell floor. In 2016, 20-year-old Morgan Angerbauer,
also a diabetic, died from a lack of insulin in her cell. Jailers and a
nurse ignored her as she screamed for help for hours. A nurse was convicted
for her role in Angerbauer’s death. In March,
59-year-old Franklin Greathouse was found dead in his cell. Earlier that
day, he had complained he was having a seizure, but jail officials wrote
this in a report to the state: “Greathouse was responsive and able to walk
to his own cell...dispelling his claim of seizure.” In July, 48-year-old
Michael Rodden was found hanging by socks tied together.
Sep 28, 2019
ky3.com
Arkansas panel approves
20-year contract for private jail
PINE BLUFF, Ark. (AP) — A state panel has approved a 20-year contract
to house as many as 500 state inmates at a privately run jail facility in
southeast Arkansas. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that the state
Board of Corrections on Thursday approved the plan to contract with Drew
and Bradley to house inmates at the facility, which will be operated by
Louisiana-based LaSalle Corrections. The board's chairman presented the
contract as an opportunity to move more than 300 state inmates at a
privately run jail in Texas back to Arkansas, while also relieving some bed
space at state prisons. The counties will contract with LaSalle. The
counties have sought to contract with a private provider to find space to
house local offenders awaiting trial. No private adult lockups have
operated in Arkansas since 2001.
Jun 27, 2018 texarkanagazette.com
Suit moves forward for family of man who died in local jail
A federal civil lawsuit stemming from the July 2015 in-custody death of
a man in Texarkana's Bi-State Justice Building jail is moving forward.
Michael Sabbie, 35, was found dead in his cell
shortly after 6 a.m. on July 22, 2015. He had been arrested by Texarkana,
Ark., police and booked into the jail on a misdemeanor charge the afternoon
of July 19, 2015, following a verbal argument with his wife, according to a
complaint filed in May 2017 on behalf of Sabbie's
family in the Texarkana Division of the Eastern District of Texas. Upon
intake, Sabbie told jail staff he suffered from
asthma, heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure. Despite his
medical conditions and his need for medications to treat them, Sabbie allegedly was given no drugs during his incarceration.
Also, nursing staff failed to conduct even routine monitoring of his blood
pressure and blood sugar, even though such testing was ordered by the
intake nurse, the complaint states. Sabbie
repeatedly showed and complained of symptoms of severe medical distress,
which should have moved jail personnel to take him to a hospital but
allegedly were ignored, according to the complaint. Sabbie
allegedly told nursing staff he was short of breath and "unable to
breathe while lying down" at 3:30 a.m. July 20, 2015. A jail nurse
noted that his blood oxygen level was down about 8 percent from the day
before and that his heart rate was significantly higher, but jail workers
allegedly failed to conduct even basic tests that might have illuminated
his dire need for treatment, according to the complaint. Nursing staff
allegedly continued to ignore Sabbie's constant
breathing complaints, and officers reportedly wrote him up July 20, 2015,
for faking illness and breathing problems. Sabbie's
worsening condition was allegedly obvious to court staff at a hearing July
21, 2015, and the judge offered to let Sabbie sit
during the proceeding. About 4:15 p.m. the same day, jail cameras recorded Sabbie speaking to a correctional officer while holding
a tissue to his face and leaning against a wall. In the recording, Sabbie briefly moves out of the camera's view, and the
next images depict officers piling on top of Sabbie
while one sprays him in the face with a chemical agent as he is pinned
beneath them and unable to move. Sabbie
repeatedly states, "I can't breathe, I can't breathe," as
officers threaten him according to a recording from a hand-held camera with
audio. After being placed in a shower, where he appears to momentarily
collapse, Sabbie is thrown into his cell. He is
discovered dead the following day by officers who open the door after Sabbie fails to respond to their commands to pull up
his pants. U.S. Magistrate Judge Caroline Craven denied a motion to dismiss
in a report and recommendations issued Nov. 6. The complaint, filed on
behalf of Sabbie's estate and individual family
members by Erik Heipt and Edwin Budge of Seattle
and Texarkana lawyers Matt Soyars and Bruce
Flint, names LaSalle Corrections, a private jail management company; Bowie
County, Texas; Texarkana, Ark.; and a number of individual LaSalle
employees as defendants. On Monday, Budge and Heipt
filed a motion asking the court to break the trial down into two phases.
The first phase of trial will deal with what happened in the jail and
whether any of the defendants should be found liable for Sabbie's death and/or guilty of violating his civil
rights. If a jury finds that one or more of the defendants is liable, the
jury would decide in the first phase the amount of damages that should be
awarded for Sabbie's pre-death pain and suffering
and whether, and in what amount, punitive damages should be awarded. Should
the jury find none of the defendants liable for Sabbie's
demise, the trial would end. But if the jury determines there is liabilty, then a second phase to determine the amount
of damages each of the individual defendants should receive will commence,
under the plaintiffs' lawyers' proposal. The motion argues that the
two-phase trial is a good idea because it would make the testimony of
members of Sabbie's family, including his
children, unnecessary if no liability is found, shorten the trial's length
and avoid the possibility that prejudicial or emotional testimony could
taint the jury's findings concerning liability. "First, bifurcation
would be vastly more efficient because the many first-phase witnesses have
no information relevant to second-phase issues—and vice versa. In other
words, there is a distinct separation between the witnesses who would be
called in the first and second phases. The eight individual plaintiffs (Mr.
Sabbie's four minor children, his widow, and his
three siblings) as well as several dozen supporting damages witnesses have
no information concerning first-phase issues of liability, cause of death,
pre-death pain and suffering, or punitive damages," the motion states.
The defense is expected to present evidence at trial that might cast Sabbie in a bad light and testimony from members of Sabbie's family could lead a juror to feel sympathy.
The motion argues that "prejudicial" testimony would be primarily
presented in the second phase, eliminating the risk that it could influence
the jury's findings in the damages phase. The bifurcated trial could also
mean less time sitting around for witnesses. The case is scheduled for jury
selection and trial in April 2019 before U.S. District Judge Robert
Schroeder III in Texarkana's downtown federal building.
Texas, GEO (2), Central Texas Detention Facility
May 26, 2017 rawstory.com
Shocking video shows how guards at for-profit prison left sick prisoner
to die despite pleas for help
A shocking new video shows guards at a for-profit Arkansas prison
roughed up a prisoner who tried to warn them about his assorted medical
conditions — and then left him to die in his cell despite his repeated
pleas for their help. The prisoner in question, an Arkansas father of four
named Michael Sabbie, was first taken into
custody in July 2015 on a misdemeanor assault charge. According to the New
York Times, Sabbie warned officials at the jail
that he suffered from heart disease, high blood pressure and asthma — but
guards nonetheless accused him of faking illnesses when he regularly
collapsed in his cell because he had difficulty breathing. The video
obtained by the Times begins with Sabbie standing
in the hallway in the prison, leaning against the wall trying to catch his
breath. A guard then comes and confronts Sabbie,
who then tries to walk away down the hall. At this point, several guards
tackle him and bring him to the nurse’s station for treatment. “The video shows
Mr. Sabbie breathing heavily over the next nine
minutes as corrections officers drag him to the nurse’s station and then
into a shower,” the Times notes. “After he collapses in the shower, guards
pick him up and pull him into his cell as his orange pants fall below his
waist. Mr. Sabbie can be seen rolling on the
floor and wiping his face with his shirt before the recording stops.” Sabbie regularly shouted out “I can’t breathe” as the
guards took him back to his cell. He was found dead in his cell the next
morning. Sabbie’s family filed a wrongful death
lawsuit against the for-profit prison where Sabbie
was being held, as it accused at least a dozen employees at the jail of
being responsible for his death.
Oct 6, 2016 carbonated.tv
‘I Can't Breathe’: Father Of Four Begged For Help Before Dying In Jail
Michael Sabbie pleaded for water and told
prison guards he couldn't breathe as they wrestled, gassed and showered him
hours before his death. A video from a private prison on the
Texas-Arkansas-Louisiana border revealed the disturbing circumstances
around the death of a 35-year-old black inmate. The Texarkana man died last
year in July, but the Huffington Post released the footage online on
Wednesday. Michael Sabbie, father of four, was
found dead in his cell at the Bi-State Jail three days after the police
arrested him on misdemeanor and domestic assault charges. When he had
appeared in the court earlier, he said he was spitting blood and needed to
go to a hospital. A judge had set his bail at $2,500. The graphic video
shows how the correctional officers violently subdued him and ignored his
pleas for medical aid in the hours before his death. In fact, they flung
him to the ground, piled on top of him, pepper-sprayed him in the face and
took no notice as Sabbie screamed, “I can’t
breathe.” The surveillance footage shows the victim leaning against a wall
when guard at the jail, run by a private company called LaSalle
Corrections, threw him to the ground. Five officers attacked Sabbie as he began begging for help. A sixth joined the group and
pepper-sprayed Sabbie, accusing him of resisting
them. “Get your hands behind your back or you’ll get it again!” a guard
yelled as the others joined in and picked up Sabbie,
propping him against a wall outside a nurse’s office. “I can’t breathe,
sir,” the inmate responded. “Please, please. I got pneumonia.” He continued
to beg for water as a nurse examined him, claiming his symptoms were normal
for someone who had been hit with the stinging chemical. Meanwhile, Sabbie continued panting and saying “Please, please” as
the officers dragged him to a shower to wash him off and then threw him on
the ground in his cell, closing the door. The man died 14 hours later of
“natural” causes. “If you just looked at the cause of death, you would
think that Michael died of some sort of hypertensive heart condition, and
that may be true,” Erik J. Heipt, one of the
attorneys representing the Sabbie family, told
the Huffington Post. “But if we didn’t have a video, we’d never know that
he had been begging for help due to his shortness of breath and inability
to breathe. We’d never know that he said ‘I can’t breathe’ 19 times in the
nine minutes that we hear in that video.” Medical examiners linked Sabbie’s death to “hypertensive arteriosclerotic
cardiovascular disease.” However, his family believes he died from a
treatable and recognizable ailment known as pulmonary edema – which means
excess fluid in the lungs due to a heart condition. “We often find that
someone’s death is characterized as ‘natural causes’ ?
maybe it was cancer, maybe it was heart disease,” said David C. Fathi, the director of the ACLU’s National Prison
Project. “But if you look at the medical record, you often find egregious
neglect and denial of care. If someone dies of cancer that went totally
untreated, is that death from natural causes?” The authorities said Sabbie’s wife, Teresa, reported that her husband
threatened her during a fight over money shortly before his arrest. The man
did not plead guilty to the charges. His wife called his death “a tragedy
that should never have happened.” “I can’t put into words how devastated my
children and I are after the loss of Michael,” said the wife. “He was my
backbone and best friend. My children lost a wonderful father who wanted the
best for his family. A piece of our heart is gone, and I pray to God for
justice.” Earlier this year, the Department of Justice decided not to
pursue charges against any of the officers involved despite the inhumane
treatment displayed in the video.
Brooks County Detention Center,
Falfurrias, Texas
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 Caller-Times
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.
Coastal Bend
Detention Center,
Robstown, Texas
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.
East Hidalgo
Detention Center,
La Villa, Texas
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.
Jack Harwell
Detention Center, McLennan County Texas
31
Aug 13, 2019 wacotrib.com
Fresh paint, fresh faces as county prepares Harwell jail takeover
Fresh
coats of paint and fresh faces of leadership are arriving at Jack Harwell Detention
Center, two months ahead of the Oct. 1 takeover by McLennan County
Sheriff’s Office officials. McLennan County Jail inmates began laying down
primer and painting dormitory cells at Harwell on Monday, following work
this month to clean the cells. Staff promotions and plans for new
administrative rankings for Harwell have fallen into place as McLennan
County prepares to reclaim the jail from a private contractor. “I think we
will be ready,” said Major Ricky Armstrong, jail administrator. “We’ve been
working to get staff in place and get the jail cleaned up
so it is fresh and ready for us to move in to the jail.” On midnight
Sunday, a total of 768 inmates were housed at McLennan County Jail. Harwell
housed 574 inmates, including 335 McLennan County inmates and 202 federal
inmates. Harwell was built in 2010 and was controlled by Louisiana-based,
for-profit LaSalle Corrections. The jail will be operated by the McLennan
County Sheriff’s Office on Oct. 1 after LaSalle opted not to renew its
contract with the county in May. The decision not to renew the contract
came after the county first saw an increase in payments made to LaSalle
last year, from about $6.1 million to $8 million. LaSalle failed three
Texas Commission of Jail Standards inspections in August 2018, November
2018 and last March, resulting in the state placing a remedial order on the
facility. Armstrong, who has overseen operations at the McLennan County
Jail since 2015, was promoted from a captain to the rank of major in
preparation to oversee both jails by October. He said Sheriff Parnell
McNamara promoted a new administration team to oversee 115 employees,
including jailers, medical staff and civilians at the Harwell facility.
“The sheriff asked the (McLennan County Commissioners) Court to change the
rank structure to address the double responsibility, double amount of
inmate capacity,” Armstrong said. Mike Garrett, a former lieutenant at the
county jail, was promoted to captain and will oversee Harwell jail. His
colleague, Karen Anderson, was promoted from lieutenant to captain and will
act as an assistant jail administrator at McLennan County Jail. “Oh, I
think there will be a little separation anxiety, but we are still going to
work together, just be in separate buildings,” Garrett said. Additional
staff promotions were made this month, including promoting five former jail
sergeants to lieutenants, including John Phillips, Casey Boehme, Joel
Barrientos and Sue Tweedle. Lieutenants will be
split between the two jails to help control any issues that may arise after
the transition. Harwell staff was placed back in compliance in May, shortly
after the decision was made to turn control back to the council. Garrett
said his plans include keeping Harwell in compliance. “I am very excited
for the challenge, I want to keep it flowing to keep up with inspections
and keeping it in compliance,” he said. “We are going to run it as
efficiently as we can. Compliance has been an issue, so we need to get
everything cleaned up and keep it in compliance.” McLennan County trusty
inmates worked at the neighboring jail that is connected to Harwell through
its kitchen. Armstrong said while the takeover is a lot of work, he
believes the staff in place for both facilities will be a success. “This
week we are cleaning the cells that are empty, doing some painting and some
light maintenance work just to get the Harwell jail looking better,”
Armstrong said. “I don’t know if we will have it all painted before Oct. 1
when we move in, but we will be able to move inmates to get the rest of it
painted as soon as possible. County staff plans to expand mental health
services with the move into Harwell and offer reintegration programs. He
said it may take six months to a year to establish programs and get them
running, but the move will be a benefit. “I think we will definitely be
ready for October, I think,” Armstrong said.
Jul
13, 2019 kwtx.com
More
correctional officers needed for local jail takeover
WACO,
Texas (KWTX) The McLennan County Sheriff's Office is in
need of correctional officers ahead of taking over the neighboring
private jail in the Fall. The Sheriff's office wants to hire an extra 100
correctional officers to work at the Jack Harwell Detention Center by Oct.
1--that's when the contract between the county and La Salle Corrections
expires. "It's going to take a lot of work," said Capt. Ricky
Armstrong, Jail Administrator. "We're just ready to get over there and
start seeing what it's going to take to run it." Armstrong said they
did a job study on Harwell to determine how many officers they needed and
are presenting it to county commissioners as they go into budget talks.
"We're looking forward to it, I think it's going to be a good thing
for the county, for the Sheriff's Office, and I also think we're going to save
the county quite a bit of money," said Sheriff Parnell McNamara.
"We're almost doubling the number of inmates that we have."
Currently, the county jail has around 1,000 inmates and Harwell has around
700, about half of which are federal. "If we get to house the federal
inmates in the facility that's already there, with that revenue and our
budget, we should save somewhere between $500,000 and $1.5 million by
operating it ourselves." The moves after a series of failed state
inspections (three in seven months) by Harwell and contract hikes (last
year La Salle's contract spiked by $2 million). Technically, La Salle ended
the contract, sending the county a letter of non-renewal in the Spring.
"In negotiations with La Salle, they agreed that if we wanted our facility
back, then they would send us a letter stating they didn't want to renew
the contract," said Armstrong. "It's just cleaner that way."
"It's cheaper for the county to run the whole damn thing," said
Chief Deputy David Kilcrease. "We can pay our employees more than they
pay their employees and we can run it better than they can." The
county jail hasn't failed inspection by the Texas Commission on Jail
Standards since 2008. "We're pretty strict on what we do and how we do
it," said Armstrong. "We try to stay in compliance." Part of
the state inspection process is the physical working of the jail; Armstrong
says they'll only have to do some painting and minor maintenance.
"Walking through the facility, everything looks good, it's
operational, everything's operating now, there's no major mechanical issues
that we're aware of at this time," said Armstrong. The biggest
challenge so far, Armstrong says, is hiring and the 'unknowns.' "The
employees at Jack Harwell, the unknown of if they're going to work for us,
they're all upset, and just the unknown, the uncertainty is scary for
people," said Armstrong. "Now, for us, it's just making sure we
have enough people." To do that, MCSO's jail division is hosting a
hiring event July 15 from 9am-12pm at Workforce Solutions for the Heart of
Texas, 1416 S. New Rd., where on-site interviews will be conducted for
people who fill out applications prior to the event. Applicants should be
18 or older with a high school diploma or GED, have a calm temper, and be
good with people. "To hire 100 correctional officers in a short time
is tough," said Armstrong. "We hope to start hiring people in
August to be fully staffed by October." Armstrong is hoping many of
hires will come from the pool of correctional officers currently working at
Harwell. "We've offered the officers that currently work there jobs," said Armstrong. "We've had,
approximately, between 30 and 50 officers come over and say they're
interested, and we're going to hire all those that we can." McNamara
is confident his command staff at the jail will get the job done and help
the Harwell 'straighten up.' "We're going to do everything we can to
minimize problems at that jail, and there's been some in the past, over and
over, we're gonna do the best we can to eliminate
those and run the jail properly and we know how to do that," said
McNamara. "We have administrative staff that has been at the jail for
25-30 years, so they know what they're doing, they know how to run the
jail, they know how it should be run." The Sheriff's office is working
on a new organizational structure for the takeover including the promotion
of two people, one to head each jail, who will report to Armstrong. With
the addition of Harwell, Armstrong says he sees endless opportunities for
the county and its inmates. "I'm really looking forward to opening up
some more programs because we're out of space in this facility," said
Armstrong. "It's got a lot of classrooms." He hopes to use
Harwell's nine classrooms to provide more reintegration opportunities for
inmates through programs like parenting classes and teaching vocational
skills. "I'm looking forward to the space and being able to move
people around and have these classes," said Armstrong. They're also
looking forward to hiring the staff to make those programs possible.
McNamara says working at the jail is a good stepping
stone for other positions in the field. "If you want to go into
law enforcement, now is a good time," said McNamara. "We want you
on the Posse!"
Oct 19, 2018
wacotrib.com
County officials investigating inmate death at private jail
The McLennan County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the death of an
inmate at the Jack Harwell Detention Center, a privately operated jail
owned by McLennan County. Sheriff Parnell McNamara said the 53-year-old
inmate died Friday night from what appears to be natural causes, but
investigators are waiting for autopsy results to be returned from the
Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences in Dallas. While no
administrators from LaSalle Corrections, which operates the jail, returned
phone messages Wednesday, a spokesman for the U.S. Marshals Service
identified the inmate as Lorenzo Ochoa-Figueroa, of Zacatecas, Mexico. The
spokesman said Ochoa-Figueroa was being held on a U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement detainer for illegal entry into the U.S. LaSalle
Corrections contracts with the federal government to house its prisoners.
McLennan County Justice of the Peace Brian Richardson, who ordered the
autopsy, said Ochoa-Figueroa’s death appears caused by natural causes. He
said there were no signs of foul play or trauma. It could be from five to
seven weeks before a preliminary autopsy report is returned, Richardson
said. Ochoa-Figueroa’s fiancee, Micaela Gomez,
54, of Taylor, said Ochoa-Figueroa had lived in Texas off and on for 20
years but was a Mexican citizen. She said he was jailed in June on a
domestic violence charge against her and was placed in the Williamson
County Jail until he was transferred to the Jack Harwell Detention Center
eight days ago on the ICE detainer. They had lived together two years, and
she considers Ochoa-Figueroa her common-law husband, Gomez said. She said a
deputy called her at 2:30 a.m. Saturday to inform her of his death. “They
didn’t tell me nothing,” Gomez said. “They just said he passed away.” She
said after Ochoa-Figueroa was jailed, officials told him he had high blood
pressure and he was taking medication. She said she suffers from lung
cancer and he was worried about that. The combination of her illness
coupled with his incarceration and likely deportation perhaps produced more
stress than Ochoa-Figueroa could bear, she said. “He was a very sweet man,”
Gomez said. “He was a hard-working man and he was a good guy.” Jail
officials notified the Texas Commission on Jail Standards of the in-custody
death, as required, commission executive director Brandon Wood said. He
declined additional comment because of the pending investigation. The
suicide death of an inmate in November 2015 led to the indictment of three
guards at the Jack Harwell Detention Center and a federal wrongful death
lawsuit against the three former officers and Southwestern Correctional,
parent company of LaSalle Corrections. The parents of Michael Martinez
filed the lawsuit last year after their 25-year-old son, who had attempted
suicide two months before he was jailed, died at the private jail on State
Highway 6. Three officers, Michael Wayne Crittenden, Milton Edward Walker
and Christopher David Simpson, each were indicted on a charge of tampering
with government records, a third-degree felony punishable by up to 10 years
in prison, after an investigation into Martinez’s death. Officials allege
the former guards altered documents after Martinez’s death to make it
appear they conducted scheduled inmate checks in the hours leading to the
suicide. Surveillance video showed that Crittenden, Walker and Simpson all
lied about conducting head counts in N-Wing in the early morning hours
before Martinez’s death, according to records filed in the case. The
criminal case against each former officer remains pending, as does the
civil lawsuit.
Sep 8, 2018 texasobserver.org
Waco Immigrant Mom Sues Private Prison Corporation over Alleged Sexual
Abuse
Estela Fajardo, an immigrant mom and business owner, is suing a private
prison corporation and a prison guard over sexual abuse she alleges
occurred at Waco’s Jack Harwell Detention Center over four months beginning
late last year. Thanks to a nasty tangle of the criminal and immigration
systems, the 46-year-old Fajardo has been locked up and apart from her
3-year-old son for more than two and a half years. Fajardo, who came to the
United States at 14 and is undocumented, was a member of the Central Texas
Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and ran a moving company, a small cattle ranch
and two hair salons in Waco before her legal troubles began. The Waco
Tribune-Herald once wrote that she “represent[ed] the American Dream.”
Fajardo currently sits in the McLennan County Jail, adjacent to the Jack
Harwell facility, facing a state jail felony theft charge. The charge stems
from allegations that she knowingly purchased stolen goods in January 2016,
a claim that she’s consistently denied. She can’t bond out, because an
immigration detainer means she’d be transferred immediately into federal
custody and potentially deported away from her four kids. Her civil suit,
filed Friday in a McLennan County district court, demands between $200,000
and $1 million for the “mental anguish” Fajardo has suffered due to a
guard’s “inappropriate remarks of a sexual nature” and offensive physical
“contact.” Defendants in the suit include the alleged perpetrator and
LaSalle Corrections, the private prison company that operates the Jack
Harwell facility. Fajardo detailed her allegations in a report she
submitted to McLennan County officials in March. Fajardo wrote that a
female guard, employed by LaSalle, made sexual comments toward her,
inappropriately touched her breast and buttock and asked her to “flash her”
during multiple incidents between November and March. “I felt hopeless and
desperate, depressed, scared, worried, embarrassed to even talk about this
situation,” Fajardo wrote. “I could not get any sleep for a long time.” The
816-bed for-profit Harwell facility, which primarily holds inmates for the
county and the U.S. Marshals Service, has faced similar controversy before.
Since 2013, at least three LaSalle guards have been convicted for sexual
misconduct, and LaSalle was also sued over sexual assault in 2015. Last
month, the facility failed its third unannounced inspection in four years.
LaSalle and the accused guard did not respond to requests for comment.
County officials have denied Fajardo’s allegations. In a May report, county
investigator Kimberly King concluded that Fajardo’s claims were all
unsubstantiated or unfounded, citing the account of another jail official
and a lack of witnesses. In June, McLennan County Chief Deputy David
Kilcrease told local news outlets, “It’s obvious here that the whole thing
is to try to enhance her immigration status.” Fajardo, who faces potential
deportation when her criminal case resolves, could qualify for a visa for
victims of crime based on the guard’s alleged sexual abuse. Gerald Villarrial, Fajardo’s criminal defense attorney, called
the county’s investigation an instance of the fox guarding the henhouse.
McLennan County owns the Jack Harwell facility and pays LaSalle Corrections
to hold inmates there. “Someone other than the Sheriff’s Department should
have done that investigation,” he said, citing the Texas Rangers and FBI as
possibilities.
Sep 5, 2018 wacotrib.com
Former inmate sues guard, private jail corporation over alleged abuses
A former inmate at McLennan County’s privately operated jail alleges
she suffered physical and emotional abuse at the hands of a guard during
more than two years of incarceration there. Estela Fajardo, jailed on a
felony theft charge and an immigration hold, is seeking from $200,000 to $1
million in a lawsuit filed Friday in 74th State District Court against
Southwestern Correctional, parent company of LaSalle Corrections, and
LaSalle guard Charis Kendricks. Kendricks and Ryan Horvath in the LaSalle
legal department at corporate headquarters in Ruston, Louisiana, did not
return phone messages Friday. LaSalle contracts with McLennan County to operate
the Jack Harwell Detention Center in Waco. The lawsuit alleges that
Kendricks “made inappropriate remarks of a sexual nature to plaintiff, and
on more than one occasion intentionally or knowingly made contact with
plaintiff’s person.” “Plaintiff was emotionally and physically upset by the
inappropriate touching of her body by Kendricks, and by the inappropriate
remarks by Kendricks, and plaintiff suffered embarrassment, humiliation and
mental anguish as a result of such contact and remarks, all of which were
offensive and insulting,” the lawsuit alleges. Fajardo was the subject of a
demonstration in June outside the McLennan County Sheriff’s Office by
members of the Waco Immigrants Alliance. They called for an outside agency
to investigate Fajardo’s allegations. Chief Deputy David Kilcrease pledged
at that time to reopen the initial investigation into her complaints. But
he said in June that based on Fajardo’s own description of what happened
and statements she made in recorded jail conversations, the incidents are
not crimes and amount to routine “textbook pat-downs” by a female officer.
“It’s obvious here that the whole thing is to try to enhance her
immigration status,” Kilcrease said in June. “But ruining somebody’s life
so she can keep her life here is not reasonable. If somebody did something
to her, they need to answer for it. But what she is claiming is just not
there. This is a textbook pat-down. There was nothing wrong with it, or
there was certainly nothing illegal about it.” Fajardo’s attorney, Gerald
R. Villarrial, disagrees. He denies Fajardo’s
claims have anything to do with her immigration status and said the Texas
Commission on Jail Standards issued a failing grade after a recent
inspection of the Jack Harwell Detention Center, its third failure in the
past four years. Staff at the facility falsified logs to make it appear
they checked on inmates at the required times, while surveillance footage
shows some of the checks happened at intervals up to four times longer than
the maximum allowed, according to the commission report. The inspection
also found jail staffing was below minimum requirements and jailers were
not in their assigned wings. “I think there is difference between a
pat-down and someone grabbing your breast,” Villarrial
said. “And I am not satisfied with the investigation they did. I can’t help
but be skeptical with Kilcrease’s statement that they are going to reopen
the investigation and in the next breath he says she is just doing this for
immigration purposes.” Kilcrease did not return a phone message Friday.
“She was routinely brought out by this particular guard and brought into
areas where the cameras couldn’t see her and fondled on her breasts,” Villarrial said. “There were sexual advances made to
her, and when she would not reciprocate to these advances, she had holy
hell to pay. She was searched more and harassed more by this particular
guard.” Fajardo has since been transferred to the McLennan County Jail,
where she has a pending state-jail felony theft case and an immigration
hold on her, Villarrial said.
Dec 2, 2016 PCWG theeagle.com
Ex-Waco jail employee arrested, accused of orchestrating inmate fight
A former Jack Harwell Detention Center employee was arrested last week
after he allegedly orchestrated a jailhouse fight between two inmates
allegedly to keep one inmate from “picking on him,” an arrest affidavit
states. Wesley James Gillispie, 18, was arrested Wednesday after he misused
his authority as a Jack Harwell Detention Center employee on Nov. 5 when he
felt an inmate was “picking on him,” the arrest affidavit states. Gillispie allegedly gave another inmate access to the
housing area of the inmate that Gillispie was
targeting “for the sole purpose of having (the first inmate) assault” the
inmate that was allegedly “picking on” Gillispie.
The Jack Harwell facility is a private jail that allows overflow inmates
from the neighboring McLennan County Jail to be housed in a secure
facility. Gillispie was arrested on a Class A
misdemeanor charge of official oppression and was booked in to McLennan
County Jail. He later posted bond and was released. It was not immediately
clear if Gillispie resigned or was fired from his
position, but authorities confirmed that Gillispie
is no longer employed at the Harwell jail.
Jun 2, 2016 wacotrib.com
Officials investigating death of jail inmate
Federal, state and local law enforcement officials are investigating
the death of an inmate at the Jack Harwell Detention Center in McLennan
County on Monday evening. James Duke, warden of the privately operated
jail, did not return phone messages Tuesday, and others, including local
and federal officials, declined comment or referred questions to other
agencies. Brandon Wood, executive director of the Texas Commission on Jail
Standards, confirmed Tuesday that officials at the Jack Harwell Detention
Center notified the commission about the inmate’s death about 7:30 p.m.
Monday. The commission will review an initial report about the incident
from the private jail officials before determining whether additional
action is needed by the commission, Wood said. County jails and private
detention centers are required to notify the commission of an inmate’s
death within 24 hours, he said. McLennan County Justice of the Peace James
Lee was called to the jail at 3101 E. Marlin Highway after the death. Lee
did not return phone calls Tuesday, and a staff member in his office
referred questions to the McLennan County Sheriff’s Office. Lee also did
not respond immediately to a Public Information Act request for
information, including whether he ordered an autopsy. McLennan County
Sheriff Parnell McNamara did not return phone messages Tuesday. Sheriff’s
Office Capt. Ricky Armstrong declined comment, saying the inmate was a U.S.
Marshals Service prisoner and referring questions to the marshals
service. Deputy U.S. Marshal Joe Bays also declined comment, saying the
matter is under investigation. Bays declined to provide details of the
inmate’s death, his or her identity or suspected manner and means of death.
The jail is operated by LaSalle Corrections, which manages 18 facilities
with a total inmate capacity of 13,000 in Louisiana, Texas and Georgia.
LaSalle Executive Director Rodney Cooper did not return phone calls to his
office Tuesday. A McLennan County grand jury indicted three former LaSalle
Corrections employees in February on charges that they altered documents to
make it appear they conducted scheduled inmate checks following a suicide
in the jail in November. Michael Wayne Crittenden, 24; Milton Edward Walker,
33; and Christopher David Simpson, 24, each were indicted on a charge of
tampering with government records, a third-degree felony punishable by up
to 10 years in prison. Surveillance video showed that Crittenden, Walker
and Simpson all lied about conducting head counts in N-Wing in the early
morning hours of Nov. 1, according to records filed in the case. A review
was conducted after Michael Angelo Martinez, 25, of Waco, was found
unresponsive in his single-person cell. Martinez’s death was ruled suicide
by asphyxia. Martinez had been in jail since Aug. 18 on charges of unlawful
possession of a firearm and possession of cocaine. He also was being held
on a federal detainer, according to county records. McNamara said in
November that Martinez was in the section of the jail where inmates are to
be checked every 30 minutes.
Feb
18, 2016 wacotrib.com
3 former jailers indicted on tampering charges in suicide
Three former correctional officers at the Jack Harwell Detention Center
were indicted Wednesday on charges that they altered documents following a
suicide in the jail to make it appear they conducted scheduled inmate
checks in the hours leading up to the suicide. A McLennan County grand jury
indicted Michael Wayne Crittenden, 24; Milton Edward Walker, 33; and
Christopher David Simpson, 24, each on a charge of tampering with
government records, a third-degree felony punishable by up to 10 years in
prison. All three were employees of LaSalle Corrections, which operates the
Harwell private jail on State Highway 6.
Waco attorney Phil Frederick, who represents Simpson, and attorney
Will Hutson, who represents Walker, both declined comment about their
client’s case. Court records indicate Crittenden does not have an attorney.
Surveillance video showed that Crittenden, Walker and Simpson all lied
about conducting head counts in N-Wing in the early morning hours of Nov.
1, according to records filed in the case. A review was conducted after
Michael Angelo Martinez, 25, of Waco, was found unresponsive in his single-person
cell. Martinez’s death was ruled suicide by asphyxia. Martinez had been in
jail since Aug. 18 on charges of unlawful possession of a firearm and
possession of cocaine. He also was being held on a federal detainer,
according to county records. Sheriff Parnell McNamara said Martinez was in
the section of the jail where inmates are to be checked every 30 minutes.
Walker was supposed to conduct “observation checks” from 1:05 a.m. through
3:25 a.m. as well as 4:35 a.m. through 6:17 a.m. He signed off on head-count
documents at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 31 and 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. the following morning.
“Video surveillance confirmed Walker did not actually conduct head counts,”
an affidavit written by Detective Kimberly King states. Crittenden and
Simpson also are alleged to have failed to perform head counts during the
early morning hours of Nov. 1 and then filling out paperwork that stated
they had done them. McLennan County received a notice of noncompliance Nov.
5 from the state jail commission because inmates known to be mentally ill
or suicidal were not checked on every 30 minutes, according to a report.
The Texas Commission on Jail Standards’ report states observations should
be performed at least every 30 minutes in areas where inmates are known to
be “assaultive, potentially suicidal, mentally ill or who have demonstrated
bizarre behavior.” Brandon Wood, Texas Commission on Jail Standards
executive director, told the Tribune-Herald at the time that the commission
reviews operations at a facility after an inmate death. McLennan County
commissioners in June extended their contract with LaSalle Corrections
through June 2018 to allow the company to continue operation of the Jack
Harwell Detention Center. All three men remain free on bail.
Dec 12, 2015 wacotrib.com
Texas: Sexual assault alleged at LaSalle prison
A former jail inmate alleges she repeatedly was
sexually assaulted at the private Jack Harwell Detention Center, where she
claims a long-standing lack of institutional control has led to an
environment of smuggling, extortion, drug abuse and sexual misconduct. The
30-year-old woman is seeking unspecified damages in a lawsuit filed this
week in Waco’s 170th State District Court against LaSalle Corrections, a
private corrections company that has operated McLennan County’s private
jail since 2013.
The Tribune-Herald is not identifying the woman
because she alleges she was the victim of sexual assault. Ryan Horvath, an
attorney for LaSalle in Ruston, Louisiana, did not return phone messages
left Thursday seeking comment for this story. LaSalle Corrections operates
18 facilities in Texas, Louisiana and Georgia, according to its website.
The lawsuit, filed by Waco attorney Bill Johnston, provides a historical
perspective of private jail operations in McLennan County dating to 1999,
when CiviGenics began operating the now-vacant
downtown jail and later merged with Community Education Centers in 2007.
The suit says CiviGenics did not live up to its
promise to the county to house only low-risk offenders and soon “smuggling
and contraband into the CiviGenics-run jail was
commonplace.” ‘Reached a crescendo’ The smuggling and contraband problems
“reached a crescendo,” the suit alleges, in November 2001, when guards
smuggled a cellphone and jail key to inmate Sherman Fields. Fields escaped
from the jail and kidnapped and murdered his former girlfriend, Suncerey Coleman. Fields is now on federal death row.
Because of that incident, officials at the private jail were aware of the
“dangerous consequences of the loss of institutional control” over the
facility, the suit claims. “Negligent acts in jails often lead to
intentional acts and to peril,” the suit says. ”To the defendant, this was
foreseeable, if not predictable, by the fall of 2013.” When CEC took over,
“although the name changed, many of the faces were the same,” according to
the suit. “Employees who had been working at the infamous downtown Waco
facility from which Sherman Fields had escaped began to work at the new
facility located on State Highway 6 south of Waco,” the suit alleges. When
LaSalle took over, many of the same employees and training practices
remained in place. “The history of negligence included all manner of
misdeeds, from the smuggling of contraband, poor training and supervision
of employees and sexual misconduct by employees,” according to the lawsuit.
Items allowed to be smuggled included food, cellphones, cigarettes,
marijuana, cocaine and other drugs, including painkillers, the suit claims.
Those practices led to the repeated sexual assault of the plaintiff, the suit alleges. “For a fee, to be paid to
the guard or his outside contact, an inmate could receive smuggled goods
and contraband, or could arrange to have sex with another inmate,” the suit
claims. “Significant sums of money were extorted from the plaintiff and her
family by employees of the defendant. The plaintiff’s mother was actually
instructed to meet and pay extortion payments to employees of the defendant
so that they would smuggle items into the facility or otherwise treat the
plaintiff favorably — or not punish her.” John Spears, a LaSalle
correctional officer, was arrested for having improper sexual relations
with the plaintiff in this case in December 2013, according to the lawsuit.
His felony case remains pending in 19th State District Court. “Female
inmates were subjected to an environment of frequent sexual harassment,
sexual exploitation and even sexual assault,” the lawsuit alleges. “The
misconduct of the employees of the defendant led to a sexually exploitative
environment at the Jack Harwell Detention Center.”
Jan
28, 2015 nbcdfw.com
A
former corrections officer at a privately run prison in Central Texas has
pleaded guilty to having sex with an inmate she was guarding. Melissa
Suzanne Corona of Waco pleaded guilty Monday to having an improper sexual
relationship with an inmate. Prosecutors in Waco have recommended probation
for Corona in a plea deal on the state jail felony charge. The 25-year-old
Corona formerly worked at the Jack Harwell Detention Center in Waco.
Investigators say Corona in 2013 began the relationship by kissing a male
inmate more than 10 times. She then had improper contact through the bars
while both were clothed, followed by entering the man's cell and performing
sex acts on him. Corona was indicted last March. Further details on the
inmate weren't immediately available.
Aug
29, 2013 wacotrib.com
McLennan
County officials said the 200 detainees U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
promised to the county’s private jail didn’t come. Chief Sheriff’s Deputy
Matt Cawthon said ICE told the county the detainees would be delivered to
the Jack Harwell Detention Center on Highway 6 at the end of July, but none
arrived. Harwell warden James Duke said he has offered 300 of the center’s
833 beds to the federal agency, but he doesn’t know when to expect them to
be filled. “The thing with immigration is this facility is only an overflow
facility. So basically, we can’t expect (detainees) unless (ICE) needs us
for overflow beds, and there’s no way we can predict that,” he said.
“Dealing with (ICE), it’s got to be on their time and on their need.” Duke
said the Harwell center could receive inmates if the five San Antonio ICE
district facilities were filled. LaSalle Corrections, a private company,
took over the Harwell center in May from New Jersey-based Community
Education Centers Inc. because of LaSalle’s reputation for bringing federal
inmates to their facilities, County Judge Scott Felton said. LaSalle’s
contract with the county is three years with the option of an additional
two years. LaSalle managing member Billy McConnell said the company is
losing money on the Harwell contract. He said if there are not enough
federal, state or county inmates to fill the facility, the company would
evaluate whether Harwell is worth keeping open. But McConnell said that
isn’t a consideration until the last year of the contract, and the company
meanwhile is actively pursuing ways to fill its beds. The Harwell center
needs the revenue from housing about 650 inmates for it to cover its bills,
McConnell said. Precinct 4 Comissioner Ben Perry
said there are about 350 county inmates now at Harwell. Revenue earned at
Harwell first goes to paying down the county’s $49 million bond. Perry said
LaSalle pays about $4.2 million toward the bond and its interest per year.
This delay in housing any federal detainees continues to strain the
county’s budget as it pays for overflow inmates. The county can house about
931 inmates at the McLennan County Jail on Highway 6 and when it’s at full
capacity, additional inmates stay at the Harwell center. Perry said if
LaSalle could bring in enough inmates to fill Harwell, then the county’s
overflow inmates would go to the county’s downtown jail, which is closed.
LaSalle also would manage the downtown jail if the Harwell center were
full, but the county would get a discount on its overflow prisoners housed
there, Perry said. It costs the county $51 a day to house prisoners at the
McLennan County Jail on Highway 6, and it pays LaSalle $45.50 a day for
prisoners to stay at the Harwell facility. ICE would pay LaSalle $55 day to
house its detainees at the Harwell facility. The county has spent $2.2
million more than its $3 million 2013 budget for overflow prisoners, Perry
said. County Auditor Stan Chambers said in previous budget sessions the
money allotted for inmate care and indigent defense is enough to cover July
and August, but he is combing the budget to look for excess to pay September’s
bills. At the end of July, there was only about $785,000 left in
contingency, he said. “You need to be very careful about your decisions
going forward because we’re going to need that to fund these two line
items,” he said.
J.B.
Evans Correctional Center,
Tensas Parish, Louisiana
November 19, 2009 News-Star
Inmates at a Tensas Parish prison are refusing to return to their cells Thursday
afternoon as a form of protest, according to Tensas Parish Sheriff Ricky
Jones. Prisoners at the J.B. Evans Correctional Center are not moving from
the prison yard to protest the amount of food they receive, Jones said. The
warden and deputy warden at the correctional center were not available
Thursday afternoon. Staff at the prison offered no comment on the number of
inmates or other details of the protest. According to LCS Correctional
Services Inc., the company that operates the prison, Evans Correctional
Center is a 400-bed multi-use facility that has housed offenders for the
Louisiana, Alabama and Harris County, Texas, corrections departments.
Richard Harbison, executive vice president of LCS, was not available for
comment Thursday afternoon.
Jefferson
County jail, Beaumont Texas
Dec 16, 2016
kfdm.com
Supervisor at private jail convicted in federal court of providing cell
phone to prisoner
From U.S. Attorney's Office-A jury has found a 43-year-old Beaumont,
Texas man guilty of federal violations in the Eastern District of Texas,
announced Acting U.S. Attorney Brit Featherston today. Donald Roy Kelly was
found guilty by a jury of providing a prison inmate with a prohibited
object and bribery of a public official following a three-day trial before
U.S. District Judge Marcia Crone. The jury reached its verdict around 6:30
pm on Dec. 14, 2016. According to information presented in court, Kelly was
an evening shift supervisory corrections officer at the LaSalle Unit
(downtown Jefferson County jail) in late 2014 and early 2015. Juan Saenz-Tamez, then leader of the Gulf Cartel was brought to
the LaSalle Unit pending his trial for federal drug trafficking offenses in
October 2014. Once at the LaSalle Unit and in the custody of Kelly, Saenz-Tamez was approached by Kelly and corruptly offered a
cell phone to the inmate in exchange for money. Kelly engaged other
individuals to assist him in the scheme. A cell phone was purchased by
another individual and given to Kelly who provided it to Saenz-Tamez. Additionally, fast food was brought into the
LaSalle Unit at Kelly’s direction for Saenz-Tamez.
Saenz-Tamez had individuals attempt money
transfers to Kelly in payment for his corrupt acts. Ultimately the cell
phone was seized from Saenz-Tamez on Jan. 3,
2015. Kelly was indicted by a federal grand jury in April 2016. Under
federal statutes, Kelly faces up to 15 years in federal prison at
sentencing. The maximum statutory sentence prescribed by Congress and is
provided here for information purposes, as the sentencing will be
determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and
other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the
completion of a presentence investigation by the U.S. Probation Office.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the
United States Marshals Service, and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Craft and
Christopher T. Tortorice.
LaSalle
Jan 21, 2020
framinghamsource.com
The following is a media release from Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s office.
She is one of two individuals elected by voters in the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts to serve the state in Washington DC in the US Senate. She is
a Democrat.
WASHINGTON DC – United States Senator Elizabeth Warren led a letter to
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Federal Bureau of Prisons
(BOP) questioning their anti-corruption policies and practices after a
series of high-profile officials responsible for oversight of the private
prison and detention industry have left to join the biggest companies in
the industry. Joining the letter are Senator Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and
Congresswomen Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.). In
the last three years, ICE’s acting director for the New Orleans field
office left to work for LaSalle, a company that operates six facilities in
the region; ICE’s official in charge of contracting left to work as a paid
witness for private prison company GEO in a lawsuit alleging mistreatment
of detained people; BOP’s assistant director, who was involved in oversight
of private prisons, left to become GEO’s director of operations; and the
acting head of ICE left to become Executive Vice President for contract
compliance at GEO. “The growing connections between the federal government
and the for-profit prison and detention industry are made more troubling by
the fact that in recent years, a number of key officials have left ICE and
BOP to work for private prison and immigration detention companies — with
several of these officials in positions where they work with or solicit
business from their former colleagues,” wrote the lawmakers. “This pattern
of high-level ICE and BOP officials leaving their posts to work for the
same companies that they were in charge of regulating raises questions and
concerns about corruption and compliance with federal contracting and
conflict of interest law.” In their letter, the lawmakers note particular
concerns about compliance with federal contracting and conflict of interest
law, including: Federal contracting law, which prohibits former federal
agency officials from receiving compensation as “an employee, officer,
director, or consultant” from a contractor that received an award of at
least $10 million for at least one year after leaving the agency. Federal
conflict of interest laws, which ban federal employees from participating
“personally and substantially” in any particular matters that impact their
financial interest or the financial interest of “any person or organization
with whom [the employee] is negotiating or has any arrangement concerning
prospective employment.” Federal regulations, which further prohibit
employees from working on particular matters if
they are “seeking employment” with a person or organization impacted by the
matter, even if negotiations are not ongoing. President Trump’s executive
order on ethics commitments by executive branch appointees, which restricts
agency appointees from lobbying their former agency for five years. The lawmakers
have requested that the agencies’ response describe how they are working to
ensure compliance with federal law and prevent corruption and conflicts of
interest. Senator Warren and Congresswoman Jayapal have introduced the most
sweeping ethics and anti-corruption legislation since Watergate, the
Anti-Corruption and Public Integrity Act, which would eliminate the
potential for this kind of revolving door corruption and increase public
integrity. In April, Congresswoman Jayapal, along with Senator Warren and
Congresswoman Pressley, introduced bicameral legislation, the Dignity of
Detained Immigrants Act, to address the inhumane conditions of detention
centers that the DHS used to house tens of thousands of immigrants — and
end the use of private prisons and county jails to detain immigrants. It
would also set humane standards for detention facilities, increase
oversight of these facilities to eliminate abuse, and better protect the
civil rights of immigrant detainees. Senator Warren has also taken a number
of recent actions to hold immigration authorities and private detention
operators accountable, and has called to end the use of such contractors
entirely: Following a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector
General (IG) report that found unsafe conditions and mistreatment of
immigrants at a number of privately-run immigration detention centers,
Senator Warren investigated CoreCivic and GEO, as
well as Nakamoto Group, the contractor responsible for auditing detention
facilities. Her report revealed that neither the companies nor their
private auditor have taken responsibility for egregious failures identified
by the DHS IG, and also revealed an ongoing
dispute between the Nakamoto Group and the IG about the quality of
Nakamoto’s inspections. She requested the DHS watchdog investigate the
reported use of solitary confinement at GEO and CoreCivic
facilities to force participation in “voluntary” work programs, and has
raised questions with federal agencies about GEO’s accreditation in 2014
and 2017, given concerning reports about the company’s facilities. Senators
Warren and Congresswoman Jayapal sent a letter to Caliburn
International Corp. Chief Executive Officer expressing concerns and posing
questions about the appointment of former White House Chief of Staff and
DHS Secretary General John Kelly to the company’s board of directors just
four months after his departure from the Trump Administration. She
requested the Securities and Exchange Commission investigate whether GEO
violated securities laws by sharing with investors misleading statements
about lawsuits brought against the company for the treatment of detainees.
Senator Warren and Congresswoman Jayapal also raised questions about a GEO
executive’s multiple stays at Trump Hotel while seeking favors from ICE.
Jan 17, 2019 PCWG dallasnews.com
Private jail firm employs former Texas Ranger. Will Rangers investigate
deaths in those jails?
AUSTIN -- For years, private jails in Texas run by LaSalle Corrections
have been plagued by complaints of lax training and abuse. In-jail deaths
at their facilities across the state have resulted in multiple lawsuits for
wrongful deaths and negligence. So when the state passed a law in 2017
requiring Texas jails to have an outside law enforcement agency investigate
such deaths, the Texas Rangers seemed a perfect fit. Nearly every jail in
the state chose the Rangers, the state’s premier investigative agency, to
oversee their investigations - including seven of eight LaSalle-run jails
-- overseen by the state. Now, the Texas
Jail Commission, which oversees 241 jails across the state, is reviewing
its decision to appoint the Rangers as the investigating agency for eight
LaSalle-run jails, including ones in Parker and Johnson counties. The
review comes after The Dallas Morning News informed the commission that
LaSalle's director of governmental affairs, Bob Prince, is a former Texas
Ranger whose son, Randall Prince, now oversees the Rangers as a deputy
director for the Department of Public Safety. The younger Prince, who is
part of Director Steve McCraw’s three-pronged executive team, ran the Texas
Rangers for four years prior to his promotion last September. Brandon Wood,
executive director of the jail commission, said his staff had reached out
to the Louisiana-based private jail company to discuss designating another
agency to investigate its in-jail deaths after The News informed him of the
company’s connections to the Rangers. “While I have full faith and
confidence in the Rangers not being influenced one iota, we are looking at
the possibility of having someone else designated because we want to make
sure there’s no room to doubt that deaths in custody are being investigated
properly,” Wood said. “We’re trying to make sure no one could even
question. We want people comfortable in knowing that they conduct those
investigations with complete impartiality.” Katherine Cesinger,
a spokeswoman for the Department of Public Safety, stressed that there had
been no impropriety in previous investigations of LaSalle-run jails and
emphasized the Rangers’ “well-deserved reputation for conducting
comprehensive and unbiased investigations.”
But she said the department would expand its practices to avoid
conflicts of interest. “We do recognize that perception matters,” Cesinger said in a prepared statement. “We remain
committed to operating beyond reproach to assure the public that
investigations are conducted thoroughly and impartially.” If the Rangers
were called to investigate LaSalle’s jails, she said, they would still
conduct the investigation, but Randall Prince would recuse himself and one
of the department’s other two deputy directors would oversee the case. The
Rangers already bring in outside agencies, like the FBI, in investigations
on in-jail deaths or officer-involved shootings when an apparent conflict
of interest exists, Cesinger said. The department
also takes Rangers off investigations when conflicts exist. Jay Eason,
director of operations for LaSalle, said the company “does not view Bob’s
role with the company as a conflict of interest when it comes to the Texas
Rangers investigating deaths in custody.” “Bob Prince’s job duties are
strictly Governmental Affairs,” Eason said in a statement. “He does not have any oversight of
facility operations.” Still, the jail commission is planning to replace the
Rangers as LaSalle’s outside investigating agency. Wood said the commission
and LaSalle had not decided on a course of action yet or when the change
might happen, but “they’re willing to do whatever we say or deem
necessary.” The requirement for an outside law enforcement agency to
investigate in-jail deaths was passed into law under the Sandra Bland Act
of 2017. The law’s author, Houston Democrat Garnet Coleman, said the law’s
“language on investigations was purposefully included to eliminate
conflicts of interest” and added that he would continue to work on tweaks
to the law this session. “We will look at the alternatives as part of the
Bland Act follow-up,” he said. Local jails were tasked with presenting an
outside agency to investigate them, which the commission then would sign
off on, Wood said. All but seven jails - including Dallas' which chose the
local district attorney investigator - chose the Texas Rangers. Wood said
he was focused on meeting the deadline for the requirement - which had to
be in place by the beginning of 2018 - and did not make the connection
between LaSalle and the Texas Rangers until The News brought it to his
attention. “It’s one of those things when you brought it up, I said,
‘You’re right.’ His dad does work for LaSalle,” Wood said. “While it
doesn’t violate the statute, there could be a perception involved that
someone does somebody a favor. We strive each and every day to make sure
we’re aware of the perception and that people are comfortable with what we
do and there is no room for questioning that.” The only LaSalle-run jail
not assigned the Texas Rangers as their outside law enforcement agency was
the Jefferson County Downtown Jail, which chose the Jefferson County
Sheriff’s Office. LaSalle officials said their jails are overseen by local
counties, which are responsible for naming the outside investigating
agencies required by the law. “When we have a death in custody in one of
the county jails we operate in Texas, we report the incident to the Texas
Jail Commission and the Sheriff’s Office,” Eason said. “
An outside law enforcement agency is appointed to investigate the
death in custody. Lasalle Corrections is not involved in that decision and
the investigation.” Diana Claitor, executive
director of the Texas Jail Project which advocates for improved standards
at jails, was critical of the Rangers investigating LaSalle jails. “It’s
disturbing to find out that the former Texas Ranger and longtime DPS
officer Bob Prince is a Director of Government Affairs for LaSalle
Southwest Corrections,” Claitor said in a
statement. “Worse, his own son works at DPS in an oversight position of the
Texas Rangers. So when a Ranger is sent to investigate LaSalle deaths,
which occur frequently, I’m sorry to say, there is likelihood of conflict
of interest.” She called for a closer watch on jails run by LaSalle, which
she said had an “abysmal track record.” In November, The News reported on
LaSalle’s high use of untrained jailers who don’t have the required 96
hours of training on how to handle volatile prisoners, when to use force
and what constitutes basic safety techniques. Last year, LaSalle-run jails
were found out of compliance with Texas jail standards at least four times.
In addition to jails in Parker and Johnson, the company runs lockups in
Bowie, Fannin, Haskell, Jefferson, McLennan and Limestone counties. “If
there are any jails in Texas that deserve close observation and unbiased
oversight, it’s the privatized facilities run by LaSalle,” Claitor said. She applauded the commission’s move to
designate new investigating agencies for LaSalle-run jails. “It’s essential
that they get somebody else and I’m glad that they’re doing that,” she
said.
LCS Caldwell Detention Center,
Clarks, Louisiana
April 6, 2006 The Town Talk
An Olla man who escaped from the Caldwell Correctional Center in Clarks
committed suicide tonight at a hunting camp near Dodson in Winn Parish,
authorities said. Jimmy L. Peppers, 36, barricaded himself inside the camp
as authorities tried to talk him into giving himself up. Authorities fired
tear gas into the building because they suspected he was inside. Peppers
yelled out that he was inside, and authorities tried unsuccessfully for
about 10 minutes to talk him into surrendering. At about 6:55 p.m., authorities
heard a gunshot, and a Winnfield Police Department K-9 officer went into
the house and discovered the body. Assistant Chief Deputy Becky Ledbetter
said the department received calls at about 9 a.m. Thursday that someone
had escaped from the Caldwell Correctional Center in Clarks and that a
Kelly woman had been taken by force from her home. “We are not really sure
how he escaped,” Ledbetter said. “He went to the woman’s house and took her
by force. He forced her into her own car.” Ledbetter said the two were
driving on La. Highway 126 in Winn Parish, five miles east of Dodson, when
they got into a scuffle. The two were romantically involved at one time.
The unidentified victim dropped him off near Gaars
Mill in northeast Winn Parish. She drove to nearby Dodson, where she told
authorities that he was armed with a .38-caliber pistol that he took from
her. Peppers was serving time at the Caldwell Correctional Center for a
felony driving while intoxicated charge and was scheduled to go to court
Tuesday for another count of felony driving while intoxicated in LaSalle
Parish, Ledbetter said. This is the second prison escape to occur in
Caldwell Parish in less than a month. Five inmates escaped March 11 from
privately operated LCS Caldwell Detention Center, located directly beside
the Caldwell Correctional Center on La. Highway 845 in Clarks. All five
were caught and charged with additional counts and placed back at the
facility in less than a week. Owners of the facility are conducting an
internal investigation into the escape.
March 16, 2006 KATC
TV
Authorities in Jefferson Parish have captured an escapee from the Caldwell
Detention Center. Twenty-seven-year-old Jeremy Robinson escaped along with
four other inmates over the weekend. He's the last one to be taken into
custody. Jefferson Parish deputies stopped a car yesterday afternoon --
that was suspected to be stolen by Robinson. Caldwell Sheriff Steve May
says Robinson's girlfriend was driving the car. Deputies then received
information that Robinson was at his girlfriend's house in Kenner. Robinson
was taken into custody without incident and is expected to be returned to
Caldwell Parish today. He was serving time on a drug charge -- and now
faces additional charges of aggravated kidnapping, aggravated escape, and
attempted murder of a police officer.
March 15, 2006 KPLC
TV
Caldwell Parish Sheriff Steve May says an escaped prisoner from a
private prison in his parish has probably left the area.
Twenty-seven-year-old Jeremy Robinson of Jefferson Parish is the sole
inmate still at large after five men overpowered personnel at L-C-S
Caldwell Detention Center on Saturday night, then fled the facility. May
believes Robinson may have stolen a vehicle in the south end of the parish
and may be attempting to return to his home in the New Orleans area. May
says authorities statewide have been notified of the escape. Bond has been
set at 500-thousand dollars each on the other four escapees, who were
captured Saturday night and Sunday morning.
March 14, 2006 AP
Bond has been set at $500,000 each for four of the five men accused of
getting a prison worker to open a control room door, taking control of the
prison and then driving out in a prison employee's truck. The fifth, Jeremy
Robinson, 27, of Jefferson Parish, remained at large. He is described as
black, 5-foot-7 and 150 pounds, with "Shanda" tattooed on his
right arm. The five escaped Saturday night from the private LSC Caldwell
Detention Center in Clarks. Caldwell Parish Sheriff Steve May said that
after getting the control room open, the five overpowered employees and
eventually took control of the prison. When a town marshal tried to stop
their truck, they tried to run over him but crashed the truck, May said. He
identified those back in custody as Corey Manshack,
25, of Converse; Keith Gallow, 33, of Ville
Platte; Melvin Tipton, 23, of West Monroe; and Ray Eugene Tate of
Lawrenceville, Ill. All four were booked with new charges of aggravated
kidnapping and aggravated escape; Manshack and Gallow also were booked with theft and trespassing.
Tate is wanted on seven counts of failing to appear in court for drug
charges in Hopkinsville, Ky., May said. He said Tate was moved to Clarks
from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
March 12, 2006 Houma
Today
Five inmates escaped a privately run prison in Caldwell Parish, but
authorities were able to track down all but one of the escaped convicts by
Sunday afternoon, the sheriff's office said. Jeremy Robinson, a
27-yeasr-old inmate from Jefferson Parish, was still at large on Sunday,
said Glenn Gilmore, a chief deputy of the sheriff's department. The five
inmates overpowered a female guard at about 9 p.m. Saturday at the LCS
Caldwell Detention Center, Gilmore said.
Limestone County
Detention Center
Sep 1, 2020
wacotrib.com
Limestone County
aims to sell detention center to for-profit operator
Four months after
Limestone County made deep concessions with LaSalle Corrections to keep
operating the county’s 1,000-bed detention center, officials are hoping the
private prison company will buy it. Limestone County Judge Richard Duncan
said county officials are “trying to get all our ducks in a line” to
request proposals from private detention firms to buy the 25-year-old
facility in Groesbeck, which is costing the county about $15,000 a month to
maintain. LaSalle has expressed interest in buying the facility, and Duncan
said it’s likely that the firm, which has run the
detention center for the past four years, will submit the lone proposal to
buy it. “We are getting the packet together,” Duncan said. “We have
authorized an appraisal, we are getting a survey
and we are putting it out for proposals. The main thing is the jobs, so if
we sell it, we don’t think we will sell it without
some kind of economic development package that would ensure jobs, somewhere
around 80 to 100 jobs. If we do sell it for X number of dollars, we would
want to make sure they were on the hook for the next five or 10 years to
make sure we continue to have local people out there.” The county
renegotiated its contract with LaSalle in May in a bid to save 150 jobs
after the Louisiana-based firm threatened to pull out of the county. The
facility had previously closed from 2013 to 2016 because of lost federal
contracts. The facility has the capacity to hold 1,000 inmates, but Duncan
said maintenance issues have reduced that number to about 700. On Monday,
the facility held 560 federal prisoners, but the diminishing number of U.S.
Immigration and Enforcement inmates has made it less profitable for
LaSalle, a for-profit correctional firm that manages 18 facilities with a
total inmate capacity of 13,000 in Texas, Louisiana and Georgia. The firm
also ran McLennan County’s Jack Harwell Detention Center until last year,
when the county took over operations. The COVID-19 pandemic also has
affected LaSalle’s bottom line because it has forced the U.S. Marshal’s
Service to limit the frequency with which it transfers federal prisoners,
Duncan said. To help convince LaSalle to stay in Groesbeck, Limestone
County officials reduced LaSalle’s monthly payments to $15,000, down from a
monthly average of $28,000 to $35,000 when the total was based on higher
inmate counts. The county also agreed to pay for maintenance or repairs for
projects more than $5,000, Duncan said. However, in recent months, the
county has been paying close to $15,000 a month in maintenance costs, the
judge said. “The building is well past its prime,” Duncan said. “So the good news is we are not really losing a lot of
money, but the bad news is we are not making a lot of money. But we do have
those jobs and those were the most important things to the county
commissioners. We can do a break-even situation as long as we keep those
jobs.” A corrections job at the facility starts at $18.50 an hour with full
benefits, Duncan said. The contract negotiated with LaSalle in May runs
through June 2023, but LaSalle can cancel it with 60-day notice. Duncan
declined to disclose a sale price for the center, saying he doesn’t want to compromise the county’s negotiating
position. “I think they are interested in buying it,” Duncan said. “They
obviously are looking for a good price. They had a new facility they bought
not long ago in the $4 million range. It was newer and had about the same
number of beds.” Commissioners plan to open proposals on the detention
center purchase on Oct. 5.
May 20, 2020
wacotrib.com
New contract keeps
private jail company LaSalle Corrections in Limestone County
Limestone County
commissioners have negotiated a new contract with a private company to
continue operating the county detention center, making deep concessions to
save the center’s 150 jobs. LaSalle Corrections administrators told
Limestone County officials earlier this month that the company would not
renew its current contract and end its six-year affiliation with the county
on June 27. So Limestone County Judge Richard Duncan, county commissioners
and Waco attorney Herb Bristow went to work negotiating with LaSalle
officials to see what it would take to keep the company operating in
Limestone County with its $20-an-hour correction center jobs. “It was very
important to myself and the commissioners,
primarily for the jobs,” Duncan said. “I can’t really think of any other
reason. We are giving up almost any revenue we are making. We are making
very little, but 150 jobs is very large for
Limestone County, not to mention they are good-paying jobs with benefits.”
The facility, which opened about 25 years ago, has the capacity to hold
1,000 inmates. However, on Monday, there were 363 prisoners, including 201
being held for U.S. Immigration and Enforcement and 162 being held for the
U.S. Marshals Service. The diminishing number of ICE prisoners has made it
less profitable for LaSalle, a for-profit correctional firm that manages 18
facilities with a total inmate capacity of 13,000 in Texas, Louisiana and Georgia. And the U.S. Marshal’s Service is
limiting the frequency with which it transfers federal prisoners during the
ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. To help convince LaSalle to stay in Groesbeck,
Limestone County officials reduced LaSalle’s monthly payments to $15,000,
down from a monthly average of $28,000 to $35,000 when the total was based
on higher inmate counts. The county also agreed to pay for maintenance or
repairs for projects more than $5,000, Duncan said. The new contract will
be in effect through June 28, 2023, but LaSalle has the option of canceling
it with 60-day notice. The monthly payment to the county will increase
after one year and revert to the original plan based on inmate count,
Duncan said. LaSalle corporate spokesman Scott Sutterfield
did not return phone messages from the Tribune-Herald. “There was a time
when the private prison was a golden goose for Limestone County,” said
Sheriff Dennis Wilson. “It brought in $3.5 million a year for the county.
But that was when demand was high. It was very profitable for the county,
but if you stay in this business long enough, that ball swings to the right
and swings to the left and back and forth. I’m not sure we will ever get
back to seeing the demand we saw 20 years ago.” Under the current contract
with LaSalle, no state or county inmates can be housed at the detention
center. Both Wilson and Duncan attribute the decline in ICE detainees held
at the facility to President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement policies.
“I think in time it will be good for the county,” said Wilson, who is
retiring to conclude a 45-year law enforcement career at the end of the
year. “You have to look at what it does for our local community. When the
prison is up and running good, we reach out to
local vendors in our community and they benefit as well. Most of the guards
live in Limestone County and they shop at local stores. LaSalle wants to be
good partners, and keeping those jobs here is
important. And those are good federal-wage level jobs.” Several private
correctional companies over the years have operated the facility, which sat
vacant from 2013 to 2016, Wilson said. LaSalle operated the Jack Harwell
Detention Center in Waco for a number of years
before McLennan County took over operations late last year. The facility
had been operated by private, for-profit companies since the county built
it with proceeds from a $49 million bond package issued in 2009. Before
LaSalle agreed to let its $8 million contract with McLennan County expire,
the facility failed three of its last inspections, resulting in the State
Commission on Jail Standards placing a remedial order against the facility
in May 2019. LaSalle was cited for failure to keep a minimum ratio of
jailers to inmates, failure to conduct visual checks and failure to have
proper identification procedures for inmates. Wilson and Duncan say they
have received no complaints about LaSalle management at the Limestone
County facility. Anali Looper, director of the
Waco office of American Gateway, a nonprofit immigration legal service
provider, said LaSalle officials recently invited her group into the
Limestone County detention center to help detainees with asylum
applications and bond and parole requests. “We were hoping to get in there,
so it is nice to be invited,” Looper said. “It was nice to see them
recognize that it is mutually beneficial when detainees there are getting
adequate services. It helps everyone out.”
Louisiana Correctional Services
Jun 3, 2017 ktbs.com
Jail case: ‘What happened was he got stomped to death’
Erie Moore grabs Vernon White's throat, part of a disturbing,
hours-long assault caught on camera at privately operated correctional
center in Monroe. White died of his injuries and Moore died after guards
allegedly beat him while subduing him. A bizarre case at a privately run
jail in Monroe -- where one inmate stomped his cellmate to death and in
turn was killed by guards -- has raised legal questions about the quality
of training and employees at those facilities. Wrongful death suits have
been filed by the families of both men. While those cases work their way
through the federal court system, there are debates in Louisiana and the
federal government about whether to discontinue or expand the use of
privatized jails. The respective sides point to quality of incarceration
and saving money. The cases in Monroe involve the deaths of Vernon White
and Erie Moore, two inmates at LaSalle Corrections' Richwood Correctional
Center. Two inmates who had behavior problems in jail were placed in a
"lockdown" cell together. During a series of incidents that
occurred over the next two hours and were recorded by security cameras, one
began pushing the other around and wound up stomping him to death. The
attacking inmate wound up dead after guards saw what had happened and moved
in to subdue him. "They placed this young man into a cell with a
mental health patient -- and what happened was he got stomped to
death," said Patrick Jackson, a Bossier City attorney who is representing
the family of Vernon White. "Over an hour's time -- all of it captured
on video -- not a single person even raised a finger to intervene." A
spokesman for LaSalle did not return a call or messages from KTBS News for
comment. White, 29, of Monroe was arrested on Oct. 10, 2015, for speeding,
no driver's license and no proof of insurance. Two days later, White got
into a fight with another inmate and was placed in a disciplinary cell with
Moore, another disruptive inmate. It would be a volatile mix. The two men got
into a fight the first night but jailers kept them together. Shortly after
5 p.m. the next day, Moore began to push White around, video from a cell
security camera shows. He grabbed White by the throat at one point, pushed
him against a wall and jabbed his finger in White's face and also reared
back as if he was going to punch White. The situation escalated over a
20-minute period with Moore becoming increasingly agitated, the video
shows. White eventually went to one end of the cell, just out of the view of
the camera. The video shows the other inmate appearing to kick and stomp
for two minutes. White suffered fatal injuries, Ouachita Parish authorities
said. A few minutes later, two food trays were passed through a slot in the
cell door. The person who delivered them apparently did not see White lying
on the floor. Moore ate both meals. Twenty-two minutes later, as Moore was
defecating on the floor, someone can be seen looking through the window in
the cell door. Guards then charged into the cell. One knocked Moore
senseless with a blow to the head and the dying White was dragged out of
the cell. After White was taken to the hospital, guards regrouped and moved
into the cell to get Moore. Cameras in the cell and the adjoining hall show
Moore dragged out of the cell and slammed onto the floor. Pepper spray was
used and punches were thrown, video shows. The subdued Moore was turned
over to Ouachita Parish sheriff's deputies who had arrived to investigate
White's murder. They saw his condition when he got to jail and took him to
the hospital. He died later. Moore tested positive for PCP, investigators
said. A jail guard was assigned to monitor the cameras in each cell that
night. "(She) said she had over 16 monitors and was too busy -- was
distracted," Jackson said. The wrongful death suits filed against
Richwood's operator, LaSalle Corrections, by the families of the dead men
question the actions, training and supervision of jail staff. The company
is fighting the lawsuits. Kenny Sanders, a longtime director of the Caddo
Parish Sheriff's training academy, is a frequent consultant on cases
involving law-enforcement training. He would not comment directly on the
lawsuit by White's family, but said he believes private jails don't provide
the same level of training as those run by government agencies. Sanders
said he worries that private jails -- and their need to turn a profit --
could cut corners. "I'm being retained far more by attorneys in
private facilities -- for violence in private facilities -- than I am in government-run
facilities," Sanders said. "Untrained staff lead to incidents
where people's civil rights are infringed upon. In order to cut costs
they're having to hire as cheap a labor force as they can get... and cut
costs on training."
Feb 20, 2016 nola.com
Louisiana considering closing 2 prisons in budget cuts
The Louisiana Department of Corrections is considering closing two
privately operated prisons as it tries to cut $14.1 million in spending to
help close the state's $940 million budget shortfall. Winn
Correctional Center and Allen Correctional Center, are operated by
two separate companies. The two closures would save an estimated $4.6
million. Another option the
Department of Corrections is floating -- and the one the department most
prefers -- is to temporarily reduce the rate the state pays the two
companies that operate Winn and Allen prisons, for a savings of $2.6
million. But under that scenario, the Department of Corrections would also
need to temporarily reduce the rate it pays per prisoner to house inmates
in jails operated by sheriffs. There is significant risk in closing the two
prisons because many of the 1,000 prisoners housed there are unable to be
transferred to local facilities because of mental health or debilitating
illnesses or because the prisoner is in a special disciplinary unit.
"This is going to eventually saturate an already saturated staff,
especially as it relates to medical and mental health," Department of
Corrections Secretary Jimmy LeBlanc told House Appropriations members on
Friday (Feb. 19). "It means we'll probably have to let people out of
cells that probably should still be in cells and put them in the general
population, which will drive up inmate assaults and inmate-on-staff
assaults." The proposal for the two private operators of the prisons,
LaSalle Southwest Corrections and the GEO Group, sets up a difficult
ultimatum: Either accept the lower per-prisoner pay rate or face total
shutdown. The department currently pays $31.52 per day; the local rate the
department wants to pay is $24.39 per day. Legislators will need to approve
new appropriations to pay the lowered rate. After the hearing, LeBlanc said
that the department has been in communications about the possibility of
lower pay rates, but hasn't received word back that LaSalle or GEO would
accept the new payment structure.
"I've talked to LaSalle and got a response in writing, and I
think it's been positive," LeBlanc said. "GEO we've not heard a
definite yet." In addition to the budget cuts, LeBlanc said the department
is having difficulty paying for the upkeep of prisons statewide. There are
broken windows that need to be fixed and other maintenance issues, he said,
that will have to be delayed under the current budget cuts. "This is a
business where you're only one phone call away from disaster," LeBlanc
said. "It's going to be a significant strain on our prisons to take that kind of cut at the end of the year."
March 11, 2008 The Advocate
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board, the
Federal Aviation Administration and the Vermilion Parish Sheriff’s Office
continue to investigate a single-engine plane crash that killed two people
Monday night, including Lafayette businessman and civic leader Patrick
LeBlanc. LeBlanc, 53, of Youngsville, co-owner of LCS Corrections Services,
and a pilot from Opelousas were killed in a plane crash Monday night near
Abbeville. Jason Aguilera, an air safety investigator with the National Transportation
Safety Board, has identified the plane as a Cessna 210. Aguilera said an
initial investigation indicates the pilot, believed to be R. Solomon Reed.
60, of Pavy Road in Opelousas, was attempting to
land in Lafayette. The crash happened on La. 82 in Vermilion Parish. The
flight originated in Jackson, Miss., the Vermilion Parish Sheriff's Office
said. LeBlanc was a leader in the Lafayette Jaycees, was active in the
Acadiana Home Builders Association and last fall ran an unsuccessful
campaign for state House of Representatives District 43.
Louisiana Correctional Services Center, Clarks Louisiana
A story in Thursday's The News-Star should have said inmate
Bruce Lanehart escaped from Louisiana
Correctional Services Correctional Center, a private prison in
Clarks. (Ouachita, April 9, 2004)
Louisiana Legislature
October 21, 2007 The Advertiser
The involvement of his opponent's company in a Texas jail contract
investigation may have helped Page Cortez capture the House District 43
race in Saturday's election. Complete but unofficial returns show Cortez,
R-Lafayette, with 7,742 or 55 percent of the vote and Patrick LeBlanc,
R-Youngsville, with 6,218 or 45 percent. Cortez replaces state Rep. Ernie
Alexander, R-Lafayette, who chose not to seek re-election to the District
43 seat. "I'm tickled to death that it turned out the way it
did," Cortez said Saturday night. "I think that ultimately the
people of District 43 said their priorities are roads, ethics and
teamwork." Cortez is the owner and operator of La-Z-Boy Furniture
Galleries and Stoma's Furniture in Lafayette. He previous worked as a
teacher and coached at Catholic High of New Iberia and Lafayette High.
LeBlanc, 53, owns and operates LCS Corrections Services, a private jail
company, as well as Premier Management Enterprises, which provides
commissary services to jails in Texas, Louisiana and Alabama. He also has
been associated with the architectural firm The LeBlanc Group and LeBlanc
Construction Company. This race heated up in recent weeks when unopposed
state Sen. Mike Michot, R-Lafayette, and
unopposed state Rep. Joel Robideaux, I-Lafayette,
through their political organization Leadership for Louisiana, ran ads
opposing LeBlanc's candidacy because of the Texas investigation. The Bexar
County, Texas, sheriff resigned and pleaded guilty to accepting a free trip
to Costa Rica from LeBlanc and his brother, and not reporting the
contribution. The sheriff's campaign manager also pled guilty for accepting
donations from LeBlanc's company to a phony charity, then pocketing the
money. The FBI continues to investigate interstate aspects of a commissary
contract the LeBlancs had with the Bexar County
jail.
October 10, 2007 The
Advertiser
Ethics reform is the buzzword of the fall 2007 election cycle. Everybody
from the gubernatorial candidates to state House and Senate candidates have
jumped on the bandwagon calling for sweeping ethics reforms. The two
candidates for House District 43 in Lafayette Parish are no different. Both
said they support ethics reform. Page Cortez, R-Lafayette, and Patrick
LeBlanc, R-Youngsville, both newcomers to politics, signed the Blueprint
Louisiana contract, which calls for adoption of the best ethics laws in the
nation. But ethics is at the heart of this particular race for another reason.
Premier Management Enterprises, a company LeBlanc co-owns with his brother,
Mike, is involved in a Texas investigation that took down a sheriff and the
sheriff's campaign manager. The FBI continues to investigate. Bexar County,
Texas, Sheriff Ralph Lopez was forced to resign and pled guilty to three
misdemeanor charges: gift to a public servant, failure to report a gift and
tampering with a governmental record. Some time
after Premier Management Enterprises was awarded a contract to provide
commissary services to Bexar County prisoners, the LeBlancs
took Lopez and other sheriffs on a golfing trip to Costa Rica. Patrick
LeBlanc has said the trip was a conference of several sheriffs his company
conducts business with to discuss escape attempts, gang threats and the
lockup of immigrants. The LeBlancs also own LCS
Corrections Services, which operates private jails in Louisiana, Texas and
Alabama. Some of them have experienced escapes by prisoners. As part of an
Aug. 31 plea agreement, Lopez agreed to provide information to the Texas
Rangers, FBI, District Attorney's Office and others about all transactions,
legal and illegal, involving, among others, Michael LeBlanc, Patrick
LeBlanc and Premier Management Enterprises. On Sept. 25, Lopez's campaign
manager, John Wayne Reynolds, who chaired a benevolent fund board that
awarded the LeBlancs the commissary contract,
pled guilty to three counts of pocketing more than $22,000 in checks
Premier Management had made payable to the Optimist Club Scholarship Fund.
The Bexar County District Attorney did not file charges against the LeBlancs. Documents show Ian Williamson, who was a
one-third owner in Premier Management at the time, signed the checks given
to Reynolds. Patrick LeBlanc said Williamson is no longer a partner in the
company. LeBlanc maintains he and his company are innocent of wrongdoing.
He said the sheriff was at fault for not reporting the Costa Rica trip.
Trips like that are just a part of doing business, he said. "There is
nothing unethical or inappropriate about taking clients on trips, be it
public or private," LeBlanc said. His company was duped by Reynolds,
LeBlanc said. They believed they were donating to a legitimate
organization, he said. In late September, the Bexar District Attorney's
Office completed its case and turned it over to the FBI. FBI spokesman Erik
Vasys told The Daily Advertiser the investigation
is ongoing. There are interstate aspects of the case, such as letters,
e-mail and telephone communications, that crossed state lines and are still
under investigation. He was unable to say more. "Nowhere in ... the
official public record that they used to get the plea deal do they mention
my involvement in any way other than as a stockholder in this
company," LeBlanc said. "You don't see them investigating me,
questioning me, calling me a target." Interviewed Friday, LeBlanc
again said elected officials should be able to accept free trips if they
are approved by the ethics commission and are for legitimate reasons. While
both House District 43 candidates say they're for ethics reform, they seem
to disagree to some extent on what it means. Cortez disagrees with
LeBlanc's assertion that doing business with government is the same as
doing business with oilfield companies. "To try and woo somebody with
gifts and money and trips, the taxpayers ultimately pay for that," he
said. Cortez said legislators should be required to provide full financial
disclosure for themselves and their families, making is clear where they
derive their money and whether they have state contracts or do business
with the state. Then full disclosure needs to be applied to local
governments, he said. "What is ethics reform?" LeBlanc said
Friday. "It's an overused word. The bottom line is we need to provide
more teeth to ethics laws so they can be enforced."
Gov.
Kathleen Blanco collected more than $1 million from private corporations
and individuals to spend on her inauguration activities and in her
transition to the governor's office, according to figures released
Wednesday. The Corrections Corporation of America, which runs the Winn
Correctional Center in Winnfield for the state Department of Corrections,
donated $5,000. Wackenhut Corrections, which runs the Allen Correctional
Center in Kinder, donated $10,000. LCS Corrections Services, which owns a
private prison in Basile, contributed $4,000. (Times Picayune, March 18,
2004)
Nueces
County Jail, Nueces County,
Texas
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 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."
Perry County
Correctional and Rehabilitation Center, Uniontown, Alabama
April 22, 2010 AP
The Alabama Legislature has given final passage to a bill that clears the
way for the state to buy a private prison in Perry County. The House voted
82-16 to approve the bill that would permit the state to issue $60 million
in bonds to buy the Perry County Correctional Center and to renovate it.
The Senate voted 19-0 to go along with changes made to the bill in the
House. The private prison is located near Uniontown in Perry County in an
economically depressed area. The prison is designed for 750 inmates, but
can be expanded to handle 1,500. The sponsor, Democratic Rep. John Knight
of Montgomery, said the prison is needed because of overcrowding in the
state prison system.
April 17, 2010 Gadsden
Times
The state is negotiating to buy the privately owned Perry County prison and
is one step away from getting the money to buy it. A bill authorizing a $60
million bond issue on the House calendar and is in position to pass in the
final two days of the 2010 legislative session next week. Sen. Lowell
Barron, D-Fyffe, is sponsoring the bill for the Department of Corrections.
“Corrections is interested because we are so overcrowded,” Barron said.
“They’re interested in buying it as well as expanding it.” Barron’s
sponsorship of the bill for Gov. Bob Riley is not that controversial even
though they have butted heads politically. But an aspect of the bill puts
Barron at odds with previous statements about Riley. He has vociferously
and publicly lambasted Riley for a so-called no-bid $13 million computer
system upgrade contract. He even sponsored bills this session to limit
non-competitive bidding. Barron’s prison bond issue bill strikes out the
original requirement that the prison bond issue be competitively bid.
Barron said he talked to an independent financial expert he trusts who has
no ties to the administration about bidding versus negotiating. “I talked
with an investment bank house and they said it’s not always the best,
especially when it’s not the most favorable conditions,” he said. “It
doesn’t square with my political stand, but on this one time a competitive
bid may not be the best.” Riley spokesman Jeff Emerson didn’t directly
respond to Barron’s apparent about-face. “The bill doesn’t mandate a bid,
but Gov. Riley will make sure it goes through a competitive process if the
bill becomes law,” he said in a Friday e-mail. Richard Harbison is
executive vice president of LCS Corrections Services Inc., which owns the
prison near Uniontown. “Let’s just say we’re talking to the state of
Alabama,” Harbison said. The Perry County prison houses about 500 inmates
but is designed to house 750, Harbison said. He said the facility can be
expanded to house up to 1,500 inmates. The state has about 400 inmates
there now, a spokesman said.
June 24, 2009 Park
Rapids Enterprise
Ashton Mink was arrested after a nearly 14-hour standoff June 6, on a ranch
south of Gladstone. Authorities say Mink and his wife, Jacquelin, were
wounded in an exchange of gunfire. Authorities say one of four Alabama
fugitives has been transferred from a Dickinson hospital to jail. Ashton
Mink was arrested after a nearly 14-hour standoff June 6, on a ranch south
of Gladstone. Authorities say Mink and his wife, Jacquelin, were wounded in
an exchange of gunfire. Stark County Sheriff Clarence Tuhy
said Ashton Mink was released Tuesday from a Dickinson hospital and taken
to jail. He is awaiting a bail hearing. Jacquelin Mink is hospitalized in
Bismarck. The couple along with Ashton Mink's sister Angela and Joshua
Southwick, face charges of conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to
commit robbery. They are accused of robbing a movie store in Dickinson and
shooting at a Highway Patrol trooper. Authorities say Southwick and Ashton
Mink escaped from an Alabama prison in May and that Angela and Jacquelin
Mink helped them.
June 10, 2009 Athens
News-Courier
Tom Henning, state’s attorney in Stark County, N.D., said it’s possible
the four people accused in an escape from an Alabama prison facility will
remain imprisoned in North Dakota for some time. If convicted, the group could
serve sentences there before being returned to Alabama to face charges of
escape. “Yes, they could end up spending jail time in North Dakota,
presuming convictions and at such time as we’re satisfied, then they’ll go
back to the demanding state,” he said. Joshua Southwick, who was convicted
in the 2003 slaying of a Limestone County man, and Ashton Mink, convicted
of attempted murder in a stabbing during a home invasion in Madison,
escaped from the Perry County Correctional Facility in Uniontown, Ala., on
May 25. U.S. Marshals say Angela Mink, Ashton’s sister, and Jacquelin Mink,
his wife, cut the fence from the outside of the private prison facility to
help the two get free. The four were captured in Gladstone, N.D., Saturday
during a video store robbery. Southwick and Angela gave themselves up but
Ashton and Jacquelin held officers at bay for 14 hours. They were shot in
the process. Ashton is under armed guard at St. Joseph’s Hospital and
Health Center in Dickinson, N.D. His wife is under armed guard at St.
Alexius Medical Center in Bismarck, N.D., Henning said. “I have no idea
when they will be able to go to court,” he said. “I’d say at least a
month.” In the meantime, Southwick and Angela Mink are being held at
Southwest Multi-County Correctional Facility, each charged with criminal
conspiracy to commit robbery, which carries a 10-year maximum sentence.
“It’s entirely likely there will be more charges” stemming from the
standoff and shootout, Henning said.
June 9, 2009 Bennington
Banner
Vermont officials said Monday they made the right decision in March
when the state removed about 80 Vermont inmates from a private, for-profit
prison in Alabama where two inmates recently escaped. Needed improvement --
Vermont Department of Corrections Commissioner Andrew Pallito
said Vermont pulled the inmates out of the Perry County Correctional Center
in Uniontown, Ala., prison, which is run by LCS Corrections Services in
March. The first Vermont inmate was transferred to the facility in late
December he said. The prison, which has more than 700 beds, had security
equipment that did not work and an inadequately trained staff "for
what we were asking them to do," Pallito
said. "It wasn't what we were after. It wasn't what I would have
expected," he said. Pallito said the
Department of Corrections leveled several demands on LCS to improve, but
did not see action fast enough, and pulled inmates out about two weeks
later. State Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Sears, D-Bennington,
said he had doubts about the facility before the Vermont inmates were
transferred. Once the inmates were moved, Sears said the facility failed to
"keep up with things that were in the contract." And there were
issues with the "treatment of offenders." "We sent some
people down there and there were continued problems. I was very skeptical
myself," Sears said. "Turned out there were a lot of problems and
they moved them all out." "It was a real loose outfit,"
Sears added. "There have been some real problems there." The
Associated Press reported Monday that two men who escaped from the Perry
County Correctional Center on May 25 were recaptured Saturday following a
shoot-out with police. According to the Associated Press, Alabama Prison
Commissioner Richard Allen said all 250 of Alabama's inmates will be
removed from the facility. Allen cited cost, however, not security
concerns, as the reason for removing inmates. Pallito
said Vermont has an ongoing contract with LCS Corrections Services, but it
allows for a "zero minimum," meaning the state can have no
inmates at the facility and pay nothing. The contract term is for two
years, he said. Inmates housed briefly at the Alabama facility have been
moved to facilities in Kentucky or Tennessee run by Corrections Corporation
of America. Vermont had a contract with CCA when it looked to diversify as
a cost-savings measure. Pallito said CCA agreed
to take back the inmates at the $50 per day rate the Alabama facility was
charging. It costs the state about $140 per day to house inmates in-state.
Vermont currently has about 2,200 inmates and only 1,500 instate beds. The
contract with CCA will expire next year, according to Pallito,
so the state will need to renegotiate a contract. Pallito
said LCS officials have recently tried to persuade the state to send inmates
back to the Alabama facility, but that is not likely to happen. "Not
at this time, particularly given the recent development of events," he
said. "We're interested in talking with other facilities, but I don't
think we'll be back with them."
June 8, 2009 Tuscaloosa
News
Alabama's prison commissioner says the state will remove about 250 inmates
from the private prison where two men recently escaped amid a string of
security failures. However, Corrections Commissioner Richard Allen said
Monday that money - not the threat of additional escapes - was behind the
decision. In an interview Monday with The Associated Press, Allen said his
agency can't afford to continue housing 250 inmates at the Perry County
Detention Center. An executive at LCS Corrections Inc., which runs the
prison, said he knew of the state's plan. He said the company was told the
state could place twice as many inmates at the private prison next year if
lawmakers approve funding.
June 6, 2009 KFYR
TV
Four of America's Most Wanted fugitives were arrested Saturday in
western North Dakota. The group started out in Alabama earlier in the week
and came to North Dakota where police say they went on a crime spree. By
Saturday night, two of the suspects were recovering in a Dickinson-area
hospital after being shot by police after a standoff in Gladstone. That was
the culmination of a series of crimes that started with a robbery Friday
night in Dickinson and included shots being fired at a North Dakota Highway
Patrol trooper during a chase. Let's take you back a week and set the stage
that led to these events. Police had been looking for 26-year-old Joshua
Southwick, and 22-year-old Ashton Mink since they escaped from an Alabama
prison on Memorial Day. Mink was serving a 20-year sentence for 1st degree assault.
Southwick was serving a life sentence for murder and 1st degree burglary.
Authorities say they escaped prison in Alabama by wearing kitchen workers`
uniforms The pair allegedly fled through holes that were cut out of the
prison fence by Ashton Mink's wife, Jacquelin, and sister Angela Mink.
Somewhere along the way, all four made it to North Dakota. The trouble in
North Dakota started in Dickinson Friday night around 11:00, when the
suspects, two men and two women, robbed a movie rental store. The foursome
fled, and a Highway Patrol trooper noticed a suspicious car speeding away.
The trooper followed the car onto I-94, and that's when passenger in the
suspects` car fired at the trooper. At least one bullet went into the
trooper's car. The fleeing car continued east to Gladstone prompting the
Highway Patrol to lock down the small town. Authorities blocked off a
two-mile section of road leading into town. Police kept an eye on things
during as residents were notified of the threat through a reverse 911 system.
Gladstone resident Kim Hetzel says, "After we got the automated phone
call early this morning, get up, and lock the doors, and kinda just watch out." Authorities found the
suspects after the owner of a farmstead noticed the four were staking out
in his detached garage. Stark County sheriff Clarence Tuhy
says, "They're from the Alabama area; the two males are escapees from
a private prison in the Alabama area which were aided in escape by the two
females." The perps took refuge in the farmstead's garage as more than
a half dozen agencies flocked to the area. About 12 hours later Tuhy says, "A male and a female came out giving up
peacefully at which time a male and female came out a side door firing at
officers." Officers then fired back, striking both Ashton Mink and his
wife, Jacquelin. The couple is being treated at an area hospital. So far,
there's no word on the conditions of the two suspects who were shot. No
officers were injured, and Joshua Southwick and Angela Mink were taken into
custody. "Any time no officers get injured is a good thing,"
notes Tuhy. But while no officers or residents
were hurt physically, it will take a long time for the emotional scars of
this almost surreal crime to heal.
June 5, 2009 WAFF
It's been more than week since Joshua Southwick, 26 and Ashton Mink,
22, escaped from a private prison in Perry County. Now there's new
information on the two women who helped them escape and what the prison is
doing to keep this from happening again. New pictures are surfacing of
Angela Diana Mink. A tattoo artist by trade, the pictures show specific
tattoos which may assist the public in recognizing her. Tattoos are on both
upper and lower arms, and both wrists, plus one at the base of her neck.
Perry County prison officials said they believe she and Jacquelin Rae Kennamer Mink cut through an electrical stun fence to
help Mink and Southwick escape. It was a single cut that did in fact trip
an alarm to alert the control room operator on the prison. "That stun
fence, if it's touched, cut or grounded, sets off an alarm in our central
control unit," said Richard Harbison, the executive dirctor of the corporation that owns the private
prison. "Evidently because of the weather, the alarm after it was
sounded, no one went to the fence to check and see if it was cut." And
because of that, Harbison said there's been an overhaul at the unit.
"We dismissed seven people, two of which were shift captains for
failure to carry out correct policies and procedures at the unit," he
said. Others included correctional officers and the control room officer
that failed to follow proper procedures. "We have proper procedures in
place to ensure that something like this doesn't happen. If you fail to
follow those proper procedures, then you more likely to have an escape such
as this one," he said. Also overhauled is the system that alerts
officials when security has been breached. Now, the warden, deputy warden
and chief security officer will all be notified automatically. Officials
have also raised the level of security at the prison to just below the
level of a maximum security prison. That's a move that won't happen
overnight, but one much anticipated.
June 5, 2009 AP
A U.S. Marshals Service inspector said two women cut holes through
three fences at a private prison in Perry County, enabling a convicted
murderer and another prisoner to escape. The fugitives -- 22-year-old
Ashton Kenny Chase Mink and 26-year-old Joshua Loyd
Southwick -- were being sought Thursday after their escape from the Perry
County Corrections Center about 5:30 a.m. on May 25. Rewards totaling
$15,000 were being offered. Dick Harbison, the vice president of operations
for Lafayette, La.-based LCS Corrections Services, said two shift captains
and five guards were fired for not adequately supervising the prisoners.
Inspector Ross Herbert with the Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force
said 25-year-old Angela Diana Mink, Ashton Mink's sister, and 25-year-old
Jacquelin Rae Kennamer Mink, his wife, are
accused of cutting the holes in three perimeter fences.
June 3, 2009 Tuscaloosa
News
Two women cut holes in the prison fences at Perry County Corrections
Center in Uniontown last week, allowing a convicted murder and another
prisoner to escape, a U.S. Marshals Service inspector said. Ashton Mink,
22, and Joshua Loyd Southwick, 26, escaped from
the private prison about 5:30 a.m. on May 25. Angela Diana Mink, Mink’s
sister, and Jacquelin Rae Kennamer Mink, his
wife, allegedly cut holes in the perimeter fence, said Inspector Ross
Hebert with the Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Alabama
Department of Corrections has obtained warrants to charge the women, both
25, with aiding the escape of state prisoners. They also have warrants to
charge all four with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, he said.
Authorities believe that the four are armed and dangerous. Records indicate
that in early May, Jacquelin Mink purchased a .380-caliber gun that was
found near the escape scene. She is known to carry a semi-automatic pistol
and owns several other handguns and longarms,
Hebert said.
June 2, 2009 WAFF
Officers have confirmed a description of the vehicle that two escapees
convicted in North Alabama may be driving, and agencies across the state
are on the lookout for it. It has been more than a week since 26-year-old
Joshua Southwick and 22-year-old Ashton Mink escaped from a private prison
in Perry County. "The inmates are still at large and the search
continues," said Brian Corbett, a spokesman for the Alabama Department
of Corrections. State troopers confirm the two men are believed to be
traveling in a pewter 2000 GMC Jimmy, with Madison County tag 47A1F2.
Corbett told WAFF 48 News a division of the U.S. Marshals is leading the
search. "The U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force,
they are the entity that are spearheading the search and investigation into
their recapture," he said. Southwick was serving a life sentence after
pleading guilty to murder and burglary for the 2003 shooting death of
Michael Bryant on Hays Mill Road in Elkmont in
Limestone County. Mink was serving time for attempted murder in connection
with a 2005 Huntsville home invasion. Investigators said he stabbed Jarold Lee several times in his apartment. "You
absolutely have to consider them armed and dangerous," Corbett said.
Investigators said someone helped them cut through three fences to make
their escape.
May 29, 2009 WAAY TV
New information on two inmates who escaped from an Alabama prison.
Joshua Southwick and Ashton Mink broke out of a private prison in Perry
County on Monday. Southwick was serving a life sentence after pleading
guilty to a 2003 murder-for-hire case in Limestone County. Mink was serving
time for an attempted murder in Huntsville four years ago. Police now
believe both men are travelling with Mink's sister and another woman. The
four may be on their way to Mexico. Police say they are armed and
dangerous, and say the prisoners claim that they will not be taken alive.
May 28, 2009 Tuscaloosa
News
Authorities believe that two men who escaped from a private prison in
Perry County early Monday morning had outside help. Joshua Southwick, 26,
and Ashton Mink, 22, escaped the Perry County Detention Center in Uniontown
after someone helped them cut through three fences. Southwick is serving a
life sentence after pleading guilty in a 2003 murder-for-hire case in
Limestone County. Mink, 22, was serving time for an attempted murder
conviction in Madison County in 2005. The U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Task
Force, which includes members of several law enforcement agencies and five
members of the Department of Corrections, are still looking for the men.
Prison Warden Tommy Buford did not answer phone calls from a Tuscaloosa
News reporter Tuesday or Wednesday. A prison employee referred calls to
Dick Harbison, the vice-president of Lafayette, La.-based LCS Corrections
Services, which owns and operates the prison. Harbison did not return a
call placed to his cell phone Wednesday afternoon. The 734-bed facility
houses prisoners from Alabama and other states in addition to federal prisoners.
The state’s Department of Corrections does not have oversight of the
company’s management or security practices at the prison because it is a
private corporation. The Department of Corrections pays the company $32 a
day to house 249 state inmates, less than the $41.71 it costs to house them
in a state facility, spokesman Brian Corbett said. He said that the
department has not had problems with the Uniontown facility or the company,
which housed Alabama inmates in Louisiana because of prison overcrowding
between 2003 and 2006. Until last month, the prison also housed around 80
prisoners from Vermont, but the Vermont Department of Corrections removed
those inmates after an investigation into prisoner complaints that they had
been injured in fights with other inmates, said Seth Lipshutz,
the supervising attorney in Vermont’s Prisoners’ Rights Office. The
prisoners complained to the Prisoners’ Rights Office, a branch of the
state’s Office of the Defender General. Lipshutz
said that an investigator with his office conducted an investigation
followed by an independent investigation from the state’s Department of
Corrections. “They were letting the inmates run the asylum,” he said. The
staff and management did not pay adequate attention to security, he said,
which resulted in inmate-on-inmate violence and the smuggling of items such
as drugs and cell phones into the facility. “Drugs get into a lot of
prisons, but cell phones don’t get into many,” Lipshutz
said. “It doesn’t take long to figure out why this would be a problem.” He
said that inmates complained that an assistant warden boasted that he was
drunk while driving the bus from Vermont to Uniontown and behaved
unprofessionally when he threatened to shoot them if they tried to escape
during a dinner stop at a fast-food restaurant. Lipshutz
said that Vermont, one of the country’s smallest and least-populated
states, sends around 700 of its 2,200 prisoners to out-of-state facilities
because it costs roughly $140 per day to house them in in-state prisons. Prices
in Vermont are high for several reasons, he said, including union wages,
small prisons and snowy weather that makes transportation between
facilities difficult. Many of the state’s prisoners are housed in detention
centers owned by Corrections Corp. of America, the first company to open
private prisons more than 25 years ago. “I’m not too keen on the
privatization of prisons. This is an example of how things go wrong,” Lipshutz said. Ken Kopczynski is the executive director
of Private Corrections Institute, a private prison watchdog group based in
Tallahassee, Fla. The organization’s mission is to provide information and
assistance to citizens, policy makers and journalists about what they
consider the dangers of privatizing correctional institutions and service.
Kopczynski said no records are kept on the number of escapes from private
prisons. The last records kept, he said, were in 2002 and indicated that
escape rates are higher at private institutions. The institute compiles
media reports of incidents at private facilities on its Web site. According
to their information, an inmate who had been on suicide watch died at a LCS
facility in Texas in January. At least 15 escapes were reported at some of
the company’s prisons in Texas and Louisiana since 2002, according to the
institute. The Texas Prison Board conducted a review of the Eastern Hidalgo
Detention Center in 2006 after six inmates escaped. The review found that
the prison employed too few guards, added an unauthorized number of bunks
and kept unlicensed guards and guards without adequate training on payroll,
according to a news story from The Monitor, a newspaper in the area. The
company president said at the time that those problems were later
corrected. The six inmates escaped, company officials said, after someone
tampered with a control box for the electrical fence surrounding the
prison. Perry County prison guards noticed that Southwick and Mink were not
in bed during a 5:20 a.m. bed check. After inspecting the perimeter, they
noticed that the fences had been cut.
May 27, 2009 Seven
Days
The Vermont Department of Corrections [1] has pulled all of its inmates out
of a privately run prison in Alabama after a state investigation confirmed
that some of the men had been injured by their fellow inmates. The
investigation was launched after the Vermont Prisoners’ Rights Office [2]
began receiving reports from clients who claimed inadequate security at
Perry County Detention Center led to the inmate-on-inmate violence. The
April withdrawal of some 80 Vermont offenders from the 734-bed facility in
Uniontown, Alabama, occurred just five months after the state signed its
first-ever contract with a new private prison vendor: LCS Corrections
Services. Based in Lafayette, Louisiana, the for-profit prison company
houses some 6000 inmates in eight facilities throughout the South. Deputy
Commissioner of Corrections Lisa Menard said last week that the state had
been looking for an alternative prison vendor in an effort to “expand our
options” and “ultimately save the taxpayers money.” Vermont was paying LCS
$49.50 per day per inmate. Its other out-of-state vendor, Corrections
Corporation of America (CCA), charges $67 per day to house Vermont inmates.
In-state prisoners cost $140 per day. Vermont currently has about 680
inmates in out-of-state prisons, mostly in two facilities in Kentucky and
Tennessee. Both are owned by CCA, the nation’s largest for-profit prison
vendor. According to Menard, all the Vermont inmates from the Alabama
detention center have since been moved to CCA prisons or returned to
Vermont. Asked why the Vermont inmates were withdrawn, Menard initially
said, “Vermont has high standards as far as conditions of confinement.
Basically, this facility didn’t feel like the best fit for us, without
getting into a great deal of detail.” Probed further about the alleged
reports of abuse, Menard later confirmed the stories were true. “We did get
reports from offenders that there was some assaultive behavior happening,”
she confirmed. “When we checked into that, we found that it … was accurate.
Unfortunately, this was Vermont inmates committing assaults on other
Vermont inmates.” Menard downplayed the severity of the injuries, noting
that none was life-threatening and they were “basically bruises, that type
of thing.” But that’s not how a lawyer in the prisoners’ rights office in
Montpelier characterized the situation in Alabama. Managing Attorney Seth Lipschutz called it “a total disaster.” According to Lipschutz, his office received reports of alleged lax
security, contraband being smuggled into the facility, and inadequate
bureaucratic procedures being followed for addressing inmates’ grievances.
There was even one allegation of a corrections officer being intoxicated
while transporting Vermont inmates to the prison. “They were letting the
inmates run the asylum,” Lipschutz added. “It was
a system where the strong were taking advantage of the weak.” Concerned
about their clients’ safety, the prisoners’ rights office notified the
Vermont Department of Corrections, which, according to Lipschutz,
“acted on it right away and got the inmates out of there as soon as
possible.” Lipschutz also characterized the
inmates’ injuries as more serious than DOC let on. “There were some people
who got beat up,” he claimed. “There were more than cuts and bruises. I
think some people had to go to the hospital.” He put the number of inmates
involved in such incidents at “maybe two dozen.” But Deputy Commissioner
Menard denied that the problems in Perry were the result of poor security.
Instead, she blamed the problem on the physical design of the prison
itself, which featured a “more open floor plan … that didn’t work well.”
Richard Harbison, executive vice president of LCS Corrections Services,
echoed that sentiment. “The physical plant in Perry, frankly, was not very
conducive to the type of inmates they sent us,” he said. “That prison was
designed for low-custody levels and the inmates [Vermont] sent us were of a
higher-custody level.” Harbison said he wasn’t aware of any Vermont inmates
being hospitalized. “It’s the prison business and these guys are going to
get into fights,” he admitted. “But as far as someone being seriously
injured, I’m sorry, not to my knowledge.” Whether the injuries at the
Alabama prison were due to lax security or a “more open floor plan,” the
choice of this particular prison appeared problematic from the get-go. Back
in November, when the DOC signed its contract with LCS, then-Corrections
Commissioner Robert Hofmann pointed out that the new facility would only be
taking Vermont offenders who were “unacceptable to be placed with a
majority of other prisoners.” In other words, the more dangerous inmates
with behavioral problems. According to Lipschutz,
the Perry County Detention Center is used mostly as a holding facility for
people arrested on federal immigration violations by U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement. Many of those detainees don’t even have a criminal
record. Members of the Vermont House of Representatives’ Committee of
Corrections were notified of the move only after the inmates had been
withdrawn from Alabama, but weren’t told the reason why. “I felt, from our
discussions with the commissioner, that it was not a comfortable
situation,” said Rep. Linda Myers, vice chair of that committee. Asked if
she knew that Vermonters had been beaten up and injured in Alabama, she
said she’d heard word of it, “but I can’t say I heard it from the
Department of Corrections.” Though Lipschutz
credits corrections officials for their prompt response, he sees this episode
as symptomatic of the larger systemic problems associated with the
for-profit prison industry, which he described as “always a race to the
bottom. LCS “came in with a low, low price to take these Vermont inmates,”
he added, “which is very attractive to state governments in these tough
economic times.”
May 27, 2009 Tuscaloosa
News
Law enforcement officials were still searching Tuesday for two prisoners,
one of them a convicted murderer, who escaped from a private prison in
Perry County early Monday morning. Joshua Southwick, 26, was serving a life
sentence after pleading guilty in a 2003 murder-for-hire case in Limestone
County. Ashton Mink, 22, was serving time for an attempted murder
conviction in Madison County in 2005. He was accused of stabbing Huntsville
television and radio reporter Jarold Lee during a
personal dispute in 2004, according to media reports at the time. He is not
scheduled to be released until 2028. The Alabama Department of Corrections
leases bed space from the private Perry County Detention Facility in
Uniontown, department spokesman Brian Corbett said. The inmates disappeared
some time early Monday. The prison warden did not
answer several phone calls Tuesday because he was in meetings related to
the inmates' escape. An official at the prison who did not give her name
said that guards conducting a bed check at 5:20 a.m. noticed that the
inmates were missing. A check of the perimeter revealed that a fence had
been cut from the outside, she said.
May 26, 2009 Tuscaloosa
News
Authorities are searching for two state prisoners who escaped from a
private prison in Perry County Monday. Joshua Southwick, 26, is serving a
life sentence after pleading guilty to a 2003 murder-for-hire case in
Limestone County. Ashton Mink, 22, was serving time for an attempted murder
conviction in Madison County in 2005. He is not scheduled for release until
2028. The Alabama Department of Corrections leases bed space from the
private facility in Uniontown. The inmates disappeared some time Monday.
Authorities were unavailable Tuesday morning because they were in a meeting
to discuss the escapes. More details will be available today.
May 3, 2006 Selma
Times Journal
The city of Uniontown welcomed a new business Wednesday, one which is
likely to employee more than 100 Perry County residents, but it wasn't the
sort of commercial site where officials and dignitaries usually hold
ribbon-cutting ceremonies. This ribbon-cutting took place in the shadow of
walls, watchtowers and razor-wire, as Black Belt officials celebrated the
completion of the Perry County Correctional and Rehabilitation Center.
Louisiana-based LCS Corrections, a private prison operator that houses a
number of female Alabama inmates at the South Louisiana Correctional Center
in Basil, La., will administer the facility. State Sen. Bobby Singleton,
who helped attract LCS to Perry County three years ago as a state
representative, said the city, county and surrounding area should be proud
of the facility. "We're never proud to be incarcerating someone,
" Singleton said, "however, I feel we've partnered with good
corporate citizen, on that's looking toward rehabilitation and other
positive programs in their facility."
Pine
Prairie Correctional Center, Pine
Prairie, Louisiana
October 27, 2011 The Advocate
Authorities in Oklahoma on Wednesday shot and wounded an escaped inmate
suspected in a Tuesday morning bank robbery in Evangeline Parish, officials
said during a news conference in Ville Platte. Trooper Stephen Hammons,
spokesman for Louisiana State Police, said the U.S. Marshals Service Metro
Fugitive Task Force in Oklahoma spotted Brian Keith Soileau at a Walmart
store in Norman, Okla., north of Oklahoma City. Soileau fled in a pickup
believed to be the same vehicle he used after robbing the Guaranty Bank in
Vidrine on Tuesday morning, Hammons said. Soileau led the Metro Fugitive
Task Force and Oklahoma Highway Patrol on a 35- to 45-minute pursuit, by
vehicle and on foot, that ended with an exchange of gunfire, Hammons said.
Soileau was struck and was taken to a hospital where he remains in serious
condition, Hammons said. The incident occurred shortly before noon
Wednesday, Hammons said. “The chase is over,” said Evangeline Parish
Sheriff Eddie Soileau, who said he is not related to the fugitive. “I hope
the people of Evangeline Parish feel a little safer today.” Soileau had
remained on the loose since Oct. 13, when he escaped from the Pine Prairie
Correctional Center, a private facility owned by LCS Corrections Services.
June 29, 2006 The
Advocate
A former guard at a private prison in Evangeline Parish was sentenced
Wednesday to two years and eight months in prison on federal charges of
beating an inmate and then asking other guards to lie about the incident.
Gilbert Self, 51, of Florine was convicted at trial in February of one
count of a criminal civil rights violation and three counts of witness
tampering. Self worked as a captain at Pine Prairie Correctional Center,
owned by Lafayette-based private prison company LCS Corrections Services.
He was accused of beating a Cuban national being held at the prison on
immigration violations after the detainee allegedly made crude remarks to a
woman guard in July 2003. The guard reported the incident to Self, her
supervisor, who then went into the detainee’s cell and punched and kicked
the man while he was restrained and lying face down, according to trial
testimony. Three other guards who were present have said they repeatedly
asked Self to stop and eventually removed him from the cell and sought
medical assistance for the detainee. Self asked the guards to file false
reports to cover up the beating, telling them that “if he went down they
were also going down,” according to a written statement about the case from
the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The three guards initially prepared false
reports, prosecutors said, but one of the guards decided the next day to
tell a supervisor what had really happened. “This is a serious offense, and
no one knows better than you the necessity of promoting respect for the
law,” U.S. District Judge Richard Haik told Self before handing down a
sentence.
February 22, 2006 Pickens
Herald
The Pickens County Commission in a press briefing last Tuesday after their
regular meeting questioned the state’s motives in housing several hundred
prisoners in Louisiana when they could easily house them at the Pickens
County Jail at a cheaper rate. County Attorney Buddy Kirk addressed the
Herald with four of the five commissioners present (Commissioners Earnest
Summer-ville, William Latham, Willie Colvin and
Ted Ezelle were present; Tony Junkin
was absent) about the matter after the Commission became aware that the
state had moved 140 male prisoners from the Bibb Correctional Facility in
Brent, Ala. to a private prison over 300 miles away in Pine Prairie, La.
The Commission has contacted the Ala-bama County
Commission Association about the matter, said Kirk, to ask for their help
in approaching state officials about this curious action. Brian Corbett, a
spokesman for the Ala-bama state prison system,
told the Associated Press last Monday that the state plans to move 500
inmates from the Bibb County facility to the Pine Prairie Correctional
Center in central Louisiana, a private prison operated by LCS Corrections
Services Inc. The sticking point for the Pickens County Commission is that
not only is the state having to carry the expense of transporting the
prisoners to another state but are willing to pay $29.50 a day per inmate
to house them there. The state only pays counties $1.75 per day to house
state prisoners in county jails. “It doesn’t seem right to the Commission,”
said Kirk, who noted that the state will virtually drive right by Pickens
County from Bibb County to travel 300 miles to Louisiana. Furthermore, Kirk
said if a prisoner has to meet with his attorney,
it is a general rule that the state will have to pay that attorney’s
expenses if the prisoner is housed far away.
February 13, 2006 AP
A total of 140 medium-security male prisoners were transferred Sunday night
from Alabama to a private correctional facility in Louisiana, the first of
500 to be moved in the latest attempt to ease overcrowded cellblocks. The
prisoners were transferred from Bibb Correctional Facility in Brent to Pine
Prairie Correctional Center in Pine Prairie, La., in an effort to make room
for state inmates who are in county jails in violation of an Alabama court
order. State prisons spokesman Brian Corbett said Monday the state entered
into an emergency contract with LCS Corrections Services Inc. to send up to
500 inmates to the central Louisiana facility. The Department of
Corrections currently houses 311 female prisoners at an LCS facility in
Basile, La. Prisons Commissioner Donal Campbell
announced Friday that he had resigned, effective Feb. 28. He had pushed for
increased state funding for prisons and recently said there was no money in
Gov. Bob Riley's budget proposal to pay for the use of private prisons, an
alternative he supported.
February 10, 2006 The
Advocate
A former guard at a private prison in Evangeline Parish has been convicted
on federal charges of beating an inmate and then asking other guards to
cover up the incident. The jury deliberated about 45 minutes before
returning a guilty verdict late Wednesday against Gilbert Self, 51, after a
three-day trial. Self was a captain at the Pine Prairie Correctional
Center, owned by LCS Corrections Services. He faces up to 10 years in
prison on criminal civil rights violations and charges of witness
tampering. “The Department of Justice will not tolerate civil rights
violations committed by those sworn to uphold the law,” U.S. Attorney
Donald Washington said in a statement. “… It was Mr. Self’s responsibility
to control such violent outbreaks in the facility, not to initiate the
violence.” Self was accused of beating a Cuban national who was being
detained for immigration violations. Prosecutors said the July 2003
incident began when the detainee allegedly made crude remarks to a female
guard. She reported the remarks to Self, who went into the detainee’s cell,
punched him repeatedly, slammed his head into the floor and kicked the man inthe ribs, according to guards who witnesses the
incident. The guards, who said they attempted to stop Self, told
investigators that he later asked them to file false reports to cover up
the beating. The guards prepared false reports on the incident, but the
next day, one of the men told Self’s supervisor what had actually
happened. The detainee, who lost consciousness during the attack,
suffered bruising and swelling to both eyes, cuts, and rib injuries, prosecutors
said. The injuries were not properly documented at the time because Self
asked a nurse to alter her medical report, according to prosecutors, and
LCS later fired the nurse for not following proper procedures and sending
the detainee to the hospital for treatment.
A federal grand jury has joined local
prosecutors and civil rights attorneys in bringing charges against
employees at private, for-profit prisons in Evangeline Parish. In the most
recent charges, Gilbert Self, 49, of Florien, a former captain at the Pine
Prairie Detention Center, has been indicted on one count of felony criminal
civil rights violation and three counts of obstruction of justice for
allegedly beating a prisoner. U.S. Attorney Donald W. Washington said Self
was arraigned Wednesday morning in Lafayette and released on a $75,000
bond. A tentative trial date is set for July 12 on the four charges, which
each carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine.
Washington said sentencing in federal court is governed by the U.S.
sentencing guidelines, which do not allow for parole. He said the federal
charges stem from a government contract with LCS Corrections Services Inc.,
a Lafayette-based company, which owns the private prison near Pine Prairie
and another near Basile. The current indictment alleges that in July 2003,
Self assaulted and caused bodily harm to a Cuban national, who was being
detained at the facility under the authority of the U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement Service. The indictment also alleges that Self
obstructed the investigation by trying to persuade three fellow guards to
lie to federal law enforcement officials. LCS owns two private
prisons in Evangeline Parish. Both are currently facing ongoing lawsuits.
Last month, Evangeline Parish District Attorney Brent Coreil
opened an investigation of the South Louisiana Correctional Center near
Basile in regard to repeated charges of sexual assaults on female
prisoners. (Louisiana Gannett, May 6, 2004)
A guard at a private prison in Evangeline Parish has been
booked on charges of having sex with an inmate. Todd Daniel Arnold, 22, of
Oberlin faces one count of malfeasance in office for allegedly having sex
with a female inmate at Pine Prairie Correctional Center, a prison run by
Lafayette-based Louisiana Corrections Services. Arnold was booked into the
Evangeline Parish Jail on Monday and released on $7,500 bond, according to
jail records. The incident comes about two years after the former warden of
the Evangeline Parish Jail was convicted on two counts of malfeasance in
office for extorting sexual favors from the family members of inmates.
Michael J. Savant, 48, was sentenced to six months in jail and three years probation on the charges. (Daily Advertiser, July
7, 2003)
Richwood Correctional Center, Louisiana
Sep
6, 2019 knoe.com
Former
Richwood guard gets almost 4 years in pepper spraying
(AP)
- A former guard at a private prison in Louisiana has been sentenced to
nearly four years in prison for standing by while others used pepper spray
on kneeling, handcuffed inmates, then participating in a cover-up. U.S.
Attorney's Office spokeswoman Mona Hardwick says U.S. District Judge Terry
Doughty sentenced Christopher Loring on Wednesday in Monroe to 46 months in
prison. Loring was the last of four ex-guards to be sentenced after
pleading guilty in the October 2016 incident at Richwood Correctional Center
near Monroe. Charges were dropped against a fifth after he died. The
longest sentence was five years for former Capt. Roderick Douglas, the
first guard to use the spray. The prison, warden and ex-guards still face a
lawsuit filed by the inmates about five months before the indictment.
Nov 30, 2018
njherald.com
Private prison ex-sergeant guilty in chemical spray cover-up
A former sergeant at a privately-run Louisiana prison has pleaded
guilty to covering up an incident in which he and other guards used a
chemical spray on five kneeling, handcuffed inmates. Thirty-three-year-old
Demario Shaffer was among five Richwood Correctional Center officers and
guards indicted in March. Trial is scheduled April 15 for the others. The
U.S. Attorney's Office said in a news release Wednesday that Shaffer
pleaded guilty Monday in court in Monroe to one count of conspiring to
falsify documents to obstruct and influence a matter within federal
jurisdiction. District Judge Terry Doughty scheduled sentencing May 1.
Shaffer could get up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Richwood
Correctional Center is a medium-security prison run by LaSalle Corrections
in the Ouachita (WASH-uh-tah) Parish town of
Richwood.
Aug 6, 2018 hannapub.com
Inmate accused of beating another with padlock in sock
Ouachita Parish sheriff's deputies arrested a Marrero man incarcerated
at Richwood Correctional Center for beating another inmate with a padlock
in a sock on Saturday. Deputies were dispatched to RCC, which is a private
prison, because of a fight that broke out there. Rockeen
Jacks, 21, of 915 Demarco Drive, Marrero, was involved in a fight at the
prison and produced a sock with a padlock inserted inside it and began
hitting another inmate, according to the July 28 arrest report. During the
fight, Jacks produced a makeshift knife and struck the other offender on
the head and face. He was booked at Ouachita Correctional Center.
Apr 20, 2018
wwl.com
Louisiana prison guards indicted in
alleged inmate assaults
MONROE, La. (AP) -- Five
former corrections officers at a Louisiana prison have been indicted on
charges they conspired to assault handcuffed inmates and submitted false
reports on the incident. The former officers at the Richwood Correctional
Center in Ouachita (WASH'-ih-tah)
Parish were charged in a seven-count federal indictment that was unsealed
Thursday. The U.S. Justice Department said the defendants made their
initial court appearances Thursday. They are Roderick Douglas, 37, of
Monroe; Christopher Loring, 35, of Monroe; Demario Shaffer, 33, of Delhi,
Louisiana; Quintail Credit, 26, of Winnsboro,
Louisiana; and David Parker, 27, of Tallulah, Louisiana. The March 29
indictment says Loring "stood by" and didn't intervene when the
other guards sprayed a chemical agent into the faces of five handcuffed
inmates, who were kneeling on the floor in an area of the prison without
surveillance cameras. The inmates didn't pose any threat to the officers
during the 2016 incident, the indictment adds. The officers tried to cover
up the assault on the inmates by filing false reports on the incident to
explain why the inmates needed medical treatment, the indictment says.
Three of the officers are charged with lying to FBI agents about the
incident in July 2017. Loring and Shaffer falsely claimed that one of the
inmates had "pulled away" from Douglas before the officer sprayed
him, the indictment alleges.Attorneys
representing Credit, Shaffer and Douglas didn't immediately respond
Thursday evening to emails seeking comment on the charges. It wasn't
immediately clear if Loring or Parker have attorneys.Richwood
Correctional Center is a private prison operated by LaSalle Corrections.
Louisiana's corrections department regularly inspects the facility but
doesn't employ the officers who work there, according to department
spokesman Ken Pastorick. "The department
does not condone this type of activity," Pastorick
said.
South
Louisiana Correctional Center,
Basile, Louisiana
August 1, 2009 New America Media
Some one hundred immigrant detainees at a private prison in Louisiana,
angered by what they say are awful conditions, are engaged in increasingly
tense protests. Beginning in early July, they’ve staged waves of hunger
strikes and provided immigrant advocates with testimonies to gain attention
for their complaints. Prison authorities, meanwhile, have been reacting by
placing hunger strikers in isolation for days at a time. Immigrations and
Customs Enforcement (ICE), the federal agency in charge of immigrant
detention, has said the solitary confinement isn’t disciplinary, but
precautionary “medical isolation.” At least six inmates remain in solitary
confinement as a result of the last hunger strike, which began July 27,
according to Saket Soni, of the New Orleans
Worker’s Center for Racial Justice. He spoke to New America Media via
cellphone Saturday afternoon. He was on his way to visit the prison, the
Southern Louisiana Correctional Center, a 1,000-bed facility set near rice
fields in the town of Basile, a four-hour drive west of New Orleans. The
detainees “are facing a severe sense of isolation and desperation,” he
says. In a report compiled by Soni and other
advocates and published on the center’s website July 30, some 100 detainees
acting as “human rights monitors” complain of lack of responsible medical
attention, even for serious ailments like leukemia, high blood pressure,
and asthma. They also report unreliable, and in some cases nonexistent,
phone contact with lawyers and family, a vacuum of information about their
deportation cases, and scarcity of soap, toothpaste, toilet paper, and even
underwear. One detainee reports “rats, mosquitoes, flies, and spiders
inside the cell,” one of several shared by scores of detainees. A Jewish
detainee says he was denied a kosher diet, while another said the detention
center’s food routinely made him sick. These testimonies would put the
facility in violation of several standards issued by the Department of
Homeland Security for immigrant detainees, according to Soni.
But federal officials responsible for the detainees flatly deny they have
been subjected to any mistreatment. Philip Miller, acting field office
director in New Orleans for Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE,
says he visited the Basile facility on July 16 and found its maintenance
and pest control program satisfactory. In the July 30 report, one detainee
claims there was no soap and toothpaste for three weeks in May, but Miller
denies that: “That’s not true,” since inmates receive toiletries upon
request. To date, there have been five hunger strikes to protest conditions
at the Basile detention center, and they’ve involved some 60 detainees,
says Soni. Prison staff reportedly sought to
quell these protests by isolating hunger strikers, sometimes even before
they began refusing food, according to testimonials from men who
participated in earlier hunger strikes. In the report, Joaquin López says
that on the morning of July 23 he and four other immigrant detainees in a
cell called Wolf 3 were put into the “hole” for planning a hunger strike.
The next day, López said, they were brought out of the “hole,” cuffed at
the ankles and wrists, and interrogated for two hours, then placed in
solitary confinement again, in cells measuring twelve by six feet. He was
brought out of the isolation cell to speak with advocates on July 25.
Another detainee, Fausto Gonzalez, who has asthma, said that on July 28,
over 30 people in his cell, Tiger 2, refused food and voiced their
complaints. Guards showed up in black riot uniforms, said Gonzalez, and two
men were sent to the “hole.” Soni says he doesn’t
know how long the men mentioned in the report remained in solitary, since
the limited contact doesn’t allow him to track them. “Solitary confinement
as retaliatory punishment for peaceful protest of conditions is
unacceptable,” said the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights in
a statement. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal agency which
oversees immigrant detention, denies any hunger strikers would be punished
with solitary confinement, or unduly pressured. Federal detention standards
require that a hunger striker be placed in “medical isolation in order to
closely monitor the detainee and meet his medical needs,” says Miller, the
ICE field officer for detention and removal. Also, says Miller, hunger
strikers undergo a medical review and counseling about the health risks
they face. Seven national advocacy groups, including the Center for
Constitutional Rights, sent Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet
Napolitano a letter demanding she investigate the Basile, Louisiana prison
and the detainees’ grievances. Last month, Napolitano denied a court
petition asking for bolstered, legally enforceable detention standards at
facilities housing immigrant detainees. Instead, DHS opted to stick with
“performance-based” standards enforced by private contractors.
July 30, 2009 AP
A group of detainees at a Louisiana immigration detention center have begun
three-day hunger strikes to protest poor conditions there, immigrant
advocates said. The news comes just days after Department of Homeland
Security officials dismissed a report critical of conditions at its
immigration holding centers nationwide. About 100 detainees contributed to
a report released Thursday by the New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial
Justice, claiming bleak conditions at a U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement lockup in Basile, La., 183 miles northwest of New Orleans.
"It's not fit for a human being," read a comment attributed to
Fausto Gonzalez, according to the report a detainee from the Dominican
Republic. "There are rats, mosquitoes, flies, and spiders inside the
cell and inside the dorm. The ventilation is terrible," he said.
"We have tried to complain about all of these problems, and we haven't
gotten anywhere. They tell us, 'It's a jail. This is how it is.'" Dora
Schriro, special adviser on detention and removal
for Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not return requests for
comment Thursday. Philip Miller, ICE's acting field office director in New
Orleans, who oversees five southern states, said the facility was cleaned
daily and that he had talked with staff about addressing detainee concerns.
"We acknowledge and accept the fact that immigration detention is not
punitive in nature," he said. "And we have to take a high degree
of caution and a high degree of sensitivity in how we maintain our
facility." The Associated Press has requested access to the 1,002-bed
complex which is run through private contracts with several law enforcement
bodies, including ICE. Dick Harbison, executive vice president of
contractor LCS Corrections Services Inc., has agreed to the tour and ICE
officials are considering it. Access to immigration detainees is generally
limited to family and legal representatives, which staff attorneys at the
New Orleans group have become for those quoted in its report. Detainees at
Basil are being held on federal charges of staying in the country without
authorization, but in some cases local charges as well. Gonzalez is among
60 detainees who have undertaken rotating 72-hour hunger strikes over the
last month to protest conditions, said Saket Soni,
executive director of the Workers' Center. They would strike for longer
periods, Soni said, but the detainees feared
inadequate medical care and placement of strikers in solitary confinement
could lead to serious illnesses. The conditions outlined in the report are
similar to those highlighted in the report released Tuesday by the National
Immigration Law Center. Homeland Security officials dismissed that report
as being outdated because it used data and detainee accounts no fresher
than 2005. The grievances in the latest report are no older than two weeks.
Among the report's claims: - A detainee said guards humiliated him and
other men by issuing them women's nylon underwear. - A Jewish man said when
he requested Kosher food, guards said they didn't know what it was and he
was given unsealed food that made him throw up. - One detainee said he has
not had phone contact with his family or lawyer for a month because phone
cards that they are required to buy take a week to be issued and then do
not work in most holding cells. - For about three weeks in May, the jail
ran out of soap and toothpaste, said a detainee. - A hunger striker said
air conditioning was turned down in his room after he began his protest and
he was eventually placed in solitary confinement and pressured to eat.
"Ninety-five percent of it's untrue," said Harbison.
"Occasionally, an inmate tells you a lie." Harbison said records
showed only two inmates had failed to report to the mess hall during the
period in which the hunger strikes were to have taken place. Striking
detainees reported to the mess so they would not face retaliation, said Soni, but left their trays full.
July 27, 2006 AP
About 320 female Alabama prisoners being housed in Louisiana are being
moved to another prison in that state but one closer to Alabama. The women
inmates had been housed at a private prison at Basile in southwest
Louisiana. They are being moved to J.B. Evans Correctional Center in Newellton, La., which is on the Louisiana-Mississippi
line about 60 miles west of Jackson. The move brings the inmates about two
and a-half hours closer to the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women in Wetumpka,
prisons commissioner Richard Allen said Thursday. It also reduces travel
time for corrections officers. The Alabama Department of Corrections has a
contract with LCS Correctional Services to house the inmates to help reduce
overcrowded conditions at Tutwiler. The J.B. Evans Correctional Center
opened in 1994 and is a medium security facility with the capacity of
holding 440 inmates. Allen said it will be used exclusively for the Alabama
women prisoners. More than 600 male inmates are also housed in private
facilities in Louisiana because of overcrowded conditions in Alabama
prisons.
January 25, 2006 Birmingham
News
When the Alabama Department of Corrections decided to put prisoners in a
private out-of-state prison, women went first. The state opened a
transition center for people on parole, and it was for women. A close look
at these experiments, however, shows that, for the overall prison
population to drop by much, the state may need to turn to alternatives such
as expanded drug courts and community-based treatment and sentencing reform.
A bill endorsed by Gov. Bob Riley takes a step in that direction by
stressing changes in Alabama's sentencing structure. In reaction to a
federal court settlement that forced the state to cut the population at
Tutwiler Prison for Women to 950, the state Parole Board released several
hundred low-level offenders and the state began housing pockets of women in
other facilities - the Louisiana private prison, the LifeTech
parole transition center and county jails. But Alabama now incarcerates
1,920 women, only a 4 percent drop in three years. And instead of steering
female drug offenders into community programs - as numerous government task
forces have recommended - the state is locking up more women for drug
crimes than ever before. "The path that Alabama has taken over the
last four years of renting more bed space for women has proven to be the
wrong path," said Lisa Kung, director of the Southern Center for Human
Rights, a nonprofit law firm that has won settlements over conditions at
prisons. In Birmingham, only 40 of 100 spaces are filled in "Second
Chance" a federally funded program that allows newly released women to
live in apartments and work regular jobs while receiving drug treatment,
medical and mental health services. Not enough women are being paroled to
fill the slots. Kung agreed that LifeTech is a
better option than prison. But she wants the state to use the center for
incarcerated women, not probationers. Nearly 40 percent of the women at the
private prison in Louisiana will be eligible for parole over the next three
years, according to DOC records. Many have served terms of 15 years or more
for crimes Kung said often involved abusive partners. She's hoping parole
officials will consider letting some of these women into LifeTech, and she has been working with lawmakers on
gender-specific parole guidelines that might help cut the numbers of
low-risk women locked in private prisons. LCS Corrections houses 320
Alabama women at its Louisiana prison, with a price tag climbing toward $10
million since the contract began in 2003. A prison run by the same company
is set to open in Perry County and may end up housing Alabama men. Kung's
problem with shipping so many women to Louisiana is that they are housed
900 miles from their children and families and have no opportunities to
take the classes that the parole board looks to as signs prisoners are
trying to improve themselves. "The inmates housed here have too much
idle time on their hands and that defeats the purpose of
rehabilitation," inmate Sharron Kay Jones, 47, serving 15 years for
solicitation to commit murder, wrote in a letter from Louisiana "There
is no rehabilitation here at all." Inmate Paula Settle, 34, of
Tuscaloosa, serving 15 years for drug trafficking, signed up for anger
management, substance abuse, parenting and trade school classes at
Tutwiler. But she was immediately transferred to Louisiana. "There are
no classes, programs, meetings, jobs or counselors here. No trades, no
furthering education, no chaplain or religious assemblies or functions,"
she said.
August 16, 2005 The Advocate
A private prison company has settled a federal lawsuit filed by the family of
an inmate who died in custody after he was allegedly beaten and denied
adequate medical care. Gregory Lee, 35, died June 22, 2003, less than a
week after he was transferred from LCS South Louisiana Detention Center in
Basile to the state-run Elayn Hunt Correctional
Center in St. Gabriel for medical treatment. LCS Vice-President Dick
Harbison confirmed Monday that a settlement had been reached but declined
to discuss the terms. Willie Nunnery, the attorney representing Lee' family
in the lawsuit, also declined to offer any specifics on the settlement.
"It is a strictly, strictly confidential matter," he said. The
settlement of the lawsuit against Lafayette-based LCS comes after
prosecutors filed charges last year against guards at the company's two
south Louisiana facilities. Gilbert Self, 50, a former captain at LCS's
Pine Prairie Correctional Center, was indicted by a federal grand jury in
May 2004, accused of hitting an inmate and then trying to persuade three
fellow corrections officers not to cooperate in an investigation of the
incident. Self, who faces one count of violating civil rights and three
counts of witness tampering, is set for trial in September. An Evangeline
Parish grand jury in June 2004 indicted four guards at the company's Basile
facility on charges of malfeasance in office for allegedly having
inappropriate sexual contact with inmates. LCS officials have said that all
of the guards facing criminal charges at the two facilities were terminated
after internal investigations.
April 6, 2005 Montgomery Advertiser
From the day the Department of Corrections began talking about sending some
inmates to private, out-of-state prisons, the Advertiser expressed serious
reservations about the idea, and for several reasons. Nothing that has
happened since has changed our view of the practice. Questions raised by
female inmates sent to a privately operated prison in Louisiana have
prompted a new concern -- whether incarceration there hurts their chances
for parole. The private prison in Basile, La., nearly 500 miles from DOC
headquarters in Montgomery, now houses about 270 Alabama inmates. Severe
overcrowding at Tutwiler Prison in Wetumpka, Alabama's only penitentiary
for women, led the department to send some inmates there to bring the
Tutwiler population down to a more manageable level. The state's short-term
options were limited, so using the private prison as a stopgap measure was
understandable. But private prisons have a lot of inherent qualities that
should concern Alabamians. They are for-profit enterprises, of course, so
there are financial pressures that could lead to potentially dangerous
cutting of corners. In many cases, they are little more than warehouses for
inmates, with few opportunities for work or training. That could be a
detrimental factor in parole considerations. As a group of inmates notes in
a call for reform, this prison that sits surrounded by Louisiana rice
fields offers no classes, no training programs, no rehabilitation groups or
any of the things that inmates can point to when they come up for parole
consideration. "Down here, the time is not constructive," said
Phyllis Richey, an inmate from Muscle Shoals. "We have nothing to do.
We're basically housed. That's it." For inmates who are well behaved
and are trying to serve their time responsibly and get out of prison, this
is clearly frustrating. Rather than having an incentive to improve
themselves in preparation for life outside prison, inmates are stuck in a
prison far away from their homes and families in Alabama, simply marking
time. That's bad enough. The prospect that their parole consideration is
affected only makes matters worse. Private prisons are a bad concept. The
sooner Alabama can get its inmates out of them, the better.
April 1, 2005 Birmingham News
Alabama female prisoners locked in a rural Louisiana prison are demanding
changes they say could give them a fairer shot at parole and curb the
state's reliance on private, forprofit lockups.
Women at the South Louisiana Correctional Center, some of whom have been
housed 500 miles from their families for two years, wrote a Platform for
Fair Reform. The two-page document includes reasons for their concerns and five demands they think would
improve their chances for getting parole and leading productive lives. The
women have asked for: Objective parole criteria, workrelease
opportunities, an end to the parole board's backlog, an end to the
''heinous crime'' designation that prevents some of them from working
outside the prison and a chance to face their victims as well as the parole
board. The move to the Louisiana prison, 475 miles from Montgomery, makes
it difficult or impossible for families to visit, the inmates said.
Surrounded by rice fields, the prison has no classes, programs or
rehabilitation groups, the opportunities prisoners rely on to show the
parole board they have worked to better themselves.
January 21, 2005 The Advocate
The family of an inmate who died in prison held a news conference Thursday
to release the details of his death. The family members of Gregory Lee, 35,
of Kenner, convicted in 2003 of distribution of cocaine near a church, say
he died because he didn't receive proper medical care at the South
Louisiana Correctional Center, a private prison in Basile. The family has
filed suit in federal court against LCS Corrections Services Inc. and
Patrick LeBlanc of Lafayette, Gary Copes, former Lafayette police chief and
warden of the facility, and several facility employees. The suit was filed
in 2003 and is pending before U.S. District Judge Tucker L. Melançon. Willie Nunnery, the family's attorney,
provided the media with a report from an expert his clients have hired.
"This case has taken on a new twist," Nunnery said. "It is
the intent of his family that the public know what happened to Gregory
Lee." According to his death certificate, Lee died June 22, 2003. The
medical transfer document from the SLCC indicates he left there June 17,
2003. The autopsy report, prepared by the Orleans Parish Coroner's Office,
indicates that Lee died of complications from AIDS. However, a forensic
pathologist hired by Lee's family has examined microscope slides -- which
the Orleans officials did not do -- and determined that Lee probably died
from sepsis, a severe infection. Dr. Robert Huntington III, an associate
professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the
University of Wisconsin, participated in the news conference via
speakerphone. Huntington said sepsis can be the result of infected wounds
that aren't treated, and it also can start with pneumonia, bladder
infections or heart infections, he said. Nunnery said he also has taken the
deposition of two inmates who were being held in Basile at the time Lee was
there. Those depositions indicate that the inmates testified Lee was being
beaten and sprayed with tear gas. Nunnery said Lee was "hogtied"
and beaten, shackled and left in chains for hours. "There can be no
justice until the courts deal with the privatization of prisons in this
state," Nunnery said. "There should be a massive inquiry into
what happened to Gregory Lee. This individual was beaten, and the system
sought to hide and cover this up."
October 21, 2004 Montgomery Advertiser
Although it is important to acknowledge that the filing of a lawsuit proves
nothing in and of itself, the suit filed by an Alabama inmate housed in an
out-of-state private prison raises anew some valid concerns about such
facilities. The Advertiser has long had reservations about private prisons
and nothing in Alabama's recent experience has alleviated them in the slightest. In April of last year, Alabama began
sending female inmates to a private prison in Basile, La., to relieve
overcrowding at Tutwiler Prison for Women in Wetumpka, Alabama's only
prison for females. Private prisons are, of course, intended to be money-making
ventures, and that creates the potential for some serious problems. Even
the most fervent believers in free enterprise -- count the Advertiser among
them -- surely can see that the profit motive and the function of prisons
are ripe for conflict. When a state
deprives a citizen of liberty for having violated its laws, it also assumes
the custody of that individual. That is a solemn responsibility. When an
individual is incarcerated for the protection of society, the state is not
absolved of the obligation to carry out that incarceration in a
constitutional manner. With a private prison, the pursuit of
profit invariably creates the temptation to cut corners, to skimp on
safety, personnel, medical attention, nutrition and other facets of the
operation. It's simply a bad mix of private-sector motives and
public-sector responsibilities. The merits of this particular suit will be
determined in court, but the inherent problems with private prisons are
something Alabama has to face. They are not an acceptable solution to
Alabama's prison problems in the long term, and even their short-term use
is questionable.
October 19, 2004 Daily Comet
An Alabama inmate is suing the state Department of Corrections and a
private prison company in Louisiana, claiming she was raped after being
shipped out of state due to a lack of space. The lawsuit, filed Oct. 1 in Louisiana federal court, claims
that guards at the South Louisiana Correctional Center sexually assaulted
at least two prisoners, including raping the woman who filed the suit, and
that the guards had sex with one another and played cards and drank beer
during the night shift. The four guards named in the lawsuit have
been fired. Also, an Evangeline Parish grand jury indicted them on charges
of malfeasance in office for sexual conduct prohibited for people confined
in a correctional institution. All four pleaded not guilty, The Birmingham
News reported Tuesday. The lawsuit claims that Alabama prison Commissioner Donal Campbell failed to properly investigate LCS before
shipping Alabama women there and failed to implement proper policies and
procedures for the oversight of the contract. The inmate who filed the suit
claims she got no medical treatment after the assault.
Soon after arriving at the South Louisiana
Correctional Center near Basile in 2003 inmate Gregory Lee died. Attorney
Willie J. Nunnery, who is representing Lee's mother, Mae Thompson Lee, is
charging that the private, for-profit prison abused and tortured him. Nunnery is seeking access to prisoners who allegedly
witnessed what happened to Lee and a reexamination of the forensic
evidence. When the charges where first filed, prison guards said Lee
jumped off the top bunk of his cell, hitting his head on the toilet.
Nunnery, a civil rights attorney, has a darker theory. He claims that
following an altercation after the evening meal, prison guards attempted to
punish Lee by beating him. Following the incident, Lee, badly injured from
whatever cause, was transferred to Elayn Hunt
Correctional Center , a state facility,
where he died several days later. Nunnery said he is in possession of
photographs taken when Lee arrived at Elayn Hunt.
"They were very barbaric pictures," Nunnery said. "If you
saw those pictures it would make your stomach turn." The Basile facility
and another LCS private prison at Pine Prairie have repeatedly made
headlines recently with both female employees and inmates bringing charges
of sexual harassment against the company. "I don't understand why
there isn't any public outcry to have that place shut down," Nunnery
said. (Daily World, August 15, 2004)
Four guards who worked at the Basile Detention Center in Evangeline Parish
were indicted Friday for allegedly having sexual contact with female
inmates. An Evangeline Parish grand jury indicted the four guards on
charges of malfeasance in office for sexual conduct prohibited for persons
confined in a correctional institution. Kenneth Stenson Sr., Horace
Edwards, Frank Lenoir and Jeffery Collins will be arraigned July 1 and will
face up to 10 years in jail and a $10,000 fine.The
indictments follow four days of testimony from investigators, prison guards
and 22 inmates at the south Louisiana correctional center. (AP, June
11, 2004)
Allegations of sexual contact between
security officers and female inmates from Alabama at a private prison in
Basile are scheduled to be studied this week by a grand jury. Two
prison employees were fired after an internal investigation into the
allegations made by female inmates who were being held at the South Louisiana
Correctional Center. (AP, June 7, 2004)
A grand
jury is set to meet in June to decide whether criminal charges should be
pursued against guards at a private prison in Basile accused of having
sexual contact with inmates. The allegations, which arose last year, involve a group of
female inmates from Alabama that were being held at the South Louisiana
Correctional Center, owned by Lafayette-based LCS Corrections Services. LCS
Vice President Richard Harbison said two employees at the Basile prison were
fired after an internal investigation of the allegations. The grand jury investigation into the allegations
at Basile comes after a former captain at LCS's Pine Prairie facility was
indicted earlier this year for allegedly hitting an inmate and then trying
to persuade three fellow corrections officers not to cooperate in an
investigation of the incident. (Advertiser, May 21, 2004)
A Louisiana district attorney says he will pursue criminal charges against
guards at a private prison over sexual contact with inmates from Alabama,
The Birmingham News reported. About 200 female prisoners from Alabama
are being housed at the South Louisiana Correctional Center, where they
were transferred last year to help relieve overcrowding at Tutwiler Prison
for Women. The criminal case, involving an incident late last year,
is the result of an investigation begun by the Alabama Department of
Corrections. "There is definite misconduct that did occur, and
we will follow through with it," Evangeline Parish District Attorney Brent
Coreil said Tuesday. He said he has not decided
whether to file direct charges or present a case to a grand jury. The
Basile, La., lockup is owned and operated by LCS Corrections, based in
Lafayette, La. Alabama pays the company about $23 per inmate per day to
house the women. "ADOC's investigation produced a confession
from an employee at South Louisiana Correctional Center, along with
subsequent termination of that employee. We then turned our investigative
report over to the local district attorney for prosecution," Alabama
prisons spokesman Brian Corbett said. (AP, April 7, 2004)
Investigators are looking into allegations
of illegal sexual contact between a female prisoner and a guard at the
Louisiana private prison housing prisoners from Alabama. This is the second
such investigation involving an Alabama inmate and an employee or employees
of Southeastern Louisiana Correctional Center, said Richard Harbison,
general manager of LCS Corrections Services. The Lafayette, La., company
runs the prison housing about 275 Alabama women. "We do have the
district attorney involved in it," Harbison said Thursday. "Which
means we're taking it very seriously." (Al.com, February 13, 2004)
The mother of former South Louisiana
Correctional Center inmate Gregory Lee has filed a lawsuit alleging that
Lee was beaten and tortured before being transferred to Elayn
Hunt Correctional Center in St. Gabriel, where he died. The lawsuit was
filed Aug. 15 in U.S. District Court in Lafayette against Warden Gary
Copes, state Corrections Secretary Richard Stalder
and unnamed prison guards. Lee was incarcerated May 6 at the Basile
facility to begin serving an eight-year sentence for distribution of drugs,
said Willie J. Nunnery, an attorney for Lee's mother, Mae Thompson Lee.
Sometime before June 17, "we believe he was severely beaten and
brutalized before he left Basile," (The Advocate, September 25, 2003)
Lawyer Bruce Rozas, who was handling four sexual
harassment cases against LCS Corrections Services Inc., which operates
private, for-profit prisons in Basile and Pine Prairie, is now handling
seven. "Following the media coverage, I had three more women come to
see me today," Rozas said Friday from his
office in Mamou. He said the newest complaints
date back to 1998, all involving the same two officers named in his earlier
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaints on behalf of Maggie
Dupre, a nurse at South Louisiana Correctional Center near Basile, and
Sandra Whittington, a nurse at Pine Prairie Correctional Center. Dupre was
fired this week after coming forward with her complaints. According to Rozas, the new complaints show the same pattern. He
said two of his new clients, Carla T. Zeno and Laurie Ardoin,
both claim they were also fired after making complaints about unwanted
sexual advances by superior officers. (Daily World, September 15, 2003)
The private Louisiana prison where Alabama sent female inmates Monday was
the scene of a riot, escapes and other problems that led Idaho to remove
its inmates five years ago. The problems occurred at South Louisiana
Correctional Center in Basile, La., which is operated by LCS Corrections
Services Inc. Alabama sent 70 female inmates to the prison on Monday and
plans to send more, Department of Corrections Commissioner Donal Campbell said Tuesday. Teresa Jones, public
information officer for the Idaho Department of Corrections, said Idaho
transferred 300 inmates to the LCS prison in the summer of 1997. In
September 1997, five inmates escaped by cutting a hole in a fence. Most
were recaptured, but one remains at large eight years later, Jones said.
Idaho hired a monitor, who conducted an audit of the prison. In an Oct. 2,
1997, report, he found the prison generally complied with the terms of its
contract with Idaho, but also cited problems. Among them: A riot had
occurred in July 1997; the warden was at the prison only two days a week;
some cells had the windows painted over with no natural light; and staff
training was inadequate. Jones said Idaho removed all of its inmates by
January 1998 and has not used LCS facilities since. (The Montgomery
Advertiser, April 16, 2003)
Authorities are saying the inmate who escaped from the Basile Correctional
Facility on Sunday night is considered armed and dangerous. Gerald Matte of
Eunice escaped from the private prison Sunday night by overpowering a
prison guard and later stole a truck, which he abandoned near Mamou Monday morning. An all-day search by more than 30
law enforcement officials in the wooded area near where the truck was found
turned up nothing. (The Baton Rouge Advocate, June 29, 2001)
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