2 former Willacy County prison guards charged with bribery

Willacy County Regional Detention Facility

Two former prison guards from the Willacy County Regional Detention Facility were arrested Friday, as reported by Valley Central.

Stephan Salinas and Harry Cordero were both employed at the Willacy County Detention Facility, which is run by the private prison company Management & Training Corp. (MTC) in Raymondville, Texas. This facility was destroyed in a prisoner uprising in 2015 due to poor medical conditions and neglect. Before that, the facility lost its Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) contract in 2011 due to physical and sexual assault by the guards on prisoners.

Cordero and Salinas were both fired by MTC in January following internal investigations of the two guards. Cordero was charged with two counts of bribery and one count of providing contraband in prison. He was found to have accepted bribes to allow alcohol and a cell phone into the prison in December of 2015.

The details about Salinas were not made immediately available, but both men remain in federal custody. The men were employed at the facility before it was closed following the 2015 uprising by immigrants detained at the facility.