Texas Prison Bid'ness

The Nashville Scene, Corrections Corporation of America's hometown alternative weekly, has published a blistering expose ("Locked and Loaded," June 19th) on the company, with particular attention paid to CCA's T. Don Hutto family detention center in Taylor, Texas. The story draws heavily on court documents from the lawsuit against the facility, including this heart-breaking testimony:

After she arrived in Taylor, Elsa and her family shared a tiny living area, where they’d be loudly awoken at 5:45 a.m. Elsa, Richard and Angelina then had 20 minutes to eat breakfast. When they didn’t finish on time, guards would just snatch their food and throw it in the trash. “When this happens, the children cry and cry,” Elsa later explained in an affidavit that chronicled her plight.

The detention center was very cold, so much so that the guards walked around wearing gloves. But they’d yell at Elsa if she asked for a blanket. One time they came into her cell and confiscated two of her sweaters.

“They don’t care that we are cold,” she said. “They don’t care if we eat or if we don’t eat.”

Elsa and her children wore prison uniforms and spent hours in their pod, often with no toys or books for the kids. One day, Elsa and her family were in the doctor’s office, where all the kids were playing with crayons. Angelina drew a picture, but a guard grabbed the girl’s artwork. She cried a lot at Hutto, wondering what her family had done wrong.

“Mommy, where is God that he doesn’t want to help us? Mommy, tell God to come and take us out of here and take us to our house,” Elsa recalled her daughter saying. “Mommy, why do they have us as prisoners if we have never killed anybody?”

Unfortunately, such stories of horrid conditions at Hutto were almost common-place before the settlement between the ACLU and UT Immigration Law Clinic and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Amongst the more interesting elements of the article are the revelation that internal ICE memos were highly critical of conditions at Hutto. According to the story,

Just about everyone else who walked through the gates at Hutto, including federal authorities, saw it as a deeply troubling facility. In March 2007, ICE inspectors visited Hutto and, in their own distinct bureaucratic language, corroborated the anguished accounts of the detainees. The inspectors noted that their “overall review of the facility can be accurately rated as deficient” and determined that the staff wasn’t following basic standards of detention.

“The Review Team’s observation of CCA’s overall attitude is of disinterest and complacency in their work performance,” the agency noted in its report.

A month later, an interoffice memo from ICE said that at Hutto, CCA is “losing staff as quick as they can hire them.” That’s because the company was only paying its detention officers around $10 an hour, nearly $4 less than what they could make at the county jail.

“As long as CCA continues to hire employees at this rate per hour, they will continue to experience the problems they are currently experiencing on the floor,” read the memo. “The current problems CCA is experiencing are a direct result of what ‘they are paying their employees for.’ Unfortunately, it is at ICE’s expense.”

We'll keep you posted on further developments on Hutto. For more information, see our previous coverage or check out tdonhutto.blogspot.com.

Houston-based Cornell Companies appears to be losing its contract to detain immigrant youth at its Hector Garza center according to an excellent article by Hernan Rozemberg in Sunday's San Antonio Express-News ("Youth Center Director Cites Suit in Feds' Decision," June 15). The facility holds unaccompanied minors apprehended in the United States for the Office of Refugee Resettlement, a division of Health and Human Services.

The center has seen its supply of detainees shrink since a lawsuit was filed against the company, its warden, and employees alleging neglect and abuse. According to the Express-News story:

Unlike other HHS-contracted “shelters” or dormitory-style campuses, the Hector Garza center is designated “staff secure” because it's a more restrictive setting meant to handle problematic youngsters.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Antonio in April, came as a result of a brawl between center residents and staff in February. Staffers called police to help quell the mayhem, which concluded with four minors under arrest.

According to the suit, filed by Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, excessive violence used by staff and police symbolized incessant abuse that minors reported to supervisors to no avail. State and federal officials are accused of covering up abuse reports.

Incredibly, the warden of the facility seems to be blaming the lawyers in the case for the allegations of abuse:

Fernández said overzealous lawyers preyed on minors' survival instincts, prompting them to sue the center. Staff and residents had cordial and even amiable relations before lawyers began showing up, he lamented.

We'll keep you updated on developments from Garza and other Cornell units around Texas. Our previous coverage on the subject: Eight Unaccompanied Minors Sue Cornell Over Physical Abuse.

RESOLUTION FOR ALTERNATIVES TO DETENTION OF IMMIGRANT AND ASYLUM-SEEKING CHILDREN
WHEREAS border protection is important to the security of the nation as a whole;
WHEREAS immigration affects the economic and social well-being of both the United States and Mexico;
WHEREAS a private firm re-opened the T. Don Hutto Residential Facility in Taylor, Texas, for the purpose of detaining immigrant and asylum-seeking families who are awaiting immigration proceedings,
WHEREAS it is not appropriate to convert a medium-security prison and rename it as a family detention center where children are detained with their families and some children are separated from their families;
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Texas Democratic Party add to its platform that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security should consider all alternatives to the detention of immigrant and asylum-seeking families with children, and must reunite children with their families; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a child who is brought into this country by a family member shall not be subject to criminal sanctions, and the child's presence in the U.S. shall not be defined as unlawful.

The Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children has issued a strong statement (PDF) opposing Immigration and Customs Enforcement's proposal to construct three new contracted family detention centers around the country.

The facilities would dramatically expand the system of family detention made notorious at Corrections Corporation of America's T. Don Hutto detention center in Taylor. Bids for the facilities are due next Monday, June 16th. According to the release,

The Women’s Commission calls on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to immediately halt the alarming growth of family detention. “This is a system that has already been found to be completely inappropriate for families, and we are deeply distressed by this expansion,” said Michelle Brané, director of the detention and asylum program with the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children. “What’s more, it ignores the explicit directive of Congress that ICE release families whenever possible.”

The decision to add new facilities to the agency’s roster of family detention centers comes despite a 2007 lawsuit alleging that children detained at the T. Don Hutto Residential Center in Taylor, Texas were subjected to conditions of confinement that violated minimum standards of care for minors in federal custody. The resulting settlement forced ICE to undertake substantial modifications in physical appearance, medical care, disciplinary actions, education and recreation at the Hutto facility.

ICE responded to the lawsuit and massive public outcry by issuing “family residential standards.”
However, they are based on adult correctional standards intended to regulate the behavior of criminal inmates, not preserve and protect the unique needs of non-criminal families. Also, DHS’ Request for Proposals for the new facilities violates its own standards in an alarming number of critical areas, including the provision of medical care, education, recreation and the use of restraining devices. “ICE’s failure to comply with its own standards is further evidence that the agency does not intend to open—or at the very least, properly administer—family-centered, non-penal residential programs,” according to Brané.

For more on the three new proposed family detention centers, see our coverage from last week or check out tdonhutto.blogspot.com for background information and to read the bidding documents.

The ever-informative T. Don Hutto blog has documents showing that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has issued a pre-solicitation notice for up to three new family detention centers. UPI has a story on the notice, issued in April and with a response date of June 16th.

The U.S. government is accepting bids for up to three new detention centers that would house as many as 600 men, women and children fighting deportation cases.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a call for proposals last month and set June 16 as the deadline, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday.

The new facilities are being considered on both coasts and on the southwestern border. There currently are two family facilities -- a former nursing home in Pennsylvania and a former prison in Texas.

The planned minimum-security residential facilities would provide a "least restrictive, non-secure setting" and provide schooling for children, recreational activities and access to religious services, the request for proposals says.

The notice is an effort on ICE's part to add to its family detention capacity, and possibly faze out family detention at the notorious T. Don Hutto detention center, the converted medium security prison which has drawn numerous protests, media scrutiny, and a lawsuit by the the ACLU and the University of Texas Immigration law clinic (it's important to note that the settlement agreement only covers Hutto and not other family detention centers).

The proposed facilities would add up to 600 beds, a move that seems unwarranted as the two existing family detention facilities (Hutto and the Berks, PA detention center) have a combined ability to hold about 330 prisoners in the family units. In fact, thanks to the lawsuit settlement, the number of people in the family unit at Hutto has reportedly dropped to around 150, while Berks only had a total capacity of just over 80.

So, where is the need for these new family detention beds coming from? And, more importantly, why is ICE soliciting new detention beds when Congress has said multiple times that effective, less-costly alternatives to family detention should be implemented whenever possible?

According to recent reports in the Taylor Daily Press, the Taylor Independent School Board (TISD) has rejected an agreement with the T. Don Hutto Immigrant Detention Center. The agreement would have permitted immigrant detainees to be housed in the old middle school gymnasium in the event of an emergency.

The Hutto facility is managed by the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). Hutto officials are trying to lay the groundwork for an eventual agreement to be reached between the private prison company and school officials.

Several board members including President James “Bo” Stiles, Assistant Secretary Kathy Cotner and Anita Volek, along with Superintendent Bruce Scott and Assistant Superintendent David Krueger, were given a private tour of the facility May 1.

Volek said she was impressed with the facility, its school and the children in it.

“It puts us between a rock and a hard place, because we’re all about kids, too,” she said.

Hutto officials are making a case for why it is ok to house detainees at the school. Ironically, its the same argument for why these people should not be incarcerated at all.

[Hutto Facility Adminstrator Evenlyn] Hernandez stressed that the individuals housed in the facility are non-criminals, and that the CCA screens potential occupants with a background check before they are housed there. Those found to have a criminal history are not placed in the facility, she said.

As TISD board members become more familiar with the private prison, I fear that they will become more receptive to contracts with CCA around the Hutto facility. It is certainly something we will be monitoring as developments progress.

San Antonio reporter Brian Collister, of the WOAI news station, has reported horrendous accounts of what appears to be widespread sexual abuse and cover-up at the GEO Group's South Texas Detention Center, located in Pearsall. According to the first of two stories run this week ("Claims of Sexual Assault at Immigration Facility," May 6),

A former detainee, who asked us not to identify her told us, "It was going on a lot. It was going on almost all the time, the sexual abuse."

She claims sexual abuse came from the guards. She said while she was there she rejected advances by one of the guards, but said other girls were too scared to put up a fight.

"Some of the guards actually tried to force themselves on the girls and that they've told them that if they ever said anything about it, that they have the power with ICE to deport them," explained this former detainee.

The guards work for a private company called GEO, hired by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, to run the prison. Sexual contact with detainees is not allowed. In fact, it's a crime.

The former detainee said, "Some of the girls ended up pregnant by some of the officers there."

In fact, it appears that one detainee may have become pregnant due to the abuse.

She added one of those who got pregnant was a girl from Guatemala, named Marley. Marley's case is mentioned in an incident report obtained by the News 4 Trouble Shooters.

It details how last may a guard reported being told by another guard that he'd had sex with a Marley, who has already been deported back home.

That guard accused of having sex with Marley was Joseph Canales. The Trouble Shooters tracked him down, but he told us he didn't get anyone pregnant, then added:
"Whatever happened, happened a long time ago."

And, possibly as disturbing as the abuse, there appears to be a systematic cover-up of the assaults by GEO Group staff and ICE. According to the story,

After the incident report, Canales was fired, but ICE will not tell us if they referred the case for prosecution. The US Attorneys Office told us it has no case against Canales. Still, there are other sexual assaults we've uncovered.

We obtained an email sent by an ICE officer to his supervisors notifying them that a detainee had told him about a GEO sergeant who was having sex with one of the female detainees.

The ICE officer who wrote that e-mail sat down with us, but asked us not to identify him. He said some of the GEO guards prey on the female detainees by lying to them and promising they can help them stay in the United States.

"If they had the opportunity," he explained, "some of the guards were just touching, groping, but if they had the opportunity they had sex with them. The female detainees, a lot of them, were willing because they thought it was...somehow their chances of staying were going to increase. That's not the case whatsoever. If ICE can keep it under wraps, they will keep it under wraps."

To keep it under wraps, he said he was fired for reporting what was going on. And he is not alone. We've also talked to a former GEO guard who said she, too, was fired after reporting sexual abuse.

We obtained an email sent by an ICE officer to his supervisors notifying them that a detainee had told him about a GEO sergeant who was having sex with one of the female detainees.

Clearly, this story is immensely disturbing. It falls on the heels of a New York Times report detailing possible medical neglect and deaths at a series of Immigration and Customs Enforcement-contracted facilities around the country.

Furthermore, it is unfortunately not surprising that these kind of allegations are coming from a GEO Group facility in Texas. The Pearsall detention center was sued for mistreatment of a prisoner last year. Abuse and poor conditions at GEO Group's Coke County Juvenile Justice Center and Dickens County Correctional Center drove the Senate Criminal Justice Committee to look into to private prison oversight last fall and created the need for an interim charge on private prison oversight this spring.

Despite the abuse and mismanagement, GEO continues to win contracts with counties and the federal government, as Nicole reported last month. It's high time we stop contracting with private companies that cover-up physical and sexual abuse of prisoners and detainees. We'll keep you updated on developments from this growing scandal.

A private Emerald Corrections detention center proposal in the Caldwell County town of Mustang Ridge has been defeated, according to a local source who tells me that local officials did not think that the proposal would bring economic growth and worried about the impact of the detention center on property values. These concerns might be well-founded. As I wrote in a post last month, prisons can have a negative impact on long-term economic growth in slow-growing rural economies.

This isn't the first Emerald detention center to be defeated by residents of Caldwell County. After a groundswell of opposition, a similar proposal was defeated in January.

I was able to see the new film The Visitor at a pre-screening in Austin a few weeks ago, and highly recommend it. It follows a college professor who befriends an immigrant couple only to find his friend detained at private prison, which seems modeled after the GEO Group's Queens, NY detention center, after being caught up in a minor incident with the police. It's a pretty realistic look at the detention system. Take a look at the trailer:

The film is screening in selected theatres across the country, including several Texas locations. Check in out. See this site for locations and showtimes.

Yesterday, there were a flurry of news stories about Tuesday's ICE-sponsored press tour at the T. Don Hutto family detention center. Nicole reported yesterday the favorable coverage that media outlets seemed to be providing Hutto in the wake of the tour.

Today, the media is far more critical of Hutto and the press tour. First, Lisa Falkenberg in the Houston Chronicle ("Imprisoned families: On the real tour," April 24, 2008) pens a terrific commentary taking on ICE's contention that the "family-friendly" additions to the facility would have happened without public scrutiny:

The family-friendly reforms come after more than a year of harsh media spotlight, tireless efforts by The Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children and a pile of lawsuits brought by the ACLU of Texas.

Yet, as immigration officials ushered reporters through the facility this week to show off their progress, one high-ranking ICE official tried to claim that the changes would have happened without the lawsuits.

"Everything that was included in that settlement was either done prior to the settlement, in progress during the settlement or contemplated prior to the settlement," Gary Mead, ICE's acting director for detention and removal, was quoted saying in an Associated Press story.

Mead is the same guy who told me early last year — when Hutto's fence was still rimmed in razor wire and immigrant kids were still issued uniforms, counted three times a day and subjected to substandard education and health care — that his agency had already made the former prison as homelike as it could.

"I think we've done a very good job of softening things to make it as family-friendly as we can," Mead told me in February 2007.

That doesn't sound like a reform-minded official intent on pushing for major changes.

Falkenberg speculates that Mead's comments "may be nothing more than public relations spin." She finishes her piece by criticizing plans for more "Hutto-like" detention centers as

a troubling prospect in and of itself, considering that ICE has been specifically instructed by Congressional appropriations committees to prioritize alternatives, such as effective, less-expensive electronic monitoring. But one can only hope the mistaken model of converting a former prison into a "homelike" environment won't be duplicated.

Falkenberg's story is followed by a blog entry at Daily Kos titled "Hutto No Model for Prison for Children" by Gouri Bhat of the ACLU. Bhat was one of the attorney who sued ICE on behalf of families detained at Hutto over the prison's conditions last year. The settlement from that lawsuit is one of the factors leading to bettering of conditions at the prison.

Bhat calls Mead's statement that the activism and lawsuit had nothing to do with the changes at Hutto "disingenuous at best." She goes on to say,

Other reported statements by Mead are still more disturbing — specifically, his assertion that Hutto will be a model for future family detention centers to be opened by the government. Clearly, ICE’s enthusiasm for detaining families is undiminished, despite Hutto’s $33.6 million annual price tag and numerous admonitions from Congress to explore less expensive alternatives to detention before locking up immigrant children. If more family detention centers are on the horizon, the ACLU’s Hutto settlement should serve as a useful model in many respects and a cautionary tale.

However, despite the hard-won reforms at Hutto, the facility — managed by a for-profit adult corrections company — is still fundamentally and structurally a prison. As such, Hutto is far from the best or most appropriate place to house infants, toddlers, children and teens who are detained with their parents. Julie Myers, ICE Assistant Secretary and Mead’s boss, appeared to recognize this when she told Congress in October 2007 that "the physical structure of Hutto — a former prison — will not be used as the model for future facilities." We hope in this case, the boss is right.

We'll keep you updated on more media from the Hutto press tour as it comes out.