Texas Prison Bid'ness

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.

The Houston Community Newspaper ("Liberty County jailer expected to be charged with sex crimes," May 4, 2008) is reporting that a female guard at CiviGenic's Liberty County Jail has resigned after accusations of an inappropriate sexual relationship with an inmate:

A female employee of CiviGenics who works as a guard in the Liberty County Jail resigned Tuesday, April 29, after being questioned by Liberty County Sheriff’s Office investigators about having sex with an inmate, according to Liberty County Sheriff Greg Arthur.

The case has been accepted by the Liberty County District Attorney’s Office and will be presented to a grand jury.

The grand jury could return an indictment for Violation of Civil Rights of a Person in Custody By Having Sex With That Person.

This is a State Jail Felony, punishable by confinement for a period of 180 days to two years in a state jail and a fine not to exceed $10,000.

Earlier this year, two guards at the facility were arrested for delivering marijuana, esctasy, and cash into the jail.

CiviGenics guards have been indicted on sexual assault charges at other Texas jails as well, including civil rights charges at the company's bi-state jail in Texarkansas and similar charges at the McLennon County jail in Waco.

Eight unaccompanied minors formerly held under the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement have sued Houston-based Cornell Companies alleging physical abuse and other violations of their constitutional rights. According to the KRIS TV ("Detention Facility for Immigrant Kids Sued") article,

Eight immigrant teenagers held at a facility for unaccompanied minors filed a federal lawsuit Thursday claiming they were abused and denied access to attorneys.

The teens from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Cuba were being held at the San Antonio facility run by Houston-based Cornell Companies Inc. under a contract with the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement.

Undocumented minors caught by authorities in the United States fall under the care of ORR while their immigration cases are decided.

But Susan Watson, an attorney for Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid, said the teens were beaten and subjected to other excessive force in violation of their constitutional rights.

At least one teen was knocked unconscious, but complaints to facility administrators were ignored, according to the lawsuit.

As the article rightly states that this isn't the first problem at a Cornell facility.

Arkansas fired Cornell from the operation of a juvenile facility in November 2006 after finding employees inappropriately injected youth with anti-psychotic medication to control behavior.

And in September, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials removed 600 detainees from an Albuquerque, N.M., facility run by Cornell, citing failure to maintain safety, health and well-being standards there.

As we reported last week, Cornell has made a bid to take over the former Webb County juvenile detention center and turn it into a half-way house. This lawsuit might give Webb County officials further pause in their negotiations with Cornell.

The Taylor Daily Press reported this week that the complicated system of private prisons and varying jurisdictions results in weak accountability measures at the T. Don Hutto Facility. We have covered the developments around the family detention center in Taylor, TX that houses immigrant families including children.

The story utilizes extensive open records documents related to a case of of a prison guard reported to have had an "inappropriate sexual relationship" a female detainee last year. Yet, the complex reality of laws and contracting that created Hutto makes it difficult for law enforcement agencies in various jurisdictions to hold the alleged abuser accountable. According to the story

On Monday, May 21, the Williamson County District Attorney's Office declined to prosecute the case, according to the ICE report.

Jana McCown, first assistant district attorney, said the incident and possible charges of official oppression did not fall under Texas law because T. Don Hutto is a federal detention facility.

Several officials at the state and federal level have investigated the incident but found that neither locale had the authority to prosecute the alleged perpetrator.

Yet, while it is illegal for federal prison guards to have sexual intercourse (consensual or not) with prisoners, federal prosecutors cannot levy charges either. The law applied to prisons under the U.S. Attorney General, which does not include ICE detention centers. This was due to loophole in the law that lawmakers fixed after the Hutto sexual assault occurred.

The problem arose with the creation of the Department of Homeland Security in 2003. The new federal agency took over the detention of immigrants from Immigration and Naturalization Services, an agency under jurisdiction of the Department of Justice, according to a press statement from the office of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California.

It is truly remarkable that lawmakers could have been so careless and created a situation where no one can be held accountable for sexual abuse. This certainly raises awareness for the fundamental flaw in outsourcing incarceration policy to private prison companies. Creating a context where no one can be held accountable for sexual abuse is bad public policy.

Lawmakers need to seriously consider these policy issues as they rely on private contractors to provide corrections services.

Previous Posts on the T. Don Hutto Facility:

1. Hutto News Round-up
2. Hutto Contract Update
3. More Hutto News - the Problems Continue

Nedelkoff: Richard Nedlkoff
Governor Perry appointed a new conservator to manage the Texas Youth Commission. The Austin American Statesman reported that Richard Nedelkoff has an extensive resume in corrections. Recently, Nedelkoff served as chief executive officer for Eckerd Youth Alternatives, a private nonprofit organization based in Clearwater, Fla.-based that manages residential programs for at-risk youth in 10 states.

Nedelkoff intends to stay on with Eckerd, dividing his time as necessary to do the job at the commission, he said. He succeeds Ed Owens, a conservator in semi-retirement who had been waiting for several weeks for a replacement.

Comments on Grits for Breakfast suggest that the Nedelkoff appointment will lead to an increase in contract care for TYC. Time will tell. In the wake of recent scandals such as at Coke County, the agency ended its contract with the GEO Group. TYC reports that 17 facilities are managed by private contractors.

We will continue to monitor how Nedelkoff's tenure impacts contract care capacity.

The Austin American Statesman recently reported that guards used pepper spray at a privately managed juvenile facility.

"We're gonna spray you," they [guards] yelled at the youth several times before wresting the door open and tackling him inside.

According to recently viewed videotapes, this use of force was used at GEO Group's Coke County Facility. After a series of audits conducted by the Texas Youth Commission (TYC)'s Office of the Independent Ombudsman and TYC contract monitors, the agency ended the contract in October and transfered the nearly 200 young prisoners to other prisons around the state.

In the wake of reforms, TYC officials authorized a more liberal use of pepper spray by guards. Earlier this week TYC convened a public hearing where advocates cited their concerns regarding the policy change. According to the Statesman, more than 1,200 reports of pepper spray use have been logged this year as of October compared with 200 all of last year.

TYC is in the process of finalizing the use of force policy. We will keep you posted these events continue to unfold.

Related coverage:

• TYC Closes GEO's Coke County Facility
• House Corrections Committee Takes a Look at TYC Problems
• Private Prison Scandal Latest Development at TYC
• County Officials must Rethink Juvenile Justice Policies
• TYC has Interesting Definition of What is a "Problem" at Youth Private Prisons

A former warden at Corrections Corporation of America's Laredo Processing Center has sued the company claiming that he was wrongfully terminated because of his race and age, according to the Laredo Morning Times. According to the article,

Jose L. Hinojosa was the warden for the Corrections Corporation of America's processing center in Laredo, a 350-bed unit on East Saunders St. that handled Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, detainees from 1987 to 2006, according to court documents.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court, alleges Hinojosa was ordered to resign as warden because he is a Mexican-American man who, at the age of 62, told superiors he intended to keep his job for 10 more years.

This was done in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the lawsuit alleges. Hinojosa is asking for more than $3 million in damages.

Two things jump out at me after reading this story. First, this is the same facility where Tomas Contreras, the 40 year U.S. resident who was detained coming back from visiting family in Mexico, was allegedly beaten after raising concerns about conditions.

Second, the lawsuit is seeking $3 million in damages. A suit of that size for discrimination makes CCA's offer to provide Williamson County a $250,000 credit line to fight lawsuits at the T. Don Hutto family unit almost laughable. If a serious incident (perhaps "inappropriate sexual contact" or an 8 year-old girl being separated from her mother for 4 days) occurs at Hutto, $250,000 would be a drop in the bucket for legal fees and damages the county could incur.

Last Friday’s Senate Criminal Justice Committee hearings on private prison oversight brought up so many blog-able moments that I’ve been having trouble narrowing my thoughts down to actually get them on the blog.

Kathleen has already posted a good play-by-play of the hearings, including a link to the video with time-posts to help you navigate the speaker list, and Nicole has a good wrap-up of the latest on TYC’s problems, which spurred Senator Whitmire to hold these hearings.

Here are some of the highlights of the hearings as I saw them:

1) Obviously, the heart-wrenching testimony of Shirley Noble, mother of Idaho inmate Scot Noble Payne who committed suicide in GEO’s squalid Dickens County prison, was the highlight of the hearing. Her testimony brought an absolute silence to what had been a bustling room. She powerfully made the case against further state contracts with The GEO Group and the importation of out-of-state prisoners thousands of miles from their family members.

Attorney Ron Rodriguez also read a powerful statement from the family of Gregorio De La Rosa, an inmate who was beaten to death in Wackenhut’s old Willacy County Jail four days before he was supposed to go home, who eventually won a $47.5 million settlement from the company.

2) Senator Chuy Hinojosa was asking all the right questions. Hinojosa consistently questioned why the sate would continue to contract with companies (ahem, GEO) who have a terrible track record that could easily be found with a simple search of the internet (or, Senator, may we recommend signing up for email alerts from TexasPrisonBidness.org?).

Hinojosa has promised further interim hearings on private prison contractors, a notion that Senator Whitmire seemed to validate in several comments throughout the day.

3) The public testimony was thorough and thoroughly one-sided. Speaking for more oversight were our own Nicole Porter, Nick Hudson, Grits for Breakfast blogger Scott Henson, Shirley Noble and Ron Rodriguez, Texas Jail Project’s Diana Claitor, and myself. In addition, written testimony was provided from our own Judy Greene, LBJ Professor Michele Deitch (testimony posted by Grits here), Private Corrections Institute’s Frank Smith and Ken Kopczynski, and Taylor activist Sherry Dana, amongst others.

The lone voice generally supporting privatization was Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Marc Levin, who called on legislators to loosen regulations on private prison corporations so they can become more “innovative” and produce a better product. I was expecting the private prison corporations, what with their lobbyists apparently already around the capitol, to present some testimony, but alas, they were not to be heard from.

4) Oversight needs to be better funded and independent. Private prisons (and public prisons and jails, for that matter) need to be monitored by an independent agency without institutional ties to the prisons they are monitoring. The Texas Committee on Jail Standards is a start towards this oversight, but is so dramatically underfunded, understaffed, and under-powered that it’s fighting a ridiculously uphill battle. Scott Henson from Grits for Breakfast, who provided very solid (and well-dressed) testimony on this, has a great post on the hearings as a whole here.

The Texas Criminal Justice Coalition has provided a useful overview of the hearings and speakers here. We’ll have more news from the hearings as it develops.

The latest scandals plaguing the Texas Youth Commission (TYC) uncovered in investigations by the Independent Ombudsman and the agency's facility audit report have once again surfaced the problems with private facilities in Texas.

The TYC audit report emphasizes that there were systemic problems in
GEO managed facility because staff did not respect the integrity of audits and believed they could obtain another contract with another agency. The audit integrity was compromised because several of the quality insurance monitors employed by TYC previously worked for GEO.

These scandals emphasize the systemic problems that result in contracting out corrections.

Recent coverage of the TYC Coke County Scandal can be found below:

1. Senators seek answers in wake of TYC's Coke County
   prison closure
2. Law makers pose questions about private prison oversight
   
3. Senators say private prison lockups need closer monitoring
4. Fired TYC monitors had worked for facility's operator
5. TYC Closes GEO's Coke County Facility
6. TYC to move inmates out of troubled prison

We'll have updates on last Friday's private prison oversight hearings soon. Until then, followers of TYC news will want to check out House Corrections Committee hearings next week on the implementation of SB 103. Details are here:

COMMITTEE: Corrections
TIME & DATE: 10:00 AM, Wednesday, October 17, 2007
PLACE: E2.016
CHAIR: Rep. Jerry Madden

We’ve been posting about GEO’s ongoing Texas troubles for months, and those troubles finally seem to have caught up with the company in the wake of the removal of juveniles detained at Coke County Juvenile Justice Center, a facility contracted by the Texas Youth Commission.

State Senator John Whitmire, the powerful chair of the Texas Senate Committee on Criminal Justice, has launched a probe into the company’s contracts with the state. According to the story this morning Houston Chronicle:

Democratic Sen. John Whitmire, chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, cited the "terrible job" Geo Group Inc. did running the West Texas youth lockup and said Thursday he plans to review adult corrections contracts the state has with the company.

Whitmire is clearly upset about the abuse and “filthy conditions”
reported at Coke County. He is also rightfully peeved that GEO Group is sending lobbyists to convince legislators that they were acting too swiftly in pulling the youth from the prison. According to the Dallas Morning News:

State Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, threatened to hold a public hearing on GEO's operation of the TYC prison.

"Certainly that's an option if this goes any further," said Mr. Whitmire, chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee. "If GEO thinks they've been treated unfairly, let's have a public hearing and look at all the photographs and videos [of the Coke County prison] and let the public decide."

Mr. Whitmire said he was upset at efforts this week by GEO lobbyists to convince legislators that TYC had treated the company too harshly.

"Now enters GEO with their paid lobbyists attempting to put a good face on this," Mr. Whitmire said.

"I'm saying the corporation should back off. They've run a very poor facility that probably violates the youths' civil rights. ... Kids were stepping in their own feces. The sheets were such that a cat or dog wouldn't sleep on them."

GEO spokesman Pablo Paez said he would not comment on any attempts by the company's lobbyists to sway legislators.

The problems have been piling on in recent days for GEO and the TYC. Yesterday the Dallas Morning News reported that TYC had fired 7 employees in the fallout of the Coke County scandal and was launching a criminal investigation into the Coke County facility, including GEO employees there.

TYC Inspector General Bruce Toney said Wednesday he has begun a criminal investigation of operations at the Coke County Juvenile Justice Center near Bronte.

Mr. Toney said his inquiry could focus on TYC employees and those of GEO Group Inc., which operates the prison.
"We are going to follow all leads wherever they take us and as high as they may go both in TYC and the operation of that facility," Mr. Toney said.

Citing "deplorable conditions," TYC this week canceled its contract with GEO to operate the state's largest private juvenile prison. All 197 male inmates were removed on Tuesday.

Mr. Toney said he has requested assistance from the state auditor's office and met with the head of the Travis County district attorney's public integrity unit on Wednesday.

He said he also advised the Texas Rangers and Texas attorney general's office of his investigation.

The withdrawl of the juvenile inmates was instigated by a damning report filed by new TYC Ombudsman Will Harrell. Again from the excellent reporting of the Dallas Morning News (and via Grits for Breakfast - by far the best place on the web for continuous coverage on the TYC):

The problems found at the prison in Bronte, operated by the GEO Group Inc. of Florida, were described in a report by TYC Ombudsman Will Harrell.

"There is a greater sense of fear and intimidation in this facility than perhaps any other I have been to," Mr. Harrell wrote. He also noted that:

• Some young inmates were kept in "malodorous and dark" security cells for five weeks. They were allowed to leave, in shackles, only once a day for a shower.
• There was an "over-reliance" on the use of pepper spray.
• Inmates "complain regularly of discovering insects in their food."

Here at Texas Prison Bid’ness, we certainly hope that the light continues to shine on the GEO Group’s prisons.

I’ll be attending a protest, press conference, and tour of GEO’s notorious Val Verde prison in Del Rio this Saturday. More information is here. We’ll have a report on Sunday.