Texas Prison Bid'ness

Private prison effectiveness and cost-savings will be amongst the items the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice will study before the 81st Session. According to the committee charges, available in their entirety here, the committee will

Determine how private prisons are complying with state laws and how cost, safety, living conditions and rehabilitative services at private prisons compare with state-run facilities. Include an assessment of the staff turnover rates and compensation of private contractors when compared with state-operated facilities, and of the contract bidding processes used by the Texas Youth Commission and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

We'll have a more detailed post in the coming days, including a look at the Criminal Justice interim charges, and some suggestions for the commitee. I'm also sure that others in the blogosphere, including Grits for Breakfast, will weigh in the coming days.

Sad news out of CCA's Henderson Unit last week. From a story in the Longview News-Journal,

HENDERSON — An inmate at Bradshaw State Jail in Henderson was found dead in his cell this past week, a Texas Department of Corrections spokesman said.

Gregory Cole, 30, was discovered hanging by a bed sheet from the light fixture in his cell at about 11 a.m. Jan. 15, said Jason Clark. Jail personnel performed emergency care on Cole, and he was taken to a hospital. He was pronounced dead at 11:30 a.m.

In June 2006, Cole was sentenced to 10 years in state jail for possession and intent to deliver a controlled substance in McLennan County, Clark said. The spokesman did not know where Cole lived.

Of course, after any inmate's death there should be a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding the tragedy. The article sheds a very small amount of light on the process for a private or public prison in dealing with a suicide.

Clark said investigators with the inspector general's office were notified of the death. He said the inspector general's office always is notified when an inmate dies. A call to the inspector general's office was not returned Tuesday.

The Texas Department of Corrections has more than 155,000 inmates in jails across the state, Clark said. Thirty-two of the department's inmates committed suicide in 2007, and 30 inmates committed suicide in 2006, Clark said.

Clark said he did not know if Cole had been placed on suicide watch.

Bradshaw State Jail is a privately-operated facility owned by Corrections Corporation of America. A spokesperson for the jail did not return a call Tuesday.

We'll keep you updated on any developments in the investigation into this tragic death.

The Laredo Morning Times reported last week that State Senator Judith Zaffarini, a state Democratic powerhouse, accepted $500 from the GEO Group's PAC in the last half of 2007. GEO Group is of course the company behind the controversial federal detention center in Laredo.

The Raba-Kistner PAC contributed $5,000, and the Texas GEO Group Inc. PAC contributed $500. In December, the Webb County Commissioners Court authorized payment of an invoice to Raba-Kistner of more than $150,000 for services the San Antonio-based company provided to the county for work on the county's presidential permit application for the proposed rail bridge in northwest Webb County.

The county also recently entered into a contract with the GEO Group to provide water and sewer services for the company's new 1,500-bed detention facility under construction near the city of Rio Bravo.

Zaffirini's husband, Carlos Zaffirini, represents the GEO Group in local negotiations with the county.

Of course, a $500 contribution is not an incredible amount of money - it certainly must pale in comparison to the amount of money that Carlos Zaffirini has taken in from the GEO Group as their local counsel for the past 5 years - and numerous other Texas politicians have accepted similar donations from private prison corporations.

Still, one has to be concerned by the close relationship between a private prison corporation and one of the most powerful political families in south Texas. Zaffirini is facing a campaign challenge from former Webb County Judge Louis Bruni (who interestingly was an initial proponent of the GEO Group prison), who lost his re-election campaign by getting fourth of four candidates. His fund-raising numbers don't make it seem like his base of support has increased much. Despite spending $96,000 of his own money, his only campaign contribution in this reporting period came from his sister.

Via a reader, and confirmed by an article in the San Marcos Record, Caldwell County voted on January 16 to officially reject a private immigrant detention center proposed by Louisiana-based Emerald Corrections. As we've reported, the facility was the topic of a heated town meeting where 150 opponents asked an Emerald prison developer tough questions about the facility and held an informal vote against the prison. From the Record article:

(Commissioner Joe) Roland said initially, the proposal “seemed like an opportunity” that could bring much-needed jobs. He said there was also “a lot of misunderstanding” surrounding the proposal and that the people housed at the facility would not have been hardened criminals, just people who broke the law on a misguided path to a better life.

He said the community meeting was “something I did on my own to find out, to get the pulse of the community.

Public opposition would have been only the first hurdle for the project; commissioners would also have had to figure out how to supply the facility with the estimated 80,000 gallons of water it would need every day.

Our previous coverage of the Caldwell County detention center fight:

• Caldwell County Residents Defeat Emerald Proposal

• Caldwell County Commissioner Pitches Emerald Detention Center
  

• Emerald Proposes Caldwell County Detention Center