Texas Prison Bid'ness

Dan Rather Reports will be covering GEO Group's controversial Reeves County Detention Center on tonight's broadcast.  Here's the show's description:

What's Happening Inside Reeves? - A privately run Federal prison in a small Texas town collects millions of dollars a month but few know--or can find out--what goes on behind the walls.

As regular TPB readers will remember Reeves as it was our #2 bGEO Group protest December 10iggest private prison story of 2009.  The prison was the site of two major uprisings a year ago in protest of the lack of medical care amongst other conditions.  Nine immigrant prisoners have died in the facility in the last four years.  In the wake of the riots, the ACLU of Texas requested a Department of Justice review of the facility, and protests by family members, Grassroots Leadership (my organization), the ACLU of Texas, and the Southwest Workers Union continued into December.

The facility's problems have previously drawn major investigative pieces, including Forrest Wilder's Texas Observer piece ("The Pecos Insurrection," October 2, 2009) which chronicled last year's December 12th riot after the death of prisoner Jesus Manuel Galindo, and Tom Barry's Boston Review story ("A Death in Texas," November/December 2009) that puts Galindo's death and the subsequent disturbances in the context of how Pecos got into the prison-building business in the first place.  

You can watch the show tonight on HDNet or download it from iTunes.

A settlement was reached last month in a record-breaking lawsuit against the GEO Group in the beating death of Willacy County inmate Gregario de la Rosa in 2001, according to the Brownsville Herald ("Beating death lawsuit ends in settlement," 

A settlement agreement has been reached in the Willacy County civil case involving the prison firm Wackenhut Corrections Corp., known as the GEO Group, and Warden David Forrest in the beating death of Gregorio de la Rosa Jr. of Laredo.

The de la Rosa’s case involves one of the largest wrongful death judgments in the country. The judgment was in excess of $40 million.

The monetary settlement reached between the private prison group, former warden, insurers and de la Rosa’s family is being kept confidential, however.

"I am pleased to have brought justice to the de la Rosa family and am honored to have made a positive contribution to Texas law for the future protection of our people," said Laredo attorney Ron Rodriguez, who represented the de la Rosa family.

De la Rosa's death involved a brutal beating that was subsequently found to have been covered up by the GEO Group.  From the article,

The agreement follows a scathing opinion that the Thirteenth Court of Appeals issued in April. The appellate court rebuked the prison firm and warden, and affirmed the 2006 civil judgment that a Willacy County jury returned in excess of $40 million against the prison firm and Forrest for negligently causing de la Rosa Jr.’s death.

De la Rosa, according to the opinion, was beaten to death while prison officials first watched and later tried to cover up by losing and destroying evidence.

"We find that Wackenhut’s conduct was clearly reprehensible and, frankly, constituted a disgusting display of disrespect for the welfare of others and for this state’s civil justice system," the appellate court noted in its opinion. A few days before de la Rosa’s expected release from the Raymondville facility, two inmates beat the 33-year-old man to death on April 26, 2001.

The inmates used a lock tied to a sock while "Wackenhut’s officers stood by and watched and Wackenhut’s wardens smirked and laughed," the opinion observed.

It's nice to know that the family of de la Rosa has some closure in this clearly appalling case.

Another year has passed here at Texas Prison Bid'ness, and what an exciting year it has been. As we have done in the past, the bloggers here at TPB would like to recap our favorite or perhaps the most memorable stories/topics over the past year.  Over the next few days, we'll be posting 2009's top five stories related to private prisons.

This is the second biggest story of 2009. 

#2 Protests and riots at the GEO Group's Reeves County Detention Center

2009 started out with second riot at GEO's Reeves County Detention Center in Pecos, Texas by prisoners angered at multiple deaths and a lack of medical care at the facility.  By year's end, nine immigrant prisoners had died in the facility in the last four years. The riots could cost the county, which owns the facility over $1 million in repair costs.  In the wake of the riots, the ACLU of Texas requested a Department of Justice review of the facility, and attorney Juan Angel Guerra was denied access to clients in Pecos.

Several major investigative pieces covered the issue, including Forrest Wilder's Texas Observer piece ("The Pecos Insurrection," October 2) which chronicled last year's December 12th riot after the death of prisoner Jesus Manuel Galindo, and Tom Barry's Boston Review story ("A Death in Texas," November/December 2009) puts Galindo's death and the subsequent disturbances in the context of how Pecos got into the prison-building business in the first place.  Barry later spoke to Terry Gross about Reeves and private detention on NPR's Fresh Air.

Conditions at the Reeves County Detention Center continued to make headlines into December, thanks to protests organized by the Southwest Workers Union, the ACLU of Texas, Grassroots Leadership, and the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

Protesters gathered at the GEO Group's regional headquarters in New Braunfels on December 10th with coffins to represent the nine prisoner deaths at the facility in the last four years.  Texas Prison Bid'ness blogger and Grassroots Leadership organizer Bob Libal joined Maria Reynaga, the sister of a prisoner at RCDC, and ACLU of Texas director Terri Burke to deliver a letter to GEO executives calling on the company to to submit to a Department of Justice investigation into immigrant prisoner deaths and the conditions of confinement at RCDC, implement a transparent grievance system, and allow civil rights groups to monitor conditions at the facility.   

Family members and protesters also gathered in Pecos on December 12th, the anniversary of the death of the Jesus Manuel Galindo.  Galindo's death sparked the first of the two major riots at the prison in protest to a lack of medical care and abusive conditions. At the same time, the ACLU of Texas met with prisoners at RCDC, who described atrocious conditions at the facility, according to an op-ed by the ACLU's Tracey Hayes ("ACLU Texas advocate reveals inside look at inhumane conditions and profiteering at GEO managed detention center," Restore Fairness),

Prison officials keep medical costs down by making it almost impossible for inmates to get adequate medical care. They keep food costs down by serving low quality food in insufficient amounts.  They keep administrative costs down by restricting access to grievance processes with English-only requirements and by punishing English speakers who assist mono-lingual Spanish speakers in filling out the forms.  Bi-lingual speakers who try to help others must eventually choose between being thrown into solitary confinement or ending their translation assistance.

Furthermore, GEO’s cost-cutting has led to a long and steady rise in the company’s profits while atrocities continue unabated.  For example, detainees spoke of medical staff prescribing “two Tylenol” to detainees who complain of stomach ulcers, blood in the urine or stool, and metastasizing lumps spreading over aging bodies.  And inmates with previously diagnosed chronic and serious conditions were also prescribed “two Tylenol.” When they press their cases to obtain the medicines they need, detainees are often thrown into solitary where they are unable to ask for further medical attention or submit grievances.

It certainly doesn't sound like things have improved much at RCDC.  The facility's contract with the Bureau of Prisons is up in March, 2010, so we're likely to see more stories about RCDC in the new year. 

Protests are being planned next week for International Human Rights Day condemning human rights abuses against immigrants incarcerated at GEO Group's Reeves County Detention Center in Pecos, Texas.  The protests are being organized Grassroots Leadership, the ACLU of Texas, the Southwest Workers Union, and the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. The organizations have launched a new website to chronicle the ongoing troubles at Reeves.

At least nine prisoner deaths in the last four years have been reported at Reeves and the facility was home to two major prisoner uprisings last year.  Prisoners held at Reeves are segregated based on their immigration status.  Many, including several who have died, have served 5 or 10 year sentences for immigration violations.

Two actions are being planned. 

1) International Human Rights Day at GEO in New Braunfels
Thursday, December 10, 12pm-1pm
GEO Offices, 1583 Common Street, New Braunfels, TX
Austin carpool and RSVP: blibal@grassrootsleadership.org

2) March and Vigil at the Reeves County Detention Center
Saturday, December 12, 11a.m.
Reeves County Courthouse,
100 E. 4th Street, Pecos, TX

Reeves was the subject of two major investigative pieces in recent months.  Forrest Wilder's Texas Observer piece ("The Pecos Insurrection," October 2) chronicled last year's December 12th riot after the death of prisoner Jesus Manuel Galindo.  Tom Barry's Boston Review story ("A Death in Texas," November/December 2009) puts Galindo's death and the subsequent disturbances in the context of how Pecos got into the prison-building business in the first place. 

We'll post pictures and know developments from the protests.