CEC Considered to Manage Miller County Correctional Facility

News reports started circulating at the end of February regarding private management of the Miller County Correctional Facility.  The county's sherrif, Ron Stovall, requested that local officials consider allowing CEC, formerly called CiviGenics to manage the county jail. 

The first step in moving the Miller jail to private management was a tour by  Bowie County Correctional Center Warden James McCormick.  Community Education Centers (CEC) formerly called CiviGenics, manages the Bowie County jail.

Before making a final decision Miller County officials should consider the scandals that plagued privately managed prisons and jails, including those operated by CEC/Civigenics, in Texas.  They include:

• A guard was indicted at CiviGenic's McLennan County Detention Center for having sex with a female prisoner (2004).  A prisoner who escaped from the facility was charged with killing a woman while he was a fugitive and a guard was charged with facilitating the escape (2001)
• A guard at the Bowie County Correctional Center annex was arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle marijuana, tobacco and cigars into the jail (2007)
• 30 prisoners at CEC/CiviGenics Kinney County Detention Center rioted after refusing to return to their cells from an indoor recreation area (2008).

And an excellent resource for Miller County officials is the Grassroots Leadership publication "Considering a Private Jail, Prison, or Detention Center?" written by TPB contributor Bob Libal with an article on prisons as economic development by University of Texas Professor Michele Deitch. We will keep you posted on developments in Miller County.