Ugly allegations, OK sentencing reforms, and how to quickly fill up your jail

Here are a few, dispareate items that deserve Grits readers attention even if I don't have time to turn them each into individual posts:

Ugly allegations at juvie boot camp
Just in time for Valentines Day, here's a story of staff-inmate romance from a juvie boot camp in San Benito that got the adult staffer fired. The blog Hair Balls adds that the probation officer was found out when the boy bragged to a friend.

Because Texas county jails aren't quite full enough
An estimated 265 Texas law enforcement agencies will participate Feb. 25 in "The Great Warrant Roundup."

Local jail health provider sells out to national company
Randall and two other Panhandle counties contracted with a private company, Panhandle Correctional Care, but the local contractor was bought out by an out of state company from Maryland, reports the Amarillo Globe News. The new proprietors promise no change in the quality of care, but only time will tell. One of the problems with contracting for core services like inmate healthcare is that if the company you contract with sells out, all of a sudden you're stuck with a vendor from out of state who you never chose. One hopes it will work out, but it's a source of instability.

Dallas detective failed to investigate thousands of cases
In Dallas, a family violence detective allegedly failed to investigate thousands of cases, letting the file stack up in his garage. "More than 500 family violence victims were revictimized by the same person" after their cases were assigned to Det. Mickey East, reported Scott Goldstein at the Dallas Morning News (behind paywall). Remarkably, "East retired on Thursday after nearly 38 years on the force." Remarkably, "East had no prior disciplinary history," though he "was facing discipline that could have included termination." No one knows for sure how long this went on, but "Problems with East’s work were uncovered in September 2009, when a new supervisor found that East had entered into their tracking system just 16 cases in a four-year span. Detectives with similar caseloads had entered more than 1,500 during the same period." That speaks not only to Detective East's diligence, or lack thereof, but the supervisory structure that's supposed to oversee him, which is why it's notable that "Internal affairs cases are pending against one of East’s supervisors" related to the incident.

'Are America's Prison Towns Doomed?'
This subhed, which is the title of a article at The Atlantic, seems like a premature question to Grits, but Llewellyn Hinkes-Jones makes the case centering her critique on a Texas example. And certainly, there are data points here and there to support the thesis. Burnt Orange Report features a guest post describing the fallout in Littlefield, Tx, the same town featured in The Atlantic, exploring their ill-fated foray into the prison-for-profit business. And congrats to Bob Libal, Grassroots Leadership and ACLUTX for successfully opposing a new ICE family detention center in Texas.

These proposed sentencing reforms are OK
In Oklahoma, stakeholders convening through the Council on State Government's Justice Reinvestement Center have come forward with a new report (pdf) featuring a series of proposals to reduce recidivism and prison population costs. One of the biggest cost savers Grits would like to see Texas enact: "Require that every prison sentence include a period of post-release supervision of no less than nine months."

Mexican governor was allegedly on the take
A money laundering scandal has allegedly led to the doorstep of a former Mexican state governor from Tamaulipas, one of the states across the river from Texas. See the indictment (pdf) from Texas' Western District alleging murders and money laundering related to alleged payoffs to former Gov. Tomas Yarrington.