Our friends Diana Claitor and Rebecca Larsen of the
Texas Jail Project have a fine little column in the Waco Tribune Herald today titled "
McLennan County jail increasingly mired in abuse." The article opened:
Last month,
McLennan County received a notice of non-compliance from the Texas
Commission on Jail Standards after the death of 25-year-old Michael
Martinez in the Jack Harwell Detention Center.
Three employees of
the privately run jail have been arrested and charged with forging
government documents after they allegedly covered up the fact that they
were not performing visual checks on at-risk people — a violation of
federal law. Records indicated that jailers had checked on Martinez
within the required half-hour time span, but an investigation revealed
that Martinez had been hanging for almost three hours when found.
LaSalle Corrections is the for-profit company
that runs the Jack Harwell Center for McLennan County. “We think they’re
excellent operators and, unfortunately, sometimes things like this
happen,” said McLennan County Commissioner Scott Felton.
But that’s not what families with loved ones in
that jail say. At the Texas Jail Project, we have received pleas for
help from families concerned about loved ones being refused
mental-health treatment, essential medications and medical care.
Several days before Christmas, another story came
to light when the Tribune-Herald revealed that a formerly jailed
30-year-old woman filed a lawsuit in Waco’s 170th State District Court
against LaSalle Corrections. The lawsuit alleges she was repeatedly
sexually assaulted at the facility and goes on to describe an
out-of-control institution rife with smuggling, extortion and drug
abuse.
Felton’s description of LaSalle as “excellent
operators” is strange considering these incidents as well as the history
of this facility. Last year, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) removed all immigrant detainees from the Jack Harwell Center after
ongoing claims of civil rights violations by attorneys and advocates.
Prior to May of 2013, another private contractor of this facility, CEC,
was cited for sexual abuse and other violations.
Despite ongoing controversy, McLennan County
renewed its contract with LaSalle last year with the addition of a 90
percent occupancy clause: If the jail is filled with fewer people than
90 percent of its available beds, LaSalle can end its contract with a
90-day notice. We believe that a jail should not have a contracted
mandate to stay full because that results in a deliberate effort to
increase the number of arrests.
This does not make Waco a safer community and intensifies mistrust of law enforcement.
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7 comments:
Might that occupancy requirement been driving the long-term detention of all those bikers arrested in Waco? We will never know.
The authors give a pass to the Sheriff who is up for re-election. They accurately attribute culpability to the County Judge but he is not on the ballot. The editorial also clouds the issue with the write up from the Commission. The write up was not over the private jail it was over the county jail run by the sheriff. All indications are, McLennan County will re-elect a sheriff who is photogenic but is surrounded by an ever increasing number of dead bodies.
For the public, the jail has been plagued by "problems". For the folks who died there and for their families, the jail has been plagued by negligent homicides. For the stockholders and others involved in the financial dealings: I hope they enjoy their blood money long enough for karma to pay them back tenfold.
Inmate rape has long been a plague of jails and prisons, but Miami’s jailers didn’t think they had a real problem. That changed abruptly in 2010, when a federal report listed one of the city’s five jails, the Pretrial Detention Center, as one of the worst in America for inmate sexual abuse.Designed more than a half century ago, the center is a warren of dark corridors and dense rows of bunk beds. A survey of inmates by the Bureau of Justice Statistics five years ago found that the inmates were sexually abused at four times the national average. At the time, the only direct supervision took place when guards made their hourly rounds.Five years later, the detention center, as well as the system’s four other facilities, are being recognized as a national model for prevention by Just Detention International, an advocacy organization that works to stop prison rape and that partnered with the jail to address the problem. In July 2014, a federal audit found that Miami’s system, the country’s eighth largest, became one of the first large urban jails to comply with federal prison standards for protecting inmates from sexual assault. It was a “monumental achievement,” a federal monitor wrote in 2014. The achievement is even more notable, given the jail’s notorious history of violence, overcrowding, and lack of treatment for the mentally ill.Is Miami’s system problem-free? Hardly. But recent efforts have gone a long way toward making a big difference. Since the 2010 report, about 1,500 cameras have been mounted across the jail system at a cost of almost $1 million. Staff movements are now tracked to ensure guards are checking on inmates. Thousands of officers have been trained to recognize the signs of sexual abuse, and how to handle it, whether it happened between inmates or involved one of their own colleagues. Posters and a video were produced to tell inmates about new ways they can report abuse, including an anonymous hotline. Local police are now notified of every allegation. But staff members say the most significant improvement has been changing the attitudes of the officers and managers themselves.The threat of sexual abuse was a laughing matter to many before the jail began its changes. “I used to tease guys about it, making soap-on-a-rope jokes, thinking I’m being humorous,” said Capt. John Johnson, who was supervisor of the detention center when it was rated on of the worst in the country. The news had come as a shock. “It was embarrassing,” Johnson said. “To be perfectly blunt, at first, I wanted to fight it. I kept thinking, these numbers can’t be right.” He came to accept the survey results, and is now a leader in many of the jail’s prevention efforts.The size and complexity of the system complicates reform. With over 1,000 inmates on some type of psychiatric drugs, Miami’s jail system is the largest institution for mentally ill people in Florida. It also books a new inmate every seven to eight minutes, which strains the aging structures. https://www.themarshallproject.org/2015/12/28/miami-s-notorious-jail-fights-back-against-rape?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter&utm_source=opening-statement&utm_term=newsletter-20151228-350#.wtzxju6Pk
DO WE NEED THE FEDS TO COME TO TEXAS?
From the above article: "But recent efforts have gone a long way toward making a big difference. Since the 2010 report, about 1,500 cameras have been mounted across the jail system at a cost of almost $1 million. Staff movements are now tracked to ensure guards are checking on inmates. Thousands of officers have been trained to recognize the signs of sexual abuse, and how to handle it, whether it happened between inmates or involved one of their own colleagues. Posters and a video were produced to tell inmates about new ways they can report abuse, including an anonymous hotline. Local police are now notified of every allegation."
TRAINING, MONITORING, REPORTING, AND ACCOUNTABILITY WORK. GOOD OL'BOYS way of doing things DOES NOT WORK, but it does put money into pockets.
The real problem is the former County Judge and Commissioners, who have left office after benefiting friends through the financing of the jail. All of the bonds were sold in a lot at a higher interest rate than necessary, at a time when rates were expected to fall, as they did in weeks. Then the company that bought the bonds sold them at a profit, and a number of influential and wealthy friends made a quick financial killing. The company went out of existence immediately after selling the bonds and distributing the proceeds.
@A Wacoan
That is exactly what they want you to believe. The poor old current elected officials are completely unable to do anything about the mess left for them. It's George Bushes fault. The fact is the current bunch is worse than what we had before. The former were able to make a buck but did not sit around and lament how difficult their job was. The REAL problem is institutional incompetence supported by the electorate.
Race for McLennan County Sheriff
Texas Public Information Act
Taxpayers Concenrned about the budget.
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