Open records reveal Grayson Sheriff's disdain for private jail plans

Kathy Williams at the Sherman Herald-Democrat is doing an excellent job covering the roller coaster ride over building a new Grayson County Jail after police unions scuttled a November election with threatened open meetings litigation. Williams has been especially adept using the open records act to dig deeper into the local controversy. A portion of her latest piece explains why the Sheriff opposes building a private jail operated by Southwestern Correctional/La Salle Corrections:

A few clues as to why the sheriff continues to question the wisdom of contracting with Southwestern to build and operate the jail came to light this week when he responded to a Herald Democrat request for records under the Texas Public Information Act.

In an interview Thursday, [Sheriff Keith] Gary said he will continue to meet with Southwestern, its construction contractor Hale Mills and its architect HOK until the Commissioners Court officially abandons that option. He added that he will not sign anything until he has an approved contract with all its attachments in hand and those documents address all of his safety and operational concerns.

Among the records the Herald Democrat received are notes that show that the sheriff, Chief Deputy Ron Brown and others have deep concerns about Southwestern Correctional's jail design. The company has operated in Louisiana under the name LaSalle Corrections and works mainly with prisons there.

In a letter to Pete Newsham, project architect with HOK, Gary wrote Aug. 24 that he and his staff were pleased with the cooperation of HOK, Hale Mills and Southwestern during a meeting on Aug. 11. However, "The outcome of the meeting on 8-19-09 has totally changed our feelings in regard to the progress made during our first meeting. The Sheriff's Office does not want a prison. ... I do not approve of a building, the design of which is primarily for prison operations and programs.

"The purpose of a County jail is, 'Care, Custody and Control of Inmates.' A large number of county inmates have not been to trial and found guilty. We understand that your mind set is totally different, and based on a convicted criminal concept. The fact that we are the customer has been lost in the discussion! Therefore we will find it difficult to approve the purchase of a product that we do not agree with."

Gary told HOK that he intends to continue working with them to address specific issues, and would ask Bynum to sit in on the next round of discussions.

In brief form, Gary outlined to Newsham the areas of disagreement, "the concept of what we believe to be the excessive inmate movement within the facility with or without supervision ... the concept of feeding inmates in a common dining hall ... the large outside prison yards ... inmate movement to the commissary ... the concept of contact visits.

"You have often stated to us that this facility will be under my control and will ultimately become our county jail. Therefore the facility must be planned, constructed and operated as a county jail. At this time, I cannot in good faith approve the plans."

Adding to Gary's apprehension, he said, is that Southwestern's newest enterprise, the Burnet County Jail, experienced a jail break a few weeks ago. The incident led to TCJS ruling Southwestern was non-compliant with jail operations requirements.

Excellent local coverage, particularly for a small-market paper. I don't recall reporters from the Tyler Morning Telegraph, for example, using open records so aggressively during Smith County's three recent failed jail-bond elections.

Breakout! Burnet jail escape ill-timed for Grayson jail builders

In love and in politics, timing is often everything, and for jail builders in Grayson County, the timing of last week's jail break in Burnet County couldn't be worse.

The Burnet County Jail is the only one in Texas currently operated by Southwestern Correctional LLC, which is based in Louisiana and operates eight facilities there (mostly for the state prison system) under the name La Salle Corrections. (Hundreds of inmates from the Harris County Jail diaspora ended up in a La Salle facility in Urania, La). They also manage a federal facility for immigration and US Marshall's service prisoners in Crystal City, TX.

Grayson County Judge Drue Bynum and three other members of the commissioners court would like to hire Southwestern Correctional to run an oversized jail in Grayson County with an eye toward contracting out extra space to other jurisdictions. The Commission on Jail Standards boosted their estimate of Grayson's jail capacity needs after the private company and county officials lobbied them to change their methodology.

Now, the ill-timed escape and the apparent culpability of Southwestern Correctional employees may give voters a new reason to reject jail bonds scheduled to go to the voters in November. Here's an excerpt from a blandly titled piece on the topic in the Sherman Herald-Democrat:

Charles Ryan Boisseau, editor of the Burnet Bulletin and writer for the related Highland Lakes Newspapers, said he had spoken with Adan Munoz, executive director of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, about the incident. Boisseau said Friday that Munoz confirmed that his office had officially deemed the [Burnet] jail non-compliant.

"The best way to describe it is a lack of diligence, a lack of professionalism," Munoz said.

Boisseau said the account he got of how the escape happened was that guards were rushing to process inmates back into the jail after a recreation break outside in a secure area. He said each inmate was supposed to be searched before and after going outside.

"One of the guards walked ahead of the inmates, and just basically let them close the door behind themselves," Boisseau said. That's when the man escaped by going back into the recreation yard, climbing onto a roof and sliding down a drain pipe.

Boisseau, in a copyrighted story Friday, said that Billy McConnell of Southwestern Correctional LLC confirmed that the jailer responsible for supervising the inmates coming in and out of the jail had resigned and two others face disciplinary action. Boisseau added in a telephone conversation that Burnet County Sheriff W.T. Smith's staff said he was worn out by the events since Sunday and could only be reached by e-mail.

Southwestern has 30 days to show Texas Commission on Jail Standards how it plans to correct the noncompliance issues. The inmate, Nuana Antonio Fuentes-Sanchez, was in jail awaiting trial on accusations he violently attacked a couple in their home during a robbery.

Boisseau said that privatization of building and operating the jail in Burnet County was a controversial issue. Burnet County Judge Donna Klaeger also serves as chairwoman of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards.

Reacting to these revelations, the blog Texas Prison Bidness asks, "Southwestern Correctional has major problems in Burnet; Are Grayson Commissioners watching?"

One wonders what might be discovered by searching further into La Salle Corrections in Louisiana? A quick Google search revealed an anecdote from 2003 about a La Salle-run facility where

For $3, inmates and visitors to the Claiborne Parish Detention Center in Homer [could] buy pirated copies of recordings by a wide array of performers, according to a lawsuit filed on behalf of the music industry. The jail's computers were used to illegally copy recordings by performers ranging from rapper Eminen to country music's George Strait to New Age instrumentalist John Tesh, Baton Rouge-based Utopia Entertainment Inc. charged in the copyright-infringement case ... in U.S. District Court in Shreveport.

That also sounds like a situation exhibiting a lack of "diligence" and "professionalism." One suspects this incident and the recent escape won't be the only lapses reporters or jail critics in Sherman might find if they dig into La Salle Corrections too hard.

According to TCJS chief Adan Munoz, in Burnet County Southwestern Correctional/La Salle convinced local officials to go with an outsized facility, just as they've been pushing in Grayson. "Our recommendation was 432" beds, he told me last week, but "They went with a private company’s own needs analysis and built 587, after initialing wanting 700 beds."

Some locals in Grayson County are already pushing back hard against plans that rely on TCJS' most recent, higher needs assessment, which relies on a methodology provided by Southwestern Correctional. That overreach by jail builders, combined with likely blowback from this recent escape episode, bode ill, one would think, for a jail vote that's now less than two months away.

I've seen no polling, but one suspects that if there's any organized local opposition at all it could easily vanquish the bonds at the ballot box, spoiling for now Judge Bynum's long-cherished dream of a jail so big it pays for itself.