More to the Texas Prison Scandal

You may recall hearing in July that there were problems with Idaho inmates housed in a privately run Texas prison facility.  You know, the facility where one Idaho inmate committed suicide and after inspecting it, the Idaho Department of Corrections' health care director said the facility was the worst he had ever seen.  Yeah that one.  It was blogged about in July here.  Now we're finding out that there appears to be more to the story...and someone seems to be getting a sweetheart deal.

After finding Idaho inmates housed in deplorable conditions at the prison facility run by the The Geo Group, The Idaho Department of Corrections Director Brent Reinke decided to move the inmates to another facility run by the same group, the Val Verde Correctional Facility in Del Rio, Texas.  Reinke recently inspected the facility and was "pleasantly surprised" by the conditions despite troubling news from this facility as well.

From Grits for Breakfast writing about Reinke's visit:

Now, we learn from the San Antonio Express News medical writer Don Finley ("Fatal Del Rio illness baffles authorities," Aug. 10) that even while he was there, officials already knew about:

A mysterious illness at a Del Rio detention center that has killed two inmates and hospitalized two others within the past month has baffled health authorities, who have asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for help. Huh ... do you suppose the Geo Group failed to mention that tidbit when the Idaho Corrections Chief visited? Or was that just part of the "pleasant surprise"?  Here's something else I'll bet the Idaho Corrections director didn't advertise much when he went back home:

All four men — three of them foreign nationals from Honduras and Mexico held on immigration charges, the fourth a Val Verde county prisoner who was one of the dead — were described as in their 20s and 30s, and apparently healthy when they arrived at the Val Verde Correctional Facility and County Jail.

In March, Val Verde County and the Geo Group settled a lawsuit with the family of LeTisha Tapia, a 23-year-old federal inmate found hanged in her cell after reporting she'd been sexually assaulted in 2004. Last week, the Associated Press reported that under the terms of that settlement, the county had hired an independent monitor for the prison.

I've gotta tell you, none of that sounds so pleasant to me. In fact, it sounds like the facility has experienced serious, recent problems and is only beginning to address them, and then only when they were forced to through a court settlement.

According to an AP article in the Idaho Statesman, Reinke and the corrections board were made aware of the mysterious illness by a Geo executive, but that doesn't appear to have altered the department's plans to house inmates at the facility nor prompted them to discontinue doing business with the group. 

In fact Reinke told the AP that, "Our relationship with GEO is something we need to hold on to until we have other options in this state.  The department has a three-year contract with Val Verde that pays GEO $51 a day for each inmate."

Instead, Reinke has hired a "virtual prison" warden whose duty it will be to monitor the inmates housed out of state.

So why is the State of Idaho continuing doing business with a private company that has had recent and very serious problems?  Well, there was that money thing that was mentioned in the July post.

The GEO Group entered Idaho politics in 2005, when it hired its first lobbyist - a year later, it divvied up $8,000 between campaigns for Gov. Butch Otter, Lt. Gov. Jim Risch and drug czar Debbie Field. Since then, GEO has won contracts worth $8 million annually to house more than 400 Idaho inmates in Texas, including at two prisons where problems became so severe that Idaho demanded inmates be relocated.

Then yesterday we find out from a Spokesman-Review article reprinted in the Statesman, that Governor Butch Otter wants to change state law to allow private prisons to set up shop here in Idaho, as long as the state gets first shot at the beds. 

Hmmmm, and just who are those private prison companies likely to be? 

Otter said he wouldn’t want to permit any private prisons other than those that are contracting with the state to house Idaho prisoners.

Well, isn't that convenient.

Comments

[Gritsforbreakfast]

Now there's an unconfirmed rumor reported in the Del Rio paper that the "mysterious illness was TB. See:

http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2007/08/is-mysterious-illness-in-del-rio.html

Stay tuned! And forward this stuff to any Idaho reporters or pols you know - nobody's covering it here from yall's angle. best,

[jessica]

Private prisons are bullshit. I did a presentation on the prison industrial complex. I was going to blog about it but not sure if I did or not. If not, I will soon.