Getting to Know the Emerald Companies

Web resources quilted together by the editor of the Texas Civil Rights Review–gm

Although it lost out to Corrections Corporation of America in a bid to operate a prison in Panama City, Florida, the Emerald Companies still operates five medium security prisons. Two of them lie near the Mississippi River in eastern Louisiana. The three Texas prisons have rated capacities of 548 each.

La Salle

In South Texas, the Emerald Companies operates the LaSalle County Regional Detention Center, 832 E. Texas Highway 44,
Encinal, TX 78019; Warden Rudy Sanchez (756-794-1900). A colorful history of this facility has been published by the Panama City News Herald and archived by the Private Corrections Institute (PCI):

The most publicized was La Salle County (2000 pop. less than 5,900). County commissioners were persuaded by a lobbyist and the management team to issue $22 million in bonds to build a 500-bed prison. Although commissioners eagerly embraced the idea, they agreed to keep public involvement at arm’s length. The secretiveness enabled commissioners and Emerald to reach convivial agreement without the hindrance of county legal and fiscal staff. When the public learned what transpired – that the bonds paid an outrageous 12-percent interest, underwriter fees were 6 percent, Emerald would get a flat amount for operating the prison no matter how small the inmate population, and the persuasive lobbyist reportedly received a percentage of the deal, not a fee – the public was not amused. Lawsuits ensued. It was too late to stop the bond fiasco. As part of the lawsuit settlement, however, Emerald agreed to be paid based on the actual number of prisoners. Emerald also agreed to pay the town of Encinal $50,000 and La Salle County $100,000. Both payments were part of Emerald’s bid but somehow were omitted from the contract. When County Commissioner George Gainer talks about Bay County being victimized by bad contracts in the past, this is the kind of shoddy legal work he means. La Salle County had to issue an additional $4.5 million in bonds to pay contractors so the work could proceed. The absence of public input caused additional oversights. Now open, “The facility itself used up all but a few connections-worth of our existing water supply capacity,” says Encinal City Council member Barba de Chiva. “It uses – and stinks – all of our sewer capacity. Any further development is now contingent upon our spending millions of dollars to upgrade local infrastructure.”

And when you have time to stretch out, light your pipe, and read about private prisons in Texas, PCI has one long-as-hell and up-to-date page called Texas Hall of Shame.

Sierra Blanca

In West Texas the Emerald Companies operates the Hudspeth County Regional Correctional Facility, 10796C E. Lewis Ave., Sierra Blanca, TX 79851; Warden T.J. Medart (915-369-2246).

According to the Wyoming State Auditor’s Office, the Emerald Companies recently received the following electronic funds transfers from Wyoming: $35,344.60 for SIERRA BLANCA MEN on 3/19/2007; $98,562.42 for SIERRA BLANCA MEN on 2/23/2007.

Rolling Plains Prison

And on the Western edge of North Texas, the Emerald Companies operates the Rolling Plains Regional Jail and Detention Center, 118 County Rd. 206, Haskell, TX 79521; Warden Jill Watson (940-864-5694).

In addition to making money from Homeland Security for holding innocent immigrants for six whole months at a time, the Rolling Plains prison also imports medium security felons from Wyoming, including women.

According to the Wyoming State Auditor’s Office, the Emerald Companies received the following recent electronic funds transfers from Wyoming: $141,817.84 for ROLLING PLAINS MEN on 3/12/2007; $64,228.75 for ROLLING PLAINS WOMEN on 3/12/2007; $80,242.50 for ROLLING PLAINS WOMEN on 2/23/2007; and $120,970.37 for ROLLING PLAINS MEDIC on 2/23/2007.

Rolling Plains hasn’t always been in the hands of the Emerald Companies. An overview from PublicBonds.Org says Emerald took it over from another contractor following a financing dispute:

In March 1998 the Haskell City Council, the Haskell County Commissioners Court and the Development Corporation of Haskell joined forces to form the Rolling Plains Regional Corporation, a non-profit entity, to build a regional jail, a youth detention facility and a privately run prison.

Voters approved the sale of $20 million in bonds for the Rolling Plains Regional Jail Facility, which comprised a 48-bed county jail and a 500-bed detention center and was completed in early 2002. Concerns by local residents about its tax consequences for the city and the county had delayed the process.

The county jail had an average population of 35 per day until July 2002. The detention center received its first 57 detainees from the Immigration and Naturalization Services in July of that year. The county lost some of its prisoners to Dickens County.

Management and Training Company initially operated the facility. Under the county’s contract with MTC, payments on the certificates of obligation were last in order, following payments on the revenue bonds and payments to the operator. When the county failed to renegotiate the order of payments with MTC, it decided to contract with a new operator, Emerald Correctional Management Corporation.

This AP report is from April 2004 (we have not yet determined the date when Emerald took over):

Rolling Plains Regional Jail, Texas
Federal authorities say they are investigating allegations that workers at a detention center have mistreated in mates. Inmate complaints at the Rolling Plain Regional Jail and Detention Center in Haskell range from not getting enough soap and lotion to a lack of proper medical treatment, said Patricia Mancha, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A special assessment team dispatched from Washington to investigate is expected to issue a report in a few weeks, Mancha said. The 551-bed private jail contracts with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Dallas. Judy Morrell, a corrections officer for two years, said she quit recently over “inhumane” treatment of inmates. She alerted federal officials about the conditions weeks ago. “Animals were treated better than the inmates,” Morrell, who lives in Seymour, told the Wichita Falls Times Record News in a Thursday story. “I refuse to be a part of it anymore.” Because of overcrowding, some inmates were forced to sleep on the floor and given rations that were substandard and irregular, she said. (AP, April 16, 2004)

Sweetwater?

We don’t know the rest of the story yet, but here’s an interesting lead from KTAB TV Abilene from July 12, 2006:

New Jobs Possible For Sweetwater

The private firm that runs
the
Haskell prison is looking to re-open a closed facility in Sweetwater that could end up creating 200 new jobs.

The Sweetwater Enterprise for Economic Development Corporation is finalizing a recommendation for the city commission to help Emerald Companies purchase the closed Temple Dickson facility.

The former juvenile correctional prison closed several years ago.

Emerald, which operates the Haskell prison along with other facilities in the state and Louisiana, is seeking help to purchase the facility and upgrade it.

Initially they would install double fencing around the facility and new security sensors.

Eventually they would like to add more buildings to bring the inmate population up to 500 which would eventually mean a total of 200 jobs at the prison over the two year $10-million dollar expansion.

If the incentives are approved and the sale is finalized Emerald will hire 40 people to start out.

The prison would likely house out of state inmates.

Prisons and Rural Texas

A 2002 report from the Texas Office of Rural Community Affairs studied one of the recent prison booms:

From 1988 to 2000, the Texas Legislature appropriated $2.3 billion to construct facilities for over 108,000 prison beds. Rural counties across Texas successfully attracted prison construction
by offering land, utilities, easements, and other amenities. Because of the efforts of rural counties, a majority of these prisons were built in rural Texas. In fact, more than 40 prison units were opened in cities with populations under 30,000. The employment and payroll of a state prison unit can range from 140 employees with an annual payroll of $4.2 million to 800
employees with an annual payroll of $22 million. Prisons have provided needed jobs in many rural Texas communities, while neighboring communities and the region surrounding a prison
may receive increased economic benefits. However, some factors have minimized positive economic impacts, including:

• the cost of connecting prisons to utility services, and
• a lack of housing in communities that have successfully attracted prison construction,

which may reduce the prison’s positive impact on local property tax revenue and limit a community’s ability to house prison employees that are new to the area.

An unintended consequence of locating prisons in rural areas of the state has been an increased caseload for judges in those areas. For example, when an inmate housed in a rural area alleges mistreatment that can result in a civil tort case for damages or injuries, the rural district judge in that area has oversight under basic civil venue rules. During the 74th Legislative Session, section 14.003, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, was added which permits judges to dismiss frivolous or malicious claims. However, the time spent judging the merit of inmate claims can place an additional burden on rural Texas’ already burdened courts. To date, Texas’ rural judges have handled these cases without additional resources (PDF Source).