Category: Detention

Does the CCA Lease Expire Jan. 31?

Take a look for yourself, at agreements between Williamson County, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for the Imprisonment of Women and Children (forwarded by Jay J. Johnson-Castro in PDF format [400 kb]).

Bottom Line: ICE pays $2.8 million per month for up to 512 prisoners (plus $19.23 per hour for off-site guard services, $125,000 per month for medical care, with contraceptives, immunizations and off-site medical care billed at additional cost). After that, $79 per day extra per head, plus $8 for medical care. For its trouble, the county collects $1 per day per child or adult imprisoned from CCA, the company that books the amounts from ICE stated above.

In January 2006, Williamson County Commissioners approved a one-year agreement with CCA. In April 2006 they approved the prison contract with ICE “indefinitely unless terminated in writing” with 120 days notice.

Public minutes of the April 18, 2006 Commisioners Court [Agenda Item 25] announce a change in “per diem and detainees” for ICE but do not indicate that the contract length with CCA is also being changed to “indefinitely.”

For these reasons, Jay Johnson-Castro says the County’s agreement with CCA expires at the end of this month, Jan. 31, 2007.

“What I am asking is…Will the Williamson County Commission choose Chertoff and CCA over the children?” says Johnson-Castro. “Will they become local, state, national and
international heroes and choose the children over Chertoff and CCA?”
Note: “Rick” mentioned on page one is, according to a reliable source, Rick Zinsmeyer, Director of Community Supervisions and Corrections for Williamson County.

Email from Riad Hamad, Jan. 23, 2007. Materials about the Suleimans have been archived here at the Texas Civil Rights Review.

Adel Suleiman was born in a refugee camp, and the USA will return him to refugee status in Jordan, along with his spouse and twin daughters. He is not fighting the deportation, because he finds it preferable to the jail torture that he has been experiencing since his abduction Nov. 2 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). With deep sadness we ask, will Texas media NEVER mention this family’s name?
Racism is the plain and simple explanation for this family’s treatment at the hands of USA authorities and for the lack of care demonstrated by paid professionals in the media establishment. Media resources can always be found to tell stories about Ted Nugent’s attire. Yet, while pundits fret about confederate flag symbolism, the practical confederacy lives on. Shame, shame, shame.–gm

Dear friends,

As you know Palestine Children’s Welfare Fund has been assisting the Palestinian families in the Hutto detention center through the payment of some of their legal fees, meals in the center and phone cards. We just received a phone call from one of the families advising us that the immigration authorities just informed them that they will be deported to Jordan on Monday.

The family of Adel Suleiman and Asma Qadoura will leave the United States on Monday via Dallas and their young twin girls ages 4 will accompany them. Both girls are United States citizens and were staying with their aunt in Irving pending the end of this nightmare that started November 3rd, 2006.

PCWF contributed to the legal fees incurred by their competent and compassionate lawyer, Mr. John Wheat Gibons and will be paying for the airline tickets of the two children who will have to leave with their parents next week.

PCWF would like to encourage you to contribute to the purchase of the airlines tickets of these two children to avoid separating them from their famiy. You can send your contribution to the address listed on the bottom of this email or you can donate online and specify that you want the money to go towards the Palestinian families in Hutto.

Additionally, PCWF will continue to provide support for the remaining two families till their legal cases are resolved. We are aware that the Ibrahim family can not leave the United States yet since the Isreali and the Jordanian governments refused to accept them or allow them to go back. You will receive more information as it becomes available and will try to update you about their status promptly. We will also be glad to provide you with the contact information for the families if you wish to help them directly if you have any doubts regarding the destination of your donation

Looking forward to hearing from you and THANKS again for your generosity, work and support for the children in Palestine.

Salamat
Riad Hamad

http://www.pcwf.org, http://www.paypalestine.com, Palestine Children’s Welfare Fund. 201 W. Stassney # 201, Austin, Texas 78745

Click to buy Palestinian arts and crafts online, sponsor a Palestinian child ,buy a flag or a kufiya, donate a book to teach one or plant an olive/ orange tree in Palestine to honor a loved one

Email from Jay J. Johnson-Castro, Jan. 22, 2007

Hola y’all…

The fate of the children incarcerated in the Hutto prison camp is in the hands of the Williamson County Commissioners Court. As of last week, the Commissioners did not realize that they would have such a crucial decision to make this coming week.

The County’s lease with the Correctional Corporation of America , (CCA) the private company that makes obscene profits off of incarcerating the children and their mothers…expires next week…on January 31st. Now, thanks to the efforts of our investigations and opposition, the Commissioners do know. They know that they can refuse to renew the lease and put an end to the Hutto “ Residential Center ” prison camp.
There is a growing group of Williamson County citizens that … are shocked that little children are in prison cells for 22 hours a day. They are outraged that such an immoral and criminal act is being committed, not only in America , let alone in the great State of Texas …but right in their county. It is even more repugnant for many of the Williamson County residents that live right in Taylor …not far from the prison camp.

Many of these citizens will be present [Tuesday] morning at 9:30am at the Commissioners Court in Georgetown. They will be there to oppose the renewal of the lease with CCA and the cancellation of the contract with Chertoff and the ICE Company. So, there is an outreach taking place within the fellow Williamson County residents to attend this meeting.

Jane Van Praag, will be making a presentation to the Commissioners Court. Jane says the following about when and where the Commissioners Court will meet:

The Williamson County Commissioners’ Court meets every Tuesday at 9:30 in the Precinct 3 Justice of the Peace Courtroom at the County Annex Building, 301 SE Inner Loop, in Georgetown. [Tuesday] (23rd) I make my appeal not to renew T. Don Hutto and on the 30th they will discuss whether or not to renew once the contract expires on 01-31-07.

It is the hope and confidence of the Williamson County residents such as Jane that the Commissioners they elected to represent their citizens’ voice, will do so on this most crucial matter, and especially to have the courage to do the just and moral thing regarding the children. The right thing being…to stand up to a powerful government that would incarcerate children, give the required 120 day notice to Chertoff and ICE, while cancelling the lease with CCA. By doing so, the Commissioners can make a statement with national and international force, that it is an immoral and un-American act to exploit the women and children…let alone for profit.

As for the rest of us…from all over Texas , the USA and other parts of the world…we are solidly behind Jane Van Praag and the citizens of Williamson County …in their fight to restore a sense of sanity and dignity at this crucial time of American history. We also hope that the Williamson County Commissioners, instinctively champion the children…and force Chertoff and ICE to discontinue something so immoral, repugnant…and even criminal…as to treat these little innocent ones as they are doing.

To the Williamson County Commissioners, the fate of these children is in your hands. You can champion them. You should champion them…as if they were your own children or grandchildren.

For a take on this situation from Williamson County residents…here is the link to the Eye on Williamson County. http://www.eyeonwilliamson.org/

You’re always encouraged to go to http://www.texascivilrightsreview for the most complete accumulation and up to date information regarding the Hutto prison camp.

Jay

P.S. Don’t forget the Vigil this coming Thursday evening, January 25th…at 5:50-6:30pm…right in front of the Hutto prison camp. We are holding this third vigil…to encourage the Williamson County Commissioners to choose the children over Chertoff and the ICE Company. Here’s the mapquest map.

jjj

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Border Ambassador

Connecting.the.dots…making.a.difference…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jay J. Johnson-Castro, Sr.

Del Rio, Texas, USA
Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila , Mexico

Commentary

On Dec. 15, 2006 Dallas attorney John Wheat Gibson wrote an email to a Texas reporter explaining that some of the families imprisoned at the T. Don Hutto jail for immigrants had in fact entered the USA legally with visas.

We are grateful that Gibson’s email was circulated on Dec. 18 by Del Rio businessman Jay Johnson-Castro, because otherwise there is a good chance nobody would know about three Palestinian families who are serving terms of indefinite jail time in Texas (and Oklahoma) jails.
On the other hand, try a news search at Google for the key words Perry and Confederate. We tried the search this morning and got 101 hits. If you want to get real attention from Texas media, just put on a Confederate flag t-shirt and play your guitar at the governor’s inauguration.

And so we offer profound apologies to the three Palestinian families–Ibrahim, Suleiman, and Hazahza–for the awful neglect and abuse that they continue to suffer at the hands of officials and reporters in Texas.

Word comes now that two USA citizens–the 4-year-old twin daughters of the Suleiman family–will shortly be deported with their parents, because the USA has not a heart big enough to share with this refugee family. We hope out loud that in the next few days, someone with authority and compassion will lift a finger to change these things.

Meanwhile, we are grievously dismayed by the Governor. When the Governor was informed that people were offended by the display of a confederate flag at his inaugural ball, what did he do? He called the person who displayed the flag in order to commiserate and communicate his solidarity.

We would much prefer a government in Texas that did not imprison children, a media that did not ignore international refugees, and a Governor who would pick up the phone and apologize to Texas NAACP President Gary Bledsoe. But we have none of these things.

In this seventh year of the 21st Century, we have only the same old news, made increasingly worse by our expectations that things should have gotten better by now.–gm

The governor also called over the weekend, ending the conversation by telling Nugent to “give ’em hell,” Nugent was quoted as saying.–AP

Statement delivered by Jane Van Praag to County Commissioners Court, Jan. 23, 2007. Also, see Daniel K. Lai’s report on the meeting for the Taylor Daily Press.

We understand that the contract between Williamson County and the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) is up for renewal on January 31.

I am here to express my opposition to the renewal of this contract.
It is a moral wrong to imprison children. It is morally wrong to imprison whole families with children without exhausting all the alternatives, which would allow families to stay together while ensuring immigrants attend their immigration hearing.

Even Congress, when appropriating the money for this facility, stated: “The Committee expects DHS to release families or use alternatives to detention such as the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program whenever possible.” (House Report 109-079 – DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY APPROPRIATIONS BILL, 2006).

I urge the Commissioners’ Court to hold ICE accountable and request that ICE prove it is complying with what Congress intended. We need to know if ICE has exhausted all of the alternatives to detaining these children and families before you renew this contract.

There is only so much that can be done to the T. Don Hutto facility to make it more humane. At some point it becomes clear that it’s still a prison, with bars on the doors, where people are not free to go where they choose, and where children can only go outside at an assigned time.

That is why I am asking you to invite ICE to explain in a public and transparent way why the alternatives to imprisoning families in this way are not being used, before you renew this contract for another year.

If ICE needs more time than is available before the contract with CCA expires, I encourage you to extend the CCA contract for an additional 120 days only and give notice that you intend to terminate the contract with ICE unless ICE publicly explains what alternatives to prison they have tried and why they are not able to implement any of the alternatives to imprisonment.

The voters of Williamson County deserve to know that the federal facilities in their county are operated consistent with what Congress intended.