Category: Uncategorized

Two stories from 1998 capture the spirit of prison boosters making plans for the Rolling Plains Prison project–gm

Abilene Reporter News
Tuesday, June 9, 1998

Jail to be built at Haskell

By DUSTY GARISON
and ROY A. JONES II
Staff Writers

HASKELL – A regional jail to house 200 prisoners will be built here, the first of its kind in the state, elated Haskell city and county officials announced Monday.
And the project, which will create 55 to 60 jobs, could get even bigger if other area counties vote to join in the plans for the Rolling Plains Regional County Jail and related facilities.

No tax dollars will be used for constructing the not-for-profit regional jail, which will be owned and operated under the joint auspices and authority of Haskell County and the city of Haskell, officials said.

Daily operations and administration will be handled by a professional prison management company to be named later.

Haskell officials hadn’t even had time to announce their plans for a 100-bed facility to the public before Jones County commissioners voted to lend their support.

When the Jones commissioners voted to contract for three years to house their prisoners in the regional jail, Haskell officials promptly doubled the size of the planned facility to 200 beds.

Jones County has been plagued by jail overcrowding problems for months and has been paying both Taylor and Fisher counties for holding about 20 Jones County prisoners.

Haskell County Judge David Davis said different groups have tried to develop regional jails for Texas counties since 1979, but this will be the first time counties have come together to house inmates in a shared facility.

Cooperation was the key to landing the project, which could eventually include a youth detention facility and a privately run prison, creating up to 400 new jobs, he said.

It started with an unprecedented show of cooperation from the Haskell City Council, the Haskell County Commissioners Court and the Development Corporation of Haskell, he said.

Three months after the leaders of those groups formed the Rolling Plains Regional Corporation to seek to build some type of detention facility, the representatives voted unanimously Monday to participate in a regional county jail.

The vote followed a presentation by James Parkey of Corplan, the firm serving as project developer and consultant. Parkey later explained the plans to the Jones County commissioners.

Parkey stressed the facility will not be a private jail but will be owned and operated under the joint auspices of the city and county. The project has the full endorsement and approval of Haskell County Sheriff Johnny Mills, Davis said.

Parkey said financing for the project will come from private investors with no tax dollars used in the construction. Funds will come from private “certificates of participation,” financial notes generally purchased by Wall Street investment firms.

Davis said he is proud to be part of the unique partnership and thankful for the cooperative efforts of all concerned.

“I’ve been keeping up with activities of local governments for over 25 years, and I’ve never seen this kind of cooperative spirit,” he said. “Different governments might work together temporarily during a natural disaster, but for everyone to come together to support this kind of endeavor is a tremendous boost for this area.

“We appreciate the confidence of our constituents in their support of this facility,” the judge added. “We also are proud and gratified our neighboring counties are willing to come on board with us.”

The Jones County participation came on a split vote – along the same lines that has characterized the court’s stance on jail overcrowding, support for Sheriff Robbie Wedeking and moving of the 911 dispatch office from the jail to the courthouse basement.

Commissioner Buz Wylie made the motion to contract with the Rolling Plains Regional Jail for three years. Steve Lollar seconded the motion. Commissioners James Clawson and Mike Polk both voted against the contract, and County Judge Brad Rowland broke the tie by voting for the deal.

Haskell Mayor Ken Lane said while jails and prisons may not be “the most desirable kind of industry,” the local ownership and control will have several advantages for Haskell and the surrounding area.

“It will be ours,” he said. “This will be something that won’t be moved or taken away from us. It’s not like some industry where the stroke of a pen on Wall Street would mean the loss of local jobs. These are jobs that we’re creating for our own people.”

Monty Montgomery, executive director of the Development Corporation of Haskell, was also thrilled with the affirmative votes.

“A 200-bed facility means 55 to 60 jobs. By the time that payroll turns over several times, the economic impact throughout this entire area will be tremendous.”

So when will construction begin?

Montgomery said that will be determined after Corplan officials, along with representatives of the Development Corporation and others, will meet with officials from at least six other area counties in hopes they will also participate in the state’s first regional jail.

“We want to get through with these meetings as soon as possible so we can move on to the next phase,” which would be selecting a site and a contractor, he said.

The corporation already has two or three sites in mind, he indicated. At least one is on land owned by the city near the airport, according to discussions when Montgomery first proposed the idea to several counties in May 1997.

At that time, Bob Dearing, deputy director of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards in Austin, said any community building a regional jail “would make our day.”

“It’d be the greatest thing that ever happened,” he said, pointing to the overcrowded state prison system.

Of the fledgling Haskell effort he said, “If these guys do it, they will be pioneers.”

Roy Jones can be reached at 676-6728 or (800) 588-6397 or jonesr@abinews.com

*******************

Wednesday, March 4, 1998

Haskell forms corporation to build jail, prison

By ROY A. JONES II / Abilene Reporter-News

HASKELL — In a special joint meeting Monday, the Haskell City Council, the Haskell County Commissioners Court and the Development Corporation of Haskell agreed to form a special not-for-profit corporation to build a detention facility that could mean up to 400 new jobs.

The main purpose of the “Rolling Plains Regional Corporation” will be to develop and build a regional county jail, a youth detention facility and a privately run prison.

Haskell Mayor Ken Lane said the corporation could seek to build any or all of the project. If all three are built, it could mean nearly 400 jobs for Haskell and the area, he said.

Officials hope to have the paperwork finished and a prison contractor in place by April 1. Construction would cause no tax liability for the county’s residents, they said.

Lane pointed out that while jails or prisons may not be “the most desirable kind of industry,” the local ownership and control will have several advantages for Haskell and the surrounding area.

“It will be ours,” the mayor said. “This will be something that won’t be moved or taken away from us. It’s not like some industry where the stroke of a pen on Wall Street would mean the loss of local jobs. These are jobs that we’re creating for our own people.”

Haskell County Judge David Davis said he was thrilled with the unprecedented level of cooperation between the county and city.

“We’ve worked together on roads and things like that, but to have this level
of cooperation on a project of this size is nearly unheard of anywhere in the area,” he said.

Monty Montgomery, executive director of the Development Corporation of Haskell, echoed the comments.

“It is my understanding that the city and the county have not always had the opportunity to work together in the past to bring jobs to this region,” he said. “That’s changing. As goes the city, so goes the county and vice versa.

“We’re very excited about the prospects this corporation will offer.”

Davis noted the facilities will be built without incurring any taxpayer liability.

“The company that we’re talking to assures us that once these projects are completed and paid for they’ll be owned by the corporation, and no taxpayer money will be needed to operate,” Davis said. “That’s one of the things I think is so great about this situation.”

A steering committee comprising members of both city and county government is being organized to draft bylaws for the new corporation.

Davis stressed the need for all parts of the county to continue to work together.

“It’s going to have to be a Haskell County project with all the parts of the county working together,” he said. “We don’t need any dissention about this. These projects are too important.

“Things are going along pretty well for Haskell County right now, as far as I can see, and we have to continue working together for the next five, 10 or 20 years.”

(Correspondent Dusty Garison contributed to this report.)

By Greg Moses

CounterPunch

“This is her first time to vote!” exclaimed her grandmother as the young woman stepped toward me to sign the poll list, voter card in hand. Grandmother and granddaughter were beaming. They were both so proud. Right then and there all my training fell to the floor.

As a substitute poll worker last Spring I had been carefully instructed how to handle first time voters. According to new federal rules handed down in 2002 by the so-called Help America Vote Act (HAVA), I was supposed to ask for photo ID and get them to sign a special roster for first-timers.

“Congratulations,” I said to the young woman, and smiled back with affirmation. “Please sign here.” I pointed to her signature line in the poll book. That’s all.

It would have turned my stomach inside out to demand a photo ID from that woman in that moment. It would have transformed the experience entirely in ways that felt profane. In a moment of pride and participation, I would have injected suspicion: Prove who you are! I don’t believe this setup. You can’t fool me pretending to be this woman’s granddaughter, etc.

The young woman and her grandmother were African American. But other young voters who came with their families that day were not. As I recall, when I turned in my election materials at the end of the day, the roster for new voters was a complete blank. Time after time, either the new voter or a family member standing nearby would want me to know, “this is a first!” And all I could think was, “SSHHH! Don’t let the other poll workers hear you.”

With two wire service reports this week on Republican-led efforts to intensify voter identification in Indiana, Georgia, and Wisconsin, that image of first-time voter pride boils up inside me. Voting is a civil sacrament and I don’t like the way Republicans are transforming it into a credit app.

Plus, with new HAVA-mandated databases coming online, the time is rapidly approaching when machines will be able to spit out lists of first-time voters who did not sign the separate roster confirming that they showed photo ID. And like 150 voters recently subpoenaed in a Houston election contest, they could be subject to follow-up harassment.

And finally, what Republicans signify in this debate is the latest arrogant display of their skin-color privilege. The Republican party USA is the party of white privilege, and their entire demeanor in the voter ID initiative is a smirking exhibition of white power’s backlash prerogatives.

The emotion displayed by African-American legislators during these debates has been criticized as impolite and uncivil, but what are the words that editorial writers use to describe the creepy callousness of Republican floor leaders who carry themselves as if no history ever made it impossible for African American populations to vote, as if centuries of official mistreatment leave no impression on a people, or as if fellow citizens have no experiences that we are bound to respect.

Just because you’re acting slick, doesn’t make you civil. And it is one more mark of white skin color privilege in the USA that you get to act like business is usual when the business at hand is beating back the civil rights revolution.

Democratic solidarity on the issue has been gratifying to see. Votes have been straight-party contests. In the Democratic alliance on this issue, I try to see hope that a progressive coalition is possible in which a substantial minority of white folks are able to listen, learn, and respond to civil rights experience. As I witnessed at the polls, the family pride in first-time voters is an experience to be shared across race, class, and ethnicity.

It sounds like such an innocent thing. Just show your photo ID. But in the context of the lived experience of voting in the USA, the demand articulates a separate and unequal perspective developed among operatives who have systematic histories of suppressing African American participation at polling places, where slick guys in ties hang out all day, loudly challenging every old lady who shuffles in. Of course, many of these same old ladies have seen worse, and some have even changed the diapers on these same white brats when they were stinking babies. So it is a kind of pleasure to watch the village elders simply stroll onward, as if completely deaf to these grown men’s cries.

What is not at all innocent is the way these campaigns of suspicion are carried forward without a shred of evidence behind them. Voting officials in Georgia do not contend that fraudulent ID is a problem. The Indiana Secretary of State told one television reporter that he had no evidence that there was a problem that needed fixing. And these things signify that what is taking place in the voter ID movement is nothing but the privilege of white power to get up on any public stage whatsoever and impugn the integrity of an entire class of people.

“We don’t trust any of you,” is what the voter ID movement shouts out. “We especially don’t trust you first-time voters.” To be sure, those first time voters are not going to be trustworthy Republicans by and large, but that hardly makes them fraudulent characters. Baseless suspicion toward such voters codified into law by a party of white power is the thing most inexcusable.

The drama of American democracy has been a satirical affair. On the one hand a cruel promise of equality, on the other hand a shrewd laugh that scoffs: Equality? You’ve got to be kidding! In the photo ID movement the scoff drowns out the promise once again. When will the cruel promise of universal suffrage finally be rolled out like a welcome mat?

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).

We mentioned the imprisonment of high school student Monica, who was taken to Haskell after being busted at a Senior Skip-Day party. Here’s a belated update from Larry James Urban Daily blog. We cheer for Monica’s freedom, and we wonder, why has Suzi Hazahza not been offered a bond?–gm

Monday morning (March 12, 2007) thanks to an extremely generous donor and friend of CDM and this family, Monica and Jose were bonded out of the detention center.

If I reported the cost of the bond, you would be shocked. Two very fine high school seniors, far from criminals in any sense of the word, were forced to come up with an outlandish amount of money to secure their release while they await a hearing before an immigration judge.

After paying the bond in Dallas at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE–formerly Immigration and Naturalization Services), the same donor drove to Haskell and brought the two young people home on Monday evening.

After Thursday’s Federal Magistrate hearing in the matter of the Hazahza Family v. Chertoff, a few stalwart protesters were taking in the news that Suzi would have to wait for her freedom, when Ralph Isenberg made one of his famous spontaneous resolutions.

“We have to continue this vigil until Suzi is released!”

And without hesitation, Dr. Asma Salam agreed that she would be the one to keep the vigil alive. So on Friday morning at 9am, she took up her position in front of the Dallas Federal Courthouse and held her signs:
“Free the Hazahzas. Stop the inhumane treatment of families in immigrant detention centers. Stop the inhumane treatment of immigrants.”

For five hours she stood alone.

“But some cars were slowing down, some even stopped to take a closer look at the signs, ,” says Dr. Salam via cell phone Sunday evening.

Later Friday afternoon she got some reinforcements from Patricia Juarez and Sylvana Alonzo, who stood with her, held signs, and introduced her to legendary Dallas immigration attorney Domingo Garcia. Alonzo then invited Dr. Salam to speak at a Saturday morning labor breakfast and an afternoon Cesar Chavez Parade in Arlington.

On Sunday, Mr. Garcia and Sylvana’s husband invited Dr. Salam to take the stage at the Dallas Immigration March. Texas State Rep. Roberto Alonzo has been making political history for several decades, and his intuitions didn’t let him down this time. How did the audience receive Dr. Salam’s words?

“Oh, they applauded my every sentence!” Here is Dr. Salam’s account of what she said and what followed:

” I am honored to be here to see the community united and my thanks to Mr. Alonzo, his wife Sylvania and Mr. Garcia for inviting me to speak about this important issue. I want to bring your attention to this important issue, immigration detention centers in America. I am working with Mr. Ralph Isenberg and I am in direct contact with families and their loved ones who are detained at these centers. If you all read and learn about what is going inside these detention centers you will not eat and sleep the way you used to. We have to support each other to show we care. I have been organizing and coordinating events like vigils, walks and protest with Mr. Jay Johnson and Mr. Ralph Isenberg. Please join us as there will be more events organized to support families in detention centers. We are Americans and we love our country, we have to take an action to stop this unjust and inhumane treatment. These families are not criminals and does not deserve to be in these detention centers due to the change of their status. Please join me in the protest in front of the federal court building in Dallas to show the world and our country that we will not accept this inhumane treatment of families in immigration detention centers. They need to be shut down. I will be in front of Federal court building in Dallas from 9:00am to 4:00pm Monday through Friday to show our support for families in detention centers. Please register for vote, and claim your country to keep our values high. I love America and I want to keep it beautiful. Please show your support. “God bless America”

Crowd that was close to 7000, clapped and showed their support, several people thanked me after my speech, especially Mr. Alonzo appreciated my efforts and would like to have a town hall meeting with Washington D.C congress persons, ICE officials and will invite Mr. Ralph Isenberg in appreciation of his efforts and families who were detained like Mrs Hazazah. Also Mr. Rafael Anchia thanked me for inspiring speech and he is also willing to support us.

By the end of the speech she was being congratulated by Rep. Alonzo and Rep. Rafael Anchía. It had been a remarkable three days of advocacy, from standing alone, to breakfast speaker, to crowd pleaser at a major march.

Suzi, we hope you’re listening. Everybody we know wants you to be free.–gm