Well, now in the irony is alive and well department, we find that for-profit prison contractor Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) hired undocumented workers and contractors with criminal records to work at the T. Don Hutto immigrant "family" detention center in Taylor, TX.
From the Austin Chronicle:
The dirty little secret is out: The T. Don Hutto Family Residential Center, a detention facility for immigrant families in Taylor, has employed undocumented workers, as well as contractors with criminal records.
This only came to light when Williamson County, which has a contract to provide some services for the facility, began looking at whether to cancel their contract at the facility, not out of humane concern, but due to liability issues raised by the alleged sexual assault of an immigrant being held in the facility, as well as other "concerns".
More on these "concerns" below the fold...
While some of those "concerns" have been documented here on Daily Kos and elsewhere, a report from the Women's Commission for Refugee Women & Children and the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service sited in the Austin Chronicle brings to light some even more horrible conditions than I had seen before (emphasis added).
In an interview, the report's author, Michelle Brané, said the report addresses only the more serious documented incidents. In the medical wing, for example, pregnant detainees were X-rayed with no lead screen; detainees received dental work without anesthesia; pregnant women were not allowed milk and were shackled when taken outside the facility for checkups.
The report also reveals that children were scalded with hot water.
Children.
Meanwhile, the officer accused of sexual assault was never arrested or prosecuted and indeed local and Federal investigative agencies seem to have passed the buck on jurisdiction, resulting in thwarted investigations into the incident.
CCA Senior Vice President Damon Hininger said the county was investigating the case, but Sheriff James Wilson said he didn't know the whereabouts of the case file and that District Attorney John Bradley had decided to forgo prosecution. FBI spokesman Erik Vasys said a subsequent federal inquiry was scrapped, too, but concurred that guard-on-detainee sexual contact is a felony in Texas and generally regarded as official oppression. Neither the sheriff's office nor the FBI has jurisdiction in the case, officials from both agencies said.
ICE passes the buck to the county and closes the case. The county says it has no jurisdiction. ICE refers the case to the FBI, which also claims it has no jurisdiction. The case file is missing and no arrest is made, so the rape test and police reports that might reveal what happened are sealed.
In any event, the alleged incident created a major stir. The detention facility was cordoned off, and a police officer noted in a report that an injury had occurred and a rape test was performed at a local hospital. But with no arrest, specific tapes or test results might never be disclosed.
The whole incident created an environment of fear for women in the facility (and there are teenage girls being held there) that has lead to prisoners forming "alliances" with guards for "favors".
And the matter of the hiring of undocumented workers to work at an immigrant detention facility? Well, it seems everyone is passing the buck on that too.
ICE is currently assuming no blame for the 10 undocumented workers the agency arrested and deported. Nor is CCA at fault, according to Rusnok. "It is the responsibility of the provider of services [not CCA] including subcontractors to ensure the workers they provide have legal status," he said.
This facility and others like it need to be closed. The entire immigrant detention system in the U.S. is rife with abuse and must be investigated, yet the press pays little attention to it (surprise, surprise, surprise) and Congress holds a few oversight hearings and then does nothing.
There is no oversight. There is no acountability. There is only flagrant abuse.
I am just appalled but what is happening in this country and being done in our name. Please, support those who are battling this corrupt and horrible, for-profit immigrant detainee mill. A few of the good ones:
http://www.detentionwatchnetwork.org
http://www.aclu.org
http://www.humanrightswatch.org
I know there are many other groups that are leading the fight around this issue both nationally in our local communities. Please feel free to add links in the comments and we can update the list here.