Groups Urge Lawmakers to Shutter Privately Run Jail
More than two dozen civil rights, human rights and criminal justice groups sent a letter Thursday to Texas lawmakers calling on them to close a privately run state jail in downtown Dallas, citing what they call a history of poor management and inhumane conditions.
"Recent media accounts of inadequate medical care and a rash of preventable deaths at the Dawson State Jail illustrate problems at this facility," the letter states.
The Corrections Corporation of America runs the Dawson State Jail under a contract with the state. In an emailed statement, the company said that the University of Texas Medical Branch ...
Comments (8)
Christine Lund
"a rash of preventable deaths"? Doesn't that set off alarms? Call out the Texas Rangers. Superman, come to the rescue. The Corrections Corporation of America needs to answer for these horrible outcomes. The state entrusted human lives to them, to be cared for and rehabilitated. It's a sacred trust that puts our loved ones into anothers' care because the state says they are the best ones to fix the problem. A sacred trust. Now, who's going to pay for these losses and how long will they be sentenced (not in their own jails). Would this be a federal offense? It should be. Setting up a business with the intention of abuse is un-American.
People are for the most part, born perfect little souls. It's what is lacking in society that causes some of us to do things that may hurt others or ourselves. I don't think that any child is born bad. Is this how we treat people who need guidance, education, opportunity or simply caring and love of another? Don't preach to me about gangs. People choose to live and it's up to us how they do it. They shouldn't be exposed to this kind of abuse at the hand of the state. It's immoral and wrong.
Anonymous Anonymous
I used to work at the Woodman State jail in the department of mental health. I can assure you, private prisons do not work. When private prisons hire guards, they pay them minimum wage. I used to receive offenders who were grateful to be in TDCJ-ID after being in Dawson. There were tenable horror stories about said facility. The private prison industry is self-perpetuating in that they pay lobbyists to help write state polices. Some profit from immigration. If you look at the language in the Arizona immigration laws, you will find that it mirrors proposals from the private prison industry. Let me see, I believe I recall two convicted murders who escaped from a private prison. I believe they shared their love by killing people while "on the ground." Gosh, who wouldn't want a private prison in their neighborhood or community. Privitization is akin to Rosemary's Baby birthed by the Texas GOP.
Lance Lowry via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Money and greed cloud people's better judgement. Private prison contractors cost taxpayers billions of dollars every year due to this industry's lobbyist who pushed for policies resulting in mass incarceration. Getting smart on crime is the right approach. I'm glad to see there is a diversity of groups and well educated criminal justice experts who support getting smart on crime.
Sarah Wood
Dawson is riddled with crime by employees. If I were to carry a cell phone in I would be thrown in jail and charged.
Yet employees are free to supply drugs, cell phones and sexual favors to the inmates. Really Rick Perry how do you okey dokey this place????????????????
Dawson should be shut down NOW and some employees charged with crimes.
Christine Lund via Texas Tribune on Facebook
We have to stop using private contractors to rehabilitate our citizens. It creates a situation that makes it profitable to retain these prisoners. It is insane and cruel. There are no laws and regulations set specifically for these prisons and they don't even have to meet the standards that the government requires in their prisons. Remember the prison mental healthcare center that had a high school graduate running it. Not even a doctor. What? Would you want your child in one of these places? Especially if he's innocent. And many are in prison because of lack of money for a proper defense.
Christine Lund via Texas Tribune on Facebook
One judge up north invested in youth rehab and then subsequently sent off innocent kids, for money.
Jennifer Cisneros
I was actually confined in the Bridgeport unit run by CCA, which is nothing compared to Dawson from what I heard. We had to drop forms/requests to see the nurse and they would see us by the next day but no later then the day after that. That being said most of the time if we had a problem they tried to explain it away, few actually got to see the doctor, and even he didn't want to give us anything for whatever we had wrong with us. I guess he didn't like being bothered. A girl was sick, losing a lot of blood hemorhaging, fever, and the nurses's didn't want to do anything. Another girl was having a seizure, she had already had one earlier that day, so they called the nurse's out they wouldn't come out when they were called to go see her. She was in her bed.
I heard that the Warden and Chief were out of town, they had to go back were they came from to go to court they had a lawsuit against them. Later on I heard from the Chief's own mouth that they were from Mississippi. They I get this Legal News Monthly Magazine that in Mississippi there was a unit that was being investigated and sued for starving their inmates, deaths, and that they had a riot that started in the cafeteria. People that were not involved in the incident were trying to get out and the guards were holding the doors shut so that no one could get out and some people ended up dying. If I'm not wrong the Chief and the Warden at the Bridgeport unit are the ones from that unit. I can see the warden ignoring the needs of the inmates cause she did it where I was. Very rarely did you ever see her without her phone. She was either texting or talking on it. Even the guards commented on her lack of attention to them when they had problems. The only way to get what we needed is when we complained to the TDCJ monitor when she came out, and of course when she was there we got bigger portions of food, and the guards were just so nice and helpful. The Chief was out there like if she was always out there doing something. It was just crazy, a joke.
Jennifer Cisneros
Does anyone know why Hightower has been on lockdown for a month now? They are not letting any mail go in or out, no one can call home, or anything.