HIGHLIGHTS OF GEO GROUP SCANDALS IN TEXAS



HIGHLIGHTS OF GEO GROUP SCANDALS IN TEXAS

The following is a sample of scandals, taken from a longer list of private prisons scandals in Texas, that have occurred in GEO Group prisons and the dates they were reported. For more information, please contact Bob Libal at boblibal@ or (512) 971-0487.

➢ Coke County Juvenile Justice Center (Bronte, TX) — Wackenhut/GEO Group

■ 7 youth sue the GEO Group claiming they were mentally, physically, and sexually abused by a registered sex offender working at the prison. (2007)

■ The Texas Youth Commission pulls all of the agency’s 200 juvenile detainees from the jail after learning that jail programs are severely lacking. The facility is described as unsafe and unsanitary. (2007)

■ Several girls were sexually, physically, and mentally abused by Wackenhut employees, including a man with prior conviction for sexual abuse of a child; a lawsuit settled for $1.5 million (1999)

■ 15-year old female victim of sexual assault by Wackenhut employee committed suicide in wake of lawsuit settlement that allowed company to avoid accepting responsibility (1999)

■ TYC confirmed allegations that some staff members manipulated a “demotion/graduation” system to coerce girls into giving them sexual favors or dancing naked in front of them; some girls were raped or fondled, while others were made to disrobe and shower in the presence of male employees (1995)

➢ Bill Clayton Detention Center (Littlefield, TX) — CSC/(Now GEO Group)

■ Two Wyoming inmates escape from the Bill Clayton facility; four people, including two guards, are arrested for helping the inmates escape. (2004)

➢ Dickens County Correctional Facility (Spur, TX) — GEO Group

■ Scot Noble Payne, an Idaho inmate, commits suicide prompting an investigation. The Associated Press calls the facility’s conditions “squalid,” and the Idaho Department of Correction’s Health Director says the facility is the worst prison he’s ever seen. Idaho announces that it will withdraw all inmates from the prison. (2007)

■ An Idaho inmate escaped from the facility. (2007)

➢ Newton County Correctional Center (Newton, TX) – GEO Group

■ After reports of prisoner mistreatment, including using mace and cuffing prisoners, and a two-man breakout the state of Idaho removes its prisoners from the facility. (2006)

➢ Frio County Detention Center (Pearsall, TX) – CSC/GEO Group

■ A female immigrant detainee sues GEO after she failed to receive treatment and medicine for her mental disability, and was put in isolation after being stripped naked and having her crutches removed. The lawsuit alleges that the inmate was ridiculed and threatened with deportation. (2007)

➢ Reeves County Detention Center (Pecos, TX) — Wackenhut/GEO Group

■ Arizona inmates stage fights and go on hunger strikes in order to be transferred back to Arizona. (2004)

➢ Travis County State Jail (Austin, TX) — Wackenhut/GEO Group

■ 11 former guards and a case manager are indicted on felony charges of sexual assault and improper sexual activity and misdemeanor charges of sexual harassment (1999)

■ TDCJ retakes control of the facility (1999)

➢ Willacy County State Jail (Raymondville, TX)—Wackenhut/GEO Group

■ The family of a Laredo man killed at a prison run by Wackenhut is awarded $47.5 million by a Willacy County jury. The inmate was beaten to death four days prior to completing his sentence (2006).

■ Following an escape, TDCJ learns that electronic sensors on the perimeter fence had not worked since the facility was built, six to eight of the security television monitors were inoperable, and a perimeter patrol officer was sleeping in a car the night of the escape. (2001)

➢ Val Verde Detention Center (Del Rio, TX) – Wackenhut/GEO Group

■ A 20 year-old former guard is indicted in federal court for violating the civil rights of prisoners after allegedly striking a prisoner in the face in a 2006 incident. The guard was 19 years old at the time. (2007)

■ Three inmates die and one more is hospitalized after a mysterious illness breaks out at the prison. The body of an Honduran immigrant was embalmed and shipped to Honduras before an autopsy could be completed. (2007)

■ A civil rights organization sues The GEO Group and Val Verde County on behalf of the family of an inmate who was sexually assaulted in the facility, denied medical care, and subsequently committed suicide. (2006)

■ An African American guard sues The GEO Group for racial discrimination after a superiour poses for pictures in his prison uniform and KKK garb and displays a hangman’s noose in his office. (2005)

More details about these and many other incidents in Texas private prisons as well as cites to the relevant newspaper articles may be found on the website of the Private Corrections Institute at .

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