Thursday, January 14. 2010
American Drug War: The Last White HopeFriday, January 8. 2010
Shock study: 12% of kids sexually abused in government custody
Daniel Tencer
Raw Story | Some 12 percent of minors held in government custody are sexually abused, and in some facilities the rate reaches a stunning one in three children, says a report released Thursday by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
The first-ever National Survey of Youth in Custody found that no less than 10 percent of the 26,550 juveniles being held in detention facilities in the US are abused by staff at the facility, while another 2.6 percent report abuse at the hands of other inmates.
Among the facilities studied were six identified to have rates of sexual abuse as high as three in 10. According to the Associated Press, those six facilities are Pendleton Juvenile Correctional Facility in Indiana; Corsicana Residential Treatment Center in Texas; Backbone Mountain Youth Center in Swanton, Maryland; Samarkand Youth Development Center in Eagle Springs, North Carolina.; Cresson Secure Treatment Unit in Pennsylvania; and the Culpeper Juvenile Correctional Center, Long Term, in Mitchells, Virginia.
“The widespread sexual abuse of children in juvenile facilities shows that public officials either aren’t paying attention or can’t be bothered to do the right thing,” said Jamie Fellner, senior counsel for Human Rights Watch. “The high rates of victimization are powerful testimony to the failure of governments to safeguard the boys and girls in their care.”
The study was mandated by a 2003 law, the National Prison Rape Elimination Act, which also created the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission. Human Rights Watch notes that six months ago the commission set out “comprehensive, effective standards for the prevention, detection, and punishment of prison rape,” but the Justice Department has yet to act on those recommendations.
“Every day Attorney General Eric Holder fails to promulgate national prison rape elimination standards is another day in which kids and adults are being abused behind bars,” Fellner said. “The attorney general already has on his desk proposed standards that reflect the best thinking and effective practices to end this widespread scourge. There is no need to reinvent the wheel or to delay moving forward.”
The survey found that gay youth were at higher risk than heterosexual youth, with one in five reporting abuse at the hands of a staffer or fellow inmate. Males were more likely to report being abused than females (10.8 percent to 4.7 percent). And 95 percent of those abused by staff reported that the abuser was female. But that number may be influenced by the fact that 91 percent of youth in custody are male.
The AP reports:
The Associated Press also notes that sex abuse by staffers was higher in state-run facilities than in privately-run or municipal detention centers, and smaller facilities appear to have lower abuse rates than larger ones.
The study investigated a 12-month period, and was carried out from June, 2008, to April, 2009.
Raw Story | Some 12 percent of minors held in government custody are sexually abused, and in some facilities the rate reaches a stunning one in three children, says a report released Thursday by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.The first-ever National Survey of Youth in Custody found that no less than 10 percent of the 26,550 juveniles being held in detention facilities in the US are abused by staff at the facility, while another 2.6 percent report abuse at the hands of other inmates.
Among the facilities studied were six identified to have rates of sexual abuse as high as three in 10. According to the Associated Press, those six facilities are Pendleton Juvenile Correctional Facility in Indiana; Corsicana Residential Treatment Center in Texas; Backbone Mountain Youth Center in Swanton, Maryland; Samarkand Youth Development Center in Eagle Springs, North Carolina.; Cresson Secure Treatment Unit in Pennsylvania; and the Culpeper Juvenile Correctional Center, Long Term, in Mitchells, Virginia.
“The widespread sexual abuse of children in juvenile facilities shows that public officials either aren’t paying attention or can’t be bothered to do the right thing,” said Jamie Fellner, senior counsel for Human Rights Watch. “The high rates of victimization are powerful testimony to the failure of governments to safeguard the boys and girls in their care.”
The study was mandated by a 2003 law, the National Prison Rape Elimination Act, which also created the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission. Human Rights Watch notes that six months ago the commission set out “comprehensive, effective standards for the prevention, detection, and punishment of prison rape,” but the Justice Department has yet to act on those recommendations.
“Every day Attorney General Eric Holder fails to promulgate national prison rape elimination standards is another day in which kids and adults are being abused behind bars,” Fellner said. “The attorney general already has on his desk proposed standards that reflect the best thinking and effective practices to end this widespread scourge. There is no need to reinvent the wheel or to delay moving forward.”
The survey found that gay youth were at higher risk than heterosexual youth, with one in five reporting abuse at the hands of a staffer or fellow inmate. Males were more likely to report being abused than females (10.8 percent to 4.7 percent). And 95 percent of those abused by staff reported that the abuser was female. But that number may be influenced by the fact that 91 percent of youth in custody are male.
The AP reports:
Although advocates said the level of abuse wasn’t surprising, the prevalence of sexual abuse by staff, particularly female workers, was shocking, said Linda McFarlane, deputy executive director of Just Detention International, which fights to end sexual abuse of those who are detained.
“Many of these are already the most vulnerable and traumatized youth from all of our communities and they’re placed for custody because they’re considered to be a danger,” she said. “If sexually abused in those very institutions that are supposed to help them prepare for life in the community, then it’s just an incredible travesty.”
The Associated Press also notes that sex abuse by staffers was higher in state-run facilities than in privately-run or municipal detention centers, and smaller facilities appear to have lower abuse rates than larger ones.
The study investigated a 12-month period, and was carried out from June, 2008, to April, 2009.
Tuesday, December 15. 2009
Obama to announce Illinois Prison to House Detainees
By CHARLIE SAVAGE
New York Times | The Obama administration is expected to announce on Tuesday that it has selected a prison in northwestern Illinois to house terrorism suspects now being held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, in a major step toward shutting down that military detention facility.
An administration official said President Obama had directed the federal government to proceed with acquiring the Thomson Correctional Center, a maximum-security prison in a rural village about 150 miles west of Chicago.
Gov. Patrick J. Quinn of Illinois and the state’s senior senator, Richard J. Durbin, will be briefed about the plan at the White House on Tuesday afternoon. The officials, both Democrats, have been enthusiastic supporters of bringing Guantánamo prisoners to Thomson, arguing that it would bring jobs to an impoverished part of the state.
When talk of bringing Guantánamo detainees to Thomson first surfaced in late November, both Mr. Quinn and Mr. Durbin held a series of news conferences to promote the idea of turning over the empty state prison, which was built in 2001 at a cost to Illinois taxpayers of about $120 million, to the federal penal system.
Read full article
The prison can hold at least 1,600 inmates, but only about 200 minimum security inmates have been sent there since 2006. The Obama administration sees Thomson as a leading option in its plan to close Guantánamo Bay. Federal officials toured the prison on Monday. Photo: David Greedy/Getty Images
An administration official said President Obama had directed the federal government to proceed with acquiring the Thomson Correctional Center, a maximum-security prison in a rural village about 150 miles west of Chicago.
Gov. Patrick J. Quinn of Illinois and the state’s senior senator, Richard J. Durbin, will be briefed about the plan at the White House on Tuesday afternoon. The officials, both Democrats, have been enthusiastic supporters of bringing Guantánamo prisoners to Thomson, arguing that it would bring jobs to an impoverished part of the state.
When talk of bringing Guantánamo detainees to Thomson first surfaced in late November, both Mr. Quinn and Mr. Durbin held a series of news conferences to promote the idea of turning over the empty state prison, which was built in 2001 at a cost to Illinois taxpayers of about $120 million, to the federal penal system.
Read full article
Wednesday, October 7. 2009
Jail selling ad space on video visitation monitors
NBC 2 | The Charlotte County Sheriff's Office Corrections Division started showing advertisements on their video visitation screens. Officials with the jail say they may be the first in the country to implement the idea.The new advertisement program offers great potential for attorneys and other services of interest for inmates and visitors.
A few months ago, the Charlotte County Jail added video visitation for inmates in a separate building so inmates can have video contact with their friends, loved ones, and professionals.
Visitors are no longer allowed to go into the main jail building for visitations.
Officials with the Bureau of Corrections say the video terminals offer the opportunity to place advertisements that will be seen by both inmates and visitors and say the idea may be the first in the whole country.
The ads have potential for over 500 viewers per day from the in-custody audience and an additional 25 screens available for visitors.
The ad cost is 60-cents for a two minute time frame for 365 days of advertisement, or a total cost for one looped ad will be $1,533 per year.
Currently, there are 50 available ad spaces available and ad spaces will be sold on a first come priority.
Funds collected from this ad program are returned to the Inmate Welfare Fund.
Ads on screen now also include addiction services, public defender, jail information, and are available to other services of interest for inmates and visitors.
Anyone who wants more information on terms and conditions of the advertising contract is asked to contact Lt. Norm Wilson at 941-833-6366.
Wednesday, September 30. 2009
Reports: Mysterious, unregistered security firm policing Montana townRaw Story | A mysterious, reportedly unregistered and almost entirely unknown private security firm by the name "American Police Force" is causing a stir in a small Montana town for apparently impersonating local police.
According to a local media report, APF representatives were recently seen in the tiny town of Hardin, Montana, driving black SUV's with a peculiar logo and, inexplicably, "City of Hardin Police Department" stamped on the door. However, Hardin does not have a police force.
The town instead contracts with the Big Horn County Sheriff's Department for patrols, according to KULR 8 in Billings, Montana.
According to the news agency, APF was never given permission to assume policing duties. Instead, the firm -- which the Associated Press reported to be unregistered in government databases -- gained its contract with the town on the promise of bringing inmates to an unpopulated prison complex.
An image on KULR's Web site shows the insignia on the APF vehicles, which has caused some concern on the Internet as being of conspiratorial origin.
APF's coat of arms, a clearer version of which appeared on the group's Web site (which had been taken down at time of this writing but is viewable here), shows a double-headed eagle with a red shield and white cross borne on its breast.
The coat appears very similar to the insignia attributed to one Prince Aleksandar Karageorgevich, based on RAW STORY's analysis of images hosted by Burke's Peerage & Gentry International Register of Arms. The site notes the coat as hailing from the Royal crown of Serbia.
However, the significance or implied nationality of the insignia's crown could not immediately be identified.
The double-headed eagle itself has been used repeatedly throughout history by many cultures as a symbol of empire, dominance and power.
Hardin, home to about 3,400 people, is in the state’s poorest county. Its unoccupied, 460-bed prison cost $27 million to construct. The town made national headlines earlier this year when local officials pleaded to have Guantanamo Bay inmates sent to the jail.
Montana Democratic Senator Max Baucus and other Republican lawmakers have stood in the way of moving Guantanamo inmates stateside, claiming they would present an increased security risk. The political calculation has led the White House to caution that its promise to close the controversial facility in January may not materialize on schedule.
An Associated Press report on American Police Force, published Sept. 12, 2009, follows.
Montana jail deal raises questions
Questions emerge about company promising to bring inmates to small Montana town
By Matthew Brown
Michael Hilton with American Police Force, a private California security company seeking to take over a $27 million jail in Hardin, stands outside the city offices after meeting with Hardin officials on Friday. Associated Press photo.
City officials have searched from Vermont to Alaska for inmate contracts to fill the jail, only to be turned down at every turn and see the bonds that financed its construction fall into default. They even floated the idea of housing prisoners from Guantanamo Bay at the jail.
So when Hardin officials announced this week that they had signed a deal with a California company to fill the empty jail, it was naturally a cause for celebration. Town officials talked about throwing a party to mark the occasion, their dreams of economic salvation a step closer to being realized.
But questions are emerging over the legitimacy of the company, American Police Force.
Government contract databases show no record of the company. Security industry representatives and federal officials said they had never heard of it. On its Web site, the company lists as its headquarters a building in Washington near the White House that holds "virtual offices." A spokeswoman for the building said American Police Force never completed its application to use the address.
And it's unclear where the company will get the inmates for the jail. Montana says it's not sending inmates to the jail, and neither are federal officials in the state.
An attorney for American Police Force, Maziar Mafi, describes the Santa Ana, Calif., company as a fledgling spin-off of a major security firm founded in 1984. But Mafi declined to name the parent firm or provide details on how the company will finance its jail operations.
"It will gradually be more clear as things go along," said Mafi, a personal injury and medical malpractice lawyer in Santa Ana who was only hired by American Police Force a month ago. "The nature of this entity is private security and for security purposes, as well as for the interest of their clientele, that's why they prefer not to be upfront."
On its elaborate Web site and in interviews with company representatives, American Police Force claims to sell assault rifles and other weapons in Afghanistan on behalf of the U.S. military while providing security, investigative work and other services to clients "in all 50 states and most countries."
The company also boasts to have "rapid response units awaiting our orders worldwide" and that it can field a battalion-sized team of special forces soldiers "within 72 hours."
Representatives of American Police Force said the company presently employs at least 16 and as many as 28 people in the United States and 1,600 contractors worldwide.
"APF plays a critical role in helping the U.S. government meet vital homeland security and national defense needs," the company says on its Web site. "Within the last 5 years the United States has been far and away our" number 1 client.
However, an Associated Press search of two comprehensive federal government contractor databases turned up no record of American Police Force.
Representatives of security trade groups said they had never heard of American Police Force, although they added secrecy was prevalent in the industry and it was possible the company had avoided the public limelight.
"They're really invisible," said Alan Chvotkin, executive vice president and counsel for the Professional Services Council. The group's members include major security contractors Triple Canopy, DynCorp and Xe Services, formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide.
"Even a single unclassified contract in the last couple of years should show up" in the federal database, Chvotkin added.
Spokesmen for the State Department and Defense Department said they could not immediately find any records of contracts with the company. The city has not released a copy of its agreement with American Police Force. But the deal as announced would be a sweet one for Hardin, a depressed rural town of 3,500 about 45 miles east of Billings.
The company is pledging to fill the 464-bed facility by early next year.
Hardin officials say the first payment on the contract is due Feb. 1 — regardless of whether any prisoners are in place. The city's economic development authority would get enough money to pay off the bondholders and receive $5 per prison a day.
American Police Force also is promising to invest $30 million in new projects for the city, including a military and law enforcement training center with a 250-bed dormitory and an expansion of the jail to 2,000 beds. The company says it will build a homeless shelter, offer free health care for city residents and even deliver meals to the needy.
Where the prisoners would come from is unclear. City officials said California was the most likely possibility, but a spokesman for that state's corrections system said there was no truth to the claim.
Federal prisoners also were mentioned by both American Police Force and the city. U.S. Marshal Dwight MacKay in Billings said he would have been notified if such a plan was pending.
"There's skepticism over whether this is a real thing," MacKay said.
Hardin officials said they were approached by American Police Force about six months ago, soon after the city made international news in its quest to become "America's Gitmo." American Police Force incorporated around the same time.
Albert Peterson, the city's school superintendent and vice president of the authority that built the jail, said the city was "guaranteed" the contract would be upheld.
"There's never a question in my mind after I've done my homework. It's legit," Peterson said of American Police Force. "We believe in each other."
The contract was still being reviewed by the city attorney, he said.
Peterson refused to answer when asked if he knew the name of American Police Force's parent firm. He said news coverage of the city's political tussles with the administration of Gov. Brian Schweitzer had left him suspicious of the press. The administration brought a court challenge over whether Hardin could take out-of-state inmates at the jail.
"If you're looking for the source of the money, you're not going to find it from me," Peterson said.
A member of the Texas consortium that developed the jail, Mike Harling, said he had "every reason to believe they'll be successful."
Mafi, the American Police Force attorney, said his company intends to reverse Hardin's recent problems with the jail and give the town an economic boost.
In Santa Ana, American Police Force occupies a single suite on the second floor of a two-story office building. During a visit to the location Thursday, a reporter for The Associated Press encountered a uniformed man behind a desk who would identify himself only as "Captain Michael."
The man declined to discuss basic details about the company and referred the reporter to the company's Web site. In a subsequent phone interview, he provided his surname but insisted it not be used because of security concerns. The man said he was a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Montenegro with decades of experience in military and law enforcement operations.
The man said his boss is a retired U.S. Army colonel named Richard Culver who is currently overseas. Culver's role with the company could not be immediately verified.
The company claim of a headquarters address is just up the street from the White House.
The K Street building houses "virtual offices," where clients pay to use the prestigious Pennsylvania Avenue address and gain access to onsite conference rooms but have no permanent presence.
"It lets small businesses get started up and have a professional front and not have a lot of a cash to do it," said Ashley Korner with Preferred Offices, which leases the location.
She said American Police Force's application to use the address was pending, but incomplete.
Sunday, July 26. 2009
Private Prisons Turn a Handsome Profit
By Erin Rosa
Global Research | While the nation’s economy flounders, business is booming for The GEO Group Inc., a private prison firm that is paid millions by the U.S. government to detain undocumented immigrants and other federal inmates. In the last year and a half, GEO announced plans to add a total of at least 3,925 new beds to immigration lockups in five locations. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency and the U.S. Marshals Service, which hire the company, will fill the beds with inmates awaiting court and deportation proceedings. GEO reported impressive quarterly earnings of $20 million on February 12, 2009, along with an annual income of $61 million for 2008—up from $38 million the year before. But the company’s share value is not the only thing that’s growing. Behind the financial success and expansion of the for-profit prison firm, there are increasing charges of negligence, civil rights violations, abuse and even death.
Detaining immigrants has become a profitable business, and the niche industry is showing no signs of slowing down. The number of undocumented immigrants the U.S. federal government jails has grown by at least 65 percent in the last six years. In 2002, the average daily population of immigration detainees was 20,838 people, according to ICE records. By 2008, the average daily population had grown to 31,345.
Since 2003, more than a million people have been processed through federal immigration lockups, which are part of a network of at least 300 local, state and federal lockups, including seven contracted detention facilities. GEO operates four of those seven for-profit prisons.
Numerous investigations and reports have documented problems at GEOs immigration detention facilities.
At the company’s Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, federal prosecutors charged a GEO prison administrator in September 2008 with “knowingly and willfully making materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statements to senior special agents” with ICE, according to court filings. A February 2008 audit found that over a period of more than two years ending in November 2005, GEO hired nearly 100 guards without performing the required criminal background checks. The GEO employee responsible, Sylvia Wong, pleaded guilty. In the plea agreement the federal government stated that Wong falsified documents “because of the pressure she felt” while working at the GEO lockup to get security personnel hired at the detention center “as quickly as possible.”
Two months before the fraud charges, a study by the Seattle University School of Law and the nonprofit group OneAmerica reported that conditions at the Tacoma facility violated both international and domestic laws that grant detained immigrants the right to food, due process and humane treatment.
Federal immigration officials have the authority to incarcerate undocumented immigrants, asylum-seekers, and even lawful permanent residents while they await hearings with immigration judges or appeal decisions. ICE reports the average length of stay is 30 days, but detentions can last years, according to a November 2008 ICE fact sheet.
Pramila Jayapal, executive director with OneAmerica, took part in interviewing a random sample of more than 40 immigrants detained at the Northwest Detention Center, which holds approximately 1,000 immigrants at any given time.
“It’s a very giant concrete box. It’s just like a jail,” said Jayapal. “You’re only supposed to meet in the client area, which is only a few rooms.”
One inmate from Mexico, Hector Pena-Ortiz, told interviewers that guards had interrogated and handcuffed him twice, demanding that he sign immediate deportation papers despite the fact that he had a pending appeal. Under federal law, immigrants cannot be deported from the United States if their immigration legal cases are still pending. During one of the incidents, guards admitted to having a file on the wrong inmate, Pena-Ortiz said.
In addition to violations of legal rights, inmates cited food as a major concern. The vast majority of the 40 prisoners interviewed at the facility said rations were inadequate and sometimes rotten. Inmates with financial resources depended on food bought from the lockup’s commissary. Others went hungry. A man identified in the study as “Ricardo” said he had lost 50 pounds of his original 190-pound weight since arriving at the detention center.
ICE officially denied the claims in the report, but in 2005, annual agency inspections at the Northwest Detention Center documented problems with the quality and quantity of food and found that some meals were so poor, guards had to collect and replace them.
Looking for opportunities
The Tacoma lockup, site of the most recent GEO controversy, is located on top of a former toxic waste dump that borders coastal wetlands near the Port of Tacoma, Washington. In August 2008, the firm announced plans to expand its 1,030-bed Northwest Detention Center to 1,575 beds, “to help meet the increased demand for detention bed space by federal, state, and local government agencies around the country.”
Just four months after GEOs announcement, ICE notified government contractors that the agency was looking for a contractor-owned and -operated detention facility. According to federal procurement data, the new facility should be capable of providing 1,575 beds—the same number GEO was set to build—to be completed no later than September 2009—the same date GEO had set for the completion of its own construction project.
Lorie Dankers, ICE spokeswoman in Washington State, implied that the similarity in numbers and date was a coincidence. “I would never comment, nor have I in the past, on what GEO is doing and why they’re doing it. That’s a business decision that GEO made,” said Dankers. “To insinuate that there was some kind of connection, or that they has some inside information as to the request, that would be incorrect.”
Dankers added that ICEs request for more space is still in the “pre-solicitation” phase, meaning that there is no guarantee a contract will be offered, and the agency is simply requesting information from contractors to “gauge interest.”
“I don’t have any information one way or the other as to what would happen,” Dankers said. “I think often times, if I had to speculate, they see where there’s a need. I think they’re always looking for opportunities.”
Canceled contracts
And opportunities, like prisoners, abound. GEO owns more than 62,000 prison beds in the United States, with approximately 3,000 beds used for detained immigrants. The company also claims a global market share of 25 percent of the private corrections industry. Currently, the Northwest Detention Center incarcerates immigrants mainly from Oregon, Washington and Alaska, according to Dankers.
In the last five years, criminal immigration prosecutions have surged by 388 percent according to federal court data obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University in New York. The most recently available court information shows that there were 11,454 prosecutions in September 2008 alone. Adding to GEOs profitability and prospects are immigration laws introduced in the 1990s, the expanding use of immigration detention without bond, and a greater emphasis on prosecutions after 9/11.
The company’s relationship with government officials has also proven valuable in winning corrections contracts.
In 2006, while on the state payroll as director of prisons at the Colorado Department of Corrections, Nolin Renfrow helped GEO obtain a $14 million-per-year contract to detain 1,500 inmates in a proposed state prison project in the northern part of the state. Renfrow was moonlighting for GEO—with an expected compensation of $1 million—when a 2007 state audit and news reports uncovered the public servant’s business deal.
The audit found that Renfrow’s actions could “arguably present a conflict of interest and result in a breach of ... the public trust,” because state law prohibited an “employee from assisting any person for a fee or other compensation in obtaining any contract.”
The county district attorney with jurisdiction over Renfrow declined to press criminal charges, but in the wake of the scandal, officials with the state’s corrections department rescinded the contract.
Prisons as money makers
Immigrant facilities are not the only GEO lockups that have sparked claims of negligence and abuse.
In 2007, the firm settled a lawsuit with the family of an inmate for $200,000. LeTisha Tapia, a 23-year-old woman incarcerated at the GE0-owned Val Verde Correction Facility in southern Texas, told her family in July 2004 that she had been raped and beaten after being locked in the same cell-block with male inmates. Shortly after, she had hung herself in her cell. The nonprofit Texas Civil Rights Project sued GEO on behalf of Tapia’s family.
“The jail drove this young woman to kill herself,” charged the family’s attorney, Scott Medlock, in a February 15, 2006 press release from the Texas Civil Rights Project. “GEO cuts corners by hiring poorly trained guards, providing inmates with cut rate medical care, and running their facility in a grossly unprofessional manner.” Citing confidentiality provisions in the settlement, Medlock refused further comment.
More recently, in 2008, civil liberties attorneys sued the company for failing to provide adequate medical attention to inmates outsourced from Washington, DC, to the Rivers Correctional Institute, located in North Carolina and overseen by GEO through a contract with the federal Bureau of Prisons. That same year, Idaho state authorities removed 125 inmates from a GEO prison after an investigation—spurred by the suicide of a detainee at the facility—revealed poor staff training and healthcare.
“Pretty immediately when people started going to Rivers we started to get letters about how bad the healthcare was, and just how people were really scared of dying there,” said Deborah Golden, an attorney with the DC Prisoners Project, a group that is representing inmates in the legal case against GEO. One inmate named in the report, Keith Mathis, claims he was denied medical treatment for a cavity until the tooth became infected and caused an open ulcer on his face that eventually “burst open,” requiring surgery and three days hospitalization.
“The more we looked into the situation the more we realized it was a systemic problem,” said Golden. “I suspect that it’s a pattern all over. When you try to run prisons as money makers what you do is cut back on the most expensive thing you can, which is medication and medical care.”
GEO has said it will not publicly comment on pending legal cases or abuse claims by third parties, including nonprofit groups. Company spokesman Pablo Paez says that on the subject of business plans, “we have no comment beyond what’s in our public disclosures.”
Despite a wide array of grievances and tragedies, GEO has accrued contracts worth more than $588 million in federal tax dollars since 1997, according to available federal procurement data. And as long as federal officials continue to remand a growing number of inmates and immigrants over to private businesses, without imposing strict oversight, GEO will likely remain profitable.
Global Research | While the nation’s economy flounders, business is booming for The GEO Group Inc., a private prison firm that is paid millions by the U.S. government to detain undocumented immigrants and other federal inmates. In the last year and a half, GEO announced plans to add a total of at least 3,925 new beds to immigration lockups in five locations. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency and the U.S. Marshals Service, which hire the company, will fill the beds with inmates awaiting court and deportation proceedings. GEO reported impressive quarterly earnings of $20 million on February 12, 2009, along with an annual income of $61 million for 2008—up from $38 million the year before. But the company’s share value is not the only thing that’s growing. Behind the financial success and expansion of the for-profit prison firm, there are increasing charges of negligence, civil rights violations, abuse and even death.Detaining immigrants has become a profitable business, and the niche industry is showing no signs of slowing down. The number of undocumented immigrants the U.S. federal government jails has grown by at least 65 percent in the last six years. In 2002, the average daily population of immigration detainees was 20,838 people, according to ICE records. By 2008, the average daily population had grown to 31,345.
Since 2003, more than a million people have been processed through federal immigration lockups, which are part of a network of at least 300 local, state and federal lockups, including seven contracted detention facilities. GEO operates four of those seven for-profit prisons.
Numerous investigations and reports have documented problems at GEOs immigration detention facilities.
At the company’s Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, federal prosecutors charged a GEO prison administrator in September 2008 with “knowingly and willfully making materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statements to senior special agents” with ICE, according to court filings. A February 2008 audit found that over a period of more than two years ending in November 2005, GEO hired nearly 100 guards without performing the required criminal background checks. The GEO employee responsible, Sylvia Wong, pleaded guilty. In the plea agreement the federal government stated that Wong falsified documents “because of the pressure she felt” while working at the GEO lockup to get security personnel hired at the detention center “as quickly as possible.”
Two months before the fraud charges, a study by the Seattle University School of Law and the nonprofit group OneAmerica reported that conditions at the Tacoma facility violated both international and domestic laws that grant detained immigrants the right to food, due process and humane treatment.
Federal immigration officials have the authority to incarcerate undocumented immigrants, asylum-seekers, and even lawful permanent residents while they await hearings with immigration judges or appeal decisions. ICE reports the average length of stay is 30 days, but detentions can last years, according to a November 2008 ICE fact sheet.
Pramila Jayapal, executive director with OneAmerica, took part in interviewing a random sample of more than 40 immigrants detained at the Northwest Detention Center, which holds approximately 1,000 immigrants at any given time.
“It’s a very giant concrete box. It’s just like a jail,” said Jayapal. “You’re only supposed to meet in the client area, which is only a few rooms.”
One inmate from Mexico, Hector Pena-Ortiz, told interviewers that guards had interrogated and handcuffed him twice, demanding that he sign immediate deportation papers despite the fact that he had a pending appeal. Under federal law, immigrants cannot be deported from the United States if their immigration legal cases are still pending. During one of the incidents, guards admitted to having a file on the wrong inmate, Pena-Ortiz said.
In addition to violations of legal rights, inmates cited food as a major concern. The vast majority of the 40 prisoners interviewed at the facility said rations were inadequate and sometimes rotten. Inmates with financial resources depended on food bought from the lockup’s commissary. Others went hungry. A man identified in the study as “Ricardo” said he had lost 50 pounds of his original 190-pound weight since arriving at the detention center.
ICE officially denied the claims in the report, but in 2005, annual agency inspections at the Northwest Detention Center documented problems with the quality and quantity of food and found that some meals were so poor, guards had to collect and replace them.
Looking for opportunities
The Tacoma lockup, site of the most recent GEO controversy, is located on top of a former toxic waste dump that borders coastal wetlands near the Port of Tacoma, Washington. In August 2008, the firm announced plans to expand its 1,030-bed Northwest Detention Center to 1,575 beds, “to help meet the increased demand for detention bed space by federal, state, and local government agencies around the country.”
Just four months after GEOs announcement, ICE notified government contractors that the agency was looking for a contractor-owned and -operated detention facility. According to federal procurement data, the new facility should be capable of providing 1,575 beds—the same number GEO was set to build—to be completed no later than September 2009—the same date GEO had set for the completion of its own construction project.
Lorie Dankers, ICE spokeswoman in Washington State, implied that the similarity in numbers and date was a coincidence. “I would never comment, nor have I in the past, on what GEO is doing and why they’re doing it. That’s a business decision that GEO made,” said Dankers. “To insinuate that there was some kind of connection, or that they has some inside information as to the request, that would be incorrect.”
Dankers added that ICEs request for more space is still in the “pre-solicitation” phase, meaning that there is no guarantee a contract will be offered, and the agency is simply requesting information from contractors to “gauge interest.”
“I don’t have any information one way or the other as to what would happen,” Dankers said. “I think often times, if I had to speculate, they see where there’s a need. I think they’re always looking for opportunities.”
Canceled contracts
And opportunities, like prisoners, abound. GEO owns more than 62,000 prison beds in the United States, with approximately 3,000 beds used for detained immigrants. The company also claims a global market share of 25 percent of the private corrections industry. Currently, the Northwest Detention Center incarcerates immigrants mainly from Oregon, Washington and Alaska, according to Dankers.
In the last five years, criminal immigration prosecutions have surged by 388 percent according to federal court data obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University in New York. The most recently available court information shows that there were 11,454 prosecutions in September 2008 alone. Adding to GEOs profitability and prospects are immigration laws introduced in the 1990s, the expanding use of immigration detention without bond, and a greater emphasis on prosecutions after 9/11.
The company’s relationship with government officials has also proven valuable in winning corrections contracts.
In 2006, while on the state payroll as director of prisons at the Colorado Department of Corrections, Nolin Renfrow helped GEO obtain a $14 million-per-year contract to detain 1,500 inmates in a proposed state prison project in the northern part of the state. Renfrow was moonlighting for GEO—with an expected compensation of $1 million—when a 2007 state audit and news reports uncovered the public servant’s business deal.
The audit found that Renfrow’s actions could “arguably present a conflict of interest and result in a breach of ... the public trust,” because state law prohibited an “employee from assisting any person for a fee or other compensation in obtaining any contract.”
The county district attorney with jurisdiction over Renfrow declined to press criminal charges, but in the wake of the scandal, officials with the state’s corrections department rescinded the contract.
Prisons as money makers
Immigrant facilities are not the only GEO lockups that have sparked claims of negligence and abuse.
In 2007, the firm settled a lawsuit with the family of an inmate for $200,000. LeTisha Tapia, a 23-year-old woman incarcerated at the GE0-owned Val Verde Correction Facility in southern Texas, told her family in July 2004 that she had been raped and beaten after being locked in the same cell-block with male inmates. Shortly after, she had hung herself in her cell. The nonprofit Texas Civil Rights Project sued GEO on behalf of Tapia’s family.
“The jail drove this young woman to kill herself,” charged the family’s attorney, Scott Medlock, in a February 15, 2006 press release from the Texas Civil Rights Project. “GEO cuts corners by hiring poorly trained guards, providing inmates with cut rate medical care, and running their facility in a grossly unprofessional manner.” Citing confidentiality provisions in the settlement, Medlock refused further comment.
More recently, in 2008, civil liberties attorneys sued the company for failing to provide adequate medical attention to inmates outsourced from Washington, DC, to the Rivers Correctional Institute, located in North Carolina and overseen by GEO through a contract with the federal Bureau of Prisons. That same year, Idaho state authorities removed 125 inmates from a GEO prison after an investigation—spurred by the suicide of a detainee at the facility—revealed poor staff training and healthcare.
“Pretty immediately when people started going to Rivers we started to get letters about how bad the healthcare was, and just how people were really scared of dying there,” said Deborah Golden, an attorney with the DC Prisoners Project, a group that is representing inmates in the legal case against GEO. One inmate named in the report, Keith Mathis, claims he was denied medical treatment for a cavity until the tooth became infected and caused an open ulcer on his face that eventually “burst open,” requiring surgery and three days hospitalization.
“The more we looked into the situation the more we realized it was a systemic problem,” said Golden. “I suspect that it’s a pattern all over. When you try to run prisons as money makers what you do is cut back on the most expensive thing you can, which is medication and medical care.”
GEO has said it will not publicly comment on pending legal cases or abuse claims by third parties, including nonprofit groups. Company spokesman Pablo Paez says that on the subject of business plans, “we have no comment beyond what’s in our public disclosures.”
Despite a wide array of grievances and tragedies, GEO has accrued contracts worth more than $588 million in federal tax dollars since 1997, according to available federal procurement data. And as long as federal officials continue to remand a growing number of inmates and immigrants over to private businesses, without imposing strict oversight, GEO will likely remain profitable.
Monday, July 13. 2009
Cele Castillo ordered to report to federal prison
By Bill Conroy
The Narcosphere | Iran/Contra whistleblower Celerino Castillo is being sent directly to jail in the aftermath of his encounter with the buzz saw of Texas justice.
Despite being represented by an attorney, Robert E. De La Garza, who has been suspended by the State Bar of Texas for misapplying clients’ funds, the federal judge in Castillo’s case, at the urging of the government prosecutor, determined that there is no evidence of Castillo’s defense being tainted by the stink of ineffective assistance of counsel.
The fact that the same attorney’s son is facing federal gun charges, similar to those brought against Castillo, also has been deemed by the judge to be little more than an “inference” of a conflict of interest on the part Castillo’s attorney. Hence, the judge, at a hearing held Friday, July 10, 2009, in federal court in San Antonio, Texas, ruled that Castillo is not likely to succeed in the appeal of his conviction now pending before the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
As a result, the judge — after extending in mid-February Castillo’s report-to-prison date by some four months due to the very same ethical concerns raised about his attorney — did an about face at the July 10 hearing and ordered that Castillo report to prison on July 30 — to begin serving a 37-month sentence for violating federal firearm regulations, a sentence enhanced due to the judge’s apparent belief that Castillo sold weapons in Mexico.
Castillo, a self-proclaimed gun enthusiast who frequents gun shows, concedes he did sell some legally purchased guns absent the proper federal paperwork. However, he stresses none of those weapons were sold to prohibited purchasers (i.e., convicted felons) and he vehemently denies that any of those guns were sold in Mexico — nor is there any convincing evidence to the contrary, beyond prosecutorial inference, that has been produced by the state.
Castillo, as well as other law enforcers who spoke with Narco News, contend the federal prosecutor in the case turned Castillo’s paperwork violation (selling legally purchased weapons without a firearms-dealer permit) into a federal arms-trafficking case as payback for his whistleblowing activity — for exposing the CIA and White House’s complicity in arms- and narco-trafficking as part of the Iran/Contra scandal that played out during the administration of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
The key to the severity of the prison sentence meted out to Castillo — who is a former DEA agent and decorated Vietnam veteran with no prior criminal record — is that the prosecutor in his case argued, and the judge seemed convinced, that Castillo was likely trafficking weapons in Mexico — and by implication to members of narco-trafficking cells.
But Narco News recently obtained documents (letters now filed with the Department of Justice) that allege the judge in Castillo’s case was mislead about the trafficking charges by the prosecutor in the case — which was initiated under the reign of U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton (a “dear friend” of former president George W. Bush), who recently left the post to take a job in the private sector.
Those documents also show that after the federal judge, W. Royal Furgeson Jr., was made aware of that allegation, he chose to chastise Castillo for bringing those charges to his attention outside the proper channels. Subsequently, Furgeson then revoked Castillo’s bail at the July 10 hearing and ordered him to report to prison to serve out an extreme sentence based on the allegedly misleading — possibly perjured — statements advanced by the federal prosecutor, Mark T. Roomberg.
The Allegations
On Oct. 22, 2008, Judge Furgeson sentenced Castillo to 37 months in prison after Castillo accepted his second plea deal with the prosecutor, Roomberg. The first set of charges against Castillo had to be dismissed because the government determined after the fact that they had applied the law improperly .
Castillo says he agreed to plead out a second time (to dealing firearms without a license) under the threat of multiple additional counts being brought against him by the government if he did not sign on the dotted line, and because his attorney, De La Garza, assured him that under the new plea deal he would retain his DEA and other benefits and he would receive a light sentence as a first-time offender — likely probation.
However, at the sentencing hearing on Oct. 22, 2008, after that second plea deal was signed, the prosecutor Roomberg came at Castillo with teeth bared, arguing that not only did Castillo sell firearms without a license, but that he likely was engaged in illegal arms trafficking — indicating to the judge that Castillo had been less than cooperative in disclosing to whom he had sold the weapons.
In fact, Castillo says the government had no evidence that he had sold guns to anyone, other than his own admission, and he stresses that his lawyer, De La Garza, did provide Roomberg with the full name of the individual who purchased the guns.
Castillo lays all of this out in a letter sent to Judge Furgeson (dated May 1, 2009, and recently obtained by Narco News). That same letter, including evidence to back up the allegations, Castillo says, also has been delivered to the Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General and to the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. In addition, Castillo says he wrote a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder making him aware of the allegations of prosecutorial misconduct in his case as well.
From Castillo’s letter to the judge:
Castillo explains that in De La Garza’s notes from a meeting he had with Roomberg on June 26, 2008, is the name of the individual who purchased the weapons. Castillo says De La Garza told him that Roomberg was provided with that individual’s full name and address at that meeting, as the attorney’s notes reflect, and that Roomberg that day ran the individual’s address through the Internet to generate a map of that address.
In addition, Castillo claims the federal agents in his case seized his cell phone, and that the individual’s contact information was in the contact list on that phone, as well as a record of calls made to the individual. He contends Roomberg also would have had access to that information.
In his letter to Judge Furgeson, Castillo includes excerpts from Roomberg’s argument before the judge at the Oct. 22, 2008, sentencing hearing, which, he claims, proves that Roomberg misled the judge.
From the Oct. 22 hearing transcript, according to Castillo’s letter to Judge Furgeson:
De La Garza told Narco News in a recent phone interview that if he were called to testify in a hearing about Roomberg’s actions, he would testify, that, in his opinion, “Roomberg misrepresented the facts at the sentencing and the judge was mislead” as a result.
And Castillo, in his letter to Judge Furgeson [as well as those delivered to DOJ], makes clear that he believes Roomberg’s actions in his case do merit an investigation:
Sir, there are several serious issues that needs to be address because I was told that they would not be address in my appeal process. My public defender [Judy F. Madewell] has decided to appeal my case on the grounds of “ineffective representation.”
… One of the most significant concerns is Assistant United States Attorney Mark ROOMBERG’S prosecutorial misconduct.
… In the last hearing, you commented that it was despicable for someone to take guns into Mexico, which I certainly agree and it was well taken. However, what I find most despicable, in my own opinion, is that ROOMBERG, an officer of the court, and who took an oath to protect the Constitution of the United States, made a mockery of your court.
On April 10, 2009, my official complaint against the government was hand carried by two veteran’s organization, Americas Last Patrol and a member of American G-I Forum, to the Office of Inspector General and the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice. I am requesting for an inquiry of how my case was handle by the prosecution. However, I am still fearful that the old guard is still present and will protect ROOMBERG.
Narco News previously attempted to contact Roomberg for comment on Castillo’s case, leaving a message on his answering machine. To date, Roomberg has not returned the call.
Judge Furgeson replied to Castillo’s letter outlining the allegations against Roomberg in a letter dated May 20, 2009, which states simply:
You have an appointed lawyer to represent you. You must communicate to me through her. It is not proper to write directly to me.
Castillo’s attorney, Judy Madewell, and Roomberg were cced a copy of Judge Furgeson’s reply to Castillo.
Castillo points out that the only reason he wrote directly to the judge in his case is because his attorney, Madewell, declined to bring up the issue of prosecutorial misconduct in his appeal or in proceedings before Judge Furgeson.
Madewell declined to comment for this story.
Process over truth
At a hearing held before Judge Furgeson on Feb. 19, 2009, Roomberg again alleged that Castillo sold guns “to people that he didn’t know and couldn’t even really identify” and also alleged that two of the guns sold by Castillo “have now been found in Mexico.” Roomberg provided no serial numbers for those weapons and alleged in his brief for the court that one of those weapons was a PS 90 assault rifle.
Madewell, in her rebuttal at that hearing, pointed out to the court that in “the government’s response [brief] they mention two guns, one of which was an FN PS 90 assault rifle, but if you look in [Castillo’s] plea agreement or the indictment, there’s no such weapon indicated [included].”
Castillo says the PS 90 is an earlier version of the FS 2000 rifle, which is referenced in the indictment. However, he claims if that is the weapon Roomberg claims was found in Mexico, then he can prove the prosecutor again mislead the court.
“That rifle is still in the United States, and if there is an official inquiry into this matter, that weapon will be produced,” Castillo says.
And again, at the recent hearing on July 10, in which Castillo’s bail was revoked and the judge ordered him to report to prison on July 30, Roomberg again made statements that seem intended to convince the judge that Castillo had sold guns to narco-traffickers in Mexico.
“It is bad for the United States for the defendant [Castillo] to remain out n bond when he is guilty … and he sold guns that are illegal and dangerous … and used to shoot people with body armor, police, down there [in Mexico] who are fighting the war on drugs,” Roomberg stated at the July 10 hearing.
But in the courtroom that day, the issue of prosecutorial misconduct was not on the table. The judge was considering only whether Castillo should remain free on bond based on what Castillo’s attorney, Madewell, had raised as an issue in her brief now pending before the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, and that was the issue of the alleged misconduct by Castillo’s attorney, De La Garza.
The judge conceded that De La Garza had never informed the court of the fact that, while representing Castillo, he was facing disciplinary action from the Texas State Bar for allegedly misappropriating clients’ funds — and that his law license was to be suspended effective Nov. 1, 2008. The judge also conceded that an “inference” of a conflict of interest exists due to the fact that De La Garza’s son, Andrew, was facing federal firearms charges at the same time the attorney was representing Castillo — and that at least one of the agents involved in Castillo’s case also was active in the son’s case (though Castillo claims it was, in fact, two agents).
However, in the end, Judge Furgeson determined that there simply was not enough evidence in the existing court record to show that there was an “actual” conflict of interest that would lead the appeals court to find that De La Garza provided ineffective assistance of counsel.
“I believe it is not likely that [Castillo’s] appeal [before the Fifth Circuit] will result in a reversal or new trial based on the record as it exists,” Furgeson said at the July 10 hearing. “… Ms. Madewell has made a heroic effort, but she is hamstrung because of the record [in the case]. Therefore, I’m going to revoke the bond, and I’m going to set the report date [to prison for Castillo] for July 30. There will be no further bond for the appeal.”
And so it ends for Castillo. He must now report to the federal penitentiary at the end of the month, and fight on with his appeal behind bars — absent his benefits and under the threat of harm that confronts all former law enforcement agents behind prison walls.
But the allegations of prosecutorial misconduct in his case are surely not resolved.
If, as Castillo claims, De La Garza did provide Roomberg with the full name and address of the individual who purchased the weapons from Castillo, and that individual is a U.S. citizen who was not prohibited from making those purchases, as Castillo contends, then it appears Roomberg likely did mislead the court.
On the other hand, if Roomberg argues that De La Garza failed to provide that name (which appears in his attorney notes), then it would seem that Roomberg is establishing a fact that would lend credence to the claim now on appeal before the Fifth Circuit — that De La Garza did, in fact, provide Castillo with ineffective assistance of council. (Roomberg clearly convinced the judge to dole out a stiff sentence to Castillo based on the contention that he did not cooperate with the prosecution, that he did not provide the full name of the purchaser, and that he likely did traffic weapons in Mexico).
It seems to be a Catch 22 for the prosecution, but in the U.S. justice system, at least in the Western District of Texas, the truth seems to matter less than protecting the process.
And in this case, to date, Castillo appears to be little more than another cog on the conveyor belt of that tortured process, destined for the buzz saw — another stat in the prosecution’s hat regardless of the facts.
Now, that’s change we can believe in.
Stay tuned ….
Related:
Cele appeared in the acclaimed documentary American Drug War, in it he exposes the CIA drug running carried out under Bush Sr during the Iran-Contra affair.
Celerino Castillo
Despite being represented by an attorney, Robert E. De La Garza, who has been suspended by the State Bar of Texas for misapplying clients’ funds, the federal judge in Castillo’s case, at the urging of the government prosecutor, determined that there is no evidence of Castillo’s defense being tainted by the stink of ineffective assistance of counsel.
The fact that the same attorney’s son is facing federal gun charges, similar to those brought against Castillo, also has been deemed by the judge to be little more than an “inference” of a conflict of interest on the part Castillo’s attorney. Hence, the judge, at a hearing held Friday, July 10, 2009, in federal court in San Antonio, Texas, ruled that Castillo is not likely to succeed in the appeal of his conviction now pending before the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
As a result, the judge — after extending in mid-February Castillo’s report-to-prison date by some four months due to the very same ethical concerns raised about his attorney — did an about face at the July 10 hearing and ordered that Castillo report to prison on July 30 — to begin serving a 37-month sentence for violating federal firearm regulations, a sentence enhanced due to the judge’s apparent belief that Castillo sold weapons in Mexico.
Castillo, a self-proclaimed gun enthusiast who frequents gun shows, concedes he did sell some legally purchased guns absent the proper federal paperwork. However, he stresses none of those weapons were sold to prohibited purchasers (i.e., convicted felons) and he vehemently denies that any of those guns were sold in Mexico — nor is there any convincing evidence to the contrary, beyond prosecutorial inference, that has been produced by the state.
Castillo, as well as other law enforcers who spoke with Narco News, contend the federal prosecutor in the case turned Castillo’s paperwork violation (selling legally purchased weapons without a firearms-dealer permit) into a federal arms-trafficking case as payback for his whistleblowing activity — for exposing the CIA and White House’s complicity in arms- and narco-trafficking as part of the Iran/Contra scandal that played out during the administration of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
The key to the severity of the prison sentence meted out to Castillo — who is a former DEA agent and decorated Vietnam veteran with no prior criminal record — is that the prosecutor in his case argued, and the judge seemed convinced, that Castillo was likely trafficking weapons in Mexico — and by implication to members of narco-trafficking cells.
But Narco News recently obtained documents (letters now filed with the Department of Justice) that allege the judge in Castillo’s case was mislead about the trafficking charges by the prosecutor in the case — which was initiated under the reign of U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton (a “dear friend” of former president George W. Bush), who recently left the post to take a job in the private sector.
Those documents also show that after the federal judge, W. Royal Furgeson Jr., was made aware of that allegation, he chose to chastise Castillo for bringing those charges to his attention outside the proper channels. Subsequently, Furgeson then revoked Castillo’s bail at the July 10 hearing and ordered him to report to prison to serve out an extreme sentence based on the allegedly misleading — possibly perjured — statements advanced by the federal prosecutor, Mark T. Roomberg.
The Allegations
On Oct. 22, 2008, Judge Furgeson sentenced Castillo to 37 months in prison after Castillo accepted his second plea deal with the prosecutor, Roomberg. The first set of charges against Castillo had to be dismissed because the government determined after the fact that they had applied the law improperly .
Castillo says he agreed to plead out a second time (to dealing firearms without a license) under the threat of multiple additional counts being brought against him by the government if he did not sign on the dotted line, and because his attorney, De La Garza, assured him that under the new plea deal he would retain his DEA and other benefits and he would receive a light sentence as a first-time offender — likely probation.
However, at the sentencing hearing on Oct. 22, 2008, after that second plea deal was signed, the prosecutor Roomberg came at Castillo with teeth bared, arguing that not only did Castillo sell firearms without a license, but that he likely was engaged in illegal arms trafficking — indicating to the judge that Castillo had been less than cooperative in disclosing to whom he had sold the weapons.
In fact, Castillo says the government had no evidence that he had sold guns to anyone, other than his own admission, and he stresses that his lawyer, De La Garza, did provide Roomberg with the full name of the individual who purchased the guns.
Castillo lays all of this out in a letter sent to Judge Furgeson (dated May 1, 2009, and recently obtained by Narco News). That same letter, including evidence to back up the allegations, Castillo says, also has been delivered to the Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General and to the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. In addition, Castillo says he wrote a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder making him aware of the allegations of prosecutorial misconduct in his case as well.
From Castillo’s letter to the judge:
ROOMBERG made a federal case that I had not documented any names of the people [to whom] I had sold guns. I was given 4 point [sentencing enhancement] for trafficking because ROOMBERG had once again lied.
… My attorney once again assured me that there was no reason why Your Honor [Furgeson] would not place me on probation, because I had no previous criminal record plus my health issues [a chronic heart condition and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder] would be brought under consideration. He stated that in the worst scenario, I would get one year, (home confinement)….
… ROOMBERG also knew exactly whom the guns went to because the [federal] agents had followed me when I delivered the shotguns. Two agents, from two different agencies [ATF and ICE] have written reports [REPORT OF INVESTIGATION] to that effect with the full name and telephone numbers of the individual who took custody of the guns. Now may there be no mistake that the individual who took custody of the guns did in no way shape or form break the law by taking custody of the guns. He was not a prohibited person and the government knew this to be a fact.
… I know that if Your Honor had heard the truth; I would have probably fallen into the probation level of the federal guidelines. Now I can prove that ROOMBERG lied to Your Honor, with DE LA GARZA’S handwritten notes and the two agents’ reports.
Castillo explains that in De La Garza’s notes from a meeting he had with Roomberg on June 26, 2008, is the name of the individual who purchased the weapons. Castillo says De La Garza told him that Roomberg was provided with that individual’s full name and address at that meeting, as the attorney’s notes reflect, and that Roomberg that day ran the individual’s address through the Internet to generate a map of that address.
In addition, Castillo claims the federal agents in his case seized his cell phone, and that the individual’s contact information was in the contact list on that phone, as well as a record of calls made to the individual. He contends Roomberg also would have had access to that information.
In his letter to Judge Furgeson, Castillo includes excerpts from Roomberg’s argument before the judge at the Oct. 22, 2008, sentencing hearing, which, he claims, proves that Roomberg misled the judge.
From the Oct. 22 hearing transcript, according to Castillo’s letter to Judge Furgeson:
Roomberg:
The defendant — and normally I don’t discuss this in open court – but the defendant raised the issue that he spoke with us and told us the person who he bought and sold most of these guns to. The defendant gave us a nickname and a general area, nothing that we can do anything with.
… We would love to know who these people were; we would love to have had Mr. Castillo tell us more than just a nickname and a general area where this person lived. He didn’t. And if he [is] dealing all these firearms with this person and can’t give us more than a nickname, then I don’t know how he’s identified that person.
… This person who has dealt the majority – what he just said in court, the majority of these guns he only knows by a nickname and a general area where they live and… so it’s our position that he had reason to believe these were going to be – the transfers were unlawful or that who they were going to would … dispose of firearms unlawfully… Again, we’re talking about the defendant who’s dealing these guns out of McAllen right there on the border. The types of guns are the FN 5.7 and the P 90, which are the assault rifles.
Castillo, in the letter to Judge Furgeson, makes the following allegation concerning Roomberg’s representations [above] to the judge at the Oct. 22 sentencing hearing:
ROOMBERG addressed to the court that the government had no idea who the guns went to and that they only had a nickname to go by. ROOMBERG intentionally, knowingly, and recklessly lied to the court. ROOMBERG lied about the P90 rifle. This weapon is nowhere to be found in my case. He just plain made up this allegation.
As a result of Roomberg’s allegedly misleading statements to Judge Furgeson, Castillo argues, the judge was led to believe that some of the guns at issue were, in fact, sold to narco-traffickers in Mexico, resulting in the judge imposing a much more severe sentence — which, besides the 37 months jail term, also resulted in Castillo losing his DEA and other benefits, despite Roomberg and De La Garza’s promises to Castillo to the contrary.
De La Garza told Narco News in a recent phone interview that if he were called to testify in a hearing about Roomberg’s actions, he would testify, that, in his opinion, “Roomberg misrepresented the facts at the sentencing and the judge was mislead” as a result.
And Castillo, in his letter to Judge Furgeson [as well as those delivered to DOJ], makes clear that he believes Roomberg’s actions in his case do merit an investigation:
Sir, there are several serious issues that needs to be address because I was told that they would not be address in my appeal process. My public defender [Judy F. Madewell] has decided to appeal my case on the grounds of “ineffective representation.”
… One of the most significant concerns is Assistant United States Attorney Mark ROOMBERG’S prosecutorial misconduct.
… In the last hearing, you commented that it was despicable for someone to take guns into Mexico, which I certainly agree and it was well taken. However, what I find most despicable, in my own opinion, is that ROOMBERG, an officer of the court, and who took an oath to protect the Constitution of the United States, made a mockery of your court.
On April 10, 2009, my official complaint against the government was hand carried by two veteran’s organization, Americas Last Patrol and a member of American G-I Forum, to the Office of Inspector General and the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice. I am requesting for an inquiry of how my case was handle by the prosecution. However, I am still fearful that the old guard is still present and will protect ROOMBERG.
Narco News previously attempted to contact Roomberg for comment on Castillo’s case, leaving a message on his answering machine. To date, Roomberg has not returned the call.
Judge Furgeson replied to Castillo’s letter outlining the allegations against Roomberg in a letter dated May 20, 2009, which states simply:
You have an appointed lawyer to represent you. You must communicate to me through her. It is not proper to write directly to me.
Castillo’s attorney, Judy Madewell, and Roomberg were cced a copy of Judge Furgeson’s reply to Castillo.
Castillo points out that the only reason he wrote directly to the judge in his case is because his attorney, Madewell, declined to bring up the issue of prosecutorial misconduct in his appeal or in proceedings before Judge Furgeson.
Madewell declined to comment for this story.
Process over truth
At a hearing held before Judge Furgeson on Feb. 19, 2009, Roomberg again alleged that Castillo sold guns “to people that he didn’t know and couldn’t even really identify” and also alleged that two of the guns sold by Castillo “have now been found in Mexico.” Roomberg provided no serial numbers for those weapons and alleged in his brief for the court that one of those weapons was a PS 90 assault rifle.
Madewell, in her rebuttal at that hearing, pointed out to the court that in “the government’s response [brief] they mention two guns, one of which was an FN PS 90 assault rifle, but if you look in [Castillo’s] plea agreement or the indictment, there’s no such weapon indicated [included].”
Castillo says the PS 90 is an earlier version of the FS 2000 rifle, which is referenced in the indictment. However, he claims if that is the weapon Roomberg claims was found in Mexico, then he can prove the prosecutor again mislead the court.
“That rifle is still in the United States, and if there is an official inquiry into this matter, that weapon will be produced,” Castillo says.
And again, at the recent hearing on July 10, in which Castillo’s bail was revoked and the judge ordered him to report to prison on July 30, Roomberg again made statements that seem intended to convince the judge that Castillo had sold guns to narco-traffickers in Mexico.
“It is bad for the United States for the defendant [Castillo] to remain out n bond when he is guilty … and he sold guns that are illegal and dangerous … and used to shoot people with body armor, police, down there [in Mexico] who are fighting the war on drugs,” Roomberg stated at the July 10 hearing.
But in the courtroom that day, the issue of prosecutorial misconduct was not on the table. The judge was considering only whether Castillo should remain free on bond based on what Castillo’s attorney, Madewell, had raised as an issue in her brief now pending before the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, and that was the issue of the alleged misconduct by Castillo’s attorney, De La Garza.
The judge conceded that De La Garza had never informed the court of the fact that, while representing Castillo, he was facing disciplinary action from the Texas State Bar for allegedly misappropriating clients’ funds — and that his law license was to be suspended effective Nov. 1, 2008. The judge also conceded that an “inference” of a conflict of interest exists due to the fact that De La Garza’s son, Andrew, was facing federal firearms charges at the same time the attorney was representing Castillo — and that at least one of the agents involved in Castillo’s case also was active in the son’s case (though Castillo claims it was, in fact, two agents).
However, in the end, Judge Furgeson determined that there simply was not enough evidence in the existing court record to show that there was an “actual” conflict of interest that would lead the appeals court to find that De La Garza provided ineffective assistance of counsel.
“I believe it is not likely that [Castillo’s] appeal [before the Fifth Circuit] will result in a reversal or new trial based on the record as it exists,” Furgeson said at the July 10 hearing. “… Ms. Madewell has made a heroic effort, but she is hamstrung because of the record [in the case]. Therefore, I’m going to revoke the bond, and I’m going to set the report date [to prison for Castillo] for July 30. There will be no further bond for the appeal.”
And so it ends for Castillo. He must now report to the federal penitentiary at the end of the month, and fight on with his appeal behind bars — absent his benefits and under the threat of harm that confronts all former law enforcement agents behind prison walls.
But the allegations of prosecutorial misconduct in his case are surely not resolved.
If, as Castillo claims, De La Garza did provide Roomberg with the full name and address of the individual who purchased the weapons from Castillo, and that individual is a U.S. citizen who was not prohibited from making those purchases, as Castillo contends, then it appears Roomberg likely did mislead the court.
On the other hand, if Roomberg argues that De La Garza failed to provide that name (which appears in his attorney notes), then it would seem that Roomberg is establishing a fact that would lend credence to the claim now on appeal before the Fifth Circuit — that De La Garza did, in fact, provide Castillo with ineffective assistance of council. (Roomberg clearly convinced the judge to dole out a stiff sentence to Castillo based on the contention that he did not cooperate with the prosecution, that he did not provide the full name of the purchaser, and that he likely did traffic weapons in Mexico).
It seems to be a Catch 22 for the prosecution, but in the U.S. justice system, at least in the Western District of Texas, the truth seems to matter less than protecting the process.
And in this case, to date, Castillo appears to be little more than another cog on the conveyor belt of that tortured process, destined for the buzz saw — another stat in the prosecution’s hat regardless of the facts.
Now, that’s change we can believe in.
Stay tuned ….
Related:
Cele appeared in the acclaimed documentary American Drug War, in it he exposes the CIA drug running carried out under Bush Sr during the Iran-Contra affair.
Tuesday, May 19. 2009
The Stanford Prison ExperimentSaturday, March 28. 2009
Barry Cooper on Alex Jones TV "Never Get Busted Again!"Wednesday, February 4. 2009
Judges Took Bribes to Send Children to Privately Owned Juvenile Detention Centers
State may compensate juveniles sentenced by judges in Luzerne
By Tracie Mauriello
Post-Gazette | State lawmakers are seeking ways to compensate children sent to detention centers by a pair of Luzerne County judges charged with taking kickbacks for sending juvenile defendants to facilities in Luzerne and Butler counties.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Stewart Greenleaf said yesterday he would hold a hearing to find ways to help the children and their families. One option is to provide money from the crime victims compensation fund, said Mr. Greenleaf, R-Montgomery.
The hearing, which has not yet been scheduled, is at the request of Republican Sens. Lisa Baker and John Gordner, whose districts include parts of Luzerne County.
They made the request yesterday, the same day a third Luzerne County court official was arrested in the ongoing corruption probe.
Court Administrator William T. Sharkey Sr., 57, of West Hazelton, yesterday agreed to plead guilty to embezzling more than $70,000 in illegal gambling money seized by authorities between June 1998 and June 2008.
Two other county court officials were charged last week with fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud.
Judge Mark A. Ciavarella and former Senior Judge Michael T. Conahan are accused of taking $2.6 million for sending children to two facilities owned by Pittsburgh businessman Greg Zappala.
Judges Ciavarella and Conahan each could face prison terms of up to seven and three months, according to the terms of plea agreements they signed last week.
No charges have been filed against Mr. Zappala, who is the brother of Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. and son of former state Supreme Court Justice Stephen A. Zappala Sr.
Meanwhile, the state Supreme Court has agreed to review all juvenile cases adjudicated in Luzerne County during in the last five years.
That's good news to parents such as Susan Mishanski, whose 17-year-old son was sentenced by Judge Ciavarella last year to 90 days in a juvenile facility in Carbon County.
She said the punishment was excessive and that it traumatized her son, a first-time offender who was expecting community service or a fine for punishing another boy last year. Instead, he was taken from the courtroom in shackles and brought to Camp Adams, where he was beaten by other teenagers, forced to wear ripped clothes four sizes too big and permitted visitors only twice a month for an hour, she said.
"He was humiliated and he was scared," said Ms. Mishanski of Luzerne County. "I'm absolutely thrilled now that [these judges] got caught."
Judges Ciavarella and Conahan are scheduled to enter pleas Feb. 12 in U.S. District Court in Scranton.
Mr. Ciavarella, who stepped down as president judge but remains on the court, is continuing to receive a salary of $161,850, although he has been stripped of his judicial powers. Under the terms of his plea agreement, be must resign within 10 days of pleading.
His salary had been $163,260 but was reduced by $1,410 when he stepped down as president judge.
The Supreme Court last week revoked Judge Conahan's certification as senior judge, a designation given to retired judges who agree to temporary fill in at county courthouses as needed.
Judge Conahan retired in January 2008. He received $39,387 in per-diem pay for work between June 2008 and January 2009, according to records of the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts. It was not clear if he received payments in the first half of last year.
Mr. Sharkey could face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 in fines. As part of the plea agreement, he also must pay $71,000 in restitution and resign within 10 days of entering a plea.
Monday, February 2. 2009
State Bill Allows DNA From Felony Arrestees
By Niki Kelly
Journal Gazette | Tens of thousands of Hoosiers never convicted of a crime could find their DNA in state and federal databases under a bill making its way through the Indiana Senate.
The legislation is an attempt to take the next step with a scientific advance many consider to be the best crime-fighting tool in decades. But others wonder whether government is going too far and invading the privacy rights of citizens.
“Why not just get everyone’s DNA when they are born?” asked Sen. Tim Lanane, D-Anderson. “There is still a presumption of innocence in our system.”
Testing of deoxyribonucleic acid provides a genetic blueprint shared only by identical twins.
Indiana’s DNA database began in 1996 and has slowly been expanded over the years. Law enforcement currently takes DNA samples from all convicted felons, resulting in a database with about 122,000 samples.
Police around the state then use the database to see whether it matches evidence in unsolved crimes.
About 40 percent of the time the database returns a suspect, said Major Ed Littlejohn, head of the Indiana State Police Laboratory.
Statistically, the more samples in the database the more likely a crime can be solved.
“We don’t begin to maximize the potential of DNA technology until we are actually at the stage where we are preventing crimes,” said Chris Asplen, a DNA consultant from Pennsylvania who testified last week in support of Senate Bill 24.
“The nature of serial crimes is the sooner we identify the perpetrator the sooner we prevent crime,” he said.
Only seven states have laws requiring everyone arrested for a felony to give their DNA, according to information given at last week’s hearing.
But Asplen said taking the DNA at the point of arrest – rather than conviction – can prevent crimes.
A Chicago study found that requiring DNA upon arrest could have prevented dozens of murders and rapes. For instance, Andre Crawford was arrested for felony theft in March 1993. His DNA was not taken upon his arrest.
Six months later, Crawford committed a murder and left DNA evidence at the crime scene.
Asplen said Crawford’s DNA had been in the system from the theft arrest, police could have immediately caught him after the first homicide. Instead, Crawford went on to kill 10 women.
But there is a cost to running all the DNA samples.
According to a fiscal analysis by the Legislative Services Agency, it would cost $3.8 million annually to analyze and maintain the additional DNA samples.
Currently there is a $2 DNA sample processing fee included in court costs for all Hoosiers convicted of misdemeanors or felonies. That fee would have to increase to $11 to process the new felony arrestee DNA.
“Whether you are going to get much bang for the buck is unclear,” said Larry Landis, executive director of the Indiana Public Defender Council. “We would spend millions in public funds upfront and all the savings are speculative.”
But a representative from Strand Analytical Laboratories in Indianapolis gave members of the Senate Judiciary Committee last week a study that showed state and local government would save almost $20 million a year in law enforcement and judicial costs owing to the number of crimes being prevented.
Then there are the privacy concerns. The American Civil Liberties Union fought a measure last summer to expand the federal DNA database to arrestees, noting it could be a Fourth Amendment violation. This amendment protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures.
But the author of the bill, Sen. Joe Zakas, D-Granger, said initial court rulings have upheld the arrestee laws as constitutional.
In the only challenge to reach the state Supreme Court level, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that the taking of DNA upon arrest “is analogous to the taking of a suspect’s fingerprints upon arrest and was not an unlawful search under the Fourth Amendment.”
Zakas and members of the committee last week did amend Senate Bill 24 to include a provision allowing those whose cases never result in formal charges or were later dismissed or acquitted to expunge the DNA from the database.
The process was described as “fairly” automatic, although the person would have to send a request to the Indiana State Police with supporting documentation.
“The person falsely accused ought not bear any burden,” Landis said. “It’s just another hoop to jump through. If you get dismissed, there should not only be an automatic expungement, there should be an apology.”
Sen. John Broden, D-South Bend, voted for the bill but wants to tweak it so the removal is more automatic and people don’t fall through the cracks.
Littlejohn said the state police might have to conduct more than 100 expungements a day under the law, something that would “overwhelm” the lab.
The high number is because 40 percent of cases statewide are dismissed, Landis said. Also, some people are arrested but not formally charged, and others who are charged with felonies later plead guilty to misdemeanors.
In comparison, there are few convictions that are overturned or vacated annually that would require the DNA to be removed.
Landis did say the public defender council has previously supported the general idea of the database, when convictions are entered and the presumption of innocence is gone. An added feature is that the DNA database can be used to exonerate people.
“It cannot only convict the guilty but it can, and has, freed the innocent,” said Sen. Richard Bray, R-Martinsville.
The bill passed out of committee 7-2 last week and now must go to the Senate Appropriations Committee because of its price tag.
Saturday, January 24. 2009
Mystery Prison Buses in the Desert
By Ellen Brown
Now owned by the Danish corporation G4S, Wackenhut Services has a sinister reputation for hiring thugs. It has been said that it’s hard to tell which is more dangerous, the prisoners or the guards.
The new Wackenhut operation is shrouded in mystery. It has been running its fleet of empty prison buses night and day, apparently logging miles on a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) contract. Multiple buses can be seen driving all over town and even on remote desert back roads. Oddly, except for the driver and one escort guard seated in front, these buses are always empty.
Wackenhut Services was founded by George Wackenhut in 1954 to provide prison guard services to state and federal governments. Mr. Wackenhut was reported to be something of a brawler himself, having once earned distinction beating up his business partner in a fist fight. Now owned by the Danish corporation G4S, Wackenhut Services has a sinister reputation for hiring thugs. It has been said that it’s hard to tell which is more dangerous, the prisoners or the guards.
Observers originally thought that the purpose of the new Wackenhut operation was to outfit prison buses to be distributed in other parts of the country. But it soon became apparent that none of the buses was leaving the Tucson depot. Recently, a passerby observed what appeared to be a training operation there. In what seemed to be strange activity for 10:30 PM on a Saturday night, the depot yard was fully illuminated, the entire fleet of buses was up and running, and drivers and guards were scrambling around the yard. The question is, what were they training for?
Wackenhut has never officially announced itself to the community, and the local news media have never mentioned its presence. Hiring has been discreetly conducted via the Internet, and an apathetic general public has taken little notice. Among the few who have noticed, one theory is that the prison bus depot is simply infrastructure for border security. But if so, where are the illegal aliens? Why are these buses always empty? What is the alleged justification for burning thousands of gallons of diesel fuel to run thirty decrepit, smoking buses night and day without passengers?
There is another interesting piece to this puzzle. On the desolate plain between Phoenix and Tucson is a tiny town called Florence, Arizona, which features a population consisting largely of prisoners. For decades, Florence has been the home of two of the largest county and federal prisons in the state; and in 2007, a vast new DHS prison was built there as well. Like the Wackenhut buses, this shiny new facility, which literally disappears into the horizon, has gone unannounced and unnoticed by the general public. A new facility for imprisoning illegal aliens? It is hard to imagine such expensive infrastructure being built for that purpose when U.S. policy has been to simply return illegals to their home countries.
Fraud and waste aside, this mysterious activity has sinister implications. Why the obvious secrecy? Since the World Trade Center disaster in 2001, the Department of Homeland Security has grown to monster proportions, claiming a projected $50 billion of the federal budget in 2009. DHS includes the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which earned notoriety in 2005 for its gross mishandling of the Katrina disaster in New Orleans. Al Martin, a retired naval intelligence officer and former contributor to the Presidential Council of Economic Advisors, has linked the remilitarization of FEMA to the civil unrest anticipated along with economic collapse. He wrote in a November 2005 newsletter called “Behind the Scenes in the Beltway”:
“FEMA is being upgraded as a federal agency, and upon passage of PATRIOT Act III, which contains the amendment to overturn posse comitatus, FEMA will be re-militarized, which will give the agency military police powers. . . . Why is all of this being done? Why is the regime moving to a militarized police state and to a dictatorship? It is because of what Comptroller General David Walker said, that after 2009, the ability of the United States to continue to service its debt becomes questionable. Although the average citizen may not understand what that means, when the United States can no longer service its debt it collapses as an economic entity. We would be an economically collapsed state. The only way government can function and can maintain control in an economically collapsed state is through a military dictatorship.”[1]
Of course, there may be another, more innocent explanation for all this. But anyone living near one of these facilities should be asking to hear it. In the meantime, the ominous implications would seem to warrant exploring alternative sources of funding for the federal budget and the federal debt. There are other ways to deal with the national debt than relying on the waning appetites of the Chinese and the Japanese for U.S. securities. Some innovative possibilities for funding both the federal debt and President Obama’s new economic stimulus package will be the subject of future articles. Stay tuned.
1. Al Martin, “FEMA, CILFs and State Security: Shocking Updates,” www.almartinraw.com (November 28, 2005).
Thursday, January 1. 2009
Court: Religious Objection Won't Stop DNA Sampling
By Jesse J. Holland
AP | A federal appeals court on Tuesday refused to stop the government from taking DNA from a prisoner who claims the process would violate his religious beliefs.
Russell Kaemmerling, who is in the Federal Correctional Institution in Seagoville, Texas on a felony wire fraud conviction, sued in 2006 to stop the Federal Bureau of Prisons from taking a DNA sample from him.
Federal law requires felons give a DNA sample to the Federal Bureau of Prisons to be kept in a national law enforcement database. Officers then use the Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, to try and solve crimes by matching evidence from crime scenes to known offenders.
Kaemmerling claimed the collection violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, as well as the First, Fourth and Fifth Amendments of the Constitution, saying the collection and retention of his DNA information is "tantamount to laying the foundation for the rise of the anti-Christ."
U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton ruled against Kaemmerling, saying only that the prisoner had not exhausted all of the remedies available inside the prison system.
But on appeal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit added that Kaemmerling's claim that submitting to DNA sampling, collection and storage would be repugnant to his strongly held religious beliefs was not enough to stop the collection.
"The government's extraction, analysis and storage of Kaemmerling's DNA information does not call for Kaemmerling to modify his religious behavior in any way — it involves no action or forbearance on his part, nor does it otherwise interfere with any religious act in which he engages," the three-judge panel said. "Although the government's activities with his fluid or tissue sample after BOP takes it may offend Kaemmerling's religious beliefs, they cannot be said to hamper his religious exercise."
The decision was made by Judges David B. Sentelle, Brett M. Kavanaugh and Karen Lecraft Henderson.
This is another blow against prisoner attempts to stop DNA collection. The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled last year that collection of DNA samples from prisoners does not violate their privacy rights.
Tuesday, December 16. 2008
Phoenix Inmates Plan Hunger Strike to Protest Buying Own Jail MealsTuesday, November 18. 2008
Dick Cheney, Alberto Gonzales Indicted In South Texas
Charges related to alleged abuse of prisoners in federal detention centers
Associated Press | A South Texas grand jury has indicted Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on charges related to the alleged abuse of prisoners in Willacy County's federal detention centers.
The indictment criticizes Cheney's investment in the Vanguard Group, which holds interests in the private prison companies running the federal detention centers. It accuses Cheney of a conflict of interest and "at least misdemeanor assaults" on detainees by working through the prison companies.
Gonzales is accused of using his position while in office to stop an investigation into abuses at the federal detention centers.
Another indictment charges state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr. with profiting from his public office by accepting honoraria from prison management companies.
The indictments were first reported by KRGV-TV.
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