- The Washington Times - Thursday, April 23, 2015

Reeves County Detention Center, which houses about 2,407 criminal aliens — the majority for border-crossing — is being mismanaged, according to an inspector general report that cited staffing concerns, the use of solitary confinement and wasted federal spending.

The privately overseen Texas facility has been struggling to meet the federal requirements tied to its $493 million contract from the Department of Justice — the second-largest prison award doled out by the federal agency.

The center was rated “deficient” or “unsatisfactory” in half of its award fee evaluation periods and claimed $3 million in unsupported or unallowable expenses, according to the audit, released Thursday.

Reeves County Detention Center has been plagued with mismanagement and humanitarian concerns in recent years. In 2008 an epileptic 32-year-old detainee reportedly died of a seizure while in solitary confinement. The sight of his body being carried out of the detention complex in a plastic bag reportedly sparked a series of riots, in which prisoners took hostages and set fire to the facility.

The incident prompted the ACLU to file a lawsuit in 2010 on behalf of the detainee’s family and estate.

The Department of Justice audit acknowledged there were inmate riots and said it would further investigate whether the detention center was complying with the contract terms in its federal grant.

Although there have been some improvements in recent years, the detention center has struggled with staffing issues in health services and correctional services, according to a summary of the report.

A private prison company, Florida-based GEO Group, is under contract with the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to oversee the detention center. It, in turn, has contracted out that responsibility as well.

The 85-page investigation shows GEO and its subcontractor struggled to meet or exceed baseline contractual standards, received an unacceptable number of deficiencies and notices of concern; was unresponsive to BOP inquiries; struggled with staffing issues in health services and correctional services; and frequently submitted inaccurate routine paperwork, including erroneous disciplinary hearing records and monthly invoices.

The inspector general also found Reeves improperly requested, and the Bureau of Prisons improperly paid, $1.95 million in fringe benefits it was not entitled to receive, including $175,436 in payroll taxes and workers’ compensation insurance.

BOP should have “asked harder questions and probably held the contractor’s feet to the fire,” said John Malcolm, a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation.

“BOP should have been more vigilant in its oversight,” he said. “I frequently say that people will not do what you expect, they will do what you inspect. And that certainly appears to be the case here.”

Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for the bureau’s subcontractors to receive substandard performance reviews, said John Webster, managing director of National Prison and Sentencing Consultants Inc. He called the lack of oversight paired with the treatment of inmates — who typically have deteriorating health conditions ignored until they are at death’s door — an appallingly common trend.

“I’m not surprised that they found a significant number of deficiencies,” he said. “Unfortunately, nobody listens to these inmates when they’re complaining.”

At the prison in Texas, a general population housing center was converted into a so-called isolated “J-Unit,” where the penitentiary placed offenders who threatened the safety of other prisoners and coerced others to riot.

However, according to the audit, the prison had no official protocol on who could be put in isolation, no due process to let inmates challenge their placement there and no safeguards to protect the inmates’ rights.

“Regardless of your crime, you should be treated humanely,” Mr. Webster said.

In response, Amber Martin, GEO’s vice president of contracts, said that while the company “found the draft report to be both fair and comprehensive,” it did disagree with two of the findings.

One included management of the J-Unit, and the other had to do with compliance with health and welfare benefits.

• Maggie Ybarra can be reached at mybarra@washingtontimes.com.

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