Category: Uncategorized

Email from the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition

Dear friends,

We have breaking news and we need your help more than ever!

Many of you have seen the historical bipartisan work of key members of the legislature to pass “smart on crime” policies.

We’ve just received a call from a very reliable source warning us that within the next couple of days (and most likely on Sunday), the House will be voting on the budget, which will decide which road Texas will take – the road that will save the State millions of dollars, strengthen families, and increase public safety, or the road that will waste funding we don’t have on new prison construction, which weakens communities and turns a blind eye to strategies that will make Texas safer.

We urge each and every one of you call your State Representatives and urge them to join Rep. Jerry Madden, Rep. Sylvester Turner, and others, and remove the primary rider regarding prison construction.

Although the budget will not be available until some time later tonight or tomorrow (Fri), we have heard that the rider is in Article IX, and that it appropriates funds contingent upon passage of SJR 65 (which approves $1 billion for general revenue bonds to be used for various items, including prison construction) and S.B. 2033 (which allows the spending of those funds).

We also urge you to let your Representatives know that they must oppose ANY other provision that might show up in the budget and waste taxpayer dollars by building prisons.

Your work has gotten us so too far to let failed policies waste your hard earned money now. Help us make the state safer and smart on crime.

Find out the contact information of your elected official by logging onto the following website:

http://www.house.state.tx.us/members/welcome.php

Your friends at the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition.

The TUFF Coalition has a new website with a focus on the campaign to close the T. Don Hutto prison for immigrant children — a campaign they started in Dec. 2006:

www.texansunited4families.com

Press Release

FREE the CHILDREN

People’s Hearing on H.C.R. 64 to end illegal imprisonment of children in Taylor, Texas

CONTACT:

Jay J. Johnson Castro Sr.: 830 734 8636 (cell)

Jane Chamberlain (media): 512 453 5669

AUSTIN: Save the Children, a coalition of individuals and groups opposing the illegal and immoral detention of immigrant families with children (approximately 400 people from 30 countries) at the T. Don Hutto detention center in Taylor, Texas, will gather at the Texas Capitol in committee room E2.028 on Saturday, April 28th, 11:00 a.m-4:00pm., for a People’s Hearing on HCR 64. This bill, filed by Reps. Eddie Rodriguez and Rafael Anchia, which condemns as immoral the incarceration of children at Hutto, has been stuck in Chairman David Swinford’s House State Affairs Committee since it was filed in February.
The people of Texas will hear testimony from citizens across many sectors of society about the abuses of the system of immigrant detention and the improper aggrandizement of private corporations such as Corrections Corporation of America which runs the immigrant prison at Hutto.

We invite all Texans with an interest in human rights to grab this rare opportunity to think globally and act locally all in one.

Audiencia popular sobre el proyecto de ley H.C.R 64 para acabar con el encarcelamiento ilegal de menores en Taylor, Texas

Save the Children, una coalición de interesados opuestos a la detención ilegal e inmoral de familias inmigrantes con hijos (aproximadamente 400 personas procedentes de más de 20 países) en la cárcel T. Don Hutto en Taylor, Tejas, se juntarán en el capitolio de Texas, en el salón de comité E2.028, 11:00am-4:00pm del sábado 28 de abril, para asistir a una Audiencia Popular sobre el proyecto de ley HCR 64. Este proyecto de ley, presentado por los Reps. Eddie Rodríguez y Rafael Anchia, que condena como inmoral la encarcelación de niños en Hutto, ha estado inmovilizado en el Comité de Asuntos Estatales del Presidente David Swinford desde que se presentó en Febrero.

El pueblo de Texas escuchará el testimonio de representantes de varios sectores de la comunidad en cuanto a los abusos del sistema de detención de inmigrantes, y el engrandecimiento indebido de las corporaciones privadas, así como la Corrections Corporation of America, que tiene a su cargo la administración de la cárcel en Hutto.

A todos los residentes de Texas interesados en los derechos humanos, les invitamos a aprovechar esta singular oportunidad para pensar a nivel global y expresarse a nivel local.

Relevant links

HCR 64 Resolution text:

Detention and Removal Operations: Alternatives To Detention. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Fact Sheet of March 2007.

Locking up Family Values: The Detention of Immigrant Families. Monograph by the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children and the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, February 2007

Corrections Corporation of America: A Critical Look at the First Twenty Years, by Philip Mattera, Mafruza Khan, and Stephen Nathan (May 2003).

Texas: Tougher than Ever, But Are We Safer? Comparison with New York. Recent legislation contributed to a reduction in NY prison population while allowing the state to spend tax dollars more effectively.

Neal and Angela Kopit have written a well rounded and persuasive piece on the Taylor Hutto Prison.

We have previously shared a pdf file released by writer Dave Maass–including an April letter from the state of Texas informing the Corrections Corporation of America that it will continue to be exempt from child protection regulations. In the May 22 edition of the San Antonio Current, Maass coins a term for Hutto “Kidmo” and summarizes his research into licensing:

ICE assigned the licensing responsibilities to CCA, the U.S.’s largest private prison operator. CCA’s inexperience in residential programs is evident in documents obtained by the Current that show in March 2006 CCA was hoping to receive licensing from the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission and the Texas Youth Commission. Both agencies determined that Hutto was outside their jurisdiction because the detained juveniles had not committed criminal offenses and were foreign nationals. Only as the facility was set to open in May 2006 did CCA finally file paperwork with the proper agency, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. However, instead of applying for a license, CCA requested and received a licensing exemption, which Sparks pointed out does not satisfy Flores.