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The website for “United for Peace of Pierce County” in Washington State has posted materials from the Texas Civil Rights Review and others. In a summary of issues recently brought to light, Madeleine Lee and Hank Berger encourage contacting the jail to express your opinion:

“You can write to the T. Don Hutto Residential Center at 1001 Welch St., P.O. Box 1063, Taylor, Texas 76574; the phone number is 512-218-2400, and the FAX is 512-218-2450, according to the Corrections Corporation of America web site.”
Solidarity is always gratifying, but Pierce County also holds sentimental value for me as my place of birth. Thanks, Madeleine and Hank–gm

By John Wheat Gibson
December 15, 2006

The children of the Ibrahim family, 3, 5, 12, and 14 have been in prison in Taylor, Texas in the “T. Don Hutto Residential Center,” since November 3, 2006,when their mother and father were arrested in a midnight raid on their home in Dallas by the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The three oldest children are enrolled in school, but have been unable to attend while in prison. The BICE took the 2-year-old daughter away from her mother and siblings, and placed her in a foster home.
A midnight raid by the BICE also landed a 17-year-old senior at Bowie High School, in Arlington, Texas in the prison, spoiling his senior year and destroying his hopes of graduation.

The children, imprisoned with their mothers, have never been accused of any wrongdoing. Neither have their mothers. All are Palestinian refugees who entered the U.S. legally, but have been denied asylum.

The Ibrahim children, Hamzeh, 14, Rodaina, 12, Maryam, 5, and Faten, 3, are the children of Salaheddin Ibrahim and Hanan Ahmad. Mr. Ibrahim is in the jail at Haskell, Texas.

Ayman Suleiman is imprisoned with his mother Asma Quddoura. His father Adel Suleiman is in the Garvin County Jail in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma.

Hanan Ahmad is a few weeks pregnant. Her children became hysterical when guards wrapped her in wrist and leg chains to take her to the hospital.

Their attorney, John Wheat Gibson, said, “There is no legitimate reason for the detention of the children, even though a Department of Homeland Stupidity press release accuses them of being ‘fugitives’ and ‘criminals.’ In fact, they are neither, and their parents always kept the Department informed of their current address.”

Gibson described the roundup of the families November 3 as “Chertoff’s publicity stunt.” He said the purpose was “to make it appear that 1) the Muslims among us are our enemies but 2) the DHS is protecting us, and therefore 3) we should not mind shredding the Constitution.”

The Suleiman and Ibrahim families had been ordered deported, but had never received the customary notice to report for deportation. If they had, Gibson said, they would have worked out through their attorneys arrangements with the government for the children to finish the school year and then to depart at their own expense.”

“Compare the treatment of the Colombian wife of Georga State Senator Curt B. Thompson last week,” Gibson said.

“She also was under a final order of deportation, but the DHS did not detain her, even though, unlike my clients, she had been hiding from them since November 28, according to Brenda Goodman, writing in the New York Times, December 6.”

While the four Ibrahim children and their mother are in prison in Taylor, the 2-year-old daughter is in foster care because she was born in the U.S. The DHS would not allow her to remain with her mother and siblings.

“Two months is a long time for a 2-year-old baby to be torn away from her mother–especially for no reason other than a cynical political publicity stunt,” Gibson said.

–30–

A 2003 interview posted by Corrections Corporation of America with co-founders T. Don Hutto and Tom Beasly reveals that the company’s first contract involved detention for immigrants in Houston.

Hutto and Beasley tell the story about how they had won a contract to detain immigrants, but they didn’t have a facility, so, on New Year’s Eve 1983, they drove from motel to motel in the Houston area until they found one that would provide them the space to start their venture, “to crawl before we walked, so to speak,” says Hutto.

Then, when 87 “new aliens” were delivered, Hutto completed last-minute preparations with a Wal-Mart shopping trip, using his American Express credit card. With federal money coming in for immigrant detentions, CCA was in business.
Q. From where did the idea of private corrections originate?

Tom Beasley: The idea itself was cocktail conversation in 1980, at a presidential fundraiser at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee. The topic came up about corrections problems in Tennessee. A college said, “you’ll never solve that problem until you get the private sector involved.” And I thought, here we are in the home of Hospital Corporation of America, there are lots of the same kinds of dynamics involved and I started wrestling with the idea. After 6-8 months, I got Doctor Crants to come in with me and we agreed to put up $75,000 each, which neither of us had, and we got it started. We then went to see the commissioner of corrections at the time. I didn’t think he would receive this idea very well, but surprisingly he said it was an idea who’s time had come. I didn’t know exactly how to proceed. I asked the commissioner if he had any suggestions and he said he knew the very person. He called Don Hutto, who was the highest state corrections director in Virginia and had just been elected president of ACA. After explaining the idea, Don said he would be happy to be involved. There the three of us were — ready to go.

Q. What about you three made it work? What was the environment like among government agencies? Legislators? financial supporters?

Tom Beasley: We were fortunate in that the three of us had different skills sets. Don has referred to it as a three-legged-stool. Don ran the corrections side, Doc ran the financial side and raised money and I ran the marketing side. We took everything we knew to make it happen and to stay afloat. We went seven years without making a profit. We were producing at the ground level. We had facilities from the very beginning. It just took a long time to turn the corner with enough critical mass to begin to grow the company seriously.

Don Hutto: Politically our timing was really right. It was a time when corrections and prisons were taking an increasing about of state budgets. Historically, corrections has not been a very high legislative priority. But court actions, a harder look at sentencing and a strong push for reform caused an increase in state budgets. There was a lot of support for privitization when we began.

Tom Beasley: Judges were telling corrections systems they had to make changes. The expense of these changes fell on the states. Everybody wanted it resolved.

Don Hutto: We were primarily looking at the federal government to house undocumented aliens, to crawl before we walked so to speak. But we knew we could do much more. We could help take the pressure off the corrections systems. It was a fortuitous time for all of us.

Tom Beasley: Another thing that gave us a boost was when 60 Minutes called and wanted to do a piece on the Chattanooga Penal Farm, an adult male facility in Tennessee. It turned out to be a really positive piece. So, we got copies and marketed with it until 60 Minutes made us stop. It gave us instant credibility.

Q. How did you take the private corrections concept and turn it into a concrete business?

Don Hutto: We were working on getting our first contract with the INS. We worked with them on the idea then they submitted a request for proposal with maybe 60 days to respond. So we got busy and created the initial design of the facility. Tom found some property we could use. The INS did award us the contract but only gave us 90 days to build the facility. We knew there was no way to open in 90 days. In the mean time, we had to open a temporary facility to satisfy the contract.

Tom Beasley: Don and I went down to Houston on New Years Eve in 1983. We rented a car at the airport and drove around the major thoroughfares to find somewhere to put 200 illegal criminal aliens by February 1. Literally, we stopped in 10 motels then finally about 3 a.m. found one that might work. I asked if they would be interested in leasing or selling the hotel. After negotiating with the owner for several hours, he finally agreed.

Don Hutto: We had to do some renovations to the motel but we still managed to have everything finished a few days early. Just as we were beginning to think we were ahead, the INS called and had just picked up 87 new aliens and wanted us to take them that night. We didn’t have staff, personal items, anything. We took my American Express to Wal-Mart and bought personal items and some other items we needed. Around 10 p.m. that night, we starting booking the inmates and finished just before midnight. Tom Beasley: Our goal had been to get a contract in the first two years. We exceeded that goal and managed to get two in the first year and four or five by the second.

http://www.ccasource.com/story.cfm?id=23

By Greg Moses

CounterPunch / DissidentVoice / UrukNet /

Indymedia Austin, North Texas, Houston /

Some of the children and a pregnant woman being held in an immigration jail in Texas are Palestinian refugees whose families came to the USA with visas, says a Dallas lawyer.

Immigration attorney John Wheat Gibson represents two families that include a pregnant woman and children ages 2, 3, 5, 12, 14, and 17. The families have been incarcerated since their midnight arrests in early November by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). “The children, imprisoned with their mothers, have never been accused of any wrongdoing. Neither have their mothers,” says Gibson. “All are Palestinian refugees who entered the U.S. legally, but have been denied asylum.”

The fathers were separated from their families, the two-year-old was placed into foster care, and the remaining women and children were sent to the privatized Hutto jail in Taylor, Texas. The education of the school-aged children has been interrupted.

In an affidavit supplied by Gibson, one of the fathers, Adel Said Suleiman, says that he was identified as a refugee by the United Nations before coming to the USA in 1995. He claims that his immigration status has been mishandled by others, but that he has never been accused of any crimes or wrongdoings.

Suleiman’s wife, Asma Quddoura, is in the Hutto jail with their son, Ayman, a 17-year-old senior at Arlington’s James Bowie High School. Attorney Gibson, who now represents Suleiman, says his client was not provided with due notice of a deportation order.

Suleiman, a diabetic, sits in a chilly cell at the Garvin County Jail, Oklahoma, where the stink from an overflowing toilet “is horrible.”

“There is another diabetic, here, too,” says the Suleiman affidavit. “The guards bring us evening medication late, after supper, although it should be taken with food. The food served here is dangerous to diabetics, because it is sweet. I asked them to leave the sugar out of my oatmeal, but they refused. I take medication in the morning and because I cannot take it with food my blood sugar is very low.”

The second father, Salaheddin Ibrahim, was also separated from his family, including his pregnant wife, Hanan Ahmad. Four of the Ibrahim children–Hamzeh, 14; Rodaina, 12; Maryam, 5; and Faten, 3–are incarcerated with their mother. A two-year-old daughter was placed in foster care. Ibrahim was sent to another Texas jail in Haskell.

At one point, says Gibson, Amad’s children “became hysterical when guards wrapped her in wrist and leg chains to take her to the hospital.”

“Compare the treatment of the Colombian wife of Georgia State Senator Curt B. Thompson last week,” Gibson said.

“She also was under a final order of deportation, but the DHS did not detain her, even though, unlike my clients, she had been hiding from them since November 28, according to Brenda Goodman, writing in the New York Times, December 6.”

The privatized Hutto jail was the focus of a walk and vigil last week by Texas activists protesting the incarceration of immigrants and their children.

“Innocent children should not be jailed and forced to live under traumatizing and dehumanizing conditions,” said a statement from vigil organizers, Texans United for Families. “It is bad policy and an impractical and inhumane response to a growing refugee crisis. The U.S. should seek alternatives to detention while making sure that it legislates policies that support families and keep them together and out of jail.”

Jay Johnson-Castro, a South Texas businessman who earned recognition for his walk protesting the planned border wall, also walked from the nearby Texas Capitol to join the vigil. In a follow-up email, Johnson-Castro encouraged more activism:

“Get access into these so called ‘detention centers’ which are little more than prison camps that exploit desperate people only to make obscene profits.”

The Hutto jail is named after T. Don Hutto, co-founder of Correctional Corporation of America (CCA), the jail’s corporate proprietor. In 2004, CCA announced that the jail would be closed for lack of occupancy, but the site was revived as a result of new immigration enforcement policies.

“Although the [Hutto jail] contract does not provide for a guaranteed occupancy,” said a December 2005 release from CCA, “the Company expects the facility to be substantially occupied before the end of the second quarter of 2006.” Activists say the jail detains 400 immigrants, half of them children.

“We believe this contract represents an important step in this ongoing initiative being undertaken by ICE,” stated John Ferguson, president and chief executive officer of CCA, shortly before Christmas last year.

The Suleiman affidavit is posted below, along with a press release from attorney Gibson.–gm