Willacy Detention Center

Willacy Detention Center is a detention center located at the edge of Raymondville City, Willacy County, Texas.^[1][2][3]

The facility is within the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Prisons, and is managed by the contractor Management & Training Corporation.

It was the largest immigrant detention facility in the United States,^[4][5] but is now used as a prison for repeat offenders who have been captured while crossing the border illegally".^[6]

The facility has been subject of numerous media reports and incidents related to alleged illegal conduct of personnel.

History

Construction and upgrade

Willacy was built at a cost of $65 million by Management & Training Corporation for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in May 2006. It was upgraded in July 2007. In June 2008, 1,086 new beds were added.^[1]

2011 agreement

Management

In the summer of 2011, a new agreement was reached in which the facility was transferred from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to the Bureau of Prisons. However, it is still run by the private contractor Management & Training Corporation.^[6] The plan, at a cost of $532 million,^[7] has converted the facility to one that houses only immigrant prisoners convicted of federal crimes. The first wave of new prisoners began arriving on October 10, 2011.^[7][8]

Financial

The new agreement provides that the federal government pay $49 per day for housing each prisoner, part of which will go to pay bonds used to finance the construction of the facility. Willacy County will also receive $2.50 per day for each prisoner to improve county finances. The balance then goes to Management & Training Corporation. For the county to receive a guaranteed payment of $1,259,250 per year, 1,380 prisoners or fewer must be housed, as that would be considered 50% capacity. However, if the total number of prisoners reaches 1,381 Willacy County receives $2,266,650 per year, as that would be considered 90% capacity.^[9]

Under this new agreement, the maximum capacity of the facility is defined as 3,117 beds filled. At capacity, the county would received an extra $577,612 per year, for a total maximum possible revenue to the county of $2,844,262 per year.^[9]

Present usage of facility

The facility is now used primarily as a prison for "repeat offenders caught crossing the border illegally".^[6]

Description

The facility comprises ten large, 13,000 square foot, domed stuctures constructed from a firm, rubbery, Kevlar fabric. These serve as housing units for the detainees. The tents are completely windowless with the lights kept on 24 hours a day. There are no partitions separating the showers, toilets, sinks and eating areas.^[10]

There are several other buildings, with the whole compound surrounded by chain link fence and razor-type Concertina wire.

Population

During 2007, the average population was 1,474.^[11] According to an standard Annual Detention Review by Creative Corrections on March 12, 2009, the facility had an average daily population of 1,217 males, and 236 females, with a total of 491,636 "man-days" during the previous 12 months.^[1]

Between March 12, 2008 and March 12, 2009, the facility had a total population intake of 27,284.^[1]

As of March, 2009, the capacity for adult males is 2,750 males, and 250 females.^[1]

As at March, 2009, the basic rate per man-day was $78.00.^[12][13] In 2009, the average population was 1,381.^[11]

Departures

The following table shows detainees leaving detention during a 12-month period between approximately March 2007 and March 2008:^[14]

American Bar Association delegation

A memorandum dated March 7, 2008, from the American Bar Association Delegation to Willacy, to James T. Hayes, Jr., Acting Director, Office of Detention and Removal, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, summarized and evaluated information gathered during an August 28m 2007 visit. Some of the findings are as follows:^[2]

Detainees

• On the day of the delegation's visit, the detainee population was 1,216. This was lower than the normal amount, as the approaching Hurricane Dean may have prompted an evacuation of the facility.
• The detainees were from twenty-three countries, including Mexico, Panama, South Korea, Russia, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, but none from the Middle East.
• Detainees making asylum claims get transferred the facilities at Port Isabel, Texas, or Pearsall, Texas.
• Normally, a detainee stay for twenty-one days.

Staff

• Willacy is funded for 109 ICE employees, but the facility has only 60, with many of these ICE officers often being away accompanying detainees or handling other off-site activities.
• A further 422 employees from Management & Training Corporation work at the facility.
• Most of the guards are male between 19 and 24 years of age, having a high school education, and earning $6.00 to $7.00 per hour. Each undergoes a criminal background check before being hired, and all receive 80 hours of academy training, followed by 40 hours of on the job training.

Facilities

• Willacy has four immigration courts and a room for attorney visitation, normally with one or two judges per week to preside over immigration proceedings.
• Detainees are housed in "sprung structures" produced by Hale Mills, the exterior walls of which are constructed from a firm, rubbery, Kevlar fabric.
• There is a total ten housing units, each being divided into four pods, each approximately 13,000 square feet. The capacity of each pod is fifty detainees, with each building therefore holding a maximum of 200 individuals.
• There are no children kept at the facility.

Controversies

The facility has been the subject of multiple reports of abuse. Between October, 2011 and October 2008, 170 allegations of sexual abuse have been reported at Willacy.^[15] The 2009 audit of the facility states that over 900 greivances were filed.^[6] Four have been resolved.^[15]

In November 2008, Alberto Gonzales, former Attorney General of the United States was indicted along with Dick Cheney and other elected officials, by a Willacy County grand jury.[1] They were accused of stopping an investigation into abuses at the detention center. A judge dismissed the indictments, and chastised Juan Angel Gonzales, the Willacy County district attorney who brought the case. Juan Angel Gonzales had himself been under indictment for over a year and a half before the judge dismissed the indictment.

Physical abuse

Former Willacy guard Sigrid Adameit claims to have witnessed two supervisors and two officers beating a detainee, knocking out is teeth, and leaving him with a black eye and broken nose. She claims that she was shown the video of the incident and asked to "clean up" the statements of the guards in order to make them consistent with the evidence. The following morning, the detainee was put aboard the "first flight" out of the facility. ^[6]

Sexual abuse

Twana Cooks-Allen, a Former Mental Health Coordinator at Willacy, received numerous complaints, including harassment by guards for sexual favours.^[6][16]

On June 22, 2011, Contract Security Officer Edwin Rodriguez was arrested, and subsequently charged with the sexual abuse of a female detainee.^{[17][18][19][20][21][22]}

Cocaine distribution

On November 10, 2010, guard Christopher George Gonzalez was arrested for allegedly conspiring to possess with the intent to distributed cocaine. ^{[23][24][25][26]}

Human trafficking

In November 2007, four Willacy employees were charged in relation to their use of company vehilcles to smuggle illegal immigrants through checkpoints. They were allegedly caught smuggling 28 illegal immigrants through the U.S. Border Patrol's Sarita checkpoint, situated approximately 100 miles north of Brownsville. The immigrans were from Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. Two of the men charged were wearing their uniforms and driving a company van, apparently overloaded with the immigrants.^[27]

See also

• Illegal immigration to the United States
• Immigration detention in the United States
• Immigration detention#United States
• U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement#Detention centers

References

External links

• High resolution image
• Visitor information
• Annual Detention Review, March 9, 2007
• U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement: List of immigration detention facilities

• New York Times: List of immigration detention facilities
• Frontline (U.S. TV series) presentation Lost in Detention
• The Washington Post story Border Policy's Success Strains Resources, February 2, 2007