Posted on 09/22/2009 10:46:02 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative
CORPUS CHRISTI — State jail inspectors have warned the owner of a private Robstown facility to rectify 17 compliance issues immediately or face possible closure.
The Coastal Bend Detention Center was cited Monday for failing to classify inmates, check for contraband, improper staff training, jailers without proper state licensing and no tuberculosis screening plan, among other issues.
If the facility, owned by Lafayette, La.-based LCS Corrections, cannot correct its problems, especially the jailers’ licensing, then the Texas Commission on Jail Standards could temporarily close it, commission Director Adan Muñoz said.
“I have to bring any remedial order before the (jail) commission, but this borders really close to complete incompetence,” he said.
The jail opened in September 2008. Its first inmates arrived in March.
Jail warden Art Crews was replaced in August by Elberto “Bert” Bravo, who also is warden at LCS’ detention facility in Hidalgo County, said Dick Harbison, LCS vice president of operations. The management shake-up should help fix the jail’s problems, he said.
“My people know exactly what needs to be done,” Bravo said. “I know the report looks bad. They say it is the worst they have ever seen. But honestly, we are going to be OK. It’s just going to take me a little bit of time to do it.”
The jail will be in compliance by late October, he said.
Within the past two weeks, Bravo hired two deputy wardens with more than 60 years of combined experience. He also laid off 26 jailers until they can get the correct state licensing. He fired another 10 for not doing what they were told, he said.
The detention facility was overstaffed and reassigned some of its 175 staff members to cover jailer positions, Bravo said.
The facility has a capacity for 1,056 inmates. When it was inspected last week it held 475, according to state inspectors. Most are undocumented immigrants housed in Robstown through a contract with federal agencies. Another 41 are inmates from Duval, Jim Wells and Kleberg counties, where jails are overcrowded, according to the jail standards commission.
Compliance Issues
The Coastal Bend Detention Center in Robstown had 17 compliance issues after state inspectors reviewed the facility last week.
-- Inmate toilet and shower areas have insufficient privacy shields
-- Jailers are not being trained properly for fire drills
-- Jailers are not being trained properly in the use of air packs
-- No documentation outlining generator testing or the transfer of the facility’s electric load at least once a month
-- Inmates were not classified correctly
-- Classification reviews were not conducted within 90 days of initial inmate custody assessments
-- Classification workers didn’t receive the required four hours of training
-- Internal classification audit logs were not kept
-- No tuberculosis screening plan had been approved by the health department
-- Twenty-four officers did not have a required jailer’s license or temporary jailer’s license
-- Hourly face-to-face prisoner checks were not performed
-- The facility did not meet the state mandated 1-to-48 jailer-to-inmate ratio
-- Personnel did not conduct required contraband searches
-- Disciplinary hearings for minor inmate infractions were conducted by a single person rather than a disciplinary board
-- Jail did not respond to inmates with grievances within 15 days or resolve issues within 60 days as required
-- Inmates did not receive one hour of supervised physical education three days per week as required
-- A fire panel doesn’t show an inspection tag
In 2006 incompetence by the incumbent Robstown Mafia Nueces county sheriff in the operation of the county jail caused the federal government to take all its prisoners out of the Nueces County jail. This happened a couple of months after the former sheriff re-elected in 2004 and resigned to run for county judge, won the DemocRAT nomination for county judge. The interim sheriff also won the DemocRAT nomination for the unexpired term for sheriff. Due this issue Republicans won both the office of county judge and sheriff for the first time ever on the same night Republicans lost control of the US House and Senate and Republicans lost control of county governments in Dallas and Harris counties.
“...last week it held 475, according to state inspectors. Most are undocumented immigrants...”
Our tax dollars at work!
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