tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25372141645691305062024-03-12T19:51:58.844-05:00T Don HuttoT. Don Hutto: Women in Detentionlkeberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18361857964935590212noreply@blogger.comBlogger167125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537214164569130506.post-44995816951634908082010-08-21T09:11:00.003-05:002010-08-21T09:19:39.532-05:00Williamson County's Response to Sexual Abuse Allegations at T. Don Hutto<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in -9pt 0.0001pt 9pt; text-align: left; font-family: georgia;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="_x0000_i1026" type="#_x0000_t75" style="'width:57pt;height:60pt'" ole="" fillcolor="window"> <v:imagedata src="file://localhost/Users/rhizomatick/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/msoclip/0clip_image003.png" title=""> </v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style=""><span style=";color:navy;" >JAMES R. WILSON<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><div style="font-family: georgia;"> </div><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:";font-size:100%;color:navy;" ><span style=""> </span></span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:";font-size:100%;color:navy;" >WILLIAMSON COUNTY SHERIFF</span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:";font-size:100%;color:navy;" > <span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span><div style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-size:100%;color:navy;" >508 South Rock Street<o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-size:100%;color:navy;" >Georgetown, Texas 78626<span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span></span><span style=";font-size:100%;color:navy;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left; font-family: georgia;"><span style="line-height: 150%;font-size:100%;color:navy;" >Phone (512) 943-1300 * Fax (512) 943-1444 <span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style=""><span style=";color:navy;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p><div style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: -9pt; text-indent: 9pt; text-align: left; font-family: georgia;"><span style=";font-size:100%;color:navy;" ><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-size:100%;color:navy;" >August 19, 2010<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-size:100%;color:navy;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-size:100%;color:navy;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-size:100%;color:navy;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 27pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -27pt; font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style=""><u><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% yellow;color:navy;" >MEDIA RELEASE</span></u></b><b style=""><u><span style=";color:navy;" ><o:p></o:p></span></u></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; font-family: georgia;" align="center"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style="">Arrest made in T. Don Hutto Investigation.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;" align="left"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;" align="left"><span style="font-size:100%;">On May 11, 2010, the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office received a report from the Austin Police Department regarding an employee of the T. Don Hutto facility in Taylor, Texas.<span style=""> </span>The report <span style="color:black;">detailed how a female made contact with an Austin Bergstorm International Airport employee advising them that she had been inappropriately touched outside her clothing while being transported from the T. Don Hutto facility to the airport.<span style=""> </span>The report identified an employee of the Correction Corporation of America as being the suspect of this allegation. The Correction Corporation of America is the contracted company at the T. Don Hutto facility which houses federal immigration detainees. Due to the facility being in Williamson County, The Williamson County Sheriff’s Office immediately began an investigation into this allegation.<span style=""> </span>On the same date, <b style="">Donald Charles Dunn</b>, a Resident Supervisor at the T. Don Hutto facility and employee of Correction Corporation</span> of America was identified as the suspect of this allegation.<span style=""> </span>Mr. Dunn met with Williamson <span style="color:black;">County Detectives on May 20, 2010 and explained to detectives that he told the women he was going to “frisk” them and then inappropriately touched their breasts, crotch and buttocks. Mr. Dunn advised that he didn’t do this for safety concerns but as self gratification. Mr. Dunn indicated to Detectives that he had done this to numerous other women while performing his duties as a transport officer.<span style=""> </span>A large scale investigation into the current locations of other possible victims began immediately after Mr. Dunn’s interview.<span style=""> </span></span>Detectives from Williamson County and Immigration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Office of Professional Responsibility/San Antonio) set out to make contact with several of the possible victims who had located across the country since bonding out of the facility. Mr. Dunn was subsequently terminated from his contract employment with Correction Corporation of America when the allegation was first reported to authorities.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;" align="left"><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;" align="left"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;" align="left"><span style="font-size:100%;">The <span style="color:black;">investigation revealed that</span> all of the possible victims of Mr. Dunn had been released on bond from the T Don Hutto federal facility and were being transported to the Austin-Bergstrom Airport or bus station.<span style=""> </span>It was during these courtesy transports that Mr. Dunn would stop at different locations in the areas of both Travis and Williamson County. Williamson County is pursuing charges against Mr. Dunn for his actions in the area of the convenience store located at 20306 FM 973.<span style=""> </span>The transports usually occurred in the early morning <span style="color:black;">hours when it was still dark.</span><span style="color:blue;"><span style=""> </span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;" align="left"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;" align="left"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;" align="left"><span style="font-size:100%;">Three women that were interviewed told detectives that they were inappropriately touched outside of their clothing on their breast, virginal or buttocks areas.<span style=""> </span>Two of the three victims said they were unlawfully restrained.<span style=""> </span>The two charges of unlawful restraint occurred when Mr. Dunn took the victims to the above location against their will. One victim told officers she thought she would be either “killed or violated”. Several women who were interviewed denied any contact with Mr. Dunn.<span style=""> </span>Some of those advised that they were transported in the daylight hours and or it was raining. Several women could not be located for questioning because of out of date addresses with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;" align="left"><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% yellow;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;" align="left"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% yellow;font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;" align="left"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style="">DONALD CHARLES DUNN <o:p></o:p></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;" align="left"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style="">Date of Birth 12/23/1979</b></span><span style="font-size:100%;"> of 14408 Varrelman Street in Austin was arrested on August 19, 2010 at 4:50pm in Austin. Mr. Dunn will be booked into the Williamson County Jail where he awaits arrangement on a $35,000.00 bond.<span style=""> </span>Mr. Dunn faces <u>3 </u>counts of official oppression and <u>2</u> counts of unlawful restraint. Due to the late booking of Mr. Dunn, No mug shot is available till August 20, 2010.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;" align="left"><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;" align="left"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;" align="left"><span style="font-size:100%;">The investigation is still ongoing at this time.<span style=""> </span>Anyone having information about a victim or Mr. Dunn’s crimes is encouraged to call the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office at 512-943-1300 or the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;" align="left"><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;" align="left"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;" align="left"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style="">*On August 20, 2010, at 10:00am, the Williamson County Sheriff’s will discuss and answer questions regarding limited aspects of the investigation with the media. The conference will be at the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office located at 508 Rock Street in Georgetown, Texas. No further Information will only be available till 10:00am August 20, 2010*</b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;" align="left"><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;" align="left"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i style="">The T. Don Hutto facility opened in May, 2006 as a family residential facility housing families while they awaited their immigration hearings or decisions The facility changed over to housing females in a separate area of the facility in February, 2008 and in September, 2009 the entire facility began housing only females. The facility is </i><i style=""><span lang="EN">operated under an Immigration and Customs Intergovernmental Service Agreement with Williamson County. Williamson County contracts with Corrections Corporation of America for the facility's day-to-day operation. A new agreement with Williamson County became effective February 1, 2010. The facility employees 169 Correction Corporation of America Staff, 30 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Staff and 43 United States Public Health Services Staff.<span style=""><br /></span></span></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><i style=""><span lang="EN"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;" align="left"><span style="font-size:100%;">For further media information contact:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;" align="left"><span style="font-size:100%;">Sergeant John Foster<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;" align="left"><span style="font-size:100%;">Williamson County Sheriff’s Office<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;" align="left"><span style="font-size:100%;">Special Investigations Unit<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;" align="left"><span style="font-size:100%;">Pager: 512-208-2188<o:p></o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment-->TUFF Coalitionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13911555884168472253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537214164569130506.post-64208375912491649312010-08-21T09:07:00.002-05:002010-08-21T09:10:37.215-05:00Grassroots LeadershipIn Wake of Sexual Assault Arrest at Hutto, Grassroots Leadership Calls for Detention Reforms to Prioritize Release, not For-Profit Detention<br /><br /><br />NEWS ADVISORY<br />For Immediate Release: August 20, 2010<br /><br /><br />Contact: Bob Libal, Grassroots Leadership, (512) 971-0487, blibal@grassrootsleadership.org<br /><br />Austin, TX - Grassroots Leadership today called on Immigration and Customs Enforcement to make systematic changes to its detention system in the wake of the arrest of a former private prison guard on charges related to the sexual assault of women detained at the T. Don Hutto detention center in Taylor, Texas. The man, a former supervisor at the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) prison, was charged with three counts of official oppression and two counts of unlawful restraint in the incidents in which he allegedly groped women in his custody transporting them to the airport or bus station.<br /><br />The T. Don Hutto detention center is a private prison formerly contracted to detain immigrant families, including small children. Last August, in a victory for Grassroots Leadership and our allies, Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that it would end family detention at Hutto as part of sweeping reforms to the detention system. The facility now detains women apprehended without children, many of whom are seeking asylum in the United States. Hutto is operated by Corrections Corporation of America, the country's largest for-profit private prison corporation. <a href="http://www.ice.gov/pi/news/factsheets/huttofactsheet.htm">ICE has held up Hutto as a model detention center. </a><br /><br />"While we were heartened that the administration took on reforming the U.S. detention system a year ago, this egregious incident illustrates the inherent problems in a vast and growing immigration detention system with no meaningful oversight." said Bob Libal, Grassroots Leadership's Texas Campaigns Coordinator. "The Obama Administration should should immediately take steps to implement alternatives to detention and scale back its growing and out-of-control detention system."<br /><br />The sexual abuse scandal is the latest in a series of such incidents at Texas detention centers. <a href="http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid:479772">In 2007, a CCA employee was fired for inappropriate sexual contact with a female detainee who was held at the facility with her family.</a> Earlier this year, a former Port Isabel Detention Center officer was sentenced to prison for <a href="http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/April/10-crt-380.html">sexual abuse</a> of female detainees over a period of time in 2008. In 2008, an expose by the WOAI news station in San Antonio reported sexual abuse of female detainees at the GEO Group's <a href="http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/pdf/Jawetz080626.pdf">South Texas Detention Center in Pearsall.</a> Reports of sexual abuse against detainees have also plagued MTC's Willacy County Detention Center.<br /><br />"These reports show the vulnerability of detained immigrants, especially women, in ICE's vast and largely privatized immigrant detention system," said Donna Red Wing, Executive Director of Grassroots Leadership. "ICE should immediately re-evaluate its contracts with all private prison corporations, and speed the pace of reforms to its system. We are gravely concerned about the reality of women incarcerated for-profit and the impact of these closed corporate facilities on the lives, health and well being of women detainees."TUFF Coalitionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13911555884168472253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537214164569130506.post-84438308073748900332010-08-21T09:05:00.000-05:002010-08-21T09:06:48.105-05:00WillCo to keep closer tabs on HuttoWilliamson County authorities say they will supervise employees at the T. Don Hutto detention facility more closely after a worker was accused of fondling women.<br /><br />Donald Charles Dunn, 30, is charged with official oppression and unlawful restraint, Class A misdemeanors.<br /><br />The facility in Taylor houses women who are illegal immigrants. Williamson County contracts with the private company, Correction Corporation of America (CCA) to run it. <br /><br />In May, a woman told Austin police a man inappropriately touched her while she was being driven from the facility to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. <br /><br />Area law enforcement investigated. They say they found five women in Williamson County and three in Travis County who say Dunn groped them when he was taking them to the airport or bus station.<br /><br />Williamson County Sheriff’s spokesman John Foster says its contract with CCA states that two people will be present during transport but Dunn was alone when the alleged crimes happened.<br /><br />The women told detectives they believed Dunn was a law enforcement officer and had the right to frisk them. Foster says Dunn was a resident supervisor and not an officer. CCA has fired Dunn.TUFF Coalitionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13911555884168472253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537214164569130506.post-9659482405131591542010-08-21T09:04:00.000-05:002010-08-21T09:05:11.355-05:00News 8 Austin: T Don Hutto employee fired after alleged sexual abuseA transport officer at the T. Don Hutto residential facility in Taylor was fired after confessing to inappropriately touching inmates after they were released.<br />Donald Dunn was in charge of taking former detainees to a destination of their choice after they were released from custody.<br /><br />One woman was taken to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and told an ABIA employee about the inappropriate behavior. The woman’s outcry was enough to get the investigation started.<br /><br />All of the victims were females previously held by the federal government concerning their immigration status.<br /><br />Sgt. John Foster is a Williamson County Deputy Sheriff that also serves as a monitor for the T. Don Hutto Residential Center. Foster had strong words for Dunn Friday.<br /><br />"They deserve to come into this country and not be assaulted, he didn't give that to them," he said.<br /><br />According to authorities, Dunn was responsible for the transport of 72 detainees while employed at the federal facility. Officials attempted to interview all of those he had transported during his time as an officer. Forty-two detainees were questioned, 30 women could not be found.<br /><br />Sgt. Foster said the investigation went coast to coast in an attempt to locate potential victims.<br /><br />Lisa Graybill is the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas.<br /><br />"I believe many of these women are asylum seekers, so that means they fled persecution, violence, possible sexual violence in their home countries,” she said. "Only to come to this country and have this happen to them."<br /><br />Word of the Hutto facility investigation reached Washington D.C., and officials in the case tell News 8 that President Obama was briefed regarding all of the charges against Dunn.<br /><br />Dunn has been charged with three counts of official oppression and two counts of unlawful restraint. If convicted, he faces up to one year in jail.TUFF Coalitionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13911555884168472253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537214164569130506.post-60037937249944293572010-08-21T09:02:00.000-05:002010-08-21T09:03:24.603-05:00ACLU Investigates Sexual Abuse at HuttoFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<br />August 20, 2010<br />11:23 AM<br /><br />CONTACT: ACLU<br />Will Matthews, (212) 549-2582 or 2666; media@aclu.org<br /><br />Sexual Abuse Of Female Detainees At Hutto Highlights Ongoing Failure Of Immigration Detention System, Says ACLU<br /><br />NEW YORK - August 20 - A Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) employee at the T. Don Hutto immigration detention facility in Taylor, TX today was charged with sexually abusing numerous female immigration detainees. Donald Charles Dunn, a resident supervisor at the Hutto facility, is accused of abusing the detainees as he was transporting them to the airport after they had been released on bond and has allegedly admitted to telling the women that he was going to "frisk" them before touching their breasts and genital areas for his gratification, according to Sheriff's officials in Williamson County, TX. Dunn is charged with official oppression and unlawful restraint.<br /><br />The American Civil Liberties Union is actively investigating the sexual abuse of female detainees at Hutto, where the detention of families was halted last year after the successful settlement of an ACLU lawsuit charging that children were being imprisoned in inhumane conditions while their parents awaited immigration decisions.<br /><br />As part of its investigation, the ACLU has obtained via the Texas Public Information Act copies of both the Intergovernmental Services Agreement (IGSA) between Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), CCA and Williamson County, under which the Hutto facility is operated, and ICE's own transport policy. Both documents are being made available to the public and can be found online at: www.aclu.org/huttodocs. The opportunity for abuse was the result of a failure by CCA officials to abide by the IGSA that female immigration detainees not be isolated with male staff members. <br /><br />The following can be attributed to Vanita Gupta, Deputy Legal Director of the ACLU:<br /><br />"The sexual abuse of numerous immigration detainees at Hutto underscores the systemic failures that continue to plague our nation's broken immigration detention system. The irony is that ICE touts Hutto as a flagship facility, emblematic of its commitment to reform. Clearly, that commitment is shallow. ICE has ignored repeated calls for increased and independent oversight and accountability of its immigration detention facilities and the private contractors like CCA who run them, and tragedies like this are the unfortunate result. It is time for ICE officials to live up to their promise of creating a ‘truly civil' immigration detention system that does not tolerate the abuse and degradation of its detainees."<br /><br />The following can be attributed to Lisa Graybill, Legal Director of the ACLU of Texas:<br /><br />"It is long past time to close the book on ICE's relationship with CCA. If this administration is serious about reform, it cannot continue to spend millions of taxpayer dollars every month on a private contractor that has proven over and again it is demonstrably incapable of running a safe and humane facility. Immigrant women, many of whom who have fled to the United States seeking refuge from sexual violence, should not fear more of the same in the hands of ICE and its contractors. Zero tolerance starts at the top. The only way for ICE to restore integrity to its system is to immediately sever its contract with CCA and begin a new era of transparency and accountability."TUFF Coalitionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13911555884168472253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537214164569130506.post-59317064120437676022010-08-21T08:59:00.001-05:002010-08-21T09:02:13.919-05:00KXAN: Eight Victims ID'd in Hutto Guard Case<a href="http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/crime/deputies-to-discuss-arrested-guard">Eight victims ID'd in Hutto guard case</a><br />Tensions mounting between facility, county<br /><br />Updated: Friday, 20 Aug 2010, 5:22 PM CDT<br />Published : Friday, 20 Aug 2010, 9:21 AM CDT<br /><br />Jackie Vega<br />TAYLOR, Texas (KXAN) - Williamson County authorities said Friday that eight victims had been identified in connection with a former transport officer at the T. Don Hutto immigration detention facility , who police say groped several women he was supposed to be taking to airports and bus stations.<br /><br />No sexual assault charges have been filed, however -- although Williamson County officials said they may be later on.<br /><br />Currently, Donald Charles Dunn, 30, faces three charges of official oppression and two charges of unlawful restraint in connection with five victims police said were molested in Williamson County.<br /><br />Charges have not yet been filed in connection with three more victims authorities said were attacked in Travis County.<br /><br />President Obama and Congressional members have been briefed on this case because of its association with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.<br /><br />Nineteen women have been interviewed so far, from Texas to Florida to Washington D.C., and another 11 still could be victims -- though they haven't been located. In his year of employment at the Taylor facility, Dunn transported 72 people from the facility - where they were being bonded out -- to airports or bus stations, so they could wait for their immigration hearings in locations near family or friends or employment.<br /><br />Thirty of the people he transported were women.<br /><br />Williamson County officials said that they were tightening their grip over the facility being run by the Corrections Corporation of America after it was discovered during the investigation that Dunn was not supposed to be transporting those women alone -- but that the facility was required, for the women's safety, to have two officers on board the vehicle with the detainees.<br /><br />CCA is a private, for-profit company that runs jail and detention facilities, and has come under fire for cutting corners.<br /><br />Dunn was arrested in Austin Thursday after police said he admitted stopping the van during the early morning trips, at locations in Williamson and Travis counties, and touching them inappropriately for his own "self gratification."<br /><br />Dunn, a resident supervisor at the facility and employee of Correction Corporation of America, told officers that on these trips, "he told the women he was going to 'frisk' them and then inappropriately touched their breasts, crotch and buttocks," according to a news release by the Williamson County Sheriff's Office.<br /><br />"Mr. Dunn indicated to Detectives that he had done this to numerous other women while performing his duties as a transport officer," the release said.<br /><br />Dunn told officers he had done this with several women, while he was transporting them late at night, and would stop at several locations in Williamson and Travis counties to abuse them on the way to Austin Bergstrom International Airport.<br /><br />The women were being given the rides to the airport and bus stations as a courtesy while they were out on bond, awaiting immigration hearings.<br /><br />The first report came on May 11 when Austin police told Williamson County Sheriff's deputies that a woman had alerted an airport official that she had been abused on the way to the airport from the facility in Taylor. That's when detectives met with Dunn and listened to his description of groping "numerous women" while doing his duties as a transport officer.<br /><br />"A large scale investigation into the current locations of other possible victims began immediately after Mr. Dunn’s interview," the news release said. "Detectives from Williamson County and Immigration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Office of Professional Responsibility/San Antonio) set out to make contact with several of the possible victims, who had located across the country since bonding out of the facility.<br /><br />"Mr. Dunn was subsequently terminated from his contract employment with Correction Corporation of America when the allegation was first reported to authorities."<br /><br />The investigation revealed that all of the possible victims of Dunn had been released on bond from the facility and were being transported to the Austin-Bergstrom Airport or bus station when the attacks occurred.<br /><br />It was during these "courtesy transports" that Dunn would stop at different locations in the areas of both Travis and Williamson County.<br /><br />Three women said they'd been inappropriately touched.Two of those victims said they were taken against their will to a location near a convenience store, during which one woman said she thought she'd either be killed or raped.<br /><br />"Several (other) women who were interviewed denied any contact with Mr. Dunn," the statement read. "Some of those advised that they were transported in the daylight hours and or it was raining. Several women could not be located for questioning because of out of date addresses with Immigration and Customs Enforcement."<br /><br />Dunn was arrested Thursday around 5 p.m. and posted bail on a $35,000 bond Friday.<br /><br />The investigation is still ongoing at this time. Anyone having information about a victim or Dunn’s crimes is encouragedTUFF Coalitionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13911555884168472253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537214164569130506.post-18795753707153420772010-08-21T08:56:00.002-05:002010-08-21T08:59:05.095-05:00Ex-detention center worker wasn't supposed to travel alone with womenBy Claire Osborn | Friday, August 20, 2010, 02:12 PM<br /><br />This story has been corrected to say that Dunn was a resident supervisor at the T. Don Hutto facility.<br /><br />A former resident supervisor at the T. Don Hutto Residential Center wasn’t supposed to be traveling alone with the women he has been accused of groping, said John Foster, a spokesman for the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office.<br /><br />Donald Charles Dunn, 30, has been charged with two counts of official oppression and three counts of unlawful restraint in connection with five incidents involving women in Williamson County, said Foster.<br /><br />Dunn was arrested Thursday and was released from the Williamson County Jail on $35,000 bail today.<br /><br />According to the contract that Williamson County had with the Corrections Corporation of America, which runs the immigrant detention facility in Taylor, a corrections employee is not supposed to transport a detainee of the opposite sex without another employee present, Foster said.<br /><br />No details were available Friday on how Dunn managed to not comply with that restriction.<br />Dunn, who was a resident supervisor and employee of the Corrections Corporation of America, drove 72 men, women and children to Austin-Bergstrom International Aiport from the detention facility during 2009 and 2010, Foster said. Detectives working with immigration officials interviewed 19 women and found that eight said Dunn had touched them inappropriately, including three from Travis County and five from Williamson County, Foster said.<br />A call to the Travis County attorney’s office on whether Dunn could face charges has not been immediately returned.<br /><br />Investigators looked for victims across the country, including to Washington, D.C., New York and Los Angeles, but could not find 30 of the women Dunn drove to the airport, Foster said. Detectives were able to ascertain that no abuses occurred when Dunn wasn’t driving alone with women, Foster said.<br /><br />Investigators were tipped off to the case May 11 when one of the women that Dunn took to the airport asked an airport employee if “it was normal” to be frisked like Dunn touched her, Foster said.<br /><br />Dunn is accused of touching the female detainees near their breasts and genitals, officials said. Several times while taking women who had been released on bond to the airport, he would stop at a Conoco gas station in Coupland on FM 973 and ask the women to get out of the van, Foster said. He would then frisk them while they stood outside the van, Foster said. When interviewed by detectives Dunn said “he would frisk the females from the front and rear over their clothes,” including touching their bras, according to an arrest affidavit.<br /><br />A spokesman for the Corrections Corporation of America, Steve Owen, said he couldn’t comment on how Dunn was able to violate the company’s contract with Williamson County by driving the women alone to the airport.<br /><br />“Since we became aware of the allegation we immediately cooperated fully with law enforcement,” he said.TUFF Coalitionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13911555884168472253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537214164569130506.post-35142139745457785932010-08-21T08:44:00.004-05:002010-08-21T08:55:52.300-05:00Former CCA Guard Charged in Sexual Abuse of Detained WomenThis week, the Williamson County police announced that they were formally charging Donald Charles Dunn, aged 30, with two counts of official oppression and three counts of unlawful restraint. These charges from from five incidents involving women detained at the T. Don Hutto Detention Center in Taylor, Texas.<br /><br />The abuses occurred when Dunn transported women from Hutto to the bus station or airport. Despite the fact that male guards are never to be alone with female detainees, Dunn transported women from Hutto frequently.<br /><br />ICE has been investigating these abuses since May, and Thursday's charges were the first to be filed.<br /><br />ICE has trumpeted Hutto as a "model civil detention facility" on its website. The scope of these charges reveals, we hope, that detention places noncitizens in inherently vulnerable positions, allowing any number of officials to take advantage of them.<br /><br />These problems cannot be solved until detainees are released from detention, and the immigration system is transformed into the civil administrative process it was intended to be.TUFF Coalitionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13911555884168472253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537214164569130506.post-91389990902825183942010-08-11T09:07:00.002-05:002010-08-11T09:21:09.305-05:00Taylor Daily Press: Vigil for detained families<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh1gsDnXxOQUcRf9DJ8S-DLWiLNmvX-5sGDKEQzup7lfeuizUyUDU2yQLMgz99MNafmeL4ZhhJHERWH-30T2dk2sfUCEn0iQGaHnWSvL1FhSxTfMhZAVCSnz-XzsJnuFdB32NPBAluSwBX/s1600/4c61c98ed4474.preview-300.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 281px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh1gsDnXxOQUcRf9DJ8S-DLWiLNmvX-5sGDKEQzup7lfeuizUyUDU2yQLMgz99MNafmeL4ZhhJHERWH-30T2dk2sfUCEn0iQGaHnWSvL1FhSxTfMhZAVCSnz-XzsJnuFdB32NPBAluSwBX/s400/4c61c98ed4474.preview-300.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5504154858373118258" border="0" /></a><br />Posted: Wednesday, August 11, 2010 1:00 am<br />Tricia Rosetty | 1 comment<br /><br />In a field outside of the T. Don Hutto detention facility, about 70 people gather in 100-degree weather. Sweat drips onto their poster board signs – signs that read “Dignity not detention” and “Immigrant civil human rights.” The peaceful gathering, one of more than two dozen over the last four years, commemorates significant change at the facility; namely, the one-year anniversary of changing policy to not detain families at the former prison, though women and children are still held.<br /><br />According to organizer and president of Taylor’s chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) José Orta, the vast majority of attendees at this weekend’s vigil were just people who care about the issue of immigrant detention, not those that know people in the facility. In fact, the group included people from as far away as San Antonio and the Rio Grande Valley. The display of solidarity at the first vigil to be held this year was important.<br /><br />“The biggest problem in the community is the apathy that happens,” Orta said. “People become apathetic to this cause. They don’t see it as an issue that touches them, but then when it does they’re surprised that these measures have become so draconian.”<br /><br />The T. Don Hutto facility has been run by the Corrections Corporation of America and faced two allegations of sexual assault by CCA guards in the last three years, casting uncertainty about the private company’s management. Grassroots organizations across the country have focused on reform at this and similar facilities.<br /><br />“I thought it was really powerful for people to get together and express their feelings about detention reform. I think people have been pretty disappointed that there haven’t been more reforms,” said Bob Libal, Texas campaign coordinator for Grassroots Leadership, the umbrella organization for Texans United for Families. TUFF, a group fighting to bring attention to immigrant rights, emerged from the vigils at T. Don Hutto, said Orta. In addition to sharing their perspective on the importance of the issue, those in attendance marched with signs and chanted together for over an hour.<br /><br />“The good thing about chanting and using a microphone is that it creates an echo. We were just hoping that the detainees could hear us,” said Orta, noting that a view from the entrance was blocked when the event began. While the detainees may not have been able to see their supporters, the importance of the issue to those present was clear.<br /><br />“Being in the country illegally is a civil matter, not a criminal matter,” said Orta. He said that the model of using detention facilities is not the answer because it uses a criminal justice mindset to address a civil issue – a model he fears will be emulated at other sites. Orta suggested that house arrest or even ankle bracelets would be preferable to detention at a facility like T. Don Hutto.<br /><br />“If you feel they don’t deserve to be here, send them back. Don’t keep them here for months as a form of punishment as if they’ve done something criminal,” said Orta, noting that many individuals who are in the country illegally are seeking amnesty from dangerous situations in their home country. “Just because these people are not citizens, doesn’t mean they don’t deserve to be heard.”<br /><br />Orta suggested that a federally run program would provide accountability that privatization does not and simplify transparency.<br /><br />“Our immigration system is broken and we need to fix it. Detention like this for long periods of time is not the answer,” said Orta. “There has to be some kind of reform because this detention is not giving us any sense of goodwill throughout the world, and that’s not the way our country should be seen.”TUFF Coalitionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13911555884168472253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537214164569130506.post-76241961703153687282010-08-02T13:38:00.002-05:002010-08-02T13:47:12.671-05:00Logistics: Directions + Caravan Information for August 7 Vigil<div>For those travelling from Austin, please meet up with others at the offices of PODER, 2604 E. Cesar Chavez, Austin, Tx at 5:30pm, Saturday, August 7, 2010.</div><div><br /></div><div>For those travelling from elsewhere...</div><div><br /></div><div>From <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Georgetown,+TX&daddr=T+Don+Hutto+Correction+Center,+Taylor,+TX&hl=en&geocode=FfZq0wEdUZAt-inf-9pU_dVEhjEJOsCU3jTsYQ%3BFUdn0gEdMnIx-iEiLGoHavZ2vynL7kQLaedEhjEk5iwjUmvPKg&mra=ls&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=38.144864,78.046875&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=12">Georgetown</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>From <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Austin,+TX&daddr=T+Don+Hutto+Correction+Center,+Taylor,+TX&hl=en&geocode=FRHXzQEdK48s-ikvA8ygmbVEhjF61WnUS0abXQ%3BFUdn0gEdMnIx-iEiLGoHavZ2vynL7kQLaedEhjEk5iwjUmvPKg&mra=ls&sll=30.589935,-97.54988&sspn=0.162253,0.304871&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=11">Austin</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>From <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=San+Antonio,+TX&daddr=T+Don+Hutto+Correction+Center,+Taylor,+TX&hl=en&geocode=Ffr5wAEdRBsh-imvDtAEr1hchjG8FqAQO-FWCA%3BFUdn0gEdMnIx-iEiLGoHavZ2vynL7kQLaedEhjEk5iwjUmvPKg&mra=ls&sll=30.415385,-97.59506&sspn=0.325087,0.609741&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=9">San Antonio</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>From <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Houston,+TX&daddr=T+Don+Hutto+Correction+Center,+Taylor,+TX&hl=en&geocode=FUQlxgEd6pFQ-ikBhY1ItLhAhjE7BWXz3gINyg%3BFUdn0gEdMnIx-iEiLGoHavZ2vynL7kQLaedEhjEk5iwjUmvPKg&mra=ls&sll=29.922441,-96.124045&sspn=2.61356,4.87793&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=9">Houston</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>From <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Dallas,+TX&daddr=T+Don+Hutto+Correction+Center,+Taylor,+TX&hl=en&geocode=FYuI9AEdfWg7-ilLl0V79xlMhjGPZ0f2pJvsuQ%3BFUdn0gEdMnIx-iEiLGoHavZ2vynL7kQLaedEhjEk5iwjUmvPKg&mra=ls&sll=31.706692,-97.022161&sspn=2.565501,4.87793&ie=UTF8&ll=31.686108,-97.108154&spn=2.566018,4.87793&t=h&z=8">Dallas</a>:</div><div><br /></div><div>Your city not listed? Have questions? Email Bob Libal at boblibal at grassrootsleadership dot org.</div>TUFF Coalitionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13911555884168472253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537214164569130506.post-19236835810942441772010-07-21T14:06:00.005-05:002010-07-21T14:19:21.635-05:00Vigil Marks 1 Year Anniversary of ICE's Reform + Family Release Announcement<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd29YlSmmXVk6zwCH68WlADVEiqWchTTNwW5nssX1zW_5-1CYtsRmf9Ke8gt0QJ7YJFmtQH-aBi4nemy8MPY88UI8RQxDDPuSa0-TfUHVjAxAjeHMuibMfEzV0qw2hK1ypVp0njUJBlaU3/s1600/Hutto+Vigil+Graphic+08-10.png"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 193px; height: 315px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd29YlSmmXVk6zwCH68WlADVEiqWchTTNwW5nssX1zW_5-1CYtsRmf9Ke8gt0QJ7YJFmtQH-aBi4nemy8MPY88UI8RQxDDPuSa0-TfUHVjAxAjeHMuibMfEzV0qw2hK1ypVp0njUJBlaU3/s400/Hutto+Vigil+Graphic+08-10.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496440614999911330" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span> <meta name="Keywords" content=""> <meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"> <meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 2008"> <meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 2008"> <link rel="File-List" href="file://localhost/Users/rhizomatick/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/msoclip/0/clip_filelist.xml"> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:documentproperties> <o:template>Normal.dotm</o:Template> <o:revision>0</o:Revision> <o:totaltime>0</o:TotalTime> <o:pages>1</o:Pages> <o:words>230</o:Words> <o:characters>1315</o:Characters> <o:company>University of Kentucky</o:Company> <o:lines>10</o:Lines> <o:paragraphs>2</o:Paragraphs> <o:characterswithspaces>1614</o:CharactersWithSpaces> <o:version>12.0</o:Version> </o:DocumentProperties> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves>false</w:TrackMoves> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:drawinggridhorizontalspacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing> <w:drawinggridverticalspacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing> <w:displayhorizontaldrawinggridevery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery> <w:displayverticaldrawinggridevery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:dontautofitconstrainedtables/> <w:dontvertalignintxbx/> </w:Compatibility> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="276"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--> <style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Palatino; panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:ArialMT; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-alt:Arial; mso-font-charset:77; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:auto; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:"Apple Chancery"; panose-1:3 2 7 2 4 5 6 6 5 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style> <!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <p style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Palatino;font-size:130%;" >Dignity not Detention Vigil:<o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;"> </div><p style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Palatino;font-size:130%;" >No more Arizonas! No more Huttos!<o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;"> </div><p style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Palatino;font-size:130%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Palatino;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Saturday, August 7</span><sup style="font-weight: bold;">th</sup><span style="font-weight: bold;"> @ 7:00 PM</span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">
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<br /><span style=";font-family:Palatino;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Palatino;font-size:100%;" >T. Don Hutto Detention Center, 1001 Welch St, Taylor, TX<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino;font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Palatino;font-size:100%;" >Please join Texans United for Families, Grassroots Leadership, and organizers from across Texas for a vigil to draw attention to the nation's unaccountable and out-of-control detention system. The vigil will mark the<span style="font-weight: bold;"> one-year anniversary of Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) announced detention reform</span> and the <span style="font-weight: bold;">end of family detention at Hutto</span>.<span style=""> </span>ICE currently heralds Hutto as a model detention center despite the recent revelation in <span style="font-weight: bold;">May that a CCA guard was accused of sexually assaulting several women detained at this 500-bed facility.</span> Texas holds 10,000 beds in detention centers to date, with plans for continued expansion. In light of this news, we question ICE's characterization of its detention system as "civilized" and its definition of “reform.” Furthermore, the growing enforcement of immigration laws by local law enforcement as well as anti-immigrant legislation such as Arizona's SB 1070 will increase the detention of all immigrants. <span style="font-weight: bold;">The arbitrary nature in which immigrants are shuttled between detention centers almost guarantees that Arizona's detainees will be sent to Texas,</span> including the Hutto detention center, where their human rights will continue to be jeopardized.
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Palatino;font-size:100%;" >
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<br /><span style=";font-family:Palatino;font-size:100%;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Palatino;font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Palatino;font-size:100%;" >Please join us to call for Dignity, not Detention for immigrants. For more information, please email: </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:ArialMT;font-size:100%;" ><a href="mailto:blibal@grassrootsleadership.org"><span style=";font-family:Palatino;color:#000000;" >blibal@grassrootsleadership.org</span></a></span><span style=";font-family:Palatino;font-size:13pt;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >.</span> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Palatino;font-size:13pt;" >
<br /></span><span style="font-family:Palatino;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment--> TUFF Coalitionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13911555884168472253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537214164569130506.post-45953914272502528282009-11-05T07:44:00.002-06:002009-11-05T07:48:50.856-06:00Equal Justice Works Recognizes Kate Lincoln-GoldfinchEqual Justice Works <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lgYnzJ_9a4">interviews Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch</a> about leadership in public interest law. Kate has represented detained at Central Texas detention centers, including Hutto, and was one of the first of Barbara Hines' law students to visit Hutto. Great work!TUFF Coalitionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13911555884168472253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537214164569130506.post-49096871369643861602009-11-05T07:35:00.003-06:002009-11-05T07:42:44.128-06:00UT Immigration Clinic Still At It!Hutto no longer holds families, we're still happy to say, but now there are around 500 women held there. As the <a href="http://www.dailytexanonline.com/">Daily Texan</a> reports,<br /><br /><blockquote>While struggling to attain asylum, hundreds of immigrant women are kept behind chain-link fences within a former medium security prison, no more than an hour away from the state Capitol.<br /><br />A review of detention centers released on Oct. 6 by Dora Schriro, the former director of the U.S. Office of Detention Policy and Planning, made recommendations for detention centers. Janet Napolitano, U.S. Department of Homeland Security secretary, announced reforms for facilities soon after.<br /><br />According to one reform, the center, which released the last family on Sept. 17, would detain women only. It has worked toward consolidating the female populations from three other facilities: Willacy, Pearsall and Port Isabel.<br /><br />“Many of the settlement’s improvements that we achieved we hope will be continued to be maintained for the women, but the government is not bound by any settlement agreement,” Hines said.<br />UT law student Ruth Rosenthal works at the clinic and has visited the center with former UT law student — and current attorney for American Gateways — Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, who also worked at the clinic.<br /><br />Rosenthal provided counsel for 25 women and assisted a woman from El Salvador, resulting in the reduction of her bond at the center and subsequent release in October. “She had a really good asylum claim. Also, at Hutto she developed numerous medical conditions,” Rosenthal said. “There were a lot of humanitarian concerns that compelled her release at Hutto.”<br /><br />Pruneda said facilities have arrangements with nearby medical centers to provide health care if specific services needed are not available at the facility. The facility maintains a population of 512 and remains substantially full,Lincoln-Goldfinch said. She said the facility has remained true to the settlement, giving it “a residential feel, rather than a correctional feel,” but policies dictating the retention of detainees may require reformation.<br /><br />“[Detainees] should be paroled out as soon as they pass a credible fear interview,” Lincoln-Goldfinch said. “You have to show you have been persecuted in the past or [have] a well-founded fear of future persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a social group.”<br /><br />Pruneda said the average stay for detainees nationwide is 31 days. However, Lincoln-Goldfinch said some women may end up staying six to nine months “because their cases are a bit different.”<br /><br />Lincoln-Goldfinch said alternatives, such as probation or an ankle-bracelet program, are a more cost-effective means of monitoring illegal immigrants.<br /><br />“I would hope at some point there would be no Hutto facility in the sense that people would be released into the community more regularly and the government would explore alternatives to detention,” Hines said. “There are other means to ensure immigrants appear at their hearings, which is the rationale the government makes for detaining them in the first place.”</blockquote>TUFF Coalitionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13911555884168472253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537214164569130506.post-36146773715122397022009-10-09T11:26:00.002-05:002009-10-09T11:30:06.053-05:00Vigil to close Raymondville's Tent City<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-wvKf9P4osd66oczvBqnKUr6vEnfthDLwMlV_FlEs6N213Oy6-ysrcuQN0ZT-mL7AnqAyFj_Ijjp4Ne2vseTwQuolQo9Ls9QsLSMUntAJGze3DpWNZEl2tu_5wUXsD3zH5hw_oWt6zO5P/s1600-h/images.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 113px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-wvKf9P4osd66oczvBqnKUr6vEnfthDLwMlV_FlEs6N213Oy6-ysrcuQN0ZT-mL7AnqAyFj_Ijjp4Ne2vseTwQuolQo9Ls9QsLSMUntAJGze3DpWNZEl2tu_5wUXsD3zH5hw_oWt6zO5P/s320/images.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5390638265769120290" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Vigil to Close "Tent City" Detention Center in Raymondville, Texas</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Friday, October 16th, 5:00-7:00pm</span><br /><br />The Willacy County Detention Center in Raymondville is the nation's largest and one of its most notorious immigrant detention centers. The prison holds 3,000 immigrant detainees, including 2,000 people in a series of Kevlar tents, earning the facility the designation "Tent City." The facility has been racked by a series of allegations of horrendous conditions and abuse, including alleged sexual assaults on female detainees by guards, reports of detainees being fed rotten and inadequate food, and poor access to medical and mental health care. The facility is operated by private prison corporation Management and Training Corporation. Raymondville is the seat of Willacy County which borders Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico and is the 12th poorest county in the US.<br /><br />The Raymondville detention center is one of two large immigrant detention centers in the Rio Grande Valley. Detainees at the other facility, the Port Isabel Detention Center, continue a rolling hunger-strike in protest of prolonged detention and detention center conditions. Please join Southwest Workers Union, Grassroots Leadership, Texans United for Families, Austin Tan Cerca de la Frontera, and concerned residents from across Texas in a vigil to launch a campaign to close Tent City and call for increased accountability in ICE's massive detention system. <br /><br />For more information or directions, please contact Anayanse Garza with Southwest Workers Union at (956) 207-2571. A caravan will be leaving the Austin on Friday morning at 10:00am. For more information or to reserve for a place in the van from Austin, please contact Bob Libal with Grassroots Leadership at blibal@grassrootsleadership.org or (512) 971-0487.TUFF Coalitionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13911555884168472253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537214164569130506.post-76016739097361937052009-10-06T15:11:00.002-05:002009-10-06T15:24:06.600-05:00ICE moves women from other Texas facilities to HuttoToday <a href="http://www.ice.gov">ICE</a> announced more specific changes, following up on their August 6 announcement that Hutto would no longer detain families. With the last families leaving Hutto in September, the facility now holds only women. And now, it appears that Hutto will be a central detention center for women in Texas, as women are transferred there from Pearsall, Port Isabel, and Willacy (Raymondville). <br /><br />By all accounts, the improvements made to Hutto following the <a href="http://www.aclu.org/immigrants/detention/40648prs20090807.html">ACLU's 2007 lawsuit</a> make Hutto highly preferable to Pearsall, Port Isabel, and Willacy, where sexual assault and abuse allegations have repeatedly surfaced. Little has been done by ICE or the contracting corporations to address sexual abuse.<br /><br />These changes are announced as ICE releases Dora Schriro's comprehensive study of the immigration detention system. More on that forthcoming, but a brief look reveals a deep concern for the expense of using private contractors, the inappropriateness of carceral forms of detention for non-violent detainees, and massive administrative disorganization. <br /><br />Read <a href="http://www.ice.gov/doclib/10-06-09-fact_sheet_ice_detention_reform.pdf">ICE's fact sheet</a>.<br />Read the <a href="http://www.ice.gov/doclib/091005_ice_detention_report-final.pdf">full report</a> on ICE's detention center.TUFF Coalitionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13911555884168472253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537214164569130506.post-89807223024247771292009-09-28T20:58:00.001-05:002009-09-28T20:58:56.390-05:00Least of These Screening, San Francisco<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" bg style="width: 560px; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; color:white;"><tbody><tr><td style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; padding-top: 15pt; padding-right: 15pt; padding-bottom: 15pt; padding-left: 15pt; "><p align="center" style="text-align: center; "><span style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:180%;color:black;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: Georgia; ">Surviving Criminalization: Films on Incarceration & Family Detention</span></span></p><p align="center" style="text-align: center; "><span style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;color:black;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Georgia; ">The Equal Justice Society next month will feature two documentaries that take a probing look into America's criminal justice and immigrant detention systems. As racial justice advocates, we believe that building a movement that addresses both systems of oppression is imperative.</span></span></p><p align="center" style="text-align: center; "><b><span style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;color:black;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Georgia; font-weight: bold; ">Wednesday, October 14th</span></span></b><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; "><br />7:00 pm<br />Sundance Kabuki Cinema<br />1881 Post Street, San Francisco Japantown<br />(<a href="http://ent.groundspring.org/EmailNow/pub.php?module=URLTracker&cmd=track&j=291457794&u=3221149" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(64, 100, 128); ">map</a>)</span></span></p><p align="center" style="text-align: center; "><span style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;color:black;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Georgia; "><a href="http://ent.groundspring.org/EmailNow/pub.php?module=URLTracker&cmd=track&j=291457794&u=3221150" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(64, 100, 128); ">On Facebook</a></span></span></p><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" style="width: 520px; "><tbody><tr><td valign="top" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; padding-top: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-bottom: 6pt; padding-left: 6pt; "><p><span style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;color:black;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Georgia; "><img border="0" width="146" height="122" src="http://equaljusticesociety.org/email/TrustPhoto_crop.jpg" /></span></span></p></td><td valign="top" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; padding-top: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-bottom: 6pt; padding-left: 6pt; "><p><span style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;color:black;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Georgia; ">Putting a human face on the issue of incarceration, <b><span style="font-weight: bold; ">THE TRUST</span></b> (<a href="http://ent.groundspring.org/EmailNow/pub.php?module=URLTracker&cmd=track&j=291457794&u=3221151" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(64, 100, 128); ">http://www.trustcommunity.org</a><wbr>) follows three men determined to stop the cycle for themselves, their families and their communities. The men’s experiences are contextualized by expert testimony, which explores the historical and contemporary Corrections System providing a framework to understand how our prison population has grown from 200,000 to over 2.3 million in less than 40 years. <b><span style="font-weight: bold; ">THE TRUST</span></b> is currently in production, and we will screen a 20-minute trailer.</span></span></p></td></tr><tr><td valign="top" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; padding-top: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-bottom: 6pt; padding-left: 6pt; "><p><span style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;color:black;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Georgia; "><img border="0" width="146" height="222" src="http://equaljusticesociety.org/email/leastofthese_film_crop.jpg" /></span></span></p></td><td valign="top" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; padding-top: 6pt; padding-right: 6pt; padding-bottom: 6pt; padding-left: 6pt; "><p><b><span style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;color:black;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Georgia; font-weight: bold; ">THE LEAST OF THESE </span></span></b><span style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Georgia; ">[<a href="http://ent.groundspring.org/EmailNow/pub.php?module=URLTracker&cmd=track&j=291457794&u=3221152" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(64, 100, 128); ">http://theleastofthese-film.<wbr>com</a>], the second film, explores one of the most controversial aspects of U.S. immigration policy - family detention.</span></span></p><p><b><span style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;color:black;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Georgia; font-weight: bold; ">THE LEAST OF THESE</span></span></b><span style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Georgia; "> takes a penetrating look at the T. Don Hutto Residential Center, a former medium-security prison that re-opened in 2006 as a prototype family detention center. The facility houses immigrant children and their parents from all over the world who are awaiting asylum hearings or deportation proceedings.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;color:black;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Georgia; ">As troubling information about facility conditions began to leak out, legal advocates proceeded to investigate. The film tells the stories of their quest to bring justice to families in detention, and explores the role (and limits) of community and legal activism in bringing about institutional change. This feature-length screening will be the West Coast premiere of <b><span style="font-weight: bold; ">THE LEAST OF THESE</span></b><i><span style="font-style: italic; ">.</span></i></span></span></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p align="center" style="text-align: center; "><span style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;color:black;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Georgia; ">The film screenings will be followed by a panel discussion<br />and Q&A session with the films' directors and lead characters.</span></span></p><p align="center" style="text-align: center; "><span style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;color:black;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Georgia; "><a href="http://ent.groundspring.org/EmailNow/pub.php?module=URLTracker&cmd=track&j=291457794&u=3221153" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(64, 100, 128); ">CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS</a><br />General admission: $10<br />Community member rate: $ 5</span></span></p><p align="center" style="text-align: center; "><span style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:85%;color:black;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Georgia; ">For sponsorship inquiries, please contact either:<br />Sara Jackson, <a href="mailto:sjackson@equaljusticesociety.org" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(64, 100, 128); ">sjackson@equaljusticesociety.<wbr>org</a><br />or<br />Miguel Gavaldón, <a href="mailto:mgavaldon@equaljusticesociety.org" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(64, 100, 128); ">mgavaldon@equaljusticesociety.<wbr>org</a></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;color:black;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; "> </span></span></p></td></tr><tr><td style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; padding-top: 15pt; padding-right: 15pt; padding-bottom: 15pt; padding-left: 15pt; "><p align="center" style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span></p></td></tr></tbody></table></span>TUFF Coalitionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13911555884168472253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537214164569130506.post-71079709930813546722009-09-22T11:04:00.003-05:002009-09-22T11:13:47.522-05:00**Last Families Leave Hutto**Good news! Long before any of us expected, ICE has released (or deported) the last families from T. Don Hutto. The facility will now be filled with noncriminal immigrant women. Here's what the <a href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/special/immigration/6626057.html">Associated Press</a> had to say about it:<div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"></span></span><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The last immigrant families have departed a disparaged former Texas prison that housed them while they awaited decisions in their immigration cases, officials said on Friday.</span></span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"></span><br /><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; "></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The families have been deported, paroled or released while they pursue asylum or another immigration status to remain in the U.S., Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement. Less than two dozen children and adults remained at the T. Don Hutto facility in Taylor last week and the last four families left by Thursday.</span></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"></span></span></div><div><br /></div><div>But please keep in mind that the struggle to reform the detention system is not over. As the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/21/opinion/21mon3.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1253635797-7MCTl91psTpqXiMoDSxt5A">New York Times editorialized</a> this weekend,</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 22px; font-size:15px;"><p></p><blockquote><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">On Friday, her last day on the job, Ms. Schriro delivered a report on the detention system to Janet Napolitano, the homeland security secretary. We hope that it fully reflects the desperate reality: the brutal mistreatment; isolation, filth and deprivation; the shabby or nonexistent health care and the ill and injured detainees who languished and sometimes died, their suffering untreated.</span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Ms. Schriro’s successor will have a big job in fulfilling the administration’s promise of reform. The abuse and neglect must end. The system must also become much more discriminating about whom it holds — dangerous criminals, not the harmless and sick.</span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">It will also have to rein in the private for-profit prisons that deliver brutal service on the cheap. And it will have to increase accountability and transparency. Ms. Napolitano can start by releasing Ms. Schriro’s report. Americans need to find out what happened in Basile, La., where detainees staged a hunger strike to protest detestable conditions, or downtown Los Angeles, where inmates filed a lawsuit to protest the squalor.</span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">While Ms. Napolitano and her team promise to make detention a “truly civil” system, they show no interest in reforming the corrupt mechanisms that feed it. Instead, they are expanding the programs that have allowed corrupt local officials to round up thousands in unjust raids. The same people whom President Obama has promised a decent shot at citizenship remain easy prey to racial profiling, and are terrified of ending up in this truly uncivilized system. Mr. Obama and Ms. Napolitano must resolve that fundamental contradiction.</span></p></blockquote></span></div><div>Hutto was just the beginning. If you were enraged by the imprisonment of children, that was only the tip of the iceberg. Keep checking this blog for updates on what comes next. </div>TUFF Coalitionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13911555884168472253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537214164569130506.post-73849296175139918262009-09-10T21:43:00.001-05:002009-09-10T21:46:14.620-05:00AP: As detention center shuts down in Texas, advocates worry about future for immigrant families<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; "><h1 style="margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: 700; color: rgb(0, 66, 118); position: relative; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.courant.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-us-family-detention-what-next,0,4455535.story">As detention center shuts down in Texas, advocates worry about future for immigrant families</a></span></h1><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; color: rgb(41, 39, 39); "><span class="byline bordered" style="display: block; ">ANABELLE GARAY</span><span class="titleline" style="display: block; ">Associated Press Writer</span><p class="date" style="margin-top: 2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; color: rgb(213, 83, 23); font-size: 11px; font-style: italic; "><span class="timeString" style="display: inline; ">6:31 p.m. EDT</span><span class="dateTimeSeparator" style="display: inline; ">, </span><span class="dateString" style="display: inline; ">September 9, 2009</span></p><p class="date" style="margin-top: 2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; color: rgb(213, 83, 23); font-size: 11px; font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(41, 39, 39); font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; ">DALLAS (AP) — As immigrant children and their parents depart a disparaged former <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.courant.com/topic/us/texas-PLGEO100104600000000.topic" title="Texas" id="PLGEO100104600000000" style="font-weight: 700; color: rgb(0, 66, 118); text-decoration: none; ">Texas</a> prison that housed them while they awaited decisions in their immigration cases, advocates are questioning if the government has fully thought out what happens to the families now.<br /><br />Federal officials announced last month that the T. Don Hutto facility in Taylor would no longer hold immigrant families and they instead would be detained at the much smaller Berks Family Residential Center in Leesport, Pa. But with only 84 beds — and more than 100 people once housed at Hutto — some advocates wonder if there will be enough space, or if immigrants will be released.<br /><br />"We still have a lot of questions and would like to hear more details," said Denise Gilman, of the Immigration Clinic at the <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.courant.com/topic/education/colleges-universities/university-of-texas-OREDU0000071.topic" title="University of Texas" id="OREDU0000071" style="font-weight: 700; color: rgb(0, 66, 118); text-decoration: none; ">University of Texas</a> School of Law, which along with other advocates filed a lawsuit contending that family detention at Hutto was inhumane.<br /><br />Hutto is set to stop holding immigrant families by the end of the year, government officials say, and families have slowly been leaving. Instead of transferring the families to Berks, the government has been trying to process the cases of families at both facilities.<br /><br />The Texas facility went from holding 127 men, women and children last month to just 22 people this week. They were either deported to their home countries or released while they pursue asylum or another immigration status to remain in the U.S.<br /><br />As the change takes place, advocates are watching to see if the<a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.courant.com/topic/us/pennsylvania-PLGEO100101000000000.topic" title="Pennsylvania" id="PLGEO100101000000000" style="font-weight: 700; color: rgb(0, 66, 118); text-decoration: none; ">Pennsylvania</a> facility has better conditions, if cases are handled fairly and if new problems arise because of the shift.<br /><br />Hutto opened as a family detention center in 2006, ending a so-called "catch and release" practice that had permitted families to remain free while their immigration cases were settled. The facility was necessary, ICE officials maintained, because many never showed up in court or some borrowed other people's children and posed as families to avoid detention.<br /><br />But the facility quickly drew criticism, and The <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.courant.com/topic/social-issues/american-civil-liberties-union-ORCIG0000034.topic" title="American Civil Liberties Union" id="ORCIG0000034" style="font-weight: 700; color: rgb(0, 66, 118); text-decoration: none; ">American Civil Liberties Union</a> and other advocates sued the government in 2007 over the detention facility's conditions.<br /><br />Attorneys and UT law students visiting Hutto to assist detainees with their immigration cases were astonished by the prison-like setting and regimen. Children wore drab prison scrubs. Razor wire encircled the site. They lived in tiny cells furnished with bunk beds and a steel toilet and were subjected to head counts several times a day. Guards with the for-profit <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.courant.com/topic/economy-business-finance/corrections-corporation-of-america-ORCRP003988.topic" title="Corrections Corporation of America" id="ORCRP003988" style="font-weight: 700; color: rgb(0, 66, 118); text-decoration: none; ">Corrections Corporation of America</a> trained to detain criminal adults were overseeing children. Parents said guards disciplined children with threats of being separated from their family.<br /><br />The Berks facility, by contrast, is a former nursing home and with a reputation among attorneys for being more family friendly. Younger children stay with their parents, while teenagers sleep in separate rooms. One former resident told The Associated Press adults and children went on field trips during her stay, refrigerators in the hallways were stocked with fruit and juice and an interfaith prayer group is available. But still, the stays can be far from smooth.<br /><br />The resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she fears for her safety after fleeing cartel violence in Mexico, said at the border, officials had told her and her American husband she would only be detained for a week at most. But when she arrived, there were families who had been at the facility for a year, longer than the typical stay of a month at Hutto. Some residents had waited for a month or two before being interviewed by an asylum officer.<br /><br />"That's when I said to myself 'So what awaits me?'" said the Mexican woman, who has since been released on humanitarian parole after a month at Berks and has petitioned to remain in the country since she's married to a U.S. citizen.<br /><br />Going forward, families arriving at the U.S. border and entry points seeking asylum or trying to immigrate will be taken to Berks if the government believes they will disappear instead of showing up to immigration court, said Dora Schriro, who has been heading up the new Office of Detention Policy and Planning at the <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.courant.com/topic/unrest-conflicts-war/defense/u.s.-department-of-homeland-security-ORGOV0000136.topic" title="U.S. Department of Homeland Security" id="ORGOV0000136" style="font-weight: 700; color: rgb(0, 66, 118); text-decoration: none; ">Department of Homeland Security</a>. Other families will be released and placed on some type of community supervision, Schriro said.<br /><br />The families at Hutto will likely be deported or receive some type of immigration benefit, such as asylum or parole, allowing them to remain in the U.S. before Hutto closes, she said.<br /><br />Schriro will leave her new post mending of the nation's immigration detention system to be commissioner of correction for <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.courant.com/topic/us/new-york/new-york-city-PLGEO100100804000000.topic" title="New York City" id="PLGEO100100804000000" style="font-weight: 700; color: rgb(0, 66, 118); text-decoration: none; ">New York City</a>, leaving advocates with questions over how that will affect the upcoming changes.<br /><br />For now, advocates for immigrant families say they will be watching to see if Berks detainees can access legal representation. About one-third of asylum seekers before the court that handles Berks' cases did not have an attorney, while a majority at Hutto did, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University. Having an attorney boosts people's chances of remaining in the country.<br /><br />They also worry there could be some unintended consequences in the switch, especially when it comes to distance. Berks is located thousands of miles from the border crossings in <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.courant.com/topic/us/california-PLGEO100100100000000.topic" title="California" id="PLGEO100100100000000" style="font-weight: 700; color: rgb(0, 66, 118); text-decoration: none; ">California</a>, <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.courant.com/topic/us/arizona-PLGEO100101500000000.topic" title="Arizona" id="PLGEO100101500000000" style="font-weight: 700; color: rgb(0, 66, 118); text-decoration: none; ">Arizona</a>, <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.courant.com/topic/us/new-mexico-PLGEO100103600000000.topic" title="New Mexico" id="PLGEO100103600000000" style="font-weight: 700; color: rgb(0, 66, 118); text-decoration: none; ">New Mexico</a> and Texas used by most of the detainees and some question whether the government will be able to quickly and humanely transport such families to Pennsylvania.<br /><br />"What happens to a family arrested in Texas or who goes to the border ... and asks for asylum? Will those people be released?" asked Barbara Hines, director of the Immigration Clinic at UT Law School. "To send them all the way to Berks if they're going to be released anyway seems like a waste of resources to me."</span></p></span></div></span>TUFF Coalitionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13911555884168472253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537214164569130506.post-19726558670151255002009-09-03T08:33:00.002-05:002009-09-03T08:38:08.099-05:00Williamson County Votes to End Contract with CCANot much a victory, since they will fill the remaining beds with women, but at least children will not be detained there anymore, and at least Judge Gattis seems more aware of the issues than in the past. Repetition works!<div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 5px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 5px; "><p><span class="detailheadline" style="font: normal normal bold 16px/normal Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; "></span></p><blockquote><p><span class="detailheadline" style="font: normal normal bold 16px/normal Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; "><a href="http://www.TaylorDailyPress.net/articles/2009/09/03/news/news01.txt">County ends contract with CCA</a></span><a href="http://www.TaylorDailyPress.net/articles/2009/09/03/news/news01.txt"><br /></a><br /><span class="detailbyline" style="font: italic normal normal 13px/normal 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; ">By <a href="mailto:newsdesk@thehuttonews.com">Philip Jankowski</a></span></p><p><span class="detailstory" style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; "><b>Williamson County Commissioners voted Tuesday to end their contract with Corrections Corporation of America, the contracted operator of the T. Don Hutto Residential Center for illegal immigrants.</b><br /><br />County Judge Dan Gattis said the move was <b>more of a “housekeeping” procedure</b> than an indication the county no longer wishes to contract with CCA to operate the facility. Gattis said Monday the county is <b>waiting for Immigrations Customs Enforcement to draft a new contract so the facility can continue to hold women.</b><br />In early August the Obama administration ordered children and families at the facility to be placed in a Pennsylvania facility deemed more suitable for children. Families were expected to be moved in a matter of weeks and to be fully removed within months.<br /><br /><b>The Taylor facility’s population of families had fallen in recent years. To help fill the 512-bed facility, ICE began housing female detainees at the facility. By mid 2008, an entire wing of the former medium security prison was devoted to housing women.</b><br /><br />Without that contract in hand, Gattis said he felt a need to terminate the county’s contract with CCA just in case the ICE contract does not come through.<br /><br />“To protect ourselves we’re giving notification to CCA,” Gattis said. “It’s one of those legal things we felt we needed to do because the funds come from the county.”</span><br /></p><p><span class="detailstory" style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; "><b>CCA’s contract with Williamson County will expire at the end of this year. Gattis said he hopes to have a new contract with ICE before that, but if not, CCA will be forced to cease operations at the south Taylor facility.</b><br /><br />“That’s a concern of mine,” Gattis said of the possibility of losing CCA jobs. “I hope (ICE) will come down with a proposal and we can keep that facility open.”<br /><br />The T. Don Hutto facility is one of the largest and best paying employers of unskilled labor in Taylor. Guards can make upwards of $17 an hour, according to 2008’s contracted rates.<br /><br />Gattis said he expects a certain amount of fervor to persist, though, in spite of children no longer being housed at T. Don Hutto, it will be greatly diminished.<br /><br />“The majority of that group was upset because children were locked up, so that pressure will go away, but there’s a certain group that doesn’t believe in locking up people who are the in county illegally,” he said.</span></p></blockquote><p><span class="detailstory" style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; "></span></p></span></div>TUFF Coalitionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13911555884168472253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537214164569130506.post-29669075654448352982009-08-31T17:50:00.001-05:002009-08-31T17:52:43.497-05:00Free Least of These Screening, Austin, Tx<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0uz-XBukWTcsKsNBSWtEUc2xaIy7fo-q-Z4e2ZAerytAPYZwJGhb8I09nc9c4aH_TXSaubvz6Pw641aGEbu5BueUkYdhRaGnDoLs2qgUWgpuysmYdgF5OzprEU0DZD5H0tRkrEpRfYpA5/s1600-h/TLOT_poster+(2).jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 259px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0uz-XBukWTcsKsNBSWtEUc2xaIy7fo-q-Z4e2ZAerytAPYZwJGhb8I09nc9c4aH_TXSaubvz6Pw641aGEbu5BueUkYdhRaGnDoLs2qgUWgpuysmYdgF5OzprEU0DZD5H0tRkrEpRfYpA5/s400/TLOT_poster+(2).jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376264577805150930" /></a>TUFF Coalitionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13911555884168472253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537214164569130506.post-53290958752893204422009-08-22T10:32:00.003-05:002009-08-22T10:37:44.846-05:00Houston Solidarity with Aug. 22 Rally; Aug. 29 Rally in Houston AnnouncedEstimados companeros en la lucha y Human Rights Advocates:<br /><br />The "Free-the-Kids Hutto-Houston Colectiva" fully supports ongoing efforts to CLOSE THE INFAMOUS T.DON HUTTO "FAMILY PRISON," in Taylor, Texas.<br /><br />And we call for both "CELEBRACION Y MAS ACCION" regarding a key victory in the struggle for immigrants rights and for protecting democratic rights in the United States.<br /><br />Even though few, if any, Hutto-Houston Colectiva advocates can get to the Aug 22nd Vigil and Rally in Taylor, Texas, please know that we are doing our part in mobilizing Houston rights' advocates and youth for the:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">What: Aug 29th "Celebration & Mobilization" Rally </span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Where: at James Driver Park (basketball court), at 10918 and 1/2 Bentley St., in northeast Houston, (near Hwy 59, Eastex, and Little York Rd)</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">When: Saturday, Aug 29, 2009; 4:30 pm -6:30 pm. </span><br /><br />The Hutto-Houston Colectiva, in collaboration with La Raza Justice Movement and other organizations invites you to join us at the Aug 29th celebration/mobilization rally. Bring your banners, energy, musica & ideas.<br /><br />Colectiva's participant groups and organizers are committed to the goal of CLOSING<br />DOWN the T.DON HUTTO "MOMMY" prison and to push for fair IMMIGRATION<br />& PRISON REFORM.<br /><br />We are also calling for a<span style="font-weight: bold;"> moratorium on family detentions</span>, a <span style="font-weight: bold;">halt to deportations</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold;">no border wall</span>, and for the American people to <span style="font-weight: bold;">STOP 287(g) </span>which is re-channeling federal funds into the financing of local jail, county and state prison facilities through "racial profiling" and through the prosecution and jailing of immigrant workers for small infractions.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">For more info on the Aug 29th rally call:</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Hutto-Houston Colectiva at: 832 244 7506;</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">La Raza Justice Movement at: 281-733-8463 </span>TUFF Coalitionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13911555884168472253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537214164569130506.post-17604725373568476322009-08-21T15:12:00.002-05:002009-08-21T15:19:14.588-05:00Berks County Considering End of Family Detention Contract<a href="http://www.readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=153458"></a>Those of us seeking an end to family detention might welcome this news, but there's an insidious subtext to this discussion: <span style="font-weight: bold;">county governments and private prisons corporations alike seek to profit on the imprisonment of human beings</span>. That is, there is a monetary incentive to expanding imprisonment and detention that has nothing to do with making good policy, fighting crime, or enforcing immigration law. When there's an incentive to imprison, the goals of our criminal justice and immigration detention systems are grossly out of perspective.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=153458"></a><blockquote><a href="http://www.readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=153458">Berks County may stop housing illegal aliens</a><br /><br />Shutting family center would cost 50 jobs; county doesn't profit from running Bern facility<br /><br />By Holly Herman<br />Reading Eagle<br /><br />While federal officials are planning to move families seeking American citizenship from a Texas detention center that is closing to a Berks County shelter, the county commissioners are considering getting out of the alien-housing business.<br /><br />The Family Center in Bern Township is the only other facility in the country that houses families awaiting hearings or the results of hearings on requests to stay in the U.S.<br /><br />But with tight economic times, the Berks County commissioners may end up closing the Bern Township center, which opened in 2001.<br /><br />So far, no definite plans have been made to shut down the 84-bed center housing detained immigrant families captured at the borders and in other places.<br /><br />Closing the facility would mean the loss of 50 county jobs, officials said.<br /><br />But the county isn't profiting from the money the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement service pays the county for housing the detainees .<br /><br />"At the initial stages we were permitted to make a profit, but now we are breaking even on it," Commissioner Chairman Mark C. Scott said. "We have been helpful to the federal government for a decade.<br /><br />"Everything is on the table in terms of cost cutting. We are in the process of shrinking county government," Scott said.<br /><br />The center, which generates more than $3 million in income annually for the county, costs $5.6 million a year to operate.<br /><br />It's' paid for by the federal government and staffed by the county.<br /><br />ICE officials said the 512-bed T. Don Hutto Family Residential Facility in Taylor, Texas, is expected to close in December.<br /><br />ICE has been reviewing cases of 127 men, women and children residing in the facility since plans to close it were disclosed on Aug. 6.<br /><br />"We are working on a case-by-case basis to determine if the families will be moved to Berks," said ICE spokeswoman Gillian M. Brigham.<br /><br />So far, no detainees have been sent to Berks from the Texas facility.<br /><br />Brigham said that some families will go through the immigration legal proceedings and be deported.<br /><br />She said others might be released into the community to await hearings. Some of the families are seeking citizenship, some want asylum. ICE hearings will establish their legal status. Others are awaiting deportation.<br /><br />Brigham said the bulk of illegal immigrants come to this country alone.<br /><br />The goal of the shelter program, when it started in 2001, was to keep families together while they are being detained.<br /><br />Kenneth C. Borkey Jr., executive director of the Berks shelter, said ICE officials notified him of the planned move but have not requested additional bed space.<br /><br />Borkey said he has prepared a report on the availability of additional space if such a request is made.<br /><br /><br />Borkey said the center could be expanded to include 12 to 18 beds without additional renovations.<br /><br />When the Berks center opened in March 2001, the federal government was paying the county $3.6 million for housing families in a renovated wing of Berks Heim, the county nursing home.<br /><br />The county paid $280,000 for the renovations.<br /><br />In 2004, new federal regulations prohibited governmental agencies from making a profit by providing service programs.<br /><br />Subsequently, the county is no longer profiting from providing the services.<br /><br />The county is receiving $144,000 to rent office space to federal employees using the program.<br /><br />Scott, who was a commissioner when the program started, said that initially the program was a money maker.<br /><br />"When we started this program, we were helping the federal government," he said. "Before this program, they were spending more money on housing families in hotels."<br /><br />Scott said that he supports helping the federal government, but is more concerned about the economic impact on the county.<br /><br />"It's our patriotic duty to help the federal government," he said. "But it's not a financial boon. Do we continue to tolerate this moving forward? The question we must consider is whether we can find another tenant."<br /><br />Commissioner Kevin S. Barnhardt said he does not support expanding the program.<br /><br />"We are talking about whether we want to continue the program," he said. "When the federal government said it was considering transferring people to Berks, it was a shock."<br /><br />Barnhardt said the downside to closing the program is losing county jobs.<br /><br />Commissioner Christian Y. Leinbach said that if the county were losing money on this it would be his priority to cut the program.<br /><br />"We are breaking even," he said. "There are no plans to shut it down, but we are looking at it from a financial point of view."<br /><br />The facility provides computer linkup services with immigration courts in York County.<br /><br />The shelter provides medical and dental care. And it provides education classes and athletic activities for children.<br /><br />Berks County was selected as the site in 2000 because of its excellent working relationship with the federal government when it was housing illegal aliens in the county jail.<br /><br />That program is being phased out because of overcrowding conditions in the county prison.<br /><br />Contact Holly Herman: 610-478-6291 or hherman@readingeagle.com</blockquote>TUFF Coalitionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13911555884168472253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537214164569130506.post-64993416581868614612009-08-21T15:04:00.002-05:002009-08-21T15:11:27.030-05:00USA Today, Raul Reyes: A kindler gentler immigration system?<a href="http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2009/08/column-a-kinder-gentler-immigration-system.html"><blockquote></blockquote>A kinder, gentler immigration system?</a><br /><blockquote>Commentary By Raul Reyes<br />This country's immigration detention system has been a stain on the American fabric. The good news: The stain may soon begin to fade.<br /><br />Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Assistant Secretary John Morton recently announced plans to reform the system that houses more than 30,000 people on any given day. The agency wants to go from a jail-oriented approach — think prisons — to one designed to humanely house people until their status is settled.<br /><br />The T. Don Hutto center in Taylor, Texas, has been a poster child for a broken system. Built as a state prison, Hutto was used as a family detention center. Children lived behind barbed wire, wore prison uniforms and received an hour of school a day. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the government on their behalf, and conditions improved once a settlement was reached in 2007. ICE's Morton said that effective immediately, no more families will be sent to Hutto.<br /><br />Of course ICE could — and should — do more. Detainee facilities that violate agency standards face no penalties, echoing a July decision by the Department of Homeland Security that such standards are not legally enforceable. Without penalties, standards are mere goals that can be easily disregarded. Detainees are the only ones who stand to pay.<br /><br />Repeated studies have documented poor conditions, ranging from a lack of due process to detainee abuses. Fortunately, an ICE pilot program is looking at alternatives to detention, such as electronic monitoring that includes reporting requirements and curfews. According to agency statistics, the program has resulted in a 99% appearance rate at immigration hearings and a 91% compliance with removal orders in the 12 test cities. An expansion seems like a no-brainer.<br /><br />ICE's small steps are a good start toward fixing the detention system, which is as dysfunctional as our immigration system. And no, this doesn't mean opening up our borders, as the anti-immigrant crowd might fear. "We are going to continue to detain people on a large scale," ICE's Morton noted. As strategy, though, continued and aggressive enforcement could give the Obama administration the leverage it needs to sell comprehensive reform to a wary public next year.<br /><br />With Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on the job for all of eight months now, it's only fair to give her more time to assess what's needed to enforce our immigration laws. Let's hope the former Arizona governor applies her knowledge of the border to the compassionate fabric of this great country.<br /><br />Oh, and maybe she'll get that stain out after all.<br /><br />Raul Reyes is an attorney in New York and a member of USA TODAY's board of contributors.</blockquote>TUFF Coalitionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13911555884168472253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537214164569130506.post-64970214004058923322009-08-16T22:16:00.002-05:002009-08-16T22:28:23.371-05:00The Economist: When Home Is PrisonThe venerable neoliberal rag, <a href="http://www.economist.com">the Economist</a>, covered changes in US immigration detention policy, as well, though it mostly summarizes previous reports/posts. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Correction</span>, however: Napolitano has NOT scaled by immigration enforcement compared to Chertoff. Instead, she has expanded the <a href="http://www.ice.gov/pi/news/factsheets/section287_g.htm">287(g) program</a>, which allows local police to enforce immigration law, to a host of new cities, many of them in Texas. <a href="http://www.justicestrategies.org/2009/local-democracy-ice-why-state-and-local-governments-have-no-business-federal-immigration-law-en">287(g) has been discredited</a> as <a href="http://www.racewire.org/archives/2009/08/weekly_immigration_wire_287g_m.html">institutionalized racial profiling.</a><br /><blockquote><a href="http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displayStory.cfm?story_id=14222329">WHEN HOME IS PRISON</a><br />Aug 13th 2009<br /><br />Slow improvements in the processing of immigrants<br />...<br />[Janet Napolitano's] department has already made changes. The administration has scaled back the workplace raids that were so controversial during the Bush<br />years. It is opting instead to focus on auditing employers and<br />expanding E-Verify, an electronic system that lets employers check the<br />immigration status of potential employees.<br /><br />But the biggest shift concerns family detention. In 2006 George Bush<br />said he would end a policy known as "catch and release", whereby<br />illegal immigrants were allowed to go free after being caught because<br />so many of them failed to turn up for subsequent court proceedings. But<br />detaining children and families proved more delicate than holding lone<br />adults. Later that year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)<br />opened a facility specifically for families in Taylor, a small town<br />north of Austin.<br /><br />The T. Don Hutto Family Residential Centre was formerly a<br />medium-security prison. In its new incarnation it is still run by the<br />Corrections Corporation of America, a private prison company. And<br />inside, Hutto used to be just like a jail. Barbara Hines, director of<br />the Immigration Clinic at the University of Texas's law school, says<br />that she was shocked when she started visiting: children were wearing<br />prison uniforms and the parents were depressed and desperate. Everyone<br />was cooped up in cells for most of the day, and the children had only<br />an hour or so of lessons.<br /><br />In March 2007 the Immigration Clinic and the American Civil Liberties<br />Union sued Michael Chertoff, then the head of the Department of<br />Homeland Security, over the conditions at Hutto. In August that year<br />the parties settled, with the government agreeing to a list of reforms.<br />That agreement was set to expire later this month, but on August 6th<br />ICE announced an overhaul of America's approach to detention. As<br />immediate steps, the government would put monitors in many of the adult<br />facilities, and immediately stop detaining families at Hutto.<br /><br /> The announcement raises questions. For one thing, it is not clear<br />where the families are going to go. ICE said that it would move them to<br />the Berks Family Residential Centre in Pennsylvania, but that facility<br />is full. And although Berks is somewhat nicer than Hutto,<br />immigrants'-rights groups are still sceptical about keeping children in<br />detention at all.<br /><br />Planning large-scale reform next year may still be too ambitious: it is<br />an election year, which makes politicians even more skittish about<br />controversy. But some reform advocates are more optimistic: at least,<br />reckons Charles Foster, an immigration lawyer in Houston, immigration<br />reform is still on the agenda.</blockquote>TUFF Coalitionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13911555884168472253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2537214164569130506.post-59021592042727511842009-08-14T16:13:00.008-05:002009-08-14T16:22:13.596-05:00Williamson Co. Sun Recognizes Impact of Local Organizing Policy Change at Hutto<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCRzUOF2WWDkOfPrLrWB1OCo6vAbBV8bhE911xMiyimalhd1LkN3gLhr9SmwXWowzefxKKvoLe6zcdIzaGnIIsSNtXzIOsWQV8_qdQbih3ZYZDFxh8yzxz9pP9y17w6RDLYOtRNS71tVBy/s1600-h/Sun8092009A1_1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 524px; height: 264px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCRzUOF2WWDkOfPrLrWB1OCo6vAbBV8bhE911xMiyimalhd1LkN3gLhr9SmwXWowzefxKKvoLe6zcdIzaGnIIsSNtXzIOsWQV8_qdQbih3ZYZDFxh8yzxz9pP9y17w6RDLYOtRNS71tVBy/s400/Sun8092009A1_1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369931711146511522" border="0" />Apologies for using jpgs, but the Williamson County Sun does not public online, and Blogger doesn't allow pdfs. If you click on the individual images, they will appear in a new window in an enlarged, more readable size.</a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT-RChx2zNngFgvVonW5rhKpQYexpToAVQU9cb_L8Df3NIJwvGQrF05SUVtHocM7HbsFpt-Tbp6tJHAGdub0JDBSahl9L21AHMgrFM-FYvdlNnaqhqVq2pYHcjVkuz4Q4aKJRK7CQyv7uG/s1600-h/Sun8092009A1_2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 407px; height: 553px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT-RChx2zNngFgvVonW5rhKpQYexpToAVQU9cb_L8Df3NIJwvGQrF05SUVtHocM7HbsFpt-Tbp6tJHAGdub0JDBSahl9L21AHMgrFM-FYvdlNnaqhqVq2pYHcjVkuz4Q4aKJRK7CQyv7uG/s400/Sun8092009A1_2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369931555390497842" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5EEhjJaKnHyTvdM2VP_Rjvj-AzvtkSLcWv3GeFjpNmPwAvyQanzAvcq3bSW5n1TydglFcCRekm4bBYN9q5bpBGnlUO5HC6m3zxBcTa_zh9_r9e_rUtuRzQeqbB6_2bGGbqOTNmkP0qvWN/s1600-h/Sun8092009A1_3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 301px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5EEhjJaKnHyTvdM2VP_Rjvj-AzvtkSLcWv3GeFjpNmPwAvyQanzAvcq3bSW5n1TydglFcCRekm4bBYN9q5bpBGnlUO5HC6m3zxBcTa_zh9_r9e_rUtuRzQeqbB6_2bGGbqOTNmkP0qvWN/s400/Sun8092009A1_3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369931350330430130" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV-o7PU8ltYnyRKl_hS4Iw0QP1T369mkUKAtzuqG9j445GQCIbevXQBfb7892TIUG2D7nzxiaalUmhdjpCixHm_m1Zk7TgeS0nkJO8phNnc0roLlxeQ-oG320PsrmIwaZRHGq9_awW3myL/s1600-h/Sun8092009B_1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 321px; height: 504px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV-o7PU8ltYnyRKl_hS4Iw0QP1T369mkUKAtzuqG9j445GQCIbevXQBfb7892TIUG2D7nzxiaalUmhdjpCixHm_m1Zk7TgeS0nkJO8phNnc0roLlxeQ-oG320PsrmIwaZRHGq9_awW3myL/s400/Sun8092009B_1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369931128197377250" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXdW-L6tcZ6wvpwfmJaZppmJSlso92GRunrM9P4N7uv7HgHRzQbYptKPB5if5TjH8mv8U6IjkTqQuoc7tLee-uy_a4wlwFNz_7-EjBwUcajXOqKAWs0DY0FBr6bwiH4PfalOlQnMvfRwPv/s1600-h/Sun8092009B_2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 307px; height: 559px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXdW-L6tcZ6wvpwfmJaZppmJSlso92GRunrM9P4N7uv7HgHRzQbYptKPB5if5TjH8mv8U6IjkTqQuoc7tLee-uy_a4wlwFNz_7-EjBwUcajXOqKAWs0DY0FBr6bwiH4PfalOlQnMvfRwPv/s400/Sun8092009B_2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369930962640856210" border="0" /></a>TUFF Coalitionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13911555884168472253noreply@blogger.com