Letters to the Editor
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Prisons are Big Business in Texas
I am living in Texas and am aware of this story.
Children of detained people should not be in such a facility. Unfortunately the foster care system is appallingly underfunded here, so options do not abound. More worrisome is that prisons in Texas have expanded to rural areas where local communities have become quite dependant upon prison systems for local employment.
If you want to check out another horror, look into the Texas Youth Commission scandal that originated in Pyote, Texas, where the Ward County district attorney delayed prosecuting a principal and assistant superintendent at the school (prison) for sexually abusing the students (inmates) in their care for almost two years while they continued in their positions.
Pyote is a tiny town with little remaining industry. I suspect District Attorney Randall Reynolds' motive may have had something to do with the fact that his office is an elected position in an area that desperately needs the jobs that the youth prison provided.
So if this sort of thing can happen in prisons designed to hold youthful lawbreakers, imagine what can happen if we start imprisoning the children of illegal immigrants. Perhaps worse things than being told to stop crying.
This is a problem that needs funds and energy directed toward it immediately. If the idea of housing these children in prisons spreads these sorts of facilities will become economically entrenched in small towns that need the money.
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close hutto.
a growing number of people in texas (and elsewhere it appears) are becoming aware of this failure of justice. yet another travesty courtesy of our current administration.
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you should check it out in australia
Been living in australia and am scared that the situation in the US could end up like here...
They put illegal immigrants (refugees from dictatorships usually) of ANY AGE into 'detention centres' in the middle of nowhere. A detention centre is a minimum security prison for all intents and purposes, and they contain children. Some of those children have been in 'detention' (cough*imprisonment*uncough) for YEARS. If a 5 year-old is in detention for only 1 year, that means they've been in prison for 20% of their life... it scares the bejesus out of me that people here are so freaking blase about this, because I can see how this country's right-wing xenophobic government closely mirrors that in the US. Hopefully it won't get so bad at home because the voice of immigrants is a bit louder and more heard in the US, but don't think that it couldn't happen.
Kids in prison for half their lives because their family is trying to flee opression or create a better life for them... sadness.
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Rowyna, I am now truly horrified . . .
. . . that the Australian system allows this. Those poor children!
It seems that people everywhere must keep an eye on their governments to make certain that power is not abused. May I ask how such a system is justified?
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No Child Should Be Left Behind Bars!
I recently visited Hutto. Four sets of parallel railroad tracks front the T. Don Hutto prison. Locals say there are always parked railcars on the tracks that block the prison from public view. There were only tiny slits for windows where prisoners are held and the outside perimeter was constantly patrolled by “official vehicles.” I’ve seen all the WWII atrocity news footage and photos. I can unequivocally state that a chill ran through me when I stood in front of this prison in Texas on American soil where women and children have lost almost all contact with the outside world. We are no longer the home of the free and the brave. We should be ashamed.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has now turned the most needy and desperate among us into a commodity, a commodity to line the pockets of corporate cronies with taxpayer dollars. The more we demonize immigrants; the more people we can funnel into the private prison system and accelerate the transfer of taxpayer dollars to the private sector. These taxpayer dollars aren’t just wasted; their use is immoral.
This unbelievable situation is unfortunately just another example of the evils of public-private partnerships which have become the darlings of far too many state and national officials.
Texas has become a hotbed of public-private conspiracies. Elected officials are trying to sell our public highways to foreign corporations and they’re working overtime to privatize our water—“Sold! To the highest bidder.”
Public resources become privatized commodities. Money changes hands. Water and roads are important enough, but children? Where do we draw the line in this country? The USA is quickly becoming a country that’s lost its moral compass. It’s time for change. Can we wait until 2008? How long can the children of Hutto wait?
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Shut Down the Concentration Camps
Not only are there undocumented families in these facilities; there are also asylum seekers. All these innocents are imprisoned for the political and economical benefit of corporations and the government. The corporations get untold millions for building and operating concentration camps warehousing the most vulnerable among us. And by the way, Hutto, located in Taylor, is not the only one of these monstrousities deep in the heart of Texas: there are others, such as Huskell's and Raymonville's. The government benefits too: our terrorists-in-charge are testing out on the most helpless what they are intending to do with political dissenters in the near future, which is to warehouse them in similar concentration camps. In this respect, just last year, Halliburton alone received a contract of over 300 million dollars to build 'emergency'camps in preparation for 'various' emergencies.
America, you better wake the hell up.
Witness Bearer
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Hutto
Please let's stop this.
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No Child Left Behind Bars
The latest I've heard is that Sr. Bustamante is not going to be permitted to visit the T Don Hutto facility in Taylor TX.
Can you imagine? How does that make you feel?
The America I grew up in is not some third world country that needs to be inspected by the UN to make sure we are civilized! And yet, this America is. And to DENY the Inspector access to the object of his visit...well! Words cannot express how I feel about this.
Thank you very much for telling this story. More people need to know what is going on here in Texas.