Happy Birthday Lady Liberty!

Friday marked the 125th anniversary of the dedication of the Statue of Liberty. The graphic above is from the fine folks over at CorpWatch.

5th Annual Shut Down the Stewart Detention Center Vigil

On November 18, 2011 from 10 A.M. until noon the annual "Shut Down the Stewart Detention Center Rally" will be taking place. This is a partnership between several organizations including the SOA Watch that is coordinated and put together by the great folks over at the Georgia Detention Watch.

The 270 View put together a short video to help publicize the event which can be seen above. The vigil is currently looking for former detainees, family members or ex-CCA or ICE employees from the Stewart Detention Center who might be interested in speaking about the abuses they saw taking place there. You can contact Anton Flores directly anton@alternacommunity.com or(706) 302-9661 if you are interested in possibly speaking or need further information.

The song is "Can We Go Home Now" by the immensely talented Shaji.

The 270 View Waves it's Flag! The Death of a Detainee and a Homeland Security Investigation of this Blog!

Later this week I will be starting a series of articles detailing the death of an immigrant at Correction Corporation of America's (CCA) Stewart Detention Center a few years back and how my blog became involved in attempting to get this issue examined by the Federal Bureau of Investigations for the violation of his civil rights. I will also be discussing the Homeland Security investigation of myself and my blog following the nationwide press that this story received from Cuentame.

This blog believes that there is nothing more patriotic one can do than question government. Is that not one of the very principals the United States were founded on?

ACLU Files Lawsuit for Sexual Assault of Immigrant Women

originally found here.

Williamson County, Corrections Corporation of America and three Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are being sued by the ACLU of Texas on behalf of three immigrant women who were sexually assaulted while in custody of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.

According to a press release, the assaults occurred when Donald Dunn, a guard was transporting the women from the Hutto facility to the airport of bus station in Austin.

All three women were seeking asylum in the United States, fleeing sexual assault and extreme violence in their home countries.

“The fact that these women sought sanctuary in the United States -- only to find abuse at the hands of officials they thought would protect them – is wholly inconsistent with America’s self-proclaimed reputation as a beacon of human rights and protector of human dignity,” said Lisa Graybill, Legal Director for the ACLU of Texas.

Dunn is accused of assaulting a total of nine women.

Dunn pled guilty to three counts of official oppression and two counts of unlawful restraint based on his assaults of five women. He has been charged with four additional federal counts of criminal violation of civil rights and is awaiting sentencing on two of them.

The lawsuit alleges that ICE, Williamson County and CCA were deliberately indifferent and willfully blind to the fact that Dunn and other employees regularly violated the rule that detainees not be transported without another escort officer of the same gender present.

“Unfortunately, we believe these complaints are just the tip of the iceberg,” said Mark Whitburn, Senior Staff Attorney for the ACLU of Texas. “Government records reveal that since 2007, 185 complaints have been made to the Department of Homeland Security about sexual abuse in ICE custody, 56 of which were from facilities in Texas. Immigrants in detention are uniquely vulnerable to abuse, and those holding them in custody know it,” Whitburn added.

Inmates still hospitalized a week after Okla. riot

Originally found here.

Four inmates who were injured in a prison riot at the North Fork Correctional Facility last week remain hospitalized.

Corrections Corporation of America spokesman Mike Machak (MAY'-chak) said Tuesday the prisoners were still being treated at area hospitals. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesman Ralph Jackson says the inmates are in stable condition.

Forty-six prisoners were hurt during last week's riot at the private prison, which houses inmates from California. Prison medical staff treated 30 inmates and 16 initially were hospitalized.

Machak says officials are still investigating what caused the riot and no disciplinary action has been taken. He said none of the inmates have been returned to California.

The inmates are being housed at the western Oklahoma prison operated by CCA to help ease overcrowding in California.

CCA Rewards Loyal SDC Workers Who Worked Years Without Raises By Firing Them

Back in May we started a series on Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and how we feel it unfairly compensates workers while making large amounts of money off the US tax payers. This story is another entry in that continuing series.

Over the last two weeks we have heard from several workers at the Stewart Detention Center who are angry. Apparently after going years without raises and a promise of better days ahead there hard work was rewarded with a "sorry we gotta let you go."

From what we hear the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Agency required CCA staff members to pass a credit report and this led to a very large number of staff members being terminated. With Stewart county being such an economically disadvantaged area it really comes as no surprise that many stewart county residents might have bad credit scores.

It's very ironic to this blog that a company that always seems to pride itself on putting it's facilities in areas of high unemployment and poverty continues to have policies that make hiring the workers in those areas not employable. Yet at the same time it tries to convince poverty stricken communities that it's going to come to town and make everything better. If CCA is such a great neighbor and money making partner then one can only wonder why it has to court towns with dismal economic outlooks in the first place. I'm sure it has nothing to do with taking additional government handouts for increasing employment in low income areas. It's really amazing though that it gets by with playing a shell game by putting facilities in these areas and then hiring so few of the people that were there before the facilities were built. I mean really how can you count jobs given to people who commute from other locations as a local employment benefit?

This blog feels that the reality of the situation is that CCA pays significantly less than the public corrections sector. We feel that much of Corrections Corporation of America's profit comes from short changing workers in both pay and benefits. If ICE is going to hold these workers to the same standard that government employee's are, then wouldn't those employees (And the taxpayers and the communities there facilities are located in) not be better off if they were just employed by ICE in the first place? Apparently when it comes to ICE mandated CCA job requirements at SDC an apples an apple even if it's really a rotten one.

Keep in mind that all opinions expressed here are just that. Please cross check anything you read before forming your own opinion.