Abolish Human Slavery!: January 2009

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Local paper reports on sexual molestation in local jail, try to imagine how much of this is going on in just the Texas prison system.

Two boys accuse Dallas ISD instructor
of molesting them at county jail
11:02 PM CST on Wednesday, January 14, 2009
By JENNIFER EMILY / The Dallas Morning Newsjemily@dallasnews.com
At least two boys awaiting trial as adults say a Dallas Independent School District instructor repeatedly molested them at the Dallas County Jail while he was supposed to be teaching them.
Luis Enrique de los Santos is charged with one count of sexual assault of a child, and authorities said additional charges will probably follow. He is on administrative leave and has been released on $100,000 bail. He could not be reached for comment Wednesday, and it was unclear whether he has an attorney.
Authorities said a handful of boys made molestation accusations against de los Santos, 36, who was arrested last week. It was unclear how many.
Defense attorney Bill Wirskye said Wednesday that he represents two teenage boys who say de los Santos molested them. One is charged with capital murder, and the other is charged with aggravated assault of a police officer.
The boys are not being identified because The Dallas Morning News does not name possible victims of sex crimes.
The Dallas County Sheriff's Department contracted with DISD to provide instruction at the jail. De los Santos had been assigned there for about a year, officials said. But since 2004, he has taught at detention facilities and taught kids too sick to attend school, the district said.
The Sheriff's Department and the school district are investigating whether other children taught by de los Santos may have been molested.
The Sheriff's Department said de los Santos passed its background checks, but that point was of little solace to Wirskye.
"If you are going to certify kids" as adults, he said, "I think you have an obligation to protect them."
Door open, officials say
De los Santos is accused of taking boys into a bathroom at the jail and performing oral sex on them, authorities said.
Sheriff's spokeswoman Kim Leach said Wednesday that students were taught one or two at a time in a multipurpose room and that the door was left open. She said a jail guard checked on them periodically.
"We place the same trust on this teacher coming into the jail to tutor students just like any educator who teaches students in a normal classroom setting," Leach said. "We try not to interfere with students' learning while they're in this setting."
In the case in which he faces charges, it is believed de los Santos was teaching two students and took the victim out of the room to another area.
"If there were two in the room, he would just occupy the other one with something and would go out to an area where there was a bathroom right outside," Leach said.
Wirskye said that de los Santos had unfettered access to the children and that he used both rewards and threats to abuse them.
"He sometimes promised to give them things he shouldn't," like hamburgers he brought to the jail, Wirskye said.
Then, he told the boys, "if you don't do what I want, I'm going to tell the authorities, and it would really hurt your case."
Through Wirskye, the family of one of the boys he represents declined to comment. The other family could not be reached.
Wirskye said the boys need sexual abuse counseling, which they are not getting at the jail.
"They're both kids. They don't really know how to deal with it," Wirskye said. "They're in a bad situation to begin with, being certified as adults. And now, they've been abused."
Policies re-evaluated
In a 2006 Dallas Morning News story about educating juvenile inmates, a Texas Education Agency spokeswoman said that children in jail are entitled to continue their education and that it's the school district's responsibility to provide studies for them.
Leach said the Sheriff's Department is re-evaluating its policies on teacher-student supervision.
Wirskye, however, said the allegations show that the supervision and training by the school district and the Sheriff's Department is lacking. He said improvements are needed in those areas to better protect children held in adult jails.
"I'm just appalled," he said.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Slavery has been a recurring theme in Law & Order this season....

http://www.nbc.com/Law_and_Order/

http://www.freetheslaves.net/Page.aspx?pid=183

And Texas Prison Business is up for discussion in the Legisture this year... here is a counter point:

http://www.texasprisonbidness.org/

According to research by our allies at the Private Corrections Institute, as of May, 2007, eight private prison corporations were operating over 47,000 prison beds in Texas. These include lock-ups operated by private prison corporations that are serving as:
Local county jails
Prisons holding Texans under Texas Department of Criminal Justice contracts
Prisons holding people under contracts from other state systems
Prisons holding people under contract with the Federal Bureau of Prisons
Pretrial detention centers under contract with the US Marshals Service
Immigration detention centers under contract with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency
Youth prisons
Pre-release or halfway houses
Prisons holding people under contracts from a mix of local, state or federal agencies.
The map does not include lockups that are publicly run (by the state, county, or federal government) or any lockups run by nonprofits.

Private Prisons are shown on the map as dots.

http://www.texasprisonbidness.org/about-private-prisons/texas-private-prisons-map

Go to the website above and you can mouse over any dot on the map to see which private prison(s) the dot represents. Each of the eight major private corporations has its own color on the map.

Monday, January 12, 2009

If you read the article, you find out that most are also drug users NOT SELLERS convicted (CONVICT) of using an illegal drug as a felony charge.

http://www.star-telegram.com/metro_news/story/1136469.html

The recession is hacking away at Catherine’s work hours, and she’s terrified that they will be reduced to zero. The 47-year-old Fort Worth woman isn’t just struggling to make ends meet; she is worried that losing her job could put her in violation of her parole — which could get her sent back to federal prison.

"I’m desperately trying to stay out," said Catherine, who asked that her last name not be used. "I don’t sleep at night because I’m up worrying a lot."

Catherine’s anxiety reflects the struggles many ex-convicts are facing as the unemployment rate increases in a deepening recession. Already personae non gratae in a pool of other applicants, they now face stiffer competition for fewer jobs. Most must be employed to meet the terms of their parole.

They were convicted of harming no one but themselves. Now slaves to the State...

Thursday, January 8, 2009

http://www.tci.tdcj.state.tx.us/programs/pie/default.aspx

Home › Programs › Prison Industry Enhancement (PIE) Certification Program

Graphics
Signs, Awards & Plastics Custom Printing Cardboard Boxes Folders

Janitorial
Soap & Detergent Mops & Wax Applicators Brooms & Brushes Personal Hygiene

Garment / Textile
Apparel Bedding & Mattresses Linens & Piece Goods Leather Goods Bags, Flags & More

Modular Office Systems

Furniture
Sam Houston Series Stephen F. Austin Series Flip-Tex Lounge Designs in Wood Series Dorm Line Series Fabric Samples Chairs & Seating-->English Series Lounge ModuForm

Metal
Truck Beds & Trailers Park Equipment Toilets, Sinks & Showers Detention & Security School Equipment Kitchen & Food Service Storage & Shelving Miscellaneous
Clearance

Metal Clearance

-->

View 2009-2010 TCI Catalog Order TCI Catalog View TCI Brochure

Prison Industry Enhancement (PIE)

Certification Program
The Prison Industry Enhancement (PIE) Certification Program is a partnership between the TDCJ and a private company, allowing the company to employ offenders that have volunteered to be part of the program. The offenders are paid by the private company and deductions are taken from those wages to help pay for the offenders room and board, dependent support, restitution and a contribution is made to the Crime Victims’ Compensation Fund.
The PIE Certification Program was created by Congress in 1979 to encourage states and units of local government to establish employment opportunities for offenders in realistic working environments, pay them wages, and enable them to acquire marketable skills to increase their potential for successful rehabilitation and meaningful employment upon release.

The PIE Certification Program began operations under the Parole Division in 1993. In an effort to expand the program, it was moved to the Manufacturing & Logistics Division in 2000. Fiscal year ’07 marked the 14th year of the PIE Certification Program in Texas. During those fourteen years the program has evolved from a small program employing 11 offenders, at one private facility, to a program, which employed an average of 398 offenders, at one private facility and three TDCJ units. During the past seven years, the program has more than doubled the number of offender participants

**Figures for 2007 are through 8/31/07
As you can see below, the PIE Certification Program has saved taxpayers over ten million dollars (room and board paid by the offenders) since the programs inception, while allowing offenders to prepare for their transition back into society
Note: Offender wages are paid by the private sector employer, not the state of Texas.

More than 14 million dollars of offender earnings (room and board deductions) have been deposited in the state’s General Revenue Fund since the program’s inception.
On average, for each offender that was employed in FY ‘07, $4,684.43 was deducted for room and board, $431.20 deducted for family support, $491.96 deducted for victims programs and $38.60 deducted for restitution.

During FY ’07 the PIE Certification Program consisted of the following operations:
Chatleff Controls
OnShore Resources
Atrium Company
Direct Trailer
Texas International Hardwoods and Veneers
Product
Air Conditioner Parts
Computer Components
Windows
Trailer Beds
Veneer Products
Location
Lockhart Work Facility
Lockhart Work Facility
Coffield Unit
Michael Unit
Ellis Unit
400 Offenders *
*Average Number of Offenders Employed

Prison Industry Enhancement certification program (PIE for short)

http://www.tylerpaper.com/article/20090104/OPINION04/901030363

January 4:

Send "roses" to the inmates in Texas prisons who pay taxes, child support, court costs, room and board and even donates to the Texas Crime Victim's fund. These inmates are employed by free world companies under the Prison Industry Enhancement certification program (PIE for short) which was enacted by the legislature through the Texas Government Code and certified by the Federal government.

Inmates paying for their own incarceration and supporting their children and the crime victims fund is a good thing, right?

"Raves" to Direct Trailer and Equipment Company (DTEC) who is willing to employ inmates by taking advantage of the PIE program, although sometimes it is detrimental to production. Unit lockdowns, "racking" inmates for count and bad weather are just some of the things that stop production and cost DTEC money. Due to certain circumstances this company, and others, may not be allowed to conduct business in Texas prisons any longer.

"Rants" to the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC), state Sen. Kevin Eltife, Rep. Robert Nichols, Lufkin Industries Subsidiary Lufkin Trailer and the Texas Board of Criminal Justice.
Lufkin Industries has complained (again) that DTEC has made them close Lufkin Trailer thereby the TWC has issued a letter - no facts or statistics - stating that DTEC is taking free world jobs and giving them to inmates.

Sen. Eltife and Rep. Nichols brought the letter to the Texas Board of Criminal Justice (TBCJ) and requested they not renew the contract with DTEC, which the TBCJ, violating Texas' opening meeting policy has done.

Now DTEC, who has been in the process of opening a facility in the prison in Mississippi, will transfer the jobs from Texas inmates to Mississippi inmates.

The actions of these "politicians" is not creating jobs for people in the free world, but taking jobs from Texas inmates because a company in our free enterprise system complained and want someone else to blame for their failure.

DTEC has offered to have its contract modified so that the facility in Tennessee Colony will not build trailers and do government contract work, like the federal prison does. Either way if these politicians get their way free world Texans will go back to supporting these inmates and their families by paying for their room and board and child support.

Robert ConwayTennessee Colony

Texas has more prisons and more prisoners than any other state...

Abolish Human Slavery!