Published on
Sunday, February 22, 2015
by
Common Dreams

Following Turmoil at For-Profit Texas Prison, Inmates to be Transferred

Prisoners reportedly protested over poor medical services at facility previously investigated by ACLU

Content
by
Nadia Prupis, staff writer
Used for informational purposes.

Inmates held at the for-profit Willacy County Correctional Center protested over medical services at the prison on Friday. (Photo: AP)

A federal prison in Texas will transfer up to 2,800 inmates to other institutions in the area in response to a two-day uprising which began Friday over the prison’s living conditions and inadequate medical services.

Inmates at the for-profit Willacy County Correctional Center were reportedly cooperative with authorities during negotiations on Saturday.

Up to 2,000 people being held at the prison began protesting Friday to express their frustration with medical services there by refusing to eat breakfast, but the incident escalated when several of the Kevlar tents which house the prisoners were set on fire, causing minor damage. Only minor injuries were reported. Correctional officers reportedly used tear gas to quell the protest.

The center houses low-level offenders and illegal immigrants. In an investigative report published last year, the ACLU found that inmates there face squalid conditions, overcrowding, racial discrimination, and high levels of solitary confinement. The report described the tent-filled compounds as “[not] only foul, cramped and depressing, but also overcrowded,” while staff at the prison reportedly ignored inmates’ medical concerns and cut corners in providing adequate health care.

Brian McGiverin, a prisoners’ rights attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project, told the Associated Press that it was not surprising to hear that medical complaints led to a protest at the center.

“It’s pretty abysmal with regard to modern standards how people should be treated, pretty much anywhere you go,” he said.

JASON BUCKHANAN,
My Name is Jason Buckhanan, I was born and raised in Oxon-Hill Maryland. The second to the oldest amongst Four other siblings 2 Brothers and 2 sisters. I was raised in a two parent home where sports was a family tradition. I grew up playing football and had a very good chance at potentially playing pro. Yet in the early 90 I lost track of what I was taught and got caught up in the street life, which cause me to fall into my current situations; Serving 15 year sentence for conspiracy to distribute Cocaine. These past few years has cause me to reflect on my actions and made me realize that I actually wasted allot of my talent and potential chasing what I thought was the most important thing to this existence i.e. "Money". But more often than not one never see's things for what they are... until you no longer have them and then you realize.

"I rather have happiness, peace and freedom over all the money in the world."

Therefore I'm currently writing a book title "I should of kept my Jersey on" (stay tune you'll be reading it sooner than later.) I'm striving by way of participating in the Convict Soap Box movement to give back to society what I have taken away, In hopes that I can save one who is just like me, when I was lost and confused about what life was about. If my compositions and American perspective can save or help any one, than I know that I have done what God has requested of me and I am doing what a man should do when he know better. So Thank you for your time and consideration and I pray that all of you support Convict Soap Box and it's positive agenda.

Best Wishes, Jay