Friday, June 14, 2013

Ledge offers nod to close two Texas prisons

CCA Mineral Wells Facility
By Tonya Peters, Backgate Website

The Texas Legislature has approved the closure of two Texas prison lock-ups saving an estimated $97 million over a two year period. Both prisons, which are operated by CCA ( Corrections Corp. of America), can house a total of 4,316 inmates.

The closure will affect the employment of  658 employees. Local officials in Parker County, home of the Mineral Wells facility,  have voiced strong concerns for the loss of those jobs and it's potential affect on the community.

Unfortunately those concerns were overlooked. The Dawson facility has long been eyed as a potential target for closure after what a local Dallas TV station reported as " Questionable Deaths" that occurred inside the jail, along with a string of other operational issues over the years.



8 comments:

  1. I feel for those losing jobs, but having seen the unit at Mineral Wells, I think closing it is for the best. It is a unsecure place with out of control offenders.

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  2. from the Desk of BoBoTheBeaten:

    CCA will respond to this betrayal and loss of revenue by firing some of those retired TDCJ executive over the past years.

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  3. Next close Jester 1,2,3 and sell the land. Turn Jester 4 into a county hospital or sell it. At Jester 3 the line only turns out inside to watch the inmates work the very small garden. What a waste of manpower ( staff ). When you have Co's in the pickets. Get rid of Jester 3 line horses. Wasting tax payers money.

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    1. That's easy for you to say but jester 4 is one of a very few physic hosp. In the state as for jester 3 its trusty camp supplies the offender workers for jester 4. The small line force that you refered to and garden will help save tax payers ( you ) money by growing crops instead of buying them

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  4. Private prisons have a negative economic impact on communities. Mineral Wells in the future will be better off without it. The private prisons bring in near minimum wage jobs where the employees are forced to rely on Government assistance.

    With little to no benefits, employees at private prisons can not afford health insurance and are forced to seek indigent health care driving up property taxes for local hospital districts.

    At least Dallas sees the economic drain Dawson State Jail has placed on their community. I wish Rep Phil King and the City of Mineral Wells would shut up about the prison closing. The closure is like shutting down a McDonalds, the wages are about the same. Now with an unsecure prison moving out of the neighborhood, maybe some higher paying companies will move in to these communities.

    The only one hurt by this move is an out of state company (Corrections Corporation of America) that was sucking money out of Texas and creating more reliance on the government.

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  5. I agree lets close down or turn some State Jails into Hug-A-Thugs or shut them down as well. It does not work

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  6. I would like to know how Bradshaw is still open it is the dirtest there is because the workers don't care. The food is the worst in the state & I agree that CCA & the private jail companies are sucking money out of the Texas workers that pay taxes. How about educating so they don't end up in prison to began with. The state officals need to look at what can change Texas even faster in these hard times. Education, Education, Education, Education,

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