Willacy County prison where recent riot was loses contract and closes

The company that runs the Federal prison facility that was recently the site of a prison riot has lost its contract. The company, Management & Training Corp. out of Utah, has stated that the reason for the contract cancellation is that the inmate population has dropped and there is not a need for that federal facility. Also, they are looking for a new client for that facility. I have no idea who they will find to contract with, but that facility has beds for around 3000 inmates so certainly that would be far too much space for a county jail or anything of that nature. I hope, whoever they end up contracting with, that some major renovations are done first. I have never seen the place personally, but considering that the riot was supposedly caused due to unsanitary conditions such as overflowing toilets and raw sewage leaking into the sleeping areas, it seems it is in bad need of a renovation.

I looked up the Management & Training Corp’s website to learn a bit more about them. They have a great website! I learned that MTC started in 1981 by running the Job Corps program, which is a program for at-risk youths to get some vocational training. My understanding is that it is many times an alternative to sending a youth to a youth offender lockup. I had a buddy who was in Job Corp and it is run in a military sort of style and is meant to teach the youth there not only a vocational skill but discipline and how to follow the rules. They do not get to just come and go as they wish, they stay right there on site, sort of like a rehab would be.

The MTC website states that they are running 24 correctional facilities. Apart from running prisons and Job Corps, they do a bunch of other stuff which all seems to be around the “corrections industry”. I haven’t thoroughly read all of it yet but they manage medical care of inmates as well as rehabilitation programs for not only inmates but “at risk” individuals which sounds to me like maybe boot camp sort of facilities. They are also doing this on an international level and are in England and multiple Middle Eastern countries.

All this sounds just great, but I stand by my opinion that the privatization of corrections is a very bad idea. What motivation would a corporation have to actually rehabilitate any group of people? If they succeeded they would essentially put themselves out of business.

Think about it this way – a youth that attends Job Corps but who does NOT straighten up can become a future inmate. Ding! Double the profit on that person. If they do not rehabilitate in prison, they will recidivate (as far too many of those incarcerated do) and come right back in that revolving door. Now that person has made the corporation money for the third time. See where I am going with this? A company running a correctional corporation makes money when folks are incarcerated. Plain and simple. So their boot camps and prisons and youth institutes don’t have to succeed in rehabilitate anyone for them to stay profitable. In fact, the opposite is true.

I also believe that when a state like Texas, with so many prisoners, farms out its prisons to corporations, there is not enough inspections of these facilities to make sure they are being run properly, let alone humanely. Inmates don’t have much of a voice, believe me, so if conditions are deplorable there isn’t much they can DO about it!

It’s a broken system in my opinion to have privatized corrections. I very strongly believe this. Peace out, y’all!