04.19.08

My Impressions of T Don Hutto Facility

Posted in Commentary, T. Don Hutto, Williamson County at 10:55 am by wcnews

(After posting yesterday Jose Orta sent his complete thoughts on T. Don Hutto, they are printed in full below.)

On Friday, April 4, 2008, I and four others; Rosa Rosales, Elvia Mendoza, Rita Gonzales-Garza and Marcelo Tafoya, were granted access to the CCA/T. Don Hutto Facility. We were given a tour of T. Don Hutto by Evelyn Hernandez, the facility administrator of T. Don Hutto/CCA, George Robertson and Patricia Barbra from ICE.

We were all allowed to park in the parking lot. Once we signed in and were given our visitors badges, we were escorted to a conference room where we were given a brief history of the facility. We were able to ask question of Mrs. Hernandez and Mr. Robertson along our tour. We were also allowed to take notes.

We were repeatedly told that the infrastructure “is what it is”. The retrofit of the prison includes murals painted in the pods, the razor wire being taken down and the crash gate in the front entrance being dismantled. Mr. Robertson was especially proud of the fact that T. Don Hutto went “well beyond the National Detention Model”.

Mr. Robertson told us that T. Don Hutto has been separated into 2 distinct sections. One section (Pod A/B) houses families. Another section (Pod C/D) houses only women. He insisted that the units were clearly distinguished and had different guidelines. One thing all the detainees had in common were that they were all labeled for “Expedited Removal”. The current family census is 113 Adults and 60 Children. The women’s pod census is currently 160 Women.

Some other items of interest are: T. Don Hutto is a tobacco free facility. Detainees are given an option of working while detained at the institutional rate of $1.00 a day. T. Don Hutto has a commissary where items can be purchased. There currently are no AA or NA group sessions in the facility. Husbands and wives are not allowed any intimate contact in the facility. The medical staff reported that there was an outbreak of Chicken Pox which required some detainees to be quarantined.

Seeing the facility from the outside confined to Welch Street pales in comparison with actually entering the facility and seeing it from the inside. I was struck by how large the facility actually is on the inside. T. Don Hutto has a stark, cold institutional prison-like feel. It may be labeled a residential facility, but movement seems to be heavily controlled. Most doors are locked. You must have access codes to obtain entry. All have Hall Monitors/Guards on staff as well as cameras to monitor movement in the hallways.

T. Don Hutto has at least 4 large cavernous beige colored hallways that must be used to access any of the spaces. You can hear the echo of your steps and see your reflection as you walk along the highly varnished concrete floors. The protruding exposed piping and conduits in the ceilings also gives off an industrial feel.

Our tour consisted of the following spaces at T. Don Hutto: the library, the computer lab, a family pod, a women only pod, the visitation area, the cafeteria, a mental health office, the medical office, the gym, the playground, the education portables and the intake/processing room. We were carefully monitored so that we would have very little contact with the detainees.

The employees were fully aware that we were going to be arriving so they were on their best behavior putting on the best CCA corporate face to the facility. Many of the employees are minorities, Hispanic and African American. Many are also females. Though I recognized some from Taylor, most of the staff were people I haven’t seen before. I believe many of these employees do not live in Taylor. There were many blank stares from the staff; as if they had been told to disregard our presence.

I got to see some interaction between CCA staff and detainees which appeared to be normal and cordial in every way. In the family pod, we were able to see the detainees playing Loteria (Mexican Bingo). In the women’s only pod, we were able to see women doing needlecraft. We also got to see children in the education portables and in the computer lab. The children were especially well behaved. We had an opportunity to meet two especially friendly female detainees working in the mess hall. They spoke proudly and lovingly of Honduras.

Most of the detainees that I had a chance to see while peering into closed doors or away from the tour seem oblivious to our presence. Many had blank stares. It was almost as if these women were making the best of the situation at hand. While touring the Women’s Pod, most of the women seemed to be centrally situated in the center of the pod where one TV had Rubi showing. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted one female that was crouched under the pod stairwell – sitting apart from the rest. I didn’t have the foresight to ask why this was so. I saw another woman whose dark piercing eyes seemed filled with sadness.

As far as my overall impression of the tour goes, I have to admit that the T. Don Hutto facility appears to be a clean, sanitary and orderly facility. As I left the facility I remembered a song from my childhood,

Vivo en una jaula de oro
con de todo y sin amor
vivo en una jaula de oro
y como quiera es prision

I live in a golden cage
With everything but love
I live in a golden cage
But it is still a prison.

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