10.09.07
Breaking: County tables motion to end T. Don Hutto contract
Via TDP:
Williamson County commissioners did not issue a notice to terminate the lease agreement with Corrections Corporations of America for the T. Don Hutto Residential Center in Taylor Tuesday.
Instead, commissioners agreed to table the motion and will have their attorneys look further into the issues of liability before addressing the agreement again, County Judge Dan Gattis said.
Last week, commissioners instructed the County Attorney’s Office to begin the process of ending the county’s relationship with T. Don Hutto within a year, citing a liability for the center’s operations they had not expected.[…]
An attorney for CCA, and a courtroom full of employees, addressed the court Tuesday and told commissioners the county did not have any liability for the daily actions at T. Don Hutto, including the incident of sexual misconduct.
The commissioners agreed to further investigate the issue with the County Attorney’s Office and reconsider ending the contract within a year or allowing it to expire in January 2009.
Who would have thunk it?
remerson said,
October 10, 2007 at 10:47 am
Very curious that the court would rely on the advice of CCA’s attorney re. their financial liability; CCA’s management (or lack thereof) is one of the biggest concerns the county has with regard to liability. CCA is shielded from lawsuits, because they are simply the county’s contractor in running the facility; the monkey is on the court’s back. One wonders, first, why the court would defer to CCA as the “expert” to advise them on this and, secondly, whether CCA’s attorney actually should be expected to know the truth about the issue—or to share it with the cash cow producing nearly $3 million monthly to their corporate account.