Williamson County officials voted Tuesday to renew a contract with a private prison firm that operates a criticized detention center for immigrant families.
The Central Texas county is home to the T. Don Hutto Family Residential Facility, a 512-bed former prison in Taylor where immigrant families are held while awaiting deportation or other outcomes to their immigration cases.
By a 4-1 vote, commissioners approved continuing the county contract with Corrections Corporation of America to operate the facility for another two years, the Austin American-Statesman reported. The former prison houses children and families with no criminal records or violent histories for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“If I thought kids and adults were being mistreated, I’d run backwards from it,” said Commissioner Ron Morrison, whose precinct includes the facility. “What I’ve seen is very humane treatment. As much as possible, they’ve converted it to a user-friendly facility.”
Commissioner Lisa Birkman voted against the contract. Although the facility helps in enforcing immigration laws and created jobs, it is still a prison.
“They’ve made some positive changes, but there are still children sleeping in cells,” Birkman said.
A federal judge approved a settlement agreement last year that called for changes at the Hutto facility, where families live in cells with bunk beds and a toilet. The changes included installing privacy curtains around toilets, adding a full-time pediatrician and eliminating a counting system that required families to be in their cells 12 hours a day. A federal magistrate also will periodically review conditions at Hutto.
Former Georgetown mayor Mary Ellen Kersch called the vote “reprehensible.”
“They didn’t respond to the basic business issues or that the county is being maligned around the world for participating in the holding of children.”
County Judge Dan A. Gattis said the problems opponents point to at the facility do not exist.
“If I had my druthers, I’d rather keep families together,” he said.
ICE officials have always contended residents at the facility are treated with dignity and respect. They describe Hutto as a residential, nonsecure environment that keeps families together while they seek asylum, await deportation or seek other outcomes to their immigration cases.
The facility is meant to end the “catch and release” practice that in the past permitted families in the U.S. illegally to remain free while awaiting a court hearing
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