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,” MORE
