More ICE Problems in New Mexico

'Serious events' had ICE pull its jail inmates in Albuquerque

By Kate Nash (Contact)
Albuquerque Tribune
Thursday, September 13, 2007

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials pulled all their detainees from a privately run jail in Downtown Albuquerque because of critical concerns about management, a federal official says.

...Mead declined to give specifics about the events, saying they are still under investigation.

"We have serious doubts about their (Cornell's) ability to provide the safe and humane environment we want for our detainees. That's the reason we are not there," Mead said in an interview Wednesday.

...Mead said he's met several times with Cornell officials since June 25, including a meeting at the jail at Fourth Street and Roma Avenue Northwest.

Mead said the immigration agency had concerns about the jail before Chief U.S. District Judge Martha Vazquez of Albuquerque sent a letter to Cornell's chief executive officer. Mead said Vazquez's letter in late June only intensified his agency's attention to complaints about conditions at the lockup.

"The Cornell officials basically told us that many of the judge's concerns were unfounded, or were corrected or were in the process of being corrected," Mead said. "They told us not to worry; they were in full control of the facility."

But, he said, "There have been a number of incidents at the facility that caused us to seriously question Cornell's ability to safely and humanely detain our (undocumented immigrants) there."

In her letter, [Chief U.S. District Judge Martha] Vazquez said she was worried about medical care, physical conditions and nutrition at the lockup. She recounted stories inmates told her during visits this summer to the jail about missing property, and allegations of sexual misconduct and of inmates who were punished for speaking out.

Federal authorities are also investigating the death of a Korean woman who died at an Albuquerque hospital while in the jail's custody last year. The woman's repeated requests for medical attention were ignored, according to lawyers familiar with the case.

Cornell spokesman Charles Seigel said the company has worked to address the agency's concerns and would like to know what it can still do to appease the immigration agency.

"We hear from them all the time about the past history they don't like," he said. "All we would like to hear is a specific list of things to do to make them happy, because all we hear about is past history. What we don't hear from that is what we need to do to resolve their concerns and make it a facility they can bring people back to."

As for the serious incidents Mead mentioned, Seigel also refused to give details.

"There are things that have happened in the past that we have addressed with ICE. We've been told everything is fine, and we've dealt with ICE," he said.

[Cornell spokesman Charles] Seigel said Cornell is more than willing to do what it takes to have ICE as a client again. At the same time, the company is looking for other inmates to fill the jail.

"First of all, we know they are the customer, and what their perception is is what matters. There's no point in going back and forth about whether we agree with their concerns. If that's their perception, that's their perception and we'll address it."

Before it removed all of its detainees, the immigration agency pulled about half in the hope that Cornell could do a better job with fewer people, Mead said.

...ICE, which has about 30,000 detainees at 300 to 350 facilities around the country, only rarely has pulled inmates, Mead said.

...Cornell has run the former Bernalillo County Detention Center since 2003. The facility is still owned by the county, which receives about $1.5 million a year in rent from Cornell.

Without ICE as a tenant, Cornell earlier this week cut 82 of 185 employee positions at the jail...

For complete article:
http://www.abqtrib.com/news/2007/sep/13/serious-events-had-ice-pull-its-jail-inmates-albuq/