Saturday, September 26, 2009
When the new Jack Harwell Detention Center is ready for prisoners, McLennan County Sheriff Larry Lynch will be responsible for up to 800 additional inmates, but the stipend he is paid in the contract with the private detention company that will operate it will not increase.
The extra $1,000 a month that Lynch is paid by the county in its contract with Community Education Centers has been a source of contention since before CEC acquired the former CiviGenics and before Lynch became sheriff.
By statute, a private detention company cannot set up shop in a county without the authorization of the sheriff. And in some of those counties, the company pays a stipend to the county, which is passed on to the sheriff as part of his salary.
The practice was questioned again last year during spirited debates among county officials about whether to build the privately run facility on State Highway 6 and whether to allow CEC or another company to take all of the county’s jail operations private.
Lynch and his predecessors, Bob Mitchell and Jack Harwell, have all collected the extra pay through the private jail contract. All have said that it gave them extra responsibilities to see that all detention facilities in this county that hold county prisoners are in compliance with state standards and run properly.
Critics of jail privatization in general, and the sheriff stipend in particular, include the largest law enforcement union in the state, Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas (CLEAT). A bill to ban such stipends did not pass in the last legislative session.
“What we have done is legalize something that is ethically and morally wrong,” CLEAT spokesman Charley Wilkison said of the stipend. “It constitutes a clear financial interest between the sheriff and the for-profit companies. Can he take money from the people who provide vests to the deputies? Can he take money from the fleet dealer who sells cars to the county? Can he take money from any of the food vendors? If that had happened, a grand jury would be visiting on this issue right now.”
Despite taking on more responsibilities with the opening later this year or early next year of the new 816-bed private jail adjacent to the county jail, Lynch said the county’s contract covering the new facility does not include more funds for him filtering down from CEC. Lynch’s regular salary is $92,881, and the county pays him $12,000 a year in the CEC contract and $140 a month in longevity pay.
Lynch declined to discuss the stipend, saying it is old news. He was more eager to talk about the breathing room his department will have when the new facility opens, finally putting an end to the constant juggling act county officials perform because of jail overcrowding. The county jail population was 1,009 on Friday. Capacity at the State Highway 6 jail is 930, while capacity at the CEC-run McLennan County Detention Center downtown, which the county has used to hold prisoner overflow, is about 300.
The new facility will hold federal detainees, primarily, said Lynch and County Judge Jim Lewis. However, the county also will house overflow prisoners there and at the downtown facility, they said. CEC also plans to contract with other agencies to house prisoners.
A bill that would have made it a state jail felony for a sheriff to accept a stipend in a contract with a private detention company made it out of the House County Affairs Committee during the past legislative session but died on the House floor without a vote, Wilkison said.
CEC operates a 1,000-bed facility in Limestone County. Sheriff Dennis Wilson, whose county annual salary is $49,457, is paid a $24,000 stipend yearly by the county in its contract with CEC, Wilson said.
CEC spokesman Bob Prince, a retired Texas Ranger captain, said not all CEC contracts with Texas counties include stipends for sheriffs.
“That is entirely up to the commissioners court to decide,” Prince said. “That is not a road we go down. The original contract we had in Waco, that was put in and that was what was agreed to.”
Recently, Adan Munoz Jr., executive director of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, sent out a memo warning counties to pay strict attention to contracts with food vendors, noting that sheriffs in Potter and Bexar counties hit legal snares recently in their dealings with food vendors.
He said a state representative asked him to send the memo about food vendors. However, it could have included warnings in many other areas, including dealings with private detention companies, Munoz said.
“We suggest that they consult with local attorneys about any potential conflicts,” Munoz said. “It is based on appearance and suspicion. Unfortunately, many people react on mere appearance without knowing the full story.”
twitherspoon@wacotrib.com
757-5737
Comments
By In The Know
Sep 28, 2009 2:50 PM | Link to this
Pete, some of the evidence is a matter of Commissioners Court Record. I remember a former JP who admit in Commissioners Court that he allowed his friend to rack up close to $5,000 on his official cellphone and lied on federal documents about the usage. Where were the Theft by a Public Offical and False Report charges?
Constable Travis Bailey, was caught by the County Auditors doing almost the same thing. His Theft by a Public Official charges were quickly dismissed by him turning in the cellphones issued to his department for official use. Where were his criminal charges?
The evidence against Jim Lewis and Ray Meadows went into the black hole of DA Segrest's office. To my knowledge it has never been viewed since or heard from since.
I've heard of other charges "disappearing" in Segret's office too. We still haven't heard anything from Richard Mills ever increasing number of DWI's. I understand that his aren't the only DWI's from important officials kids that have disappeared in his office too.
Segrest, who was even recusing himself from the Margaret Mills' case, still "reviewed" evidence for about a year before it was given to the AG's investigators. And during this time, he had meetings with Mrs. Mills.
I guess if you're a crocked official in McLennan County, you don't get prosecuted since you have dirt on everyone else. Makes you wonder if they ever actually do go after one of their own, if the official was really clean and got railroaded.
By Uncommon Sense
Sep 26, 2009 11:53 PM | Link to this
The 12,000 a year is for the additional responsibilities of managing the 300 inmates right? So 800 more inmates would be more responsibilities?
If there really is nothing at all ethically wrong with the $12,000, then why not accept more money for more inmates? I mean if the Sheriff and commissioners are really not bothered by the first 12,000, why not another 12 or 24K? If they are worried about appearances, why accept the 12 to begin with?
Just a curiosity, but I'd like to know just how much time Sheriff Lynch or any of his Captains or Lieutenants beneath him really deal with the "extra responsibilities to see that all detention facilities in this county that hold county prisoners are in compliance with state standards and run properly." I know it's a pipe dream, but I'd love to see some accountability from our local politicians in general.
If the Sheriff really deserves, the extra $12K, then let him break it down for the public. Hell, if he's not just a name on a paper to the CEC jail, and actually invests significant time and energy into the management, then I'm all for him getting the money. Of course, if he did actually invest work for CEC, then he'd really be a part time employee which would raise all sorts of ethical questions. Really, it breaks down to either it's a publicly endorsed kickback (legal if not ethical), or he's serving two potentially conflicting interests (the county and a for profit corporation).
An analogy would be a Senator working part time for one of the Big 3 auto companies and then claiming he is impartial in decisions involving them.
By Hewitt Citizen
Sep 26, 2009 10:58 PM | Link to this
Does anyone stop to think about just the idea of a private company directly paying a public official who will then "impartially" decide what is best for the public? And to think, people complain about lobbyists in Washington who just make campaign contributions, not put them directly on the company payroll.
While it may or may not be legally wrong, it is without a doubt ethically repulsive.
By ANON
Sep 26, 2009 6:34 PM | Link to this
Both Brazos Kid and PeteOde sound as though they must benefit in some way from this sham called the justice system (more appropriately "just us" system) which we all have to tolerate in McLennan County.
By PeteOde
Sep 26, 2009 6:28 PM | Link to this
Thanks for all the responses...so let me get this straight..all the county officials are corrupt. You guys need to get a life. You guys sound like a bunch of conspiracy theorists. Ok. Since the county officials are all corrupt, why don't you guys take your evidence to DPS Special Crimes, The Texas Rangers, or any of the assorted Federal Law Enforcement Agencies. And as for the part of working at the S.O. No I do not. But why is it that if someone disagrees with your opinions you resort to "putting someone underneath the desk".
By Tired
Sep 26, 2009 5:56 PM | Link to this
Hey Brazos kid, you don't think PFC's fail? Why don't you do a little research, try starting with Willacy county. http://www.texasobserver.org/article.php?aid=2320
By In The Know
Sep 26, 2009 5:52 PM | Link to this
Axtually Pete, theere has been evidence brought to our DA. Evidence from the corruption investigation into a former Tarrant County Sheriff that found evidence that he took money and gifts from the same food vendor that Jim Lewis called for a rebid on jail food contracts when this vendor, also a friend of Jim Lewis, didn't have the low bid. The food vendor lowered their bid to under what the other "sealed" bids were, but was once again underbid by another vendor. So in yet under completely out of character move, Jim Lewis and company approve not the low bidder, but Jim's friend and second lowest bidder. The logic behind it, I believe Jim was quoted in the paper saying they didn't feel the lowest bidder could handle that supply demends of something as large as the jail. If memory serves, the low bid vendor was the same food vendor that was already supplying Baylor and I believe Waco ISD at the time.
But when that investigation was closed, the prosecutors sent the evidence against Jim Lewis and Ray Meadows from testimony from the investigation back to McLennan County so that our DA could pursue Grand Jury Indictments. That evidence was never pursued by our DA in any way and probably hasn't been seen since. And as the past few years have shown, it's good to be friends with our weak DA.
I can see why no one would risk bringing in evidence to our DA to pursue a crime by a public official here in McLennan County. Despite all the overwelming evidence that has been brought to our DA about corrupt commissioners, county judge, constables, JP's, and law enforcement officials he has only recently gone after the Waco officers. Of course that was only after he found out that he would have an opponent in the upcoming election.
It's time to clean house at the courthouse. Our officials need to be renovated as much if not more then the courthouse does. But currently, they are protected by the elected law.
By Bubba
Sep 26, 2009 5:28 PM | Link to this
Hey Pete, The DA wont take a complaint against Larry. The DA is also a long term elected McLennan County official. Wonder why the Sheriff's Association and the Waco Police Association are backing his opponent. It's not rocket science, it's politics.
By Tired
Sep 26, 2009 5:24 PM | Link to this
Pete you sound just like one of them "old downtown boys" who spend too much time under the sheriffs desk. When people speak of corruption in a town like Waco do you really think we are not speaking of the DA's office as well? Just like the house bill in Austin which could have put an end to alot of the things going on statewide with private jails and county officials receiving money from it. It was shot down on the house floor by representatives who have private jails already operating in their districts. Even Rick Perry received money from private prisons last year. Where you come from I guess it's called a donation or "perk". Where I come from It's called a BRIBE.
By PeteOde
Sep 26, 2009 5:01 PM | Link to this
Bubba, I am so glad that you used the word corruption because you are implying that there is some sort of a criminal violation. As a concerned citizen it is your responsibility to take your evidence of criminal wrong doing to the DA's office for an investigation. I look forward to hearing from the DA's Office and The Tribune Herald on your evidence that a crime has been committed.
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