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Friday, June 19, 2009
7 Inmates File Lawsuit Against Private Prison, Staff
By Rene Romo
Journal Southern Bureau
LAS CRUCES — A federal lawsuit alleges that employees of a privately run prison south of Clayton violated seven inmates' constitutional right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment.
The lawsuit, filed earlier this week, alleges that when the Northeast New Mexico Detention Facility was placed under lockdown Dec. 10 because of a disturbance in another part of the prison, officers locked seven inmates, who had been taking showers, in the cold shower room for five hours. The inmates were nude or covered by boxer shorts or small towels while locked in the shower room.
While there, guards withheld food from the inmates, prohibited them from using a bathroom and taunted them, according to the lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union. A female corrections officer allegedly videotaped the inmates from behind a door.
The lawsuit further alleges that at the end of the five-hour stretch, corrections officers told inmates that they couldn't find the key to the shower room, and the inmates were forced to squeeze through a hole in the shower wall the size of a cinder block. Some of the inmates later developed skin problems, which went untreated for weeks by prison staff.
Located four miles southeast of Clayton, the 625-bed prison is owned by the town but managed by Florida-based GEO Group Inc. The Northeast New Mexico Detention Facility mainly houses inmates under a contract with the state Department of Corrections.
GEO Group director of corporate relations Pablo Paez said it was the company's policy not to comment on pending litigation. A call seeking comment from Warden Timothy Hatch was referred to the GEO Group.
Besides the GEO Group and Hatch, the lawsuit names as defendants two deputy wardens, a prison fire safety director, a lieutenant, four sergeants and five corrections officers. The lawsuit was filed electronically and assigned to federal court in Las Cruces.
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