Vigil opposes renewing of Hutto center contract
The county will vote whether to continue the controversial center in January.
By Patrick George

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF


Monday, December 08, 2008

GEORGETOWN — More than 100 Central Texans gathered for a vigil outside the Williamson County Courthouse on Sunday night, asking Williamson County commissioners to end a contract with the T. Don Hutto Residential Center.

County commissioners are to vote in January on extending the contract with the center, a former medium-security state prison in Taylor that holds 385 people, including 92 children, who are awaiting immigration hearings.

Retired pastor Milton Jordan said that closing the center is a moral issue for all the county's residents.

"The practice of incarcerating families and children, with little regards to their civil rights, is destructive ... to our community as a whole," Jordan said.

Protesters held signs that said "Prison is no place for children" and "Shut down T. Don Hutto" while singing the civil rights standard "We Shall Overcome."

They also donated toys, clothing and calling cards to detainees that will be delivered Dec. 20, said Sherry Dana, a member of the WilCo Family Justice Alliance, which organized the vigil with several other groups.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement oversees the center, which is operated by for-profit Corrections Corp. of America through a contract with Williamson County. The county gets about $15,800 a month from the company.

"It could go back to (being a prison), and nobody would be hurt; nobody would lose their jobs," Dana said.

The detainees hail from all over the world and are seeking asylum or are being held on noncriminal violations of immigration law.

In 2007, the University of Texas School of Law's Immigration Clinic and the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas won a settlement in a federal suit that accused the government of violating the rights of minors held at the center.

The settlement changed how families are treated and changed federal standards for treatment of immigrant women and children held at ICE facilities.

pgeorge@statesman.com; 445-3851


http://www.statesman.com/news/content/n ... hutto.html