There are more questions than answers on the future of the La Tuna prison complex, with a growing fear that President Donald Trump’s administration could have plans to use the prison as a migrant detention center.
“I think it is a reasonable concern,” U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, said at a Friday, Aug. 14, news conference, when asked about the possibility of the prison being turned into a migrant detention center.
As Escobar works to keep the prison open, she said she has received more questions than answers from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.
“I certainly hope that the Bureau of Prisons is not considering privatizing those jobs elsewhere or utilizing that facility for privatized space, whether it be prison space or ICE (detention center) space,” Escobar said. “We asked those questions. The answer we got was, ‘We don’t know what’s going to happen.’
“That is really concerning as well. There’s obviously a plan here. We just don’t know what the plan is yet and I think it’s important that Congress be informed of what the plan is.”
The U.S. Bureau of Prisons announced in a July news release that the agency needed to close La Tuna Federal Correctional Institution, Federal Satellite Low and Satellite Camp, along with five other prisons because of the need to “address long-standing infrastructure and staffing challenges.”
The bureau did not answer emailed questions sent by the El Paso Times about the future of La Tuna and whether they met with U.S. House Appropriations Committee members to discuss obtaining federal funding to fix and keep the prisons open.
Federal Bureau of Prisons spokesman Donald Murphy directed all questions to the July news release.
Escobar, who serves on the appropriations committee, said the Bureau of Prisons never asked for more funding to fix and keep the prison open. She and the committee found out about the possible closure from the Bureau of Prisons’ July announcement.
“It was very disappointing as an appropriator,” Escobar said. “I told the Bureau of Prisons staff that no one gave me a heads up before we started the appropriations process that if Congress didn’t fund all of the needs that there would be a closure. They should have given members whose districts include these facilities at least a heads up before we began debating the budget and before we began appropriating funds.
“The impact is going to be significant on the hundreds of employees who work there and also the hundreds of inmates who are being held there.”
Bureau of Prisons officials have not released an exact date for when the prison will be closed, only saying it will happen in 2027.
The prison complex is located at 8500 Doniphan Road in Anthony, Texas, in West El Paso County near the Texas-New Mexico state line.
Hundreds of employees could be laid off if La Tuna closes
The closure of La Tuna could result in the layoffs of 250 employees, Escobar said. She added some employees are being allowed to request a transfer to another prison.
“The personnel that works there, most of them live in El Paso and they have deep roots in our community,” Escobar said. “They have family. They have a support system. They have homes. So the idea of them having to uproot themselves and move to another place is challenging.”
Employees who will be allowed to transfer to other prisons will not be compensated for moving costs, Escobar said.
“They’re not getting any funding for moving expenses,” she said. “They will have to cover all of that out of pocket. A job in another location is not guaranteed. There are Bureau of Prisons personnel who are single parents who depend on their family as a support system to pick up their kids from school or can leave their kids with on sick days, et cetera. They’re not going to have that in a new place.”
Escobar conducted a congressional oversight visit to La Tuna on Thursday, Aug. 13, and met with prison employees and union representatives. The employees told her the closure will also impact their medical needs.
“There are Bureau of Prisons personnel who are dealing with cancer, who have their physicians here in El Paso,” Escobar said. “Those who are dealing with chronic disease that have physicians here in El Paso. It is not easy to all of a sudden have to be uprooted and move to a community where you don’t even have a job that’s a total guarantee.
“There are also Bureau of Prisons personnel who are pretty close to retirement. They are really concerned that, especially if they do not get another job, this will really harm their retirement and essentially sabotage decades of service that they’ve given to La Tuna and the Bureau of Prisons.”
Harmful impact of La Tuna closure on inmates
The La Tuna prison complex houses 712 male inmates — 551 at the FCI and 161 at the Satellite Camp, according to Bureau of Prisons’ statistics. La Tuna FSL is “currently non-operational,” the Bureau of Prisons’ news release stated.
The prison’s closure will force inmates to move farther away from their families and could end programs meant to help the inmates regain their lives after being released, Escobar said.
“This is a low-security prison that focuses on rehabilitation and reentry into the community,” Escobar said. “In fact, almost any employer in the community that we do business with as a community likely has hired someone who was rehabilitated after serving their time at La Tuna. The rate of recidivism because of the programs available at La Tuna is really low. That means they do not come out of prison and re-offend.
“That means those programs are really successful. Educational programs, workforce training programs, all of those decades of relationships with local employers, with the workforce, all of that is at risk by shutting down this facility and moving these inmates hundreds of miles away.”
She added that there is a longstanding policy that prisons try to keep inmates within 500 miles of their families, but with La Tuna being closed, inmates will be moved farther away from their families and their attorneys.
“We asked, ‘Where are these inmates going to be sent?'” Escobar said. “They could potentially be sent as far away as Louisiana or even further away. Imagine trying to get access to your lawyer when you are one or two states away. Imagine trying to go through a rehabilitation program and job training that is snatched away from you and you’re moved hundreds of miles away.”
La Tuna infrastructure issues
La Tuna needs to be closed because it would take $80 million of investment to fix HVAC, the roof and the plumbing, Bureau of Prisons officials told Escobar. But she countered that is not a reason to shut the prison down.
“Congress needs to do more to fix up these facilities and to ensure that we are maintaining these facilities,” she said. “There’s no doubt about that, but we’re not shutting down facilities all over the country and all over the globe because of the similar problems at these military installations, at these barracks, at the soldier housing, at the hospitals, at the clinics, et cetera
“Very similar issues that I’ve seen at other facilities that I’m seeing at La Tuna. When my team and I left the facility yesterday, that really was at the forefront of my mind. Yes, we need to invest in La Tuna, but I have seen a whole lot worse in other facilities that are not being shut down.”
Which other US federal prisons are being closed?
Along with La Tuna, the Bureau of Prisons said they were also closing:
Aaron Martinez covers the criminal justice system for the El Paso Times. He may be reached at amartinez1@elpasotimes.com.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: La Tuna’s future creates concerns of becoming migrant detention center
Reporting by Aaron Martinez, El Paso Times / El Paso Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Aaron Martinez, El Paso Times | USA TODAY Network
