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Guard fired for ‘Inappropriate' act By Tessa Moll CCA employee accused of contact with detainee at T. Don Hutto facility A male employee at the T. Don Hutto Residential Detention Center was fired Sunday after management received information alleging an inappropriate relationship between the employee and an adult female detainee at the facility. Corrections Corporation of America, the for-profit company that owns and operates the center, learned of the incident Saturday evening and immediately placed the employee on administrative leave, according to CCA spokesman Steve Owen. The center houses families illegally residing within the United States for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a division of the Department of Homeland Security. Owen said CCA management notified ICE and the Williamson County Sheriff's Office on Sunday. He said there is an ongoing criminal investigation into the incident. The sheriff's office investigated the report of officer misconduct at Hutto, and they concluded that the misconduct did not fall under local or state statutes, said Detective John Foster, spokesman for the sheriff's office. They are in the process of turning over their findings to the federal government. The employee was not identified by CCA or the authorities investigating the incident, and CCA offered no further comment “out of respect for that ongoing investigation,” according to a press statement. Federal law criminalizes any sexual conduct, regardless of coercion, between staff and inmates in detention, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The ICE Office of Professional Responsibility is also reviewing the incident, according to a statement by ICE spokeswoman Nina Pruneda. The investigation is the latest controversy surrounding the Taylor facility. Protesters had gathered outside the facility earlier this month on the day a United Nations inspector intended to tour the center. The ICE rejected Jorge Bustamante, the independent expert on migrant rights, from access to the detention center and later denied him entrance into another facility in Monmouth, N.J. The department describes the facility as “an effective and humane alternative to maintain the unity of alien families as they await the outcome of their immigration hearings or the return to their home countries.” However, the American Civil Liberties filed lawsuits in March and April on behalf of 12 children residing in the facility against Michael Chertoff, secretary of DHS, and six ICE officials. Ten of those children have since been released.
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