Private Jails, Prisons, and Halfway Houses in Texas – Qualified Immunity and Death and Serious Injury Claims

iStock 969048466 — Interior of solitary confinement cell with metal bed, desk and toilet in old prison.

Our Texas civil rights law firm typically handles cases in which people unfortunately die or suffer serious injury as a result of suicide, denial of medical care, and/or denial of mental health care in Texas county jails, Texas city and town jails, and other facilities that are not operated by the State of Texas and/or the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Our firm will however consider cases in which inmates die or suffer serious or catastrophic injury in a facility that is related to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice but which is not run by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and/or the State of Texas.

There are a number of reasons why our firm does not review the other types of cases. However, qualified immunity has become a significant problem in litigating cases against jailers, police officers, and others involved in jails and law enforcement. Our law firm litigated a case to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and obtained a result whereby the appellate court determined that individuals working for large for-profit corporations, and who seriously injure and/or exhibit deliberate indifference resulting in the death of an inmate, cannot claim qualified immunity as a defense.

Therefore, we will consider cases against entities running correctional centers, Texas State jail facilities, multi-use facilities, and residential re-entry centers in Texas, but only if those facilities are managed by private companies and not by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and/or the State of Texas.

Such facilities change over time. However, it is our understanding as of the date of this blog post that the following correctional centers in Texas are run by private contractors:

B.M. Moore Correctional Center	8500 N. FM 3053 Overton, TX 75684 Phone: (903) 834-6186	Management & Training Corp.	500 male
Bridgeport Correctional Center	4000 N. 10th Street Bridgeport, TX 76426 Phone: (940) 683-3010	Management & Training Corp.	520 male
Oliver J. Bell Unit	901 E. 5th Street Cleveland, TX 77327 Phone: (281) 592-9559	Management & Training Corp.	520 male
Coleman Unit	1400 Industrial Blvd. Lockhart, TX 78644 Phone: (512) 398-3480	Management & Training Corp.	1000 female
Diboll Correctional Center	1604 S. 1st Street Diboll, TX 75941 Phone: (936) 829-2295	Management & Training Corp.	518 male
Kyle Correctional Center	23001 IH-35 Kyle, TX 78640 Phone: (512) 268-0079	Management & Training Corp.	520 male
Sanders Estes Correctional Center	1100 Highway 1807 Venus, TX 76084 Phone: (972) 366-3334	Management & Training Corp.	1040 male

Further, as of the date of this blog post, it is our understanding the following State jails are run by private contractors:

Lindsey State Jail	1620 FM 3344 Jacksboro, TX 76458 Phone: (940) 567-2272	Management & Training Corp.	1031 male
Willacy County State Jail	1695 Buffalo Drive Raymondville, TX 78580 Phone: (956) 689-4900	LaSalle Corrections	1069 male

We also understand that the following multi-use facility is run by a private contractor:

East Texas Multi-Use Facility

900 Industrial Drive
Henderson, TX 75652
Phone: (903) 655-3300

Management & Training Corp.

2236 male/female

Finally, as of the date of this blog post, we understand that the following residential re-entry centers are run by private contractors:

Austin Transitional Center	3154 E. Hwy 71 Del Valle, TX 78617 Phone: (512) 386-5722	CoreCivic, Inc.	237 male 70 female
Beaumont Center	2495 Gulf Street Beaumont, TX 77703 Phone: (409) 832-6495	GEO Reentry, Inc.	160 male 20 female
Dallas Transitional Center	1554 E. Langdon Dallas, TX 75241 Phone: (214) 742-1971	CoreCivic, Inc.	251 male 24 female
Edinburg Transitional Center	402 W. Chapin St. Edinburg, TX 78541 Phone: (956) 380-5073	Correctional Solutions Group	106 male 14 female
El Paso Transitional Center North	1700 Horizon Blvd. El Paso, TX 79928 Phone: (915) 852-1505	CoreCivic, Inc.	240 male
El Paso Transitional Center South	1650 Horizon Blvd. El Paso, TX 79928 Phone: (915) 852-1505	CoreCivic, Inc.	200 male
Fort Worth Transitional Center	600 N. Henderson Fort Worth, TX 76107 Phone: (817) 335-6053	CoreCivic, Inc.	176 male 24 female
Southeast Texas Transitional Center	10950 Old Beaumont Hwy. Houston, TX 77078 Phone: (713) 351-1500	GEO Reentry, Inc.	493 male

We do not make any allegation that any of the facilities listed above, or any of the companies which run them, have acted inappropriately, are subject to liability for any specific incidents, and/or do not otherwise perform their duties well. The purpose of this post is to simply provide information in the event a person suffers serious injury or death and is attempting to locate information regarding a specific facility.

If a person has a complaint about such a private facility, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice has a Private Facility Contract Monitoring/ Oversight Division. The office is in Huntsville, and has the following contact information:

Texas Department of Criminal Justice
Private Facility Contract Monitoring/Oversight Division
Two Financial Plaza, Suite 300
Huntsville, TX 77340
Phone: (936) 437-2811

Pre-trial detainees in Texas receive protection pursuant to the 14^th Amendment, while those who have been convicted receive protection pursuant to the 8^th Amendment. That protection includes the right to receive reasonable medical care and reasonable mental health care, and to be protected from self-harm tendencies. Not making any comment about entities above, if an inmate is seriously injured or dies as a result of deliberate indifference and/or objective unreasonableness of individuals, and/or policies, practices, and/or customs of certain facilities, then liability may arise. If a person dies as a result, then potentially certain surviving family members may be able to bring claims in a lawsuit.

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