My Son Survived a GEO Jail

My son was barely out of high school and it was a non-violent offense. He was in a private jail in Spur Texas owned by the Geo Group out of Florida. This was my first experience with jails of any kind and I couldn’t believe some of the things they pulled. It was like being in a foreign country where no one was accountable to you.

Their beds were dirty and there were no pillows. They were given no soap, toothpaste , shampoo or razors. All of that they had to buy at high prices. Same thing with clean underwear. And supposedly they had a library but no one was ever allowed to go to it. They brought a book cart around once in 3 months! it said in the handbook (which only inmates have...not relatives) that they could receive books via mail but they said that this privilege had been taken away after I sent books. The worst thing: My son never got his medicine for his stomach ulcer in the 3 months he was there.

 They were very rude to all the visitors so I can imagine how they were to the inmates. The waiting area for relatives was about the size of a large car & filled with homemade furniture. You had to come at the exact time and hour for visitation...which I did, but one hour before visitation was to be over I was told that they wouldn’t have time to go and get my son for me to visit. I had driven 4 hours. The girl next to me was turned away (she had driven from New Mexico) because she did not bring a marriage license to prove her marriage to an inmate.

 Are we crazy for putting up with that as taxpayers? The big blow up with the juvenile detention centers is a perfect example, except they are state owned. I don’t think the light will ever be shed on these private facilities.