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Texas: U.S. Cancels Contract with Private Prison Firm After Uprising

HeadlineMar 17, 2015

The U.S. Bureau of Prisons has reportedly cancelled its contract with a private company for the running of a prison known as “Ritmo,” or the Guantánamo of Raymondville, Texas. About 2,000 immigrant prisoners staged an uprising at the Willacy County prison last month to protest inadequate healthcare at the facility, which is also known as “tent city,” since many of the prisoners slept in Kevlar tents. The prisoners have been evacuated, and the facility will no longer be run by the Management and Training Corporation. The facility was one of 13 privately run so-called “Criminal Alien Requirement” prisons; it housed mostly undocumented immigrants convicted of nonviolent crimes. The American Civil Liberties Union called the closure “a welcome, but long overdue move,” and called for the government to end the use of private prisons.

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