Community Education Centers, Inc. and Kinney County slapped with prisoner lawsuit

By: Jose G. Landa, Copyright 2015, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc.

A federal detainee of the United States Marshal’s Service filed a federal civil rights prisoner inmate lawsuit against Community Education Centers, Inc., Al Castillo, Warden of Kinney County Detention Center, Kinney County, Texas, Kinney County Detention Center, Kinney County Judge Tim Ward, and Kinney County Commissioners Woody Massingill, Joe Montalvo, Dennis Dodson, Pat Melancon, and Kinney County Sheriff Leland Burgess, in their Official and Individual capacities, in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, Del Rio Division, in Del Rio, Texas, alleging that the Defendants failed to provide for his safety and security while detained at the Kinney County Detention Center in Brackettville, Texas, when he was severely beaten and assaulted by another inmate or inmates.

Plaintiff, Fulvio Miguel Ramirez Gonzalez, a Honduran citizen, filed the federal civil rights lawsuit against the Defendants, alleging that he sustained “a broken nose, a fractured eye socket, severe blows to his head, shoulder, face, and body causing that he be transported for emergency medical treatment to the Val Verde Regional Medical Center in Del Rio, Texas and later transferred to University Hospital System in San Antonio, Texas for specialized treatment and surgeries.”

Plaintiff was assaulted and severely beaten on September 23, 2011, by one or more inmates, including one named Juan Jesus Mendoza Robles who was convicted in state District Court for aggravated assault for this incident, while in custody of Defendants.

The U.S. Department of Justice’s U.S. Marshal’s Service contracts with Kinney County, Texas to provide detention services of federal detainees at the Kinney County Detention Center while Kinney County contracts Community Education Centers, Inc., a private New Jersey corporation, to operate its Kinney County Detention Center.

Plaintiff alleges that Defendants violated his “rights to due process of law and to be free from cruel and unusual punishment as guaranteed by the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and a declaratory judgment that these acts and omissions violated his rights under Texas law.”

Plaintiff is seeking a judgment for compensatory damages from the Defendants, jointly and severally, in the amount of $1,000,0000 (Million), punitive damages for the amount of $1,000,000 (Million), reasonable attorney’s fees, costs, expenses, pre-judgment and post-judgment interest.

Defendants deny the allegations in Plaintiff’s Original Complaint.

Community Education Centers, Inc. and Kinney County Detention Center have a notorious record of prisoner problems at the Kinney County Detention Center in Brackettville, Texas. In December of 2008, a prisoner riot of over 30 inmates forced the Kinney County Detention Center to be locked down, resulting in setting fire to mattresses and clothing due to the mistreatment of inmates and poor prison conditions. In October of 2009, a federal detainee, Manuel Guardiola, escaped from the Kinney County Detention Center while incarcerated at the Kinney County Detention Center, allegedly bribing jail guards to allow him to escape. Guardiola, a member of the Mexican Mafia gang, escaped to Mexico but was later captured in January of 2010 by Mexican Immigration authorities who deported him to the United States and subsequently arrested by the U.S. Marshal’s Service. During April and May 2013, a federal detainee was sexually assaulted by a prison guard of Community Education Centers, Inc. at the Kinney County Detention Center and filed a lawsuit in state District Court. This lawsuit is pending in the 63rd Judicial District Court of Kinney County, Texas.