[Shadow_Group] Fw: Detainee Sexual and Physical Abuse on the Tideflats

[shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca]

The first lawsuits have been filed against CSC for both the physical and 
sexual abuse of persons in their care. We provided detailed warnings of this 
to the City of Tacoma in the spring. The City seemed to feel there was 
little they could do. Unfortunately, they probably have some liability in 
all this as well. Sadly, we only can share this with you. This is what 
happens when a company with a know poor track record of prisoner abuse comes 
to town.

The mysterious new plume of toxins in the tideflats may have a very 
well-known source also related to the detention camp. When CSC constructed 
this facility, they pounded large metal pilings into the sub-surface. This 
effectively created a large dam or diverting feature directly into the 
underlying water table. In the summer of 2003, the EPA identified a plume of 
toxins headed toward the Foss Waterway. Little was done to look into this 
issue at the time and one wonders if the toxic soup now found there is from 
the Tacoma Tarpits site. The mix of chemicals sure looks the same.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/198132_detention04.html<http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/198132_detention04.html>

Immigration prisoners allege guard abuse

Thursday, November 4, 2004

By PAUL SHUKOVSKY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Two people are suing a private corrections company, saying one was viciously 
beaten and the other sexually harassed while they were being held in Tacoma 
on federal immigration charges.

Dozens of inmates witnessed the allegedly unprovoked beating in July of Jose 
Mancilla Gutierrez, 22, at the Northwest Detention Center, according to his 
attorney, Gwynne Skinner.

Correctional Services Corp., which operates the detention center on the 
Tacoma tide flats for the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement 
agency, is named as the defendant in the suit along with five of the 
company's guards and officials.

Skinner and her partner, Daniel Gross, filed suit in U.S. District Court 
last week for Mancilla and Marisela Manzo Torres, 27, who contends that 
officers sexually harassed her.

The warden of the detention center, who works for Correctional Services 
Corp., could not be reached for comment about the lawsuit.

Mancilla and Manzo both faced deportation. Mancilla was determined not to be 
deportable and was released. Manzo's case is pending.

Mancilla told his attorneys that on July 5, guards ordered detainees to 
return to their cells. As he was doing so, a guard identified only as Lt. 
McIntyre, "yelled at him to stop."

"For no justifiable reason, defendant McIntyre then handcuffed plaintiff 
(Mancilla), threw him to the floor, and forcefully put his knee into 
plaintiff Mancilla's back," the lawsuit says.

McIntyre then walked Mancilla to the exit and slammed his face into a wall. 
The impact chipped a tooth, split his lip and caused him to bleed. The 
lawsuit says McIntyre "repeatedly without justification shoved plaintiff 
Mancilla against the wall."

McIntyre is alleged to have taken Mancilla into a hallway still visible to 
many cells, where he "violently threw plaintiff (Mancilla) to the ground." 
Then, joined by a guard identified only as Portillo, both officers "attacked 
plaintiff, beating and kicking him and repeatedly hitting his head against 
the floor," the lawsuit says.

As the handcuffed Mancilla begged for mercy, the beating continued and blood 
pooled on the floor, the lawsuit says.

Several other detainees yelled for the guards to stop.

One detainee contacted the Post--Intelligencer, was interviewed in the 
detention center and provided an account of the event that closely 
corresponds to that described in the lawsuit. The detainee, who feared 
retaliation, asked not to be identified.

He said some of the detainees filed grievances documenting what they had 
seen.

On July 8, according to the lawsuit, warden George Wigen and Immigration and 
Customs Enforcement officer in charge George Morones responded to the 
grievances, saying that the "force was not excessive or abusive." Morones 
said yesterday that he can't comment on the issue because of the lawsuit. 
Wigen could not be reached for comment.

After the incident, Mancilla was given medical treatment, then put in 
solitary confinement without a proper hearing, the lawsuit says.

Manzo also says in the lawsuit that she suffered mistreatment at the hands 
of McIntyre and other officers.

The lawsuit accuses McIntyre of brushing against her "so that his arm or 
other parts of his body would touch her breasts." McIntyre passed her cell 
at night, "shined a flashlight over her body" and repeatedly said "show me." 
She complied, lifting her blanket, out of fear, according to the lawsuit.

Manzo says that a guard described only as officer Twogood worked in a 
control room during the night shift and would engage in sexual banter with 
Manzo over an intercom in her cell.

Morones, the immigration officer in charge, said yesterday that the 
inspector general's office of the Department of Homeland Security is 
investigating Manzo's complaints. He would not comment further.

Manzo has been moved to the Federal Detention Center at SeaTac.

Correctional Services Corp., which operates 13 adult detention centers and 
prisons for government agencies and 19 juvenile centers around the country, 
has been the subject of several lawsuits surrounding its operations.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Virginia Kice said yesterday 
that the agency "has worked very hard to ensure that its detention 
facilities operate at the highest standards. We want to ensure that our 
personnel and contract personnel conduct themselves in a professional and 
appropriate manner."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

P-I reporter Paul Shukovsky can be reached at 206-448-8072 or 
paulshukovsky at seattlepi.com<mailto:paulshukovsky at seattlepi.com>



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