RAYMONDVILLE — After nearly 20 years, the 582-bed Willacy County-owned prison that has become an economic driver in this farming region has closed.
On Thursday, Management and Training Corp., a national prison operator that has run the Willacy County Regional Detention Facility since it opened in 2003, officially pulled out after a six-month federal extension allowing it to operate the prison expired, sending home nearly 200 employees making some of the area’s best wages in this area struggling with one of the state’s highest jobless rates.
Meanwhile, Willacy County commissioners are holding back on presenting the U.S. Marshals Service with a formal request to house federal inmates under the county’s operation of the prison pumping about $400,000 into county coffers every year.
Now, the prison might be closed for about two months, Commissioner Henry De La Paz said.
“We’re expecting the facility to go dark for a couple of months before we do something,” he said.
Last week, commissioners held off on presenting the Marshals Service with their request to house federal inmates in the prison whose operations the county’s considering taking over.
“It doesn’t mean we’re not going to stop working on it,” De La Paz said.
Job losses ‘trickle-down’ effect
Across the county, residents are concerned about losing about 189 jobs paying about $20 an hour, Raymondville Mayor Gilbert Gonzales said.
“We’re all concerned,” he said.
The job losses would have a “trickle-down effect” across the county, he said.
“It will affect the whole county — the whole community,” he said. “If the county is going to lose the prison, it’s them.”
At City Hall, the prison pumps about $250,000 in water and sewer revenue every year, City Manager Eleazar Garcia said.
“We’ve just got to adjust our budget,” Gonzales said.
County’s plan
After taking office in January 2021, President Joe Biden ordered the Justice Department to phase out contracts with private prison operators like MTC, leading commissioners to consider taking over operations.
For months, commissioners have been drafting a plan that includes placing the prison’s employees on the county’s payroll, with Sheriff Joe Salazar overseeing staff while MTC offers services such as transportation, food and medical care, County Judge Aurelio Guerra said.
“MTC shared with the county the services we could provide to assist and support the operation of the facility,” David Martinson, the company’s spokesman, stated. “MTC has had a long partnership with Willacy County in providing services to our government partners and looks forward to continuing that relationship at the Willacy County Regional Detention Facility.”
As part of its plan, the county faces taking over a payroll and operations whose costs are projected to climb to about $15 million, Guerra said, noting the county’s general fund budget stands at $8.3 million.
The commission’s request would help the Marshals Service determine the amount of money it would pay the county to house each of its inmates, he said.
Background
In January 2021, Biden ordered the Justice Department phase out its contracts with private prison operators, giving MTC a September deadline to cease operations of the Willacy County prison.
“To decrease incarceration levels, we must reduce profit-based incentives to incarcerate by phasing out the federal government’s reliance on privately operated criminal detention facilities,” the executive order states.
Then in September, federal officials granted a six-month extension allowing MTC to continue running the prison until March 31.
