GIGGLING CO-FOUNDERS OF NATION’S LARGEST PRIVATE PRISON FIRM RECALL HIJINX BEHIND THE CONVERSION OF HOUSTON’S OLYMPIC MOTEL TO IMMIGRANT DETENTION CENTER 
And that motel is still standing, says a rep from Corrections Corporation of America; you can drive by the history yourself at 5714 Werner Rd. — just north, incidentally, of Independence Heights. Of course, the motel doesn’t seem to be taking reservations; the phone has been disconnected. But if you can’t book a room in the building, you can watch these fellas — CCA founders Tom Beasley and Don Hutto — reminisce about it. Though CCA’s practices have been called into question recently by Grassroots Leadership and Hair Balls, you wouldn’t know it from the fondness with which Beasley and Hutto tell the story of flying to Houston on New Year’s Eve in 1982, seeing the motel sign, and fixing up the place for the INS. It was quite a turnaround: Just a few weeks later, on Super Bowl Sunday, Hutto says, the facility was open, processing “87 undocumented aliens” its very first day. You can watch the video here. [Hair Balls; Grassroots Leadership; CCA] Video still: CCA
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The very idea of a privately-owned and operated prison makes me sick. It’s disgusting. There are certain things the government must simply do itself. There should be nobody who stands to lose if we get a significant drop in the crime rate.
The enormous police state/military is largely private contractors. Lots of tax money to toss around as long as the wars and laws keep creating new business.
Convert Astrodome into a jail!!
Anse, the governmental security apparatus stands to lose if we have a significant drop in the crime rate. Why do you think the federal government won’t admit marijuana has some medical uses?
A couple of scumbags… preying on the poor and ignorant.
These guys are putting together a workforce that can compete. Prisoners will do it all, and much cheaper than the Chinese.
So they detain all immigrants? I would think the just detained the ones that have done something illegal, but that’s not what the title indicates.
It’s a racket run by a legal mafia. In federal prisons, some of which are operated by CCA, illegal immigrant prisoners work producing goods which compete with non-prison labor companies who can’t compete with prison labor wages of way less than $1 per hour.
I can’t help but shake my head every time I see one of these “grass roots” groups that foolishly think illegal aliens have some right to be here in the first place. Endless excuses.
What about CCA’s competitor, Geo Group. They run the Southeast Texas Transitional Center at 10950 Beaumont Highway, a facility that gained notoriety for losing track of six (6) high risk sex offenders over an 18 month period. Other Geo Group facilities have suffered from riots, murders, and substandard medical care for prisoners. (Cca’s controversies have been more mild).
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“Gotcha” videos are the kind of thing the media salivates over, but forgive me if I’m more worried about inmate escapes and riots in jails.
The video can now be found here: http://72.32.255.70/about/cca-history/