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More Trouble in Texas Rent-A-Jails
by Bryon W. Ferguson
Hawaii prisoner Larry Earl Pagan decided he'd had enough of Texas hospitality. Pagan, shanghaied from a Hawaii state prison [See: "Kidnapping and Extortion Texas Style" in the Feb '96 PLN], escaped in February from the Newton County Correction Facility in Southeast Texas.
Pagan made a non-violent exit from the facility and then decided to do a little kidnapping of his own. He hijacked a local citizen and her automobile and made for the border. The driver and car were released unharmed in Mexico.
Two Oklahoma female prisoners made good their escape from another rent-a-jail in Odessa, Texas and three New Mexico prisoners were caught climbing down the exterior wall of yet another Texas county jail.
In addition to these and several other escapes by out-of-state "guests" of the Texas rent-a-jails, there have been a number of disturbances resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages to the Texas jails.
The Tarrant County (Ft. Worth, TX) Commissioners, proprietors of a county rent-a-jail, voted in February to terminate their rent-a-cell contract with New Mexico and return 90 prisoners to that state. Tarrant County officials expressed dismay over their perception that they had been "receiving New Mexico's most hardened felons."
Source: Dallas Morning News
Hawaii prisoner Larry Earl Pagan decided he'd had enough of Texas hospitality. Pagan, shanghaied from a Hawaii state prison [See: "Kidnapping and Extortion Texas Style" in the Feb '96 PLN], escaped in February from the Newton County Correction Facility in Southeast Texas.
Pagan made a non-violent exit from the facility and then decided to do a little kidnapping of his own. He hijacked a local citizen and her automobile and made for the border. The driver and car were released unharmed in Mexico.
Two Oklahoma female prisoners made good their escape from another rent-a-jail in Odessa, Texas and three New Mexico prisoners were caught climbing down the exterior wall of yet another Texas county jail.
In addition to these and several other escapes by out-of-state "guests" of the Texas rent-a-jails, there have been a number of disturbances resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages to the Texas jails.
The Tarrant County (Ft. Worth, TX) Commissioners, proprietors of a county rent-a-jail, voted in February to terminate their rent-a-cell contract with New Mexico and return 90 prisoners to that state. Tarrant County officials expressed dismay over their perception that they had been "receiving New Mexico's most hardened felons."
Source: Dallas Morning News
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