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July 4, 2003
Three bounty hunters facing charges over their capture of fugitive rapist
Andrew Luster can travel where they want as long as they show up at court here
each Monday, the judge overseeing the case said. "They can do
what they want with their free time," Judge Jose de Jesus Pineda Gutierrez
told The Associated Press on Wednesday after being told that Duane
"Dog" Chapman, his son Leland and brother Timothy, had returned to Los
Angeles. Pineda last month ordered the three tried on charges of criminal
association and deprivation of liberty for a predawn seizure of Luster, the Max
Factor heir convicted in absentia in California of drugging and raping three
women. Prosecutors say the bounty hunters had no legal standing in Mexico
and should have gone to police instead of snagging Luster themselves. Each
of the charges carries a maximum sentence of four years, though attorneys said
Mexico's complex sentencing laws mean the maximum possible sentence would fall
well short of eight years. The case was to be handed over to a judge in
Guadalajara in the coming weeks. Pineda released the bounty hunters on
15,000 pesos (US$1,430) bail each on the condition that they sign in at the
court in Puerto Vallarta each Monday. Mexican immigration officials added a bail
of 3,000 pesos each - less than US$300. If the defendants don't appear, an
arrest warrant could be issued and they could be imprisoned if they return to
Mexico. During a news conference in Beverly Hills, California, on
Wednesday, Chapman said he would return to Mexico "soon."
"We still don't think we broke the law," he said. Chapman's U.S.
attorney, James E. Blancarte, said he did not expect that his client would have
to serve more prison time in Mexico.
Authorities briefly detained and charged a television producer and actor who
went along with the bounty hunters to videotape Luster's capture, but Pineda
threw out the charges against them. (AP)
June 27, 2003
Mexico - A judge ruled Thursday that there was enough evidence to order
American bounty hunter Duane "Dog" Chapman, his brother and his son to
stand trial on criminal charges for capturing the heir to the Max Factor
cosmetics fortune.Judge Jose de Jesus Pineda freed two Americans, producer Jeff
Sells and actor Boris Krutonog, but found that the Chapmans should be charged
with criminal association and deprivation of liberty - similar to kidnapping
without requesting a ransom.
Chapman, a 50-year-old, Hawaii-based Bounty hunter, his brother Timothy and his
son Leland were arrested long with Shells and Krutonog on June 18,
about two hours after the group captured convicted rapist Andrew Luster near a
taco stand in this popular Pacific resort city. Prosecutors maintain that
Luster's dramatic capture violated Mexican sovereignty and claim that the
Americans should have gone to police instead of trying to capture Luster
themselves. (Arizona Republic)
December 4, 200
Prison officials in
northern Mexico say their inmates are manufacturing furniture bound for Texas --
despite U.S. laws that ban the importation of goods made with prison labor.
And they'd like to contract with more U.S. companies to produce all kinds
of goods. One official said prison shops would even label their products to hide
their origin. Convicts already work
for Mexican companies. But prison
labor is strongly criticized around the globe on the grounds that it undercuts
unions, steals jobs from law-abiding workers and poses risks of human rights
abuses. Many countries, including the United States, bar imports of products
made by prisoners. The prison
director for Tamaulipas state, Manuel del Riego, said Clint Hough of Austin,
Texas, was the first foreign businessman to accept the state's offer of its
inmates' services. He said Hough had been buying furniture made by prisoners for
more than a year. Inmates at the
Ciudad Victoria prison said Hough ordered chairs for a
Texas
restaurant chain as well as dining room furniture. Hough, interviewed at the prison, would not confirm that he
takes the
furniture
across the border. "That I
would really rather not discuss because I'm afraid U.S. Customs would ruin
it," he said. Wiping sweat
from his brow with a towel, Hough later denied ordering furniture from the
prison at all and said he merely teaches prisoners design and finishing
techniques. "You don't want to
cause problems for people because the U.S. Customs can
be
narrow-minded in its views," said Hough, 49. "So it's really important
that this not be reported." On
average, Mexican inmates are paid the minimum wage of 45 pesos a day ($4.50),
half what free workers along the border make. Companies hiring prison labor also
save on health insurance, retirement and other benefits.
Del Riego, however, said there was no need for companies to worry.
"Our products don't say they are made in prison.
They put a fancy tag on them and say they are made in a faraway
country," he said. Although
Mexico permits prisons to produce for companies, U.S. law bars the importation
of convict-made goods "no matter what the circumstances," said Paula
Keicer of the U.S. Customs Service in Washington.
Keicer said officials were not aware that prison-made furniture was being
imported across the Texas border. (Tulsa World.com)
September 19, 2002
Officials in Mexico
state, which
surrounds
Mexico City and
absorbs much
of the city's
population
and problems, recently
announced
they would contract
with a
private corrections company
from the
United States to operate a
new
state-owned facility and to build and operate four
more over
the next two
years.
Despite
that interest, recent scandals and a slump in the
private
prison industry -
stock prices
plummeted in 2000 and have not recovered
significantly
- suggest that
private
lockups, once viewed as a cure-all for U.S.
states
straining under high
prisoner
housing costs, carry troublesome baggage.
"The
evidence is really clear that when you compare
public and
private prisons that
operate at
similar levels, the private sector does not
measure up
across the board,"
said Judy
Greene, an independent corrections consultant
and fellow
with the Open
Society
Institute in New York dedicated to building
democracy
infrastructure in Third
World and
formerly communist countries Evangelina Lara, Mexico state's prisons
director, said
the $87.1
million private prison
deal will
give the state 4,500 new prison beds, enough to
Private-prison
foes in the United States cite cases in
which
private companies have
been sued
and sanctioned on abuse and mismanagement
charges.
Among
cases involving Wackenhut and Cornell:
Lara said
the state is taking the scandals into
consideration
in designing its
contracts.
None
of Lara's assurances quiet the concerns of
private-prison
critics, who say the
industry
hasn't bothered to fix its problems but is still
looking for
new markets. And in
some cases,
the profits these companies want may come at
a steep
price.
Kevin
Pranis directs the "Not With Our Money!" campaign,
a New
York-based activist
network
working to limit the reach of private-prison
companies.
He
said the industry makes money either by cutting costs
or getting
paid more in the
contract.
Because
Mexican prisons already spend much less on
violate
human rights,
cost-cutting
will not be an option for private operators
to improve
their bottom line,
Pranis said.
That leaves negotiating a fat contract.
"To
the degree that corruption is a serious problem in
Mexico,"
Pranis said, "that
opens the
door for these companies to use the government
like a big
cash machine." (Az Central.com)
August 27, 2002
Mexico state officials unveiled plans Tuesday for the country's first private
prisons to relieve the government's overcrowded jails. Several U.S.
companies and one French firm have expressed interest in the $100 million
project to build and operate four jails in the state, officials said at a
meeting Tuesday with Foreign correspondents. Bidding was expected to begin
in three weeks. Officials visited private prisons in France, Chile, and
the U.S. states of Texas, Oklahoma and Arizona before drafting their
plans. U.S. security firms such as Cornell, Wackenhut Corp. and Correction
Corporation o America have expressed interest in the project, as well as the
French construction company Bouygues, Alcantara said. (AP)
July 8, 2002
Prominent business
leaders are trying to sell lawmakers on a plan
to build new
prisons in Mexico and
privately
run them, Notimex reported Sunday.
Rosa
Maria Navarro, security coordinator for the National
Industrial
Chamber (Canacintra), said prison
officials in
Mexico City already had agreed to discuss future
participation
of private investment at
several
penitentiaries. (The News)
June 28, 2002
Prison concessions have become the next big thing in Latin America's
infrastructure business. In Mexico the federal justice ministry has called
for tenders for the construction and operation of four prisons worth a total of
US $88.5 million. Chile is getting into the act too. The first phase
of the country's private prison building program was officially launched this
week. The entire program represents some US $280 million in investments
and will almost double the country's current prison capacity. (Business
News Americas)
June 27, 2002
Corrections Corporation of America, the nation's largest prison management
company, today announced a new agreement with Mexico aimed at reducing the
number of incarcerated undocumented immigrants in the United States.
"American taxpayer dollars pay for more than 50,000 undocumented
immigrants, many of them repeat offenders, sitting in prison cells," said
John D. Ferguson, President and CEO of Corrections Corporation of America.
The U.S.- Mexico Chamber of Commerce entered into a Memorandum of Understanding
with CCA for the SOAR project. (PR Newswire)
June 26, 2002
The construction and operation of four prisons worth a total of US $88.5 mn in
the Mexican municipalities of Tenancingo, Tenango del Valle, Ixlahuaca and
Zumpango will be put up for auction this week, local newspaper La Reforma
reported. The project aims to solve serious overcrowding in 23% of
Mexico's prison. The state ainticipates an 18-year concession period at a
cost of US $22 a day per prisoner. (Business News Americas)
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