SEGMENT 6 – GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

GUEST BLOG #6 by a Resident at the Texas Civil Commitment Center; May 18, 2021

On May 13, 2021 the 24^th “Resident” under the care of TCCO and MTC has died.  Darrell Holt fell out in the hallway and died within 30 minutes.  It’s easy to dismiss the death of someone who has committed atrocities in their past.  But these guys are still human beings – many who have no family or friends to mourn their deaths.  Every life is precious, and every life matters, especially when a person comes to recognize the poor choices they’ve made and have taken steps to change and try to become more human.  

I would like to take a moment to remember the 24 men who have died in the Littlefield facility since 2016.  In 5 years, 24 men have died because of inadequate provisions in the facility or a lack of access to medical care.  I do want to say there are several on medical staff who do care and take their job seriously.  Part of the responsibility when signing up to house and care for individuals comes with the notion, “in your custody, means in your care”.  

The COVID related deaths, indicated by an asterisk. Those families were not notified of a medical emergency and never even knew their loved ones were in the hospital ICU until after their deaths.  The following men have died in the care of TCCO/Correct Care/MTC:

2016

Benito Davilla

Daniel Almaguera

Johnny Yabarra

Raul Quintero

2017

Robert Shoemaker

Robert Russell

2018

William Scott

John Graves

2019

Gilbert Gomez

David Petreas

Leonard Khalaja

2020

Daniel Frazier

Adolph Martinez

Edwin England-suicide 

Melvin Estes*

Luis Castillo*

Anthony Henderson*

John Walsh*

William Weissinger*

2021

Thomas Matlock*

Terry Pair*

Jerry Redfearn*

Danny Connely

Darrell Holt

In relation to that, 5 people have been let out into society on Tier 5 and 20 have gone back to prison. In many cases, for cutting off their monitors intentionally because they felt prison was a better deal.

Also noteworthy is a lack of meaningful handicap provisions on this facility.  There are no provisions for the blind, deaf or crippled.  There are many here with those handicaps.  And yes, a blind man was civilly committed and depends on other residents to help him get from point A to point B – mindboggling.  Another guy has one leg and was deemed by 3 doctors in the last year to not have a behavior abnormality, yet he is still here.  

About 10 people are waiting on a Tier 4 panel and have been waiting for the past year.  TCCO averages about 1 panel per month.  

Once everyone received their stimulus checks they finally decided to adhere to the law and get us our Texas ID’s.  They couldn’t seem to coordinate it for the last 6 years because they’d have to shell out the $21 per resident.  Texas law requires that all sex offenders have a valid Texas ID.  It’s ok to break the law when it’s convenient for them.  They had recreation closed down for a week so they could have DPS come out and get us our ID’s which are useless in here.  DPS sent out SO notifications to anyone (whom we will never have contact with) within a 2 mile radius and then sent us the bill.  Remember we are behind 2 fences with razor wire with no less than 50 cameras watching our every move plus 4-5 locked doors. They don’t do that when we pull up to the other numerous prisons spread throughout Texas.  Oh, but this is a “treatment facility”.

In response to “Had I Known Then What I Know Now”, you don’t owe anyone here an apology, staff or residents. Nobody has the right to judge.  God knows your heart, and at the end of the day, that’s all that matters.  You have, and continue to make, a big difference in a lot of peoples’ lives.  One constant that I continue to see at this facility is that most of the staff “let go, services no longer needed” has been women.  While the men continue to get chance after chance for numerous infractions, mostly involving sexual harassment of female employees, violating security protocols, ethical violations and fraternization.  All they get is a slap on the wrist.  Sad thing is, the women can’t complain to the rank because they are the worst offenders.  The only thing that is going to change that is a discrimination lawsuit. 

Well, that’s all I got.  Thanks for listening and thanks for caring; or perhaps you are at the facility on the clock just looking for some entertainment or something to gossip with residents about, so for that group – you are welcome.

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