Louisiana Voice

William Shakespeare said in Romeo and Juliet that “A rose by any other name…”

LaSalle Management, LaSalle Corrections, WMC Enterprises, it doesn’t seem to matter what you call it, the Ruston-based private prison company just can’t seem to stay out of trouble.

Five former inmates of the LaSalle-run Richwood facility in Ouachita Parish settled their LAWSUIT against LaSalle for $177,500 after prison guards pepper-sprayed them while they were handcuffed and kneeling back in 2016.

And though LaSalle did not admit liability in the confidential settlement with Adley Campbell, Darin Whittington, Sidney Stephens, Jareth Vinet and Jimmy Klobas last March, the father of one of the men said he preferred that the settlement offer be declined so that facts about the facility might become public.

Larry Vinet of Charleston, West Virginia, father of Jareth Vinet said, “I told my son I’d give him 20 grand to not sign (the agreement) and let the truth come out.”

LaSalle holds both state inmates and immigrant detained for Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and one such immigrant killed himself in October 2019. An Associated Press investigation indicated that the suicide was PREVENTABLE.

Associated Press also took issue with the confidentiality terms of the pepper spray lawsuit, successfully seeking that they be made public.

In 2017, the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled that the state’s public records law applied to private entities performing public functions. Thanks to that ruling and the Associated Press’ public records request, Vinet can have his $20,000 from LaSalle and the truth can come out.

More and more, the trend for corporations and individuals named as defendants is to negotiate confidential settlements without an admission of guilt in cases in which they feel they are at a legal disadvantage.

Often, these confidential settlements involve public officials in which vast amounts of taxpayer dollars are spent in legal defenses, yet the taxpaying public is never told the amount of the settlements it is paying for.

LouisianaVoice has long held the position that such lack of accountability is wrong and that the public has the right to know how its money is being spent – and how much. Such settlements amount to little more than an official way to protect wrongdoers from exposure.

The lawsuit alleged that in 2016, the five men were pulled out of a dormitory, strip-searched and interrogated about tattoos. After they put their clothes back on, they were handcuffed and escorted to an area called the “White House,” where they were accused of being members of a gang and made to kneel. They were then sprayed with pepper spray, according to the suit.

A federal INDICTMENT in March 2018 charged five former Richwood guards with conspiring to assault inmates and filing false reports concerning the incident. All five pleaded guilty to conspiracy during 2018 and 2019, saying they filed false reports to cover up why the inmates needed medical care. One pleaded guilty to plotting to violate the inmates’ civil rights and the others to conspiring to cover up wrongdoing.

Four admitted in writing that they had sprayed pepper spray into the faces of kneeling, handcuffed inmates; the fifth said he stood by during the spraying. One of four who used the spray were died in an unrelated shooting before he could be prosecuted. The other guards received sentences ranging from 15 months to five years.

Former Capt. Roderick Douglas admitted pepper-spraying two inmates’ eyes, then passing the can to other guards.

He said the officers “rounded up five inmates whom they suspected of gang activity.” They were taken to an area without security cameras and placed facing the walls on their knees, with hands cuffed behind their backs.

LaSalle, which had taken down its Web pages recently, has apparently re-worked its Web profile into an attractive presentation that makes it seem the ideal place to work, inviting PROSPECTIVE EMPLOYEES to “Join a team where you can make a difference in people’s lives” and pitching itself as committed to PROVIDING SAFETY and SECURITY to ENSURE the WELL-BEING if the PEOPLE in OUR CARE.”

It touts 25 locations in five states (Louisiana, Texas, Georgia, Arizona and New Mexico) with the capacity to warehouse 17,318 prisoners paying up to $65 per day per person.

The breakdown is as follows:

• Louisiana – 8,208;
• Texas – 6,905;
• Georgia – 1,201;
• Arizona – 860;
• New Mexico – 144.

That number will be reduced by at least one facility and 921 beds in February when LaSalle’s contract to run the Bowie County Correctional Center in Texarkana, Texas, ends.

While LaSalle’s facilities have come under criticism by regulators from without, it hasn’t done too well from within, if EMPLOYEE REVIEWS rating it as 2.3 on a scale of 5.0 are any indication.

Don’t forget to order your copy of my newest book, Bordello on the Bayou. It’s the story of a legislative aide who uses her proximity to power to run a prostitution ring that at first caters only to Louisiana political officials and powerful lobbyist but which eventually expands into other southern states and employs more women.

With expansion comes access to sensitive information that could topple careers. Not surprisingly, when she is arrested for her extracurricular activities, she becomes a dangerous liability to her clientele, who range from the governor to municipal officials. When she engages the assistance of her attorney and a reporter she trusts, she sets in motion a chain of events that places the lives of all three in peril.

The book is $30, with $5 of each sale goes to the Baton Rouge Food Bank. You may pay by credit card by clicking on the yellow

button in the column to the right of this post or by mailing your check to:

LouisianaVoice, P.O. Box 922, Denham Springs, LA 70727.

As always, thank you for supporting LouisianaVoice and the Baton Rouge Food Bank.

Random

Sharon Black started out as an aide working for the Louisiana Legislature but she had the looks and the smarts needed to advance her career. All she needed was an opportunity.

It came when she found herself catering to the more basic “needs” of legislators and lobbyists who took notice of her striking beauty and captivating personality. Seeing a growing demand for her services, she recruited others, professional women like herself and college students, who shared her ambitions and tastes for the finer things in life. In time, she found herself being asked to use her discretion to handle matters that had nothing to do with legislation. Men of power took her into their confidence with sensitive documents. Pillow talk from Louisiana’s movers and shakers provided her with the leverage needed to expand her operation into other Southern states.

Then her world is shattered. Arrested for running a multi-state prostitution ring, she suddenly becomes a major liability. While the news media speculates about a “black book” containing the names of her clients, she harbors a much deeper and infinitely more damaging secret: a computer flash drive containing incriminating documents intended as insurance but in a cruel twist of fate, that now only serve as her death warrant. But first, she must get it into hands she can trust.

Desperate, she sends a message from her jail cell to reporter Dylan Bienvenu, the only person she knows won’t betray her. But she only succeeds in placing a target on Dylan’s back as he is hunted by unknown members of a shadowy cartel who want him dead in an adventure that takes him on chases through Baton Rouge, Denham Springs and Madisonville. Along the way, he forms a bond with Sharon’s attorney, J. Harley Pendergast, III, and the two join forces in their quest to find and destroy a major criminal enterprise. In so doing, they encounter bombings, beatings, kidnappings and grand juries as they race to stay one step ahead of their pursuers.

Bordello on the Bayou is my latest book and this is your first opportunity to purchase it. It’s my first fiction story to be published as a physical book (I have two e-books that have never been published in hard print). All my other books are non-fiction.

Bordello on the Bayou is a novel I’ve had kicking around in my head for several years and I finally got around to committing it to paper. A few close friends have read the manuscript and the feedback I’ve received from them has been positive thus far. (But then they are my friends and probably just don’t want to hurt my feelings.)

The price of the book is $30 and you may order your signed copy by clicking on the yellow

button in the column to the upper right of this post or you may send a check for $30 to LouisianaVoice, P.O. Box 922, Denham Springs, LA. 70727.

Five dollars from each order will be used to purchase food for the Baton Rouge Food Bank.

Get your order in today so we can get contributions to the Food Bank before Christmas!

As always, thank you for your support of LouisianaVoice.

–Tom Aswell

About this time last year, when Joe Burrow became the second LSU player to win the Heisman Trophy, he gave an emotional acceptance speech during which he took the time to call attention to the needs of the more unfortunate among us, particularly those in his hometown of Athens, Ohio.

Americans responded to his appeal and contributions as nearly half-a-million dollars in donations poured into food banks in Athens and across the country.

And that was before anyone ever heard of a coronavirus pandemic. It was before people began losing their jobs because of the pandemic shutdown. It was before eviction notices started going out to those who couldn’t make rent or mortgage payments because of the massive layoffs, before parents started going hungry so their kids could eat.

Today, the need is far greater.

People are hurting. Congress, typically, is dragging its feet, unable to put together a stimulus package even though it for damn sure was able to get up off its collective backside long enough to push through a Supreme Court nominee.

But enough about the politics of a suffering nation. I want to talk about something far more important than some politician who couldn’t care less about the plight of average Americans unless they contribute to a reelection campaign.

I was in Rouses Market on Juban Road in Denham Springs earlier this week. Near the checkout I noticed stacks of filled paper bags. I walked over and saw that they were bags for the Food Bank. I picked one up and found it to be quite heavy. What the heck, I thought, I can afford a bag of food for someone. Judging by its weight, I figured it would be $10 or $15.

It was $5. Five bucks. I went back and got a second bag.

When I held my last fundraiser for LouisianaVoice, I made it a point to ask for contributions only from those who could afford it. Unlike certain televangelists, I would never ask anyone to take out a loan in order to support my plea for donations.

Now, I’m asking again – but not for me. I’m asking those of you who, like me, are fortunate enough to have not had your income stream interrupted, those who can afford it, to do it for your neighbor, for your relative, and yes, for a stranger you’ve never met and probably never will. And do it for yourself. Someone once said give ’til it hurts. I say give ’til it feels good.

And don’t do it just at Christmas. Every time you go to the store, pick up one of those bags and drop it in your cart. It’s five bucks, folks. Five bucks. You spend more than that on snacks or beer or a cute decoration. But people are hungry.

Put that snack back on the shelf. Forget that televangelist. Forget Donald Trump’s con game. Do something that actually helps the less fortunate among us. Purchase a food bag or make a donation directly to the Food Bank.

It’s five bucks.