Texas: Poorly built private prison? Say it isn’t so! valleymorningstar/news/local_news/article_836c5d60-c773-11e3-8763-001a4bcf6878.html Prison lawsuit goes to mediation Posted: Friday, April 18, 2014 11:15 pm By FERNANDO DEL VALLE Valley Morning Star RAYMONDVILLE — Willacy County will mediate with a construction company that it has sued, arguing poor workmanship led to roof leaks at a county prison that cost $620,000 to repair, County Judge John F. Gonzales Jr. said Friday. Gonzales said county commissioners will hold a meeting to discuss the case late this month after canceling last Thursday’s meeting because attorneys could not attend. The county filed a lawsuit March 7 against Houston-based Hale-Mills Construction, arguing the company poorly built the $7.5 million Willacy County Jail, a $14.5 million county prison that holds inmates for the U.S. Marshals Service and a $111.5 million prison made up of tent-like domes. The county will mediate with Hale-Mills, which it has accused of poor construction that led to roof leaks at the prison that holds inmates for the Marshals Service, Gonzales said. “We had all these structural problems because they cut corners,” Gonzales said. Hale-Mills could not be reached for comment Friday. But Traci Koenig, Hale-Mills’ director of business development, said early this month that the company was “anticipating a peaceful resolution” to the lawsuit. Gonzales said the prison’s roof leaks led the Marshals Service, which pays the county to hold inmates in the prison, to threaten to remove its prisoners in 2011. Hale-Mills began to repair the roof in 2012 but did not finish the job by November 2012, leading the county to hire another company to complete repairs that cost $620,000, Gonzales said. “Everybody wants to get this resolved as soon as possible,” Gonzales said. In June 2012, county officials called an emergency meeting to discuss possible legal action against Hale-Mills, arguing a Hale-Mills subcontractor did not build the roof to specifications. However, the roof remained under warranty, Gonzales said at the time. Gonzales said Hale-Mills agreed to fix the roof after federal officials set a July 2012 deadline to begin repairs. fdelvalle@valleystar
Posted on: Sun, 20 Apr 2014 07:39:38 +0000