NewsWest 9
BIG SPRING - Families who have loved ones locked up at the Big Spring Correctional Facility are speaking out. They claim the inmates are not getting proper medical care.
This comes on the heels of an investigation by the American Civil Liberties Union who looked into five private prisons in the state.
Texas has five private prisons, all of which detain undocumented immigrants. Two are in West Texas: Big Spring and Reeves County.
Marcy Torres's father is in the Big Spring facility. She says he needs medications daily for his liver disease.
"When he goes to the doctor [at the facility], he has to tell them what he's there for because basically they don't know. They're changing doctors so many times, they don't have the staff," Torres said.
On Tuesday, Attorney William McBride filed a lawsuit against the Willacy County Private Prison after allegations of maltreatment against the immigrants detained there. He says he plans to expand his efforts to all five private prisons in Texas.
"He's just told me that if anything happens, for me to look further into it because he's not getting the care he's supposed to," Torres said.
An inmate at the Big Spring Correctional Center claims he needs medications as well but hasn't received any since he arrived over nine months ago.
"We need to demand medicine. The flu is going around and they don't give us any medications because we have to buy them, but we can't afford them," the inmate said.
"They don't clean our underwear. We get used underwear even with blood stains on them. You can just imagine," he added.
The inmate claims the bathrooms never get fixed. He also says he knows prison food isn't supposed to be the best, but when they do eat well is when inspectors are coming.
"They tell the guards in advance when they're coming. So they get up early and fix the maintenance and fix every little detail in the prison for that day. They give us better food, they check if we're alright. They give us chicken. But after the inspection, everything goes back to barbaric conditions," the inmate said.
"The abuse from the employees is terrible. They humiliate us. They say they're gonna deport us because we don't have rights," he added.
NewsWest 9 reached out to the company who owns the Big Spring and Reeves County facilities, The GEO Group.
