Members of the Waco Immigrants Alliance group are demanding for McLennan County to cut ties with La Salle Corrections.

This comes after the arrest and alleged treatment of inmates such as Estela Fajardo and Lorenzo Ochoa-Figueroa, who died in custody.

This time around, there was a new voice in the debate over the La Salle contract – New McLennan County District Attorney Barry Johnson.

“Who is responsible for checking on the transparency of the jail?,” a WIA member asks.

“[There is] No concern for the value of peoples lives,” said another at Tuesday’s Commissioners meeting.

Judge Felton wouldn’t allow the group to have their protest signs inside the session, but after hearing their concerns, wanted to continue the conversation at a later date outside of the meeting.

“There’s just a lack of control or management over the staff there. Our jail administrator also knows that and our district attorney, Mr. Barry Johnson, is not a supporter of for-profit prisons either. So we’re saying, ‘Why are we still utilizing La Salle?,'” says Hope Mustakim, of the Waco Immigrants Alliance.

“Notwithstanding my own personal views on that, we’re willing to work with what we’ve got right now. There is some movement for the county to purchase the Jack Harwell Center, and it’s my understanding that will be fairly soon,” Johnson says.

According to the McLennan County Sheriff’s Office, if McLennan County canceled their contract with La Salle, they would save more than $1 million per year. However, the cancellation would have an initial cost.

“Anytime we incentivize the incarceration of individuals, I think we’re getting into trouble,” says Mary Duty, McLennan County Democratic Chair.

Duty agrees with Johnson’s personal stance of “for-profit” jails, saying 2019’s focus will be on prison reform.

“And I’m afraid of the ‘for-profit’ model we’ve got – problems with medications. We’ve had some deaths out there. We’ve had sexual assaults out there. We’ve had things that shouldn’t be happening in our county,” Duty says.