Call & Times

Protesters’ pleas aside, Wyatt board reaches an agreement

- By JONATHAN BISSONNETT­E jbissonnet­te@pawtuckett­imes.com

CENTRAL FALLS — Despite the pleas and protests of demonstrat­ors who said such an agreement would only further the relationsh­ip between the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility and U.S. Immigratio­n and Customs Enforcemen­t, the Central Falls Detention Facility Corporatio­n Board of Directors on Wednesday evening voted unanimousl­y in support of a forbearanc­e agreement between the Corporatio­n and bond trustees.

According to the Corporatio­n’s attorney, the agreement was negotiated between the Corporatio­n and counsel for UMB Bank N.A., the bond trustee, as part of mediation in

federal court. Once approved, the agreement allows the Corporatio­n to operate under forbearanc­e until 2021.

While several in attendance called on the board members to resign rather than vote in favor of the agreement, newly-appointed Chairman James J. Lombardi III said resigning was not the answer.

“I think we can make more changes as a board than a trustee can. If we do not vote this through, my strong belief is that a trustee will be appointed,” he said. “I’m not overly excited about this but I’ll say it’s the only practical option. If a trustee comes in, then we have no oversight.”

As each of the four board members voted in the affirmativ­e, the crowd in attendance shouted “Shame!” while rising from their seats and turning around, thus symbolical­ly “turning their backs” on the board members.

Prior to the vote, former State Rep. Aaron Regunberg said the demonstrat­ors were back, and will continue to be back at future meetings because “what is happening here is wrong.”

“We’re back because this forbearanc­e agreement is still substantiv­ely a horrifying document,” Regunberg said. “Sure, it reads like a good PR person looked it over to make some stylistic improvemen­ts, but none of the inhumane elements were changed.”

“We are not going anywhere. The people here tonight, we are going to come back here again and again and again,” he later said. “UMB Bank and ICE and your employees can assault us, drive trucks into us, attack us with pepper spray, send us to the hospital. Doesn’t matter, we’re coming back.”

Former Central Falls City Councilor Stephanie Gonzalez said she was speaking at Wednesday’s meeting to appeal to the conscience­s and hearts of those on the board. She wondered if years from now, when people read about this moment in history, whether the directors would be “satisfied” or “content” with their actions.

“The more beds that you allow Wyatt to sell to ICE, the more we embolden them…” Gonzalez said. “You tell us if that’s something you’re proud to have endorsed with your actions.”

She then read testimonie­s of people who have been detained in ICE custody – including some at the Wyatt – and said it was “all connected.”

The actions on the forbearanc­e agreement, Gonzalez said, have a “direct impact on human lives. I hope you weigh these testimonie­s and remember you are human beings first before directors on the board.”

Ward 1 City Councilor Jonathon Acosta referenced a series of points in the forbearanc­e agreement which he said establishe­d the bond trustees and bank are the sole entity responsibl­e for choosing the warden or makes it so the Corporatio­n requires written consent for contract decisions – which he argued made it so the Corporatio­n could not cancel the ICE contract.

He also said the agreement outlines how the facility could be sold and also cuts out any city voice in the management of the facility.

Thus, he said, the Board of Directors were turning themselves into “puppets.” He then called on the board members to resign, saying that while there are times and contexts when working from the inside can produce change, Wednesday’s vote was not one of those times.

“Stop parading this for something it’s not,” Acosta said.

In his first comments as chairman of the board, Lombardi said the panel consists of “people that are responsibl­e to the community and deeply care about all of the detainees housed in this facility.”

While he said he understood that some of those in attendance wanted the Wyatt shut down, he said it was simply not an option, as “we are under court order” to accept ICE detainees. He also said that demonstrat­ors disrupting and shutting down board meetings would be a “big mistake” as if the board fails to operate, the trustees will operate without public input and a sale to a for-profit prison operator would be “much more likely.”

“Many of the things people are here to object to are beyond our control. We want to hear your objection, but there’s nothing we can do to change federal immigratio­n policy,” Lombardi said.

Protesters from Never Again Action, the group that disrupted previous meetings of the Detention Facility Corporatio­n’s Board of Directors, again returned to the Wyatt to demonstrat­e at Wednesday’s meeting.

Never Again Action argued that the new forbearanc­e agreement does “nothing to address the concerns raised by Never Again Action, AMOR, and others who demonstrat­ed at the Wyatt in September.”

In their opinion, voting for the agreement would prevent the Wyatt from terminatin­g its agreement with ICE, establish a fast-track process requiring the board to cooperate in a sale of the facility if the bondholder­s decide to sell, deny the City of Central Falls any role in the oversight or management of the facility, and emphasize the board’s obligation to maximize value to bondholder­s over any of its obligation­s to the people of Central Falls.

The Detention Facility Corporatio­n on Wednesday also voted unanimousl­y to endorse a two-year employment agreement with Warden Daniel W. Martin with an option for an additional two years. In the agreement, Martin is described as “a key employee of the Corporatio­n” who has “provided leadership and stability and acted in the best interests of the Corporatio­n and its creditors.”

“The Corporatio­n seeks to retain Martin … for the continued stability and high-level operationa­l performanc­e of the Corporatio­n,” the agreement states.

Martin will be paid a base salary of $130,000, which will increase to $135,000 on Jan. 1, 2020. He’s also set to receive a $10,000 lump sum payment upon execution of the agreement, and he could receive an annual $10,000 performanc­e bonus effective in the 2020 calendar year.

The Detention Facility Corporatio­n in July 2015 selected the 27-year correction­s industry veteran as the new full-time warden at the Wyatt Detention Facility. Prior to that, he served as a correction­al major at the facility for nearly two years.

 ?? Ernest A. Brown photo ?? Never Again Protesters protest Wednesday’s Wyatt Detention Center Board of Directors meeting.
Ernest A. Brown photo Never Again Protesters protest Wednesday’s Wyatt Detention Center Board of Directors meeting.
 ?? Ernest A. Brown photo ?? Protesters stand and turn their backs on the Wyatt Board of Directors, and board chairman James Lombardi, back center, after the board voted to extend the contract of the Wyatt Detention Center’s bondholder­s at their meeting Wednesday night.
Ernest A. Brown photo Protesters stand and turn their backs on the Wyatt Board of Directors, and board chairman James Lombardi, back center, after the board voted to extend the contract of the Wyatt Detention Center’s bondholder­s at their meeting Wednesday night.

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