STAPLES SEES END TO USING PRIVATE JAILS

The chairman of the legislative committee that oversees Missouri's prison system said lawmakers may recommend Missouri quit shipping inmates to privately run, out-of-state jails.

State Sen. Danny Staples, D-Eminence, chairs the joint committee on corrections.

Staples said Tuesday his 12-member committee likely will advise the director of the Missouri Department of Corrections to discontinue the practice of placing state inmates in privately run prisons.

Missouri this week is bringing 415 prisoners home from the rented cells of a Texas jail because of allegations that prisoners were abused. The exodus began Monday.

The FBI said it is investigating allegations of abuse at the Brazoria County Detention Center. The FBI will give its findings to the U.S. attorney's office.

Missouri Corrections Director Dora Schriro had asked the U.S. attorney's office in Houston to investigate the allegations.

The investigation was prompted by a videotape showing deputies and at least one private guard kicking a crawling inmate in the groin and letting a dog bite the man's leg.

The incident occurred Sept. 18, 1996. The tape was recently obtained by a Texas newspaper.

Missouri terminated its $6 million contract with the detention center last Friday.

Charles Wagner, chief deputy at the jail, said the most serious examples of misconduct on the tape included a deputy using a stun gun to shock inmates lying on the floor and a dog handler letting a German shepherd bite several inmates.

Wagner said that although the inmates in the video don't appear to be resisting, they had threatened to riot earlier in the day.

A private firm, Capital Correctional Resources Inc. of Groebeck, Texas, supplies the guards used in the section of the jail that houses out-of-state inmates.

"Really, honestly and truly, the private facilities are cheaper than state facilities," Staples said. "But then you have insurance problems and all kinds of problems that come with it," he said.

Staples said he expects the Texas incident will spark numerous lawsuits.

Staples said the state's prisoners shouldn't be housed in private jails unless the guards and other employees work directly for the state of Missouri.

"I have a concern where there are private prisons with people who don't have to answer to anyone," he said.

The return of the prisoners will put added pressure on an already overcrowded state prison system.

Two hundred of the prisoners returned to the state Tuesday. Most of them are being housed at the Farmington Correctional Center. About 50 were admitted to the Central Missouri Correctional Center near Jefferson City.

Missouri may have to use prison gymnasiums to accommodate the influx of prisoners, state officials said.

Staples said this makes it even more important for the state to proceed with constructing two new jails.

Staples' committee of House and Senate lawmakers recommended Charleston as the top site for a new prison last month.

But the committee deadlocked over whether to recommend Licking in south-central Missouri or Trenton in the north-central part of the state as the site for a new prison.

The state plans to build two maximum security prisons at a cost of $146 million. Each would be designed to house 1,500 inmates.

The committee is expected to meet again next month to finalize its recommendations to Gov. Mel Carnahan.

Staples is scheduled to meet with Carnahan Thursday to discuss legislative matters. The prison problem likely will be discussed too, he said.

The Associated Press provided some information for this story.