AP PHOTO/ MATT HOUSTON
PRISONERS
OF PROFIT
“go ahead and die already,” according to the investigative report. The nurse, Knyvett Reyes,
told him to stop lying about his
illness. Other inmates at the facility saw Alexander coughing
up blood into trash cans and frequently struggling to breathe, according to the report.
A week after he began complaining, staff finally took Alexander to the hospital. He died there
two days later. A doctor told the
Texas Rangers that Alexander
HUFFINGTON
11.03.13
could have survived had staff taken him to get a chest X-ray when
he first reported feeling sick.
In 2002, a judge found Reyes
guilty of negligent homicide. Correctional Services Corp. lost a
separate wrongful death lawsuit,
and had to pay $38 million to Alexander’s family.
By that time, the company’s
lobbying activities were also coming under scrutiny. In New York,
state auditors and prosecutors
began probing a Democratic state
assemblywoman, Gloria Davis of
the Bronx, for allegedly accepting
gifts from Correctional Services
Residents of
t he Charles
H. Hickey, Jr.
School play
basketball as
Maryland Gov.
Robert Ehrlich
speaks during
a press
conference in
June 2005.
The governor
announced
the closing
of the facility
in light of an
investigation
by the DOJ
that found
civil rights
violations
during
Correctional
Services
Corp.’s tenure.