Diossa Battles With Board He Appointed Over Wyatt Prison and ICE Prisoners
GoLocalProv News Team
Diossa Battles With Board He Appointed Over Wyatt Prison and ICE Prisoners
The entire Board of Wyatt is appointed by Diossa and he has not called for any of them to resign according to his office.
“Rhode Island General Laws section 45-54-5 vests the Mayor of Central Falls with the sole power to appoint every member of the Wyatt Detention Facility’s five-member board of directors and Mayor Diossa has been responsible for the appointment of 10 capable board members since taking office in January 2013. The board of directors is responsible for the overall governance of the Corporation, including major policy decisions that affect the Wyatt, and the Warden is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the facility,” said Wyatt Prison in a statement.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTChris Hunter, spokesman for the prison, confirmed to GoLocal that Chair of the Board Albert "Bud" Gardner, Interim Chairman and Director, has resigned.
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The prison has been hit with controversies for years.
Diossa now is calling for the closure of the prison because the facility is now taking Immigration and Custom Enforcement prisoners.
The Prison’s spokesman says that Diossa has known that prisoners from the federal agency were coming for months, “The Diossa Administration was informed about the likelihood of ICE detainees returning to the Wyatt approximately three months prior to their actual arrival in March 2019.”
“While the City’s concerns about the well-being of ICE detainees is laudable and understandable, the City should be confident in knowing that Wyatt is overseen by a board of respected and highly capable individuals who were all selected and appointed by the Mayor,” said Wyatt.
The Diossa administration has filed a complaint with Rhode Island Attorney General’s office Peter Neronha. The complaint letter claims that the Wyatt Board held an illegal meeting in violation of Rhode Island’s open meeting laws.
In a February 22, 2019 complaint letter to the Attorney General’s office, Central Falls asserted, “There was no fiscal emergency. There is no demonstration that the government shutdown, in any scenario, would have impacted the health, safety and welfare of the public. There was no evidence presented that the CFDFC sought a loan through the ordinance course of business with their bank or another financial institution. I know that if my household had a cash flow issue, my wife and I would go to various banks or lenders and find out what the best terms are. The CFDFC is located near Navigant Credit Union - a key partner in the region. Did they seek a loan from Navigant? No. In fact, there is no evidence to suggest that a bridge loan was even required: the U.S. Marshall's office was prepared to pick up their detainees and move them to a different location if the CFDFC did not have sufficient staffing levels.”
Wyatt said the following were its payments to the City of Central Falls: From 1994 through 2009, the City of Central Falls received a total of $5.4 million in impact fees from the Wyatt, and approximately $516,000 in payments since 2015, pursuant to the Forbearance Agreement.