Wyatt board postpones contentious vote amid more protests
By: Brittany Comak
Twitter: @BComakABC6
CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. (WLNE) – The Board of Directors for the Wyatt Detention Facility put off a controversial vote Monday night on a forbearance agreement with their bondholders.
The agreement, among other things, would reaffirm their relationship with ICE.
Protesters with Never Again Action Rhode Island, a primarily Jewish group, have been demonstrating at the prison for a few months
Monday evening’s meeting first began with an apology to the protesters for scheduling the last meeting on Friday night which is Shabbat.
“While it was in no way intended to quell or chill discussion, it was indeed insensitive and wrong,” said Board Member Wilder Arboleda. “We apologize to our Jewish friends and ask for your forgiveness.”
But the board ultimately cancelled the vote on their agreement with bondholders Monday night – citing their own issues with it, and went into executive session to discuss with their attorneys.
They say the agreement is subject to pending litigation, which stems from a lawsuit last Spring in which the board attempted to suspend their contract with ICE.
Monday the board defended the discussions surrounding the agreement.
“And we do have obligations to UMB Bank,” said Arboleda. “Not because whether they are profitable, but because we borrowed money and have an obligation – a legal, ethical, and a moral one to try to repay that debt.”
After the vote was called off, protesters said they weren’t buying the board’s apology for last week’s scheduling, nor their reasoning for discussing the agreement privately.
“I think essentially that talk is cheap. The decision to go into executives session shows that there is absolutely no committment to transparency or public oversight,” said Matthew Harvey of Never Again Rhode Island. “This is just prolonging the status quo, and getting us no closer to closing the Wyatt and getting ICE out of Rhode Island.”
The forbearance agreement also opens up the sale of the prison to a private corporation, though the board has said there is no discussion to sell.
In response, protesters called on Governor Raimondo to pass legislation to ban private prisons in the state.
“Will our state leaders continue to stand by and watch? Or will they finally step the hell up?” said Aaron Regunberg of Never Again Action Rhode Island.
In a statement a spokesperson for the governor called it a “complicated question” to reform how the prison operates and is controlled, that would affect the city of Central Falls and the bondholders of the Wyatt.
So far, Monday’s original vote has not been rescheduled.
© WLNE-TV 2019
