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“THE INTERSTATE TRANSPORTATION OF CRIMINALS” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Senate section on pages S13591-S13592 on Nov. 1, 1999.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
THE INTERSTATE TRANSPORTATION OF CRIMINALS
Mr. DORGAN. Madam President, the picture I have displayed on the floor of the Senate is of an 11-year-old child named Jeanna North. Jeanna North was tragically murdered by a man named Kyle Bell. Kyle Bell was a previously convicted child molester, a violent criminal living in the neighborhood. This young girl, out on roller blades one afternoon on a quiet Fargo street, was abducted and murdered.
Kyle Bell was convicted of that murder. On October 13, Kyle Bell was being transported to prison and he escaped in New Mexico from a bus that was transporting him and nearly 30 other prisoners across the country. Kyle Bell, this convicted child murderer, escaped from a company called Transcorps. Transcorps is a private company. There are a number of private companies that states contract with to haul killers and criminals around the country. When you haul toxic waste around America, you have to meet certain requirements. When you haul circus animals around this country, you have to meet certain minimum requirements. But if you are a business holding yourself out to transport prisoners all around this country from State to State, there are no minimum requirements and no standards. Get yourself a minivan, hire your brother-in-law and two cousins and say you are in business and you want to haul a convicted child killer around the country.
The escape of this convicted child killer occurred in a circumstance where the bus transporting him, which carried over 30 people, pulled up to a service station to get gas. One of the guards apparently was fueling the vehicle, the other apparently might have been getting a hamburger at the Food Mart, and the third was asleep on the bus, and in the meanwhile this killer goes out through a hatch in the roof of the bus. Then the guards get back on the bus and for 9 hours that bus drove across the country, and they never knew this convicted killer had escaped.
He escaped in civilian clothes, incidentally--a convicted killer being transported across this country in civilian clothes. One would logically ask the question: If you are doing that, if you are transporting a convicted killer across State lines, why would you not have an orange prison uniform that says ``I Am A Prisoner''? Because there are no regulations, no standards. You can haul prisoners, including violent prisoners, across this country coast to coast and you do not have any standards to meet. I think that is wrong. If you are a company, a private company contracting to haul violent prisoners across this country, it seems to me you ought to meet minimum regulations, minimum standards.
In order to enhance public safety, I am going to propose later this week a piece of legislation that will require the Justice Department to establish standards that private companies effecting that transport must meet. When there is an interstate transport of criminals across this country, especially high-risk criminals, certain minimum conditions must be met.
Minimum standards on background checks for employees--is that reasonable? You bet. Minimum standards for the type of training an employee would have, who is transporting a violent criminal across State lines; restrictions on the number of hours that employees are on duty during a 24-hour period; minimum standards on the number of guards that must be present for supervising violent criminals; standards requiring that high-risk violent prisoners wear brightly colored clothing, clearly identifying them as prisoners; minimum standards on the type of restraint that is used when transporting these prisoners; and a requirement that private prison transport companies notify law enforcement officials of scheduled stops in their jurisdiction when they are hauling a cargo of violent prisoners.
These are standards that ought to be implemented. The murder of this young girl in Fargo, ND, by Kyle Bell is a tragedy. But it is a tragedy that is compounded by the escape of this murderer who now, this afternoon, is on the loose. God forbid he should harm or kill someone else while he has escaped from custody. But this escape should persuade us, as almost all law enforcement officials have told me, that there is a need for some reasonable standards or requirements. Even the private companies themselves have said, yes, there is a need for some basic standards.
I intend to introduce legislation that would allow the Justice Department to establish these standards and perhaps we will not again see an escape of a violent killer of this type. The U.S. Marshals Service also transports offenders or criminals across this country, and they have never lost a violent criminal during that transport. When private companies are contracting with States and cities to haul violent criminals, the American public ought to expect that if they pull up to a gas station someplace they are not pulling up next to a minivan that contains three or four convicted murderers who are being handled improperly, by ill-trained guards, sitting in civilian clothing, and potentially able to escape.
The American public should not have to accept that risk. We will not accept risks in the transport of toxic waste. We will not accept the transport, without standards, of cattle; or for that matter of circus animals. Neither should we accept the transport of convicted killers across this country without some basic minimum standard that would guarantee public safety.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader is recognized.
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