25 years ago, the Wyatt Detention Center looked like the answer to Central Falls’ financial problems. Today, the future of the prison is up in the air.
John Bender
Reporter
John Bender was the general assignment reporter for The Public's Radio for several years. He is now a fill-in host when our regular hosts are out.
Posted inArticle
Remaining ICE Detainees To Be Moved From Wyatt By Weekend
The number of ICE detainees has been slowly dwindling inside Wyatt. Two weeks ago, local immigration lawyers entered the facility to work with the immigrant detainees. According to one of those lawyers, Debbie Gonzalez, only about 20 detainees remained. By mid-week there were only nine Immigration and Customs Enforcement Detainees remaining inside the Wyatt Detention Facility according […]
Posted inArticle
The Wyatt Detention Facility: How We Got Here
The bondholders for the Wyatt Detention Facility are suing the City of Central Falls’ mayoral administration, as well as members of the city council and the board that governs the jail for more than $130 million. The lawsuit, filed by UMB Bank based in Kansas City Missouri in federal court Wednesday, is in response to […]
Posted inArticle, Politics
Wyatt Board Votes To Suspend ICE Contract
The board governing the Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls voted to suspend its federal contract to hold undocumented immigrants.
Posted inArticle, Education
Education Experts Weigh In On Push To Expand State-Funded Pre-K
Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo is focusing on pre-kindergarten, in her effort to improve education in the state. Elizabeth Burke Bryant, Director of Rhode Island Kids Count, and Khadija Lewis Khan, Director of Beautiful Beginnings Child Care Center in Providence, joined reporter John Bender to talk about the challenges and opportunities of expanding the state-funded […]
Posted inArticle
Central Falls Representative Promises Legislation Aimed At Wyatt
Lawmakers in Rhode Island will soon consider legislation aimed at closing the state’s only privately run jail, Central Falls Representative Shelby Maldonado said last week. Central Falls leaders announced plans to seek the closure of the Wyatt Detention Facility, after the news that the jail had begun housing Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees; a decision […]
Posted inArticle
Central Falls Leaders Call For Closure Of Wyatt Detention Center
Elected officials in Central Falls are calling for the immediate closure of the privately operated detention center in the city. This comes in the wake of the news that the Wyatt Detention Facility has begun housing detainees for federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, in March. Central Falls Mayor James Diossa said the agreement […]
Posted inEpisode
One Square Mile Pawtucket: For New Arrivals, Education Offers Opportunity
For more than a century, Pawtucket was a gateway for new immigrants to this country. People came from Ireland, Canada, Portugal and the Azores, to work in the city’s factories. Today, the city’s new arrivals come mainly from Central America.
The number of Hispanic residents has more than doubled in the last twenty years, as they follow friends and family to the United States. But the city’s economic opportunities have changed drastically.
Posted inEpisode
One Square Mile Pawtucket: For One Generation, A Clear Career Path, For The Next, Uncertainty
For generations, a robust manufacturing economy in Pawtucket offered newly arrived immigrants a gateway to the American dream. But with the steady decline of factory jobs in small industrial towns across America, the story in Pawtucket is quite different today. Even a twenty years ago, there was a pattern that a new immigrant could follow […]
Posted inArticle
Bacteria And Algae Levels Up Across RI’s Smaller Lakes And Ponds
Warm temperatures and heavy precipitation are degrading rivers, streams and smaller bodies of water across Rhode Island. That’s the finding of an annual survey of more than 200 such bodies by the the Watershed Watch program at the University of Rhode Island. Program head Elizabeth Herron said the study found a general increase in run-off […]