BY VINAYA SAKSENA

CENTRAL FALLS — Just months after being appointed to the board that oversees the operations of a local prison that has been the subject of controversy, Daniel Cooney has been terminated from his position as chairman of the board by Mayor Charles Moreau, according to a press release issued Tuesday.

According to the press release, put out by True North Communications on behalf of the Central Falls Detention Facility Corporation's Board of Directors, Moreau fired Cooney on Monday, due to comments he had made in a newspaper interview the previous week.
 In an interview with the Providence Journal regarding the operations of the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility, Cooney is reported to have made a remark that has stirred further controversy regarding the facility, which has already been the subject of controversy since the death of a former Wyatt inmate last year from advanced-stage cancer, which had allegedly gone undiagnosed for a long period of time.
“Frankly, I'm looking at it like I'm running a Motel 6,” Cooney was quoted as saying last week. “I don't care if it's Guantanamo Bay. We want to fill the beds.”
That remark has been the subject of sharp criticism from various organizations, including the Rhode Island affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, who wrote a letter to Rhode Island's congressional delegation urging them not to lobby on behalf of the Wyatt's current handlers to have U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) resume sending detainees to the jail.
ICE had removed all 153 of the detainees it had been keeping at the Wyatt as it wrapped up an internal investigation into the death of Hiu Lui “Jason” Ng, a Chinese national who had briefly been kept in the facility after being arrested for failing to appear for an immigration court hearing.
In the statement issued by Board of Directors on Tuesday, Moreau was quoted as saying he was troubled by the comments made by Cooney- who is one of four new appointees the mayor had introduced to the board earlier this year, in an effort to convince ICE to resume sending detainees to the Wyatt.
And while he had previously been criticized by the ACLU for being silent on the issue of Ng's death until ICE removed its detainees — drastically affecting the revenue generated for the city at Wyatt — Moreau said in Tuesday's statement that prisoner treatment was indeed a concern of his.
“On behalf of the board of directors and management of the corporation, I want to apologize for Mr. Cooney’s outrageous and insensitive statements,” Moreau was quoted as saying. “Comparing the facility to one of our nation’s most controversial detention centers clearly demonstrates he does not share my goal to restore public confidence in the operations of the Wyatt Detention Facility.”
On Tuesday afternoon, Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE) joined the ACLU, Fuerza Laboral and several other organizations, held a protest on High Street, outside the Wyatt Detention Facility, in which they criticized what they said was a flippant attitude toward prison conditions expressed in Cooney's remarks. The protest, estimated by witnesses to have involved approximately forty people, also at least one speaker, through a translator, call for the closing of the Wyatt and other facilities like it. Prison staffers who spoke to the Times after the event said that it had been orderly, and that protesters had not caused trouble for them or anyone else in the area.
True North's Bill Fischer said that while the mayor's decision to fire Cooney was based mainly on his aforementioned comment about the running of the facility, and was not influenced by Tuesday's protest, which came a day after the mayor's actual decision. He said that a replacement for Cooney had not yet been found, and that Vice Chairman Bruce Corrigan would serve as interim chairman until a permanent replacement could be found.
“He (Cooney) was given the option of submitting his resignation,” Fischer said. “He declined that option. Going forward, the mayor's going to have to make an appointment to replace Mr. Cooney.”
Cooney had not responded to calls seeking comment as of press time.
Meanwhile, Mimi Budnick, a community organizer with DARE who had been involved in Tuesday's protest, said she was pleased to hear of the decision to terminate Cooney. She said that her organization had not spoken to Moreau or other officials involved in the decision prior to its announcement, but did not know for sure whether or not any of the other organizations involved in the protest had done so.
“We have heard about the (decision) and we definitely commend the mayor for taking that step,” Budnick said. “However, I don't think that solves the problem. Furthermore, the problem is the prisons that are run as for-profit ventures. Using a prison as a means for economic development, in our opinion, is not the (right) thing to do.”
Moreau, who could not be reached for comment, had previously said that he saw the Wyatt as an economic engine for the city, and that he hoped to bring in more detainees, either from ICE or elsewhere to augment the population currently held there for the U.S. Marshals Service. In the statement issued by True North, however, he was quoted as saying that he would be willing to meet with various community leaders to address their concerns, something Budnick said she saw as a hopeful sign.
“It is my highest priority to ensure that, going forward, all detainees are treated with the utmost respect and dignity,” Moreau said in the statement. “I share the concerns of the community. The facility has been heading in the wrong direction and systemic reform will take time, but it is an achievable goal and we will restore confidence in this institution.”
Moreau had also previously expressed displeasure with Avcorr Management, the Warwick-based company headed by Anthony Ventetuolo Jr., who had been credited with helping to initiate the creation of the Wyatt Detention Facility years ago. At its last meeting, the Board of Directors had voted unanimously to terminate its contract with Avcorr, and authorized Warden Wayne Salisbury to collect documents belonging or pertaining to the facility from Avcorr's office. The board, however, held off on a motion that would have allowed Salisbury to collect all keys and other means of access to the facility, due to what Cooney said was uncertainty about whose name was listed on the property's lease.
Ventetuolo had been managing the facility's day-to-day operations for the Central Falls Detention Facility Corporation when Ng died. Internal investigations have since been completed by both ICE and the Wyatt, the latter of which resulted in the disciplining or termination of several employees said to have been involved in mistreatment of Ng during his time there. After firing Ventetuolo and his company, the board had entrusted oversight of day-to-day prison operations to Salisbury and Wyatt CFO Tammy Novo.