Located about 35 miles northeast of Austin, the facility was previously a jail and has long been the subject of protest and litigation from civil rights groups. In 2009, after a lawsuit exposed poor treatment of detainees, the Obama administration stopped incarcerating children at the center and converted it to a women’s lockup.
However, activists continued to target the facility over sexual abuse. One guard was charged in 2011 with sexually assaulting multiple detainees. In March, 23-year-old Hutto detainee Laura Monterrosa, with the help of local activists and Democratic congressmen Lloyd Doggett and Joaquin Castro, was released after allegedly being sexually assaulted by a guard.
