[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 151 (Monday, November 1, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S13591-S13592]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               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

[[Page S13592]]

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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