By Thom Weidlich
July 27 (Bloomberg) -- R. Allen Stanford, the Texas financier accused of directing a $7 billion Ponzi scheme, complained that his jail cell often lacks light and air conditioning.
For the past week, Stanford, who’s in a cell in Conroe, Texas, with from eight to 10 other men, has endured heat and intermittent lack of power when outside temperatures reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius) or more, his lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, said yesterday in a motion asking that his client be transferred to a downtown Houston jail.
“For part of the time last week, they were in total darkness,” DeGuerin wrote. “The cell has been without air conditioning for at least a week. There are no windows for light or ventilation, and the conditions are intolerable.”
U.S. District Judge David Hittner in Houston on July 15 denied Stanford’s original request to be transferred while he awaits trial on charges of conspiracy, fraud and obstruction. The financier is being held without bail at the privately run Joe Corley Detention Center, about 43 miles north of Houston.
Pablo Paez, a spokesman for Boca Raton, Florida-based GEO Group Inc., which runs the facility, said in an e-mail that it has full power and air conditioning.
DeGuerin said in a phone interview that that wasn’t the case as of yesterday. He hasn’t spoken with Stanford since then, he said.
‘100 Degrees’
“They’ve been without air conditioning for over a week and it’s over 100 degrees outside and it’s even hotter in a room with 10 people,” DeGuerin said.
In his new motion, DeGuerin repeated his argument that Stanford’s defense is hampered because the Corley facility doesn’t allow the use of electronic devices. The fact-finding in the case is being done “by electronic means,” DeGuerin said.
The lawyer reiterated Stanford’s transfer request “both because of the oppressive conditions under which he is suffering, as well as the impossible conditions for preparing for his complex trial.”
“A guy is on trial for his life who knows his businesses and is not allowed to see the evidence against him” in violation of the U.S. Constitution, DeGuerin said in the interview. “His understanding of these documents is absolutely crucial to his defense.”
Laura Sweeney, a Justice Department spokeswoman, said in a phone interview, “We will respond in court filings.”
In a letter to the U.S. Marshal Service attached to the motion, DeGuerin wrote that one of the men in the cell with Stanford is in his late seventies and suffering from diabetes and another has a heart condition.
‘Medical Conditions’
“There are serious medical conditions of several of the men in the cell,” he wrote.
Stanford pleaded not guilty to criminal charges. He’s been in custody since June 18. He is asking a U.S. Appeals Court in New Orleans to review Hittner’s order confining him until trial.
Stanford is accused of leading a fraud scheme involving the sale of certificates of deposit through Antigua-based Stanford International Bank Ltd.
The case is U.S. v. Stanford, H-09-342, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas (Houston).
To contact the reporter on this story: Thom Weidlich in New York attweidlich@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: July 27, 2009 17:04 EDT
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