Former Drug Treatment Patients Suing Over Videotaping
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Theresa Watkins enjoys the quiet moments with her family. But at age 49, this Seagoville grandmother has had to overcome a life of crime and drugs. "I was addicted to heroin."
In early 2009, she received counseling at Dallas County's Judicial Treatment Center. But she now accuses Cornell Companies, the company that once operated the facility, of violating her privacy. "We signed that our rights would be protected. That we would be treated confidentially, and that nothing that we said would go any further and that it was only for our benefit."
Watkins says the company videotaped her and others going through treatment, their most vulnerable moments. She says the company told them the tapes would be shown only to their sentencing judges.
Instead, she says the tapes were used to raise money for the treatment program and obtain future contracts. "It was showed to district attorneys, it was showed to lawyers, John Wiley Price."
Watkins says she faced the possibility of spending ten years in prison, when the judge agreed to send her to the county's drug treatment facility. She said she did what she was told for fear she'd go to prison."
And she's not alone. More than 30 other clients have joined her in filing suit against Cornell Companies. Each is seeking $50,000 in damages. "When you're going through a drug rehab, if you're in it for recovery and really to get out of it, you go as deep as you have to go. Some of the most horrifying things that's happened in your life."
For years, she led a double life, one with her family, the other on the streets. "I didn't want the two paths to cross and this here gave me no option, they have definitely crossed now."
As a result, Watkins says she's had anxiety attacks. "I'm really angry. It set me back in my recovery dramatically."
Watkins says after thinking it over, she decided to make her fight even more public. "I think everyone who was there for recovery needs to stand up for our rights."
A spokesman for Cornell Companies' new owners says they don't comment on lawsuits. The county says Cornell Companies no longer operates the facility.
Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price says he may have been shown the video, but doesn't remember it.