Cheney is indicted in prison case

Vice President Dick Cheney and former Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales have been indicted on state charges involving federal prisons in Willacy County. The indictment, returned Monday, has not been signed by the presiding judge. No action can be taken unless that happens.

Cheney is charged with engaging in an organized criminal activity related to his investment in the Vanguard Group, which holds financial interests in the private prison companies running the federal detention centers. Megan Mitchell, a spokeswoman for Cheney, declined to comment, saying that the vice president had not received a copy of the indictment.

The indictment accuses Gonzales of using his position while in office to stop an investigation in 2006 into abuses at one of the privately run prisons. Gonzales’ attorney called it “a bogus charge on its face.”