Last updated August 14, 2009 4:37 p.m. PT

Guards use pepper spray on immigrant detainees


SEATTLE -- Federal officials say guards from the private company that runs the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma used pepper spray to control immigrant detainees who were refusing to follow orders.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Lorie Dankers says detainees weren't responding to orders Sunday night to go to bed. Guards from Florida-based GEO Group Inc. then used pepper spray to gain control of the detainees.

Dankers says the sprayed detainees - all male - were checked out by doctors at the detention center. No major injuries were reported.

Dankers says immigration lawyers had raised concerns after some detainees did not make scheduled court appointments following the incident. She says those appointments were rescheduled.

The Obama administration has called for changes at the way illegal immigrants are treated at detention centers, including placing federal employees in charge of monitoring the treatment of detainees in the largest facilities.



http://www.seattlepi.com/local/6420ap_w ... ource=mypi