No foreign detainees at jail since uprising
Cuban prisoners took hostages 10 years ago
By STEVEN K. LANDRY

Published: Dec 22, 2009 - Page: 1BA

ST. MARTINVILLE — These days, there are no immigration detainees being held at the St. Martin Parish jail, not since the mid-December uprising by Cuban prisoners there 10 years ago.

At the time of the standoff, which ended peacefully after five days, prisoners from the federal Immigration and Naturalization Service — now called Immigration and Customs Enforcement — were being held in several Acadiana jails.

The federal prisoners were lucrative. Some brought in $65 a day from the federal government to parish sheriffs, compared to the $3 or so a day for parish prisoners and about $25 a day for state prisoners.

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