Thread: Pinal County jails inhumane for immigrants, ACLU says

Pinal County jails inhumane for immigrants, ACLU says

by Caitlin McGlade -
Jun. 23, 2011 02:00 PM
The Arizona Republic

The American Civil Liberties Union has released a report criticizing living conditions and policies for immigrants detained at detention centers in Pinal County.

The union is urging the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to cut its contract with the Pinal County Adult Detention Center in Florence, citing excessive jail time, inhumane conditions, and sparse legal protection for detainees.

The 36-page ACLU report documents more than 100 personal interviews with immigrants behind bars, many of whom have claimed they were held for years without any contact with family and have subsequently developed psychological illnesses.

While awaiting trial proceedings, detainees in Pinal County also complained of no outdoor recreation.

ICE officials said the report publishes "unverified allegations" and that the ACLU did not offer the opportunity to respond to the claims, according to a written statement provided by Vincent Picard, spokesman for the Phoenix ICE office.

"The significant acts of abuse alleged in this report have yet to be formally reported to ICE, the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General or any other law enforcement agency," the ICE statement said.

The Pinal County Detention Center holds 625 male detainees and has had a contract with ICE since 2006. Its conditions are considered the worst of the five centers investigated, said Victoria Lopez, the ACLU attorney who wrote the report.

All five detention centers are in Pinal County, but the other four are not operated by the county.

The report also investigated:

The Florence Detention Center, which is operated by ICE.

The Eloy Detention Center.

The Florence Correctional Center.

The Central Arizona Detention Center.

The Corrections Corporation of America runs the later three.

The ACLU report took two years to complete and compiled hundreds of grievances.

"This isn't something that just came up," Lopez said. "Many of these problems have been persistent over the course of a number of years. Two years now after detention reforms, we're continuing to hear the same serious types of complaints we heard not just two years ago but even five years ago."

The report can be found here.
http://acluaz.org/issues/immigrant-rights/2011-06/943

http://www.azcentral.com/community/pina ... -says.html

If its good enough for AMERICAN criminals its good enough for illegal criminals anytime they dont like how they are treated they can stay home where they belong we dont want them here anyway.

Originally Posted by duckman

If its good enough for AMERICAN criminals its good enough for illegal criminals anytime they dont like how they are treated they can stay home where they belong we dont want them here anyway.

I'd like to see the hospitality that the Mexican jails provide