DHS has demonstrated consistent failure to implement standards that adequately protect detainees from abuses ranging from sexual assault to inadequate medical and mental health care. Government documents reveal nearly 200 allegations of sexual abuse and assault at detention facilities across the country since 2007. Terrible detention conditions persist, including overuse of administrative segregation, absence of outdoor recreation, and denial of in-person family contact visits.
DHS should overhaul its improperly jail-like immigration detention system, including an immediate shutdown of 10 of its worst immigration facilities, where detainees have been sexually abused and denied adequate medical care, food, and access to immigration counsel (Etowah, AL; Pinal, AZ; Lacy, CA; Baker, FL; Stewart, GA; Irwin, GA; Tri-County, IL; Hudson, NJ; Polk, TX; Houston Processing Center, TX). The Department must also promptly implement full regulatory protections under the Prison Rape Elimination Act in all of its facilities.
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