Report Details Solitary Confinement in U.S. Detention Centers

A report released by the National Immigrant Justice Center and Physicians for Human Rights, Invisible in Isolation: The Use of Segregation and Solitary Confinement in Immigrant Detention, documents the use of solitary confinement in U.S. detention centers and makes recommendations for Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Congress to abolish it. Considering the psychological and other health effects of solitary confinement, the lack of judicial oversight and avenues of legal redress for detainees, and the fact that immigrant detention is not synonymous with punishment, the report finds the current system, maintained by ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security fundamentally flawed.

Case studies of detention centers and jails and interviews with individuals who had experienced isolation showed arbitrary use of solitary, abuse, lack of medical and mental health treatment for chronic conditions and trauma, and discrimination based on gender, race, and language. The report was created from the testimony of former detainees and from data collected from ICE by freedom of information requests. Researches asked for statistics on the number of people held in solitary, and for detailed information on how long they were detained and what policies and decision making was governing their placement. ICE adopted a best practices document in 2011 to set up standards and policies for housing immigrant detainees. However, as of 2012, they have not moved any of their facilities or contracts into compliance and are not required to report on their actions.

There are approximately 34,000 people in U.S. detention centers on any given night. Therefore, what we have is a continuously growing number of people moving through a system that is extremely costly and highly unregulated.

The report concluded one main problem with immigrant detention in the U.S. is that all of the standards put forth by ICE are based on the American Correctional Association model, essentially rendering detention the same as jail. Detainees are often mixed in with people who have been convicted of a crime, and are often put into solitary confinement for not following rules, despite not having been convicted of a crime, or having papers to be processed through the judicial system. In addition, detainees often lack legal representation or avenues to challenge their placement in solitary. Faced with a choice of going to the hole, some people reported abandoning their immigration or asylum seeking process because they feared further dehumanization in isolation.

Housing people as detainees is much more expensive than alternatives to detention both psychologically and financially. The effects of solitary confinement have been studied on general prison populations in the U.S. In 2011, the US Special Rapporteur on torture, Juan Mendez, concluded that isolation over 15 days is “prolonged” and could have lasting psychological effects. He concluded the use of solitary confinement should be avoided as much as possible, should not be used to house mentally ill prisoners, and should be overseen by an independent review body that could have daily access to those being isolated. These standards are hardly enforced in U.S. prisons, and even less regulated in the detention system. And though the cost of housing a large number of people in immigrant detention centers significantly outweighs the cost of more constructive methods of alternatives to detention, Congress has continued to pump money into the system.

A report by the Vera Institute of Justice found that community release programs work well for detainees and the vast majority of people show up for their scheduled hearings. However, for 2013, The U.S. House appropriated over 2 billion dollars for housing immigrants, considerably more than the 111 million for alternatives to detention. Reducing the number of people in detention centers would decrease the number of people who could be traumatized by solitary confinement.

The authors recommend several detailed steps for ICE and Congress to take to abolish the use of solitary within detention centers or jails holding detainees.The summary of these include: conducting a comprehensive review of segregation and solitary use nationwide, using alternatives to detention for vulnerable populations, not using jails or jail like facilities, developing legally enforceable regulations based on civil and human rights standards rather than correctional standards, and withdrawing monies from facilities who do not comply with all standards. Much like the Human Rights Coalition’s campaign against abuse and solitary confinement, the authors recommend segregation and isolation of detainees as a last resort, and independent monitoring by an outside organization with reports that are publicly available.

Old News

The rain keeps coming.  I saw all of the people waiting in the entrance way yesterday and wondered why the entrance way?  Why not the place?  But today I was in the entrance way, talking to Stephanie on the phone, doing the exact thing.  One foot in, one foot out, waiting for it to stop.  Last year I started thinking that it doesn't drizzle any more, that it mostly pours or does nothing.  This year seems different.

When Heath Ledger died I remember hearing about it from my boss at the time.  He was talking to Elise and he broke the news.  It was a joke.  It wasn't relevant.  But what he said was, "Go ahead Elise and shelve the books.  Go shelve the pain away."

I took comfort in that memory when I got off the desk and had a half hour to shelve some children's books at the library.  Jordan came in and couldn't chat but asked me how my day was going.  I gave a so-so hand shake sign.  He said he hoped the rest of it went better. 

Earlier, when I was on the desk, I read an email that my coworker had died.  I sort of gasped and then walked around the block for a minute and then came back.  There wasn't a release it in, it wasn't that kind of moment.  It was more like the settling in of a lingering cloud, a permission.  A go ahead for the small encroaching gloom.

I found my coworkers excruciatingly annoying after that.  They were separate from me and this thing happening at this other workplace.  I told a few people what was going on and they gave a little pause, but it was like, "life goes on, yes?"  There's a little girl reading a pamphlet in the aisle.  She doesn't know how to read, but she is reading.  There are other small people coming into the world, like August.

I'm really excited about Auggie.  When I think of him and his parents, my heart fills with joy.  New eyes are opening all over the place.  Life goes on, yes.

Bill's death seems different then Tom's.  Both coworkers gone this year.  When I think of Tom, I think of carelessness.  Footloose and fancy free.  Not giving a fuck.  Eating rubbish and staying up late. High cholesterol, genetics, that kind of thing.  But when I think of Bill, I think of toil.  I think of a black man in America trying to support too many people with a warehouse job. Doing custodial work. Stressing into the phone.  The fake gun he took off his son and put in the towel closet. Being responsible to everyone and trying to hide out from it.  Driving a minivan.  Hanging up Christmas decorations on the fence. Stringing things together.

Maybe there was more triumph than that.  I bet there was a lot more than that for both of them.  Icebergs even.  But we only see so much.  Coming in here.  Chatting over coffee or almonds.

The thing about death for me is one day the person is there and then the next day they are not.

Zion is standing next to me at the computer while the rain keeps me in.  I hadn't seen her in about a year, but now two days in a row.  She noticed that too.  As I turn to leave she turned to me.  She held out her arms and I walked into them.  I hadn't told her anything.  We had been standing quietly, side by side.

It wasn't a stranger's hug, it was a lover's hug.  It was a mother's hug.  It was a best friend I wish you well.  It was an I'm sorry for your loss.  It was a sometimes the world is heavy I know kind of hug.  It was a reminder.  There are all kinds of people who work in all kinds of ways, and sometimes they happen to find each other.