The document titled "Prisoners of Profit: Immigrants and Detention in Georgia" is most critical of the Stewart Detention Center and the Irwin County Detention Center.
To develop its report, the ACLU said it interviewed 68 individuals who were detained in Georgia immigration detention facilities, as well as detainees' family members and immigration attorneys. The ACLU also said it toured four facilities in Georgia: Stewart, Irwin County, North Georgia and the Atlanta City Detention Center.
"This report documents serious abuses in Georgia detention centers requiring immediate action," said Azadeh Shahshahani, National Security/Immigrants' Rights Project Director with the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Georgia.
"The conditions documented by the ACLU of Georgia violate detainees' constitutional and human rights as well as ICE standards."
The report calls for ICE to stop housing immigrants at the Stewart and Irwin County Detention Centers, noting that human rights violations at those two facilities are extreme.
The ACLU also recommended improvements for the other facilities in the report.
Ten pages of the report focus on findings at North Georgia Detention Center, located on Main Street in midtown Gainesville.
Among the most glaring concerns for the Gainesville facility are problems in the jail's medical and mental health units. The report said that the medical unit is understaffed and does not employ a full-time doctor. Nurse practioners staff the hospital five days per week, but the report indicated only two nurses were on the premises the day ACLU members visited. The report noted that ACLU observers felt that number was too low for the 502-bed facility. In addition, the report said prisoners experienced delays in receiving medical care. And, the report said there is a language barrier between detainees and the medical staff.
Other issues cited in the report that pertain to North Georgia Detention Center:
-Lack of proper recreation time for detainees
-Failure to pay detainees an adequate wage for work performed as part of the Voluntary Work Program
-Meal portions that are too small and a time period that is too lengthy between the evening meal and breakfast the following morning.
The North Georgia Detention Center is at the heart of a controversy between Hall County and the City of Gainesville. Hall County currently leases the facility to CCA, but has a tentative contract to sell the facility to the operator of the prison. The City of Gainesville wants to purchase the jail, so that it can at some point be moved out of the midtown Gainesville area, since the city is working on improvements to that area.
CCA has disputed the information in the report and has issued a response to all criticisms outlined in the document. [STORY TO FOLLOW THURSDAY AFTERNOON.]
http://accesswdun.com/article/2012/5/248735