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U.S. Gives Tour of Family Detention Center That Critics Liken to a Prison PDF Print E-mail
Contributed by Iamme   
Monday, 12 February 2007
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U.S. Gives Tour of Family Detention Center That Critics Liken to a Prison
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Some of the harshest criticism of the center came last week from members of a Palestinian family held there for three months for overstaying a visa. They were released after an immigration appeals board unexpectedly reopened their plea for amnesty based on new conditions — danger from the Hamas takeover in the Palestinian territories.

Hamzeh Ibrahim, 15, said his father was sent to a facility in West Texas while his pregnant mother shared a cell-like room with the family’s 5-year-old girl; two other girls, 7 and 13, shared another room. He said they had to clean their rooms and the communal shower. “I cleaned for me and my mom because she is pregnant and her back hurt,” he said.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials who traveled from Washington to lead the tour with company staff members showed off one of the 11 dormitory areas, or pods, lined by bare pastel-tinted detainee rooms, each with a metal bunk bed, a sink and a toilet.

The rooms are not locked at night, but a laser beam alerts guards if anyone leaves a room after bedtime — 9 p.m. for children and 10 for adults. The detainees wear outfits of green and blue, which Danny Coronado, a spokesman for the corrections company, likened to scrubs but critics described as prison garb.

Officials say stays at the center are now averaging a little more than a month.

In the dining area, which has plastic tables with stools attached, Mr. Mead said, “All of our meals are planned by dietitians with calories of 3,200 a day, 3,500 for children.”

Disputing claims by some lawyers that many detainees had lost weight there, Dr. Leroy T. Soto, the chief physician on duty, said a study had actually documented weight gains. There is a medical staff of 20.

Lawyers said detainees were rushed through meals in 15 or 20 minutes. Mr. Mead acknowledged “they can’t linger,” but said it was because of classes or other activities.

Showing off a classroom with computers, Jean Bellinger, assistant administrator for programs, said children were divided into three age groups comparable to elementary, middle and high school for four hours’ a day of instruction plus an hour’s recreation and lunch. But she acknowledged that for several months a staff shortage limited class time to an hour a day.

That was far too little, said Scott Medlock, a prison rights lawyer for the Texas Civil Rights Project.
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