Imprisoned Justice: Inside Two Georgia Immigrant Detention Centers
Project South, a client of Penn State Law’s Center for Immigrants’ Rights Clinic, has released a new report on immigrant detention centers that was drafted and edited by clinic students. “Imprisoned Justice: Inside Two Georgia Immigrant Detention Centers” documents the conditions of the Stewart Detention Center and the Irwin County Detention Center, both in Georgia, through interviews with detained immigrants and the attorneys who represent them.
Working under the supervision of Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia, Samuel Weiss Faculty Scholar and director of the Center for Immigrants’ Rights Clinic, Penn State Law students Kritika Bedi, Susanna Chehata, Brianni Frazier, and Shushan Sadjadi worked on the report over the course of two semesters. In addition to conducting extensive research and drafting the report itself, the students surveyed 14 attorneys representing detainees at the two detention centers and conducted follow-up phone interviews with many of them about the conditions their clients face in the two detention centers.
The report finds that the conditions at the two detention centers “neither comply with the international standards of detention nor do they comply with [Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s] Performance-Based National Detention Standards.” Ultimately, the report calls on the Department of Homeland Security to close the two detention centers and implement policies to hold contract facilities accountable for not complying with established standards.
Click here for the press release.
KJ