Inmates
must have 'abundant natural light,' 'ample recreation,' 'aerobics'
As the U.S. Department of Homeland Security expands its
outsourcing of detention across the
nation, potential contractors are being forewarned to abide by the Obama
administration’s kinder, gentler approach to detaining illegal aliens.
DHS Immigration & Customs Enforcement most recently
embarked upon the outsourcing plan in Georgia, where it will continue to push
the administration’s reform agenda to create a civil, rather than penal,
processing system.
According to contracting documents that U.S. Trade &
Aid Monitor located through routine database research, the Georgia outsourcing
endeavor requires providers to offer detainees, among other perks, “abundant
natural light throughout the facility [and] ample indoor and outdoor recreation
that allows for vigorous aerobic exercise with extended hours of availability.”
ICE recently issued a Request for Information from
potential contractors in which the agency intends to assign detention
responsibilities to private sector entities that will build new facilities,
renovate existing structures or leverage a combination of the two.
The agency acknowledged that some detainees may have a
criminal history or suffer from mental illness. In those cases, it would
require the contractor to separate such persons into a medium- or
maximum-security area.
Other detainees, however, would be accommodated with
various services and conditions, such as:
- Four hours per day of outdoor recreation and ideally a
minimum of two hours recreation in a gymnasium during inclement weather.
- Private showers and restrooms (where practicable).
- Cafeteria-style meal service.
- Non-institutional detainee clothing.
- “Contact visitation,” including special arrangements for
visiting families, with extended hours including nights and weekends.
- Private areas for attorney-client visits, with video
teleconferencing capabilities.
- Noise control.
- Enhanced, but controlled, freedom of movement.
- Enhanced law library and legal resources.
- “Enhanced programming,” including religious services and
social programs and dedicated space for religious services.
ICE tentatively is looking for space in Georgia to hold
about 2,000 male detainees – up to 600 who would be categorized a low-security,
900 as medium-security and 400 designated as a high-security population.
Capacity for an additional 100 detainees would be divided between
administrative detention and mental health units.
DHS in recent months launched additional searches for
contractors offering detention, transportation, and food services in cities
such Chicago, Miami and Houston.
The projects come at a time when the push for immigration
reform – in varying forms – is heating up both on Capitol Hill and at the White
House.
Indeed, in the House Committee on the Judiciary’s first
hearing of the 113th Congress, Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., emphasized that
the American people and members of Congress “have a lot of questions about how
our legal immigration system should work.”
“They have a lot of questions about why our immigration
laws have not always been sufficiently enforced.”
Goodlatte pointed out that while reform could greatly
affect U.S. citizens, legal residents, and illegal aliens alike, he affirmed
the principle that “America is a nation of immigrants. … But we are also a
nation of laws.”
In response to that hearing, the immigrant-advocacy group
Detention Watch Network reiterated its call to repeal mandatory detention laws.
Emily Tucker, DWN director of policy and advocacy, said
in a statement: “While we are excited about the momentum to finally create a
path to citizenship for millions of people, immigration reform must include the
reform of our wasteful and inhumane detention and deportation system.
“Neither the White House’s nor Senate’s plans respond to
years of community outrage about border and interior enforcement programs that
have separated families, violated due process rights, and led to serious human
rights abuses,” she said.
The DWN statement indicated that the committee reportedly
is due to introduced a draft immigration-reform bill this week.
The Heritage Foundation says, “So far there is no actual
bill – just a set of “principles” for the promised legislation.”
Jessica Zuckerman, research associate at Heritage, said
in an issue brief, “These principles, however, do not adequately address the
tough issues that have to be tackled to provide lasting and beneficial fixes
that strengthen the U.S. economy, security, and civil society.”
Similarly, she added that the White House recently
announced its own set of immigration reform principles, while promising to
introduce an “even more comprehensive bill if Congress does not move fast
enough.”
Zuckerman warned, however, that “if both initiatives do
nothing more than reintroduce confusing, complicated, and contentious bills
similar to the failed ‘comprehensive’ bill of 2007, then our nation will be
poorly served by these latest efforts.”
A similar version of this article was published via WND on Feb. 15, 2013. Under agreement with WND, rights have reverted back to the author, Steve Peacock.
The Monitor Celebrates 10,000 Page-Views
As the editor of U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor, I once again wish to thank all those readers from around the globe who continue to visit this site. It is with great delight to report that the Monitor this week exceeded the 10,000 page-view mark in its brief three-month existence. In terms of relative magnitude, to you that figure likely doesn't elicit a jaw-dropping response, yet the figure is significant for a one-man, part-time operation taking place at the Shore of New Jersey (and, yes, I intentionally avoided using the term “Jersey Shore” to avoid connecting with or riding upon the success of the popular but moronic TV show of that name—a show that is, unfortunately, filmed not far from my location).
Before I continue, please note that the Monitor never has, never does, nor will ever collect or distribute personally identifying information from visitors/readers. The information I am now sharing via this post primarily comes from Google Analytics, which assesses the general source of traffic to this site (i.e.: country of origin, referring web pages, Internet Service Providers, etc.) as well through the TypePad service that hosts the Monitor. In other words, unless you identify yourself when posting comments (which I encourage people to do), you remain anonymous to me.
Anyhow, having inserted that critical addendum, I first want to express continued thanks to John Young from Cryptome.org, who regularly posts links to Monitor articles. Cryptome, an excellent repository of national security and law enforcement-related information plus hard-to-find government documents, is responsible for driving significant Internet traffic my way.
That may or may not be the reason that a handful of visitors from the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security, the U.S. State Dept., the U.S. Dept. of Justice, and a few other federal entities have made their way to the Monitor. It could be that I have annoyed a few bureaucrats along the way by uncovering projects or conflicts of interest that they would rather I keep quiet about.
Ironically, I have gotten quite a few visitors from two sides on opposite end of the political spectrum: FreeRepublic.com on the right, and BuzzFlash.com on the left. It just goes to show that wasteful government spending is a topic of concern for everyone, no matter whether you blame President Obama for the world’s problems or if you seek salvation through him!
Likewise, I welcome the many worldwide visitors whom have made their way to the Monitor. Though the bulk of traffic comes from the U.S., with a growing number of readers from other primarily English-speaking nations such as England, Canada, and Australia, other readers have come from places including Pakistan, Italy, Mexico, Germany, France, India, China, and Russia—with a smaller numbers of visitors coming from places (93 countries and territories in all) ranging from Iran to Sudan and from Argentina to Zimbabwe!
If you like this site, please let people know about it. Simply click the Facebook thumbs-up icon near the top right-hand corner of this page (located near the Amazon.com link to my memoir, Hotel Dick: Harlots, Starlets, Thieves & Sleaze) and let your friends know about the Monitor.
One final note: if you wish to redistribute Monitor articles, I urge you, for instance, only to post the title, an excerpt (i.e.: the first paragraph or two), and a direct link to the article of interest. I recently discovered that one blog actually took one of my articles, reworded it with a level of creativity emblematic of a lazy, plagiarizing 14-year-old the night before a term paper is due, and re-posted as its own work! The thief actually posted accompanying links to the source documents as if that person, and not I, had painstakingly researched and discovered those resources for the article.
Such copyright infringement will not be tolerated, folks.
So, ending on a more positive note, please feel free to share what the Monitor has to offer, but do so with respect for the copyright owner.
Come back soon, even you folks at DHS!
-- Steve Peacock
Posted at 01:26 PM in Commentary, DHS, Law Enforcement/Police Issues, Privacy-Surveillance, U.S. State Dept., Zimbabwe | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: canada, government, internet, jersey shore, privacy, us, usa
| Reblog (0)