The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is allegedly attempting to negotiate the reopening of two private prisons. This comes just two months after the Justice Department announced that it intended to curtail the use of such facilities. One of the private prisons ICE is trying to reopen has been the subject of repeated abuse claims, including several unexplained deaths.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement need an extra 5000 beds for the record-breaking number of undocumented immigrants in the US, which the Obama administration is holding in detention until they can be released or deported. ICE is considering at least three detention centers, which are owned and managed by private corporations. These include the troubled facilities in Cibola County, New Mexico, and Youngstown in Ohio. Both were used before by the Justice Department and are owned by the Corrections Corporation of America.
According to an Inspector General report, published in August by the Justice Department, there are higher rates of security and safety incidents in private prisons compared to those run by the US government. An investigation by The Nation has uncovered rampant substandard medical care in such facilities. These may have resulted in dozens of questionable deaths across 11 such facilities.
The ACLU National Prison Project staff attorney, Carl Takei, says that ICE’s continued interest in using private prisons demonstrates that they are ‘out of control’ and likely to undo the good done by the August announcement made by the Justice Department.