Saturday, November 22, 2008

Detention Center Abuses in GEO Group´s Jena Prison!

LaSalle Detention Center in Jena, La., owned by GEO Groups, a large RNC contributor, is where federal agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sent hundreds of immigrant workers after they were arrested at Howard Industries in Laurel on Aug. 25, 2008, the largest raid at a workplace in the history of the nation. Detainees were held for three weeks without formal charges or ability to see an attorney, forced to share one toothbrush with as many as 60 other workers, and dumped into single rooms holding as many as 250 inmates, according to testimony gathered by the Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance (MIRA). Female immigrant workers arrested at Howard - many of them mothers with young children - were forced to wear monitoring devices on their ankles and forbidden to leave Mississippi.
So far no charges have been filed against Howard Industries, where a spokesman declined to comment. Alvarez-Montgomery says ICE will gather evidence about the company’s practices based on interviews with immigrant detainees, and says that “if there is evidence against supervisors, owners, or the company in general, the information will be turned over to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Jacksonville for consideration. It’s up to them at that point if they will pursue criminal charges against the employer.”
The GEO Group is an international corporation that operates prisons around the country and is frequently in the news for its abuse of prisoners in its care resulting in many preventable deaths. Its operations in Texas have been sharply criticized over poor conditions and the treatment of some of its prisoners.
The Jena detention facility was formerly a juvenile prison. It was designed to be a model corrections center, but ended up being shut down after conditions got so bad that the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit in 2000 against the management—GEO Group (formerly Wackenhut)—for abuse and violence. The investigation found that the mostly white guards used "cruel and humiliating punishments" and "routinely used excessive force" on the mostly Black youth inmates. A judge in the case said, "The way this facility operates or has operated in the recent past is that young people are treated as if they walk on all fours. These young people deserve to be treated like human beings, not animals.''

9 comments:

  1. GEO Group is a well known RNC Contributor. They are a strong supporter of Cheney, Bush and McCain! They are known for their abuses!

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  2. Where is the link to this new's story?

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  3. Anon,
    I researched Multiple sources to compile this blog.
    Google:
    . GEO Groups, wikipedia
    . LaSalle Detention Center, Jena, LA
    . MIRA - Mississippi
    . specific sentences for detainees, 3 weeks without formal charges

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  4. What I found interesting is GEO Group has a HISTORY of abuses. Check out the abuse in the previous Jena detention center. It was shut down after conditions got so bad that the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit in 2000 against the management—GEO Group (formerly Wackenhut).

    Just Deplorable!!

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  5. When you check out the wiki reference for GEO Group, you see they had a LONG HISTORY of abuse across the US but particularly in Texas!

    I wonder how they were able to stay in business. But then I read about their huge contributions to the Republican party and especially to Cheney, Bush and McCain!

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  6. I found it incredible that the Laurel raid sent hundreds of detainees to the Jena center and stuffed them into rooms.. 250 a room for 3 weeks!!

    Deplorable!!

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  7. And yet the employers, to date, have not been charged. There were many sites that indicated no charges for the employers!

    Just deplorable!!

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  8. Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance (MIRA) has completed considerable research on what happened in the JENA center to the detainees from Laurel. Their website has a wealth of information.

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  9. Immigrant Rights Group? Yep, there would be a real unbiased group!

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