Reality of Immigration In Alabama Jail

A detainee looks out over the common area at the Etowah County Jail Tuesday, December 4, 2012 in Gadsden, Ala(Eric Schultz / eschultz@al.com)

(Eric Schultz)

The Etowah County Detention Center holds about 300 undocumented immigrants in conditions that lack natural light, healthy food or regular medical care, according to a report released Monday by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The report focuses on immigrant detention facilities across the South, where asylum-seekers face long odds in court and difficult conditions behind bars while awaiting immigration proceedings. Researchers, who interviewed hundreds of detainees and scoured reams of documents, found widespread allegations of inadequate medical care, poor legal services, abusive treatment and contaminated food.

"The South has kind of been a black hole for detention," said Lisa Graybill, deputy legal director for the Southern Poverty Law Center. "A lot of immigrants who are arrested on the West Coast and the East Coast end up shipped to the South."

Bryan D. Cox, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement wrote in an email that none of the allegations contained in the report have been substantiated.

"ICE is firmly committed to the safety and welfare of all those in its custody," Cox wrote. "ICE has a strict zero-tolerance policy for any kind of abusive or inappropriate behavior in its facilities and takes any allegation seriously. The facilities named in these allegations have all been subject to regular inspections during the time period covered by these allegations, and in all instances the facilities have been found to operate in compliance with ICE's rigorous national detention standards."

Detainees in the South are held in facilities far from families and legal resources for immigrants, Graybill said. The number of immigration attorneys is much lower in Gadsden than New York City, she said. Attorneys and immigrant advocates have long heard that conditions are harsher in Southern facilities, so Graybill's organization partnered with the National Lawyers Guild and Adelante Alabama Worker Center on the expansive investigation.

In some cases, conditions in the facilities might have contributed to the deaths of immigrant detainees. Immigrant advocates in Alabama point to the case of Teka Gulema, an Ethiopian national held at Etowah since 2012 who contracted an infection that left him paralyzed from the neck down. He died in January 2016, soon after he was officially released from ICE custody but after he slipped into a coma, according to the report. Because his death occurred outside ICE custody, it did not trigger an investigation.

Cox said ICE could not comment on individual cases due to privacy concerns.

Etowah County officials charge federal authorities $45 a day to hold immigrants awaiting trial and deportation - less than any other detention facility in the country and far below the national average of $164 per day. As a result, the county jail has become a destination for immigrants stuck in the system for years at a time.

Jessica Vosburgh, director of Adelante Alabama Worker Center, said the Etowah County Detention Center has come under fire several times in the past, and almost lost its contract with federal authorities about six years ago. The latest report includes several allegations that have come up in the past, documented in interviews with almost 70 detainees. Poor conditions inside the facility are driven in part by the low reimbursement rate from the government, Vosburgh said.

"Certainly, when you're paying that low per detainee per day, you're going to get very poor services and conditions," she said.

The report follows the election of President-elect Donald Trump, who campaigned on a promise to deport millions of illegal immigrants. Any effort to increase deportations will require expansion of detention facilities, raising concerns about the conditions in private prisons and county jails that hold thousands of immigrants awaiting hearings or deportation.

According to the report, detention centers in the South hold one out of six immigrant detainees. Immigration courts in the region rarely provide legal counsel to detainees facing deportation. Unlike criminal defendants, who are entitled to legal representation in court, detainees held for the civil violation of immigration laws are not entitled to attorneys who can help navigate the complicated immigration system.

Detainees in the Etowah County Detention Center spend the longest time on average in detention, often longer than a year. The facility has no outdoor recreation area, so men kept in confinement can go for long periods without exposure to fresh air and sunshine, according to the report.

The facility also provides little access to legal information, according to the report, and detainees often spend months waiting for information about immigration proceedings that drag on for years. In one case, researchers interviewed a detainee who claimed to be an American citizen from Puerto Rico who has been held for three years.

Officials from Etowah County have not yet returned calls seeking comment, but in the past, they have said the facility has passed all inspections by federal authorities.

Cox said ICE provides several levels of oversight for detention facilities, including on-site managers.

"ICE's civil detention system ensures quality medical, mental health and dental care, reduces transfers, maximizes access to counsel and visitation and improves conditions of detention," he wrote.

Researchers focused on Etowah County Detention Center in Gadsden, two detention centers in Georgia, two in Florida and one in Louisiana. Three of the facilities are privately-run prisons and three, including Etowah, are county facilities under contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Graybill said researchers originally hoped the research might convince officials from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to stop relying so heavily on private prisons and contract facilities. She said the system gives private prison companies and county governments incentives to skimp on services to generate greater profits. The U.S. Department of Justice announced earlier this year that it would stop using private prisons to house federal inmates.

"There's no need for this incredible amount of people to be detained," Graybill said. "There are plenty of alternatives to detention that are incredibly less expensive."

Updated at 10:15 a.m. on Nov. 28 to include a response from U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement